# R user groups and where to find them

Guillaume Devailly

► To cite this version:

Guillaume Devailly. R user groups and where to find them. useR! 2019, Jul 2019, Toulouse, France. [hal-02289524](https://hal.science/hal-02289524)

HAL Id: hal-02289524

https://hal.science/hal-02289524

Submitted on 5 Jun 2020

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@G_Devailly
Guillaume Devailly
useR!2019
2019/07/08

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## aka RUG

* local R events, organised by local users for local users (might be in the local language)

* usually free & open to all (might require registration): students, professional, hobbyist, all levels of experience, from beginners to experts.

* presentations, long and short, tutorials, workshops, hackathons, meetings
EdinbR

edinbr.org • @edinb_r • info@edinbr.org

• 2 years as attendee at edinbR

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• 1 year as organiser at R-toulouse
# Topics covered in the last year at R-Toulouse

* Introduction to ggplot2

* Symbolic differentiation with Deriv

* The plotluck package

* C'est l'enfeR: traps of the R language

* Introduction to the tidyverse

* The Metacoder package

* base, data.table and dplyr benchmark

* Bayesian statistics with Rjags

* Introduction to shiny

* GADMtools package

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jumpingrivers.github.io/meetingsR/r-user-groups.html

R Conferences and Meetings

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A list of R conferences and meetings

Overview

Technical bit

Original source

Events

R User Groups

Funding

Asia

Europe

Middle East/ Africa

North America

Oceania

South America

R-Ladies Groups

The data

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## R User Groups

UseR groups are listed by content then by country. Where appropriate, useR groups are divided within country, e.g. in the USA, by state & in the United Kingdom, by member country.

The suggested format for listing a group is

* Town name: Group name & link; @Twitter_handle

## Funding

The R Consortium provides funding for local useR groups.

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## Asia

### China 👥

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* Xiamen: XMU-R

### Hong Kong 👥

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* Hong Kong: Hong Kong R User Group

### India 👥

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* Bangalore: Bengaluru R UseR Group (BRUG)

* Chennai: R Users Group Chennai
Is there an R user group in my city?

* see also R Ladies here or here

* R studio community event page

* search on twitter

* search onmeetup.com

• ask around
## How to start an R user group?

* organisers

* a room (universities usually happy to host such events for free)

* a website

* a mailing list

* social media account(s)

* one or two speakers

* a code of conduct
blog.revolutionanalytics.com/tips-on-starting-an-r-user-group.html

## Revolutions

Milestones in AI, Machine Learning, Data Science, and visualization with R and Python since 2008

### Tips on Starting an R User Group

Want to start a new R User Group? We've helped dozens of local R user groups get established, and have put together these tips on starting a new group.

#### Step 1: Create a group on Meetup.com.

Visit meetup.com and create a new group, for example "Springfield R User's Group". It costs a small amount to run a group on meetup.com, but in our experience with other R user groups has convinced us it's worth the investment. (Sponsorship from R Consortium — see below — also includes a Meetup.com account.) Among other things, meetup.com helps you with scheduling a meeting and tracking who will and won't attend. It also provides you with a group mailing list and a place to store shared files (such as presentations). You don't have to use meetup.com, but recommend the service.

#### Step 2: Pick a date for an informal get-together

Your first meeting is easy to organize: make it an Informal get-together, rather than a formal meeting with a pre-arranged agenda or speakers. You might want to arrange to meet at a bar, a coffee shop, the library, or similar public venue. The goal of this meeting is simple: meet other R enthusiasts in your area, and decide when and where to hold your first formal user group meeting. Meetup.com offers some good tips for setting up this initial get-together.

#### Step 3: Get people to your get-together

The next step is to promote your new group. An easy way is through word-of-mouth to other R users you know locally. Social networking sites like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter can also help. Do you have a local college or university with a Stats department? They may be able to provide a meeting area.
www.r-consortium.org/projects/r-user-group-support-program

A meetup.com Pro account +

* **Vector level:** $150, at least 5 people

* **Matrix level:** $320, at least 50 people attending at least 3 meetings in the last 6 months

* **Array level:** $820, at least 100 people attending at least 3 meetings in the last 6 months

* adhesion to the R consortium code of conduct
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