Getting Started

It's pretty easy to start a Cisco Users Group (CUG)... I've helped a lot of groups start in the US and a couple outside. We (Tom O'Keefe, Ken Cooper and Beau Williamson) started the group in 1996 at a birds-of-a-feather meeting during the first Cisco Networkers here in Dallas TX... read about our history.

Meeting Location

Get a place to meet that does not have security issues, ie, you don't want to worry about who's looking on someone's desk when taking a break. We use hotel banquet rooms - they are not inexpensive but they are a consistent and safe place to let the members come and go as needed.

Local Support

Contact your local Cisco office regional managers if possible and get their support. The RM and their SEs can spread the word for you about your new Cisco Users Group start-up. Here in Dallas, we currently have around 750 active members, have been up since May of 1996, and there are still people coming in each month that say they've never heard of us. So - get the word out best you can.

Funding

We were funded directly by Cisco during the early days but that stopped when the dot com bubble burst. We then moved into a donated business location for a while that did not charge us for the space. Currently, we have a Cisco reseller that is using Cisco joint marketing funds to supplement funding for our facilities. To get reimbursed from Cisco, the JMF requires that you have a signup sheet and it must be returned to the Cisco reseller for reimbursement from Cisco. The signup sheet has space for name, company and e-mail address.

Currently, we do not charge a membership fee - but someday that will probably change.

Leaders:

Being that we are such a large organization, we've opted to organize our leaders as follows.

• President - Provides direction and growth for the group.
• Vice President - Backup to the president.
• Director of Profession Certifications - Responsible for managing study groups at the associate (CCNA, CCDA) and professional (CCNP, CCDP, CCSP,...) level.
• Director of Expert Certifications - Responsible for managing study groups at the expert (CCIE) level.
• Director of Presentations - Schedule in speakers and make sure they have what they need when the get there and contact them a few days before the meeting to make sure they remember. This person should also poll the group to find out what the current interest is for a new topic.
• Facilities Coordinator - Handles the building, projector, screen, Internet access and related logistics.
• Study Group Leaders - These people run a study group with the guidance of the director level person.
• Legal Counsel - You never know who's after you.
• WEB Master - Responsible for the CUG website.

Mission

As for the mission - we wouldn't mind if you use ours... just modify it to suit your goals.

The Dallas / Fort Worth Cisco Users Group is a independent users group which meets on the first Wednesday of every month for the open exchange of technical information regarding the networking industry and Cisco products for the benefit of Cisco users.

Disclaimer

The Cisco Users Groups are not affiliated with Cisco (as our disclaimer on our front page says). I really don't think you need a go-ahead from Cisco - but I would ask your local Cisco regional manager for their support. Try and get their support to kick it off and help you advertise the startup. Later on, they can help supply speakers to your group.

WEB Site

Get someone to build a website before your first kickoff meeting and use the URL with your advertising plan.

Ken Cooper
President & Founding Officer
The Dallas / Fort Worth Cisco Users Group (The CUG)
We are the 1st and largest Cisco Users Group in the US
dfw.cisco-users.org