To avoid tedious market-speak slides from vendors, find user groups not directly sanctioned by a vendor. Or force the vendor to share problems and resolutions. Previously, the Maryland group spent the first meeting hour listening to technical presentations from experienced group members. The second hour was devoted to presentations from outside guests. Over time, these presentations became thinly disguised third-party vendor appeals.
Homogeneity is another issue to consider.
If yours is a highly competitive, cutthroat industry, you should gauge a group's membership before you join. Competing companies should not have members par- ticipating within user groups, especially if sharing an internal technology weakness can lead to exploitation. The experience level of attendees is also important to weigh. You don't want to lump together executive or director-level attendees with interns fresh out of college. The priorities, resources, and capabilities will be entirel y different, according to IDC's Oleson.