About Us
Our objective is to bring together groups of people who wish to learn more about Access or share their knowledge with others.
Why Virtual Groups?
Sometimes it is not feasible to have a local Access group in every metropolitan area, or there are not enough people in close proximity who speak the same language interested in Access. Using this site, anyone can start a virtual user group and get started with online meetings right away!
What you need to know
What happens during a meeting
Anything really. We encourage chapters to have a main topic, presented by either a member or a guest, (invite me!), and have a formal agenda with Q&A and Random Access questions. Keeping your meetings under two hours, having interesting topics each month and fostering discussions will keep your chapter alive and well. Here is a sample agenda:
- Welcome and introduction by Chapter President or representative
- Discuss meeting agenda
- Make any announcements regarding the chapter
- Introduce the main speaker and topic
- Present the main topic
- Q&A with speaker on topic
- Random Access Questions: If there is time, allow audience to discuss any topic or question they wish with the group. (Random Access Questions was a concept we first heard about at the Chicago Access Users Group, CAUG.com)
- Discuss next meeting agenda, if there is one, and close.
How to get started
We recommend you attend a chapter meeting first to get the feel of it, then consider starting your own chapter. Chapters can be built around a language, (Access Latino), or an interest, SQL Server with Access. Whatever approach you take, we are here to help you get started!
Get the tools you need!
Each chapter receives:
- Their own personalized site: You will be able to blog, have a chapter calendar, and promote your chapter with your own Google optimized site.
- Each chapter will receive up to 25 Microsoft Office 365 E3 accounts, (comes with a FREE license of Office 2013!), courtesy of our sponsor Office365!
- Support from Juan and Ben, as needed, to get the word out and your chapter off the ground!
Ready to get started?
Join a group if you haven’t already by clicking here.
If you are interested in starting your own group drop us a line here.
Where it Started
AccessUserGroups.org was founded by Access MVPs Juan Soto and Ben Clothier in order to foster virtual Access user groups nationwide.
“Before I started this organization, I would travel the USA speaking at user groups and SQLSaturdays.com events, but there was no formal organization to bring users together online, it has been a labor of love to organize, find volunteers and topics month after month to bring together people from around the globe.” – Juan Soto
Juan Soto (right) & Ben Clothier (left)
We have reached 200 videos since we started this organization!
Since 2014 we gathered an impressive collection of videos on AUG Youtube channel.