Jim Holmes is in the process of starting a .net group in Dayton, Ohio (Dayton .NET Developers Group). He has written down a list of things he is doing as tips for others starting user groups. The tips are great. It is important to remember that every group is different and everyone's approach is different, but there are definitely a lot of things that many groups can share with each other. As Jim points out, it's a lot of work and you better know what you are committing yourself to! I know that when I started VTdotNET, I wasn't nearly as organized as Jim is in starting up this group in Dayton. Somehow I've made it work, but I do believe that (outside of the phone call thing - just not for me, but may work for others) it is all great. One of the great resources Jim has in his area is Drew Robbins who went from User Group Leader to Regional Director to MSDN Developer Evangelist! And it was through Drew that I found his post.

www.acehaid.org