I’ve started a Splunk User Group in our area, and it is my pleasure to invite you to join! The goal of a Splunk User Group is to create an authentic, open forum for users to share technical details of their use cases, stories, difficulties, successes, and generally enjoy like-minded company.

To join our city Splunk UG, please sign up here: [Insert chapter link]. Then, you’ll automatically be notified when our first event is published.

I invite you to start thinking about what you’d like to get out of our new Splunk User Group, as requests and comments from all users are welcome. This is your group! I look forward to seeing you soon!

Best, Name City Splunk User Group Leader

How to Build an Agenda

A few days before the event, send a detailed agenda to everyone involved – venue contact, check-in team, panelists, moderator, volunteers, etc. In the agenda, include:

Date and time

Discussion topic

Venue information (the venue address, or the link to Bevy Virtual)

Names and contact information of the panelists, hosts, moderators, and volunteers.

Break down the evening with duration and responsibilities.

Please use this template to build your own Event Agenda:

6:00PM - 6:30PM: (30 MINUTES) Check-in and Networking.

Check-in: Leader(s) is in charge of check in

6:30PM - 6:45PM: (15 MINUTES) Introductions

Event: Leader will introduce the event

Attendees: If there are less than ten attendees, Leader(s) will begin a roundtable intro.

Speaker: Panelists will introduce themselves

6:45PM - 7:35PM: (50 MINUTES) Speaker/Panel

7:35PM - 7:45PM: (10 MINUTES): Wrap up and finish

7:45PM - 8:00PM: (15 MINUTES): Networking

How to Introduce your Event

Begin a User Group event with an introduction of the program, the topic, and the speaker/panelists. A good introduction of the program looks like this:

“Splunk User Groups is the premiere community for community professionals. Bevy is building communities in real life. The CMX Connect program is about harnessing the incredible power of community. This program fulfils the need for community professionals to come together in-person and learn, grow, and, well... Connect!

The goal of CMX Connect is for each attendee to walk away with 1) a new friend, and 2) a new idea or actionable strategy they can implement into their work. These events are powered by Bevy, a software company in the business of building, and scaling in-person communities."

If there are less than 10 attendees, you can allow all attendees to briefly introduce themselves. It is suggested to be casual, however, applying a consistent model allows attendees to be brief and to the point. As a Connect Host, this would be a great opportunity to set the example for others.

Name

Pronouns

Role/Company/Business

What you hope to get out of this event

Photos and Videos

Photos are a must, whether you are in person or virtual! We love to celebrate with you and encourage you to take photos of the event! Share your photos in the #splunk-usergroups Slack channel!

Whether it’s an in-person or a virtual event, take photos of the attendees. We want to see everyone smiling and having a good time. We’re pretty nostalgic at Splunk, and love to share good times!

Disclosure and Solicitation

The Splunk Community programs — Answers, Discussions, Trust, User Groups, Slack, etc — are intended to provide connections that promote Splunk community and content that leads to better experiences with Splunk products.

The goal in providing these programs and bringing people together is to let the community govern itself as much as possible. The few rules we enforce are designed to balance the needs of the Splunk Community with the needs of the Splunk company.

Review our Community Guidelines

here⁠

Some highlights from our Guidelines:

We have expectations of our members

Our members should have expectations of us

Basic decency and respect for privacy is required

You are responsible for your words, your ideas, and your conduct

Splunk likes to share its brand

We are benevolent overlords

Again, please read, review, and abide by all of the guidelines

here⁠

Violations of Community Guidelines

Sometimes missteps happen. We get it. But we take our guidelines very seriously, and we expect every community member to take them seriously, too. To that end, we've established the following guidelines for how community moderators will handle violations of our established guidelines.

First Violation - Warning - Moderators will explain which guideline(s) were violated, and how to avoid future violations.

Second Violation - Temporary Loss of Privileges - Moderators will again explain which guideline(s) were violated, which privileges will be suspended and for how long, and how to avoid future violations.

Third Violation - Banning from Splunk Community - Moderators will again explain which guideline(s) were violated, they will review the history of violations, and they will inform the user of their banning from the site and remove all access privileges.

Tips

10-minutes before the event:

Jump onto Bevy Virtual and test out audio/video for all main people speaking.

Ask the people speaking if they have any hard stops. That way, you know when to cut off the Q&A.

If you don't have time for a dry run, try and get 1-2 anecdotes from the speaker(s) you can use to kick off the Q&A. Essentially, if you don't see questions come in through chat, have them in your back pocket 1-2 (or more) questions you can go to (icebreaker Q&A questions).

Remember to tap your shoes together and go, "There's no place like home! There's no place like home!"

Put on your hype or perfect mood song to allow you to get locked in and have your game face on. Stop any music, however, before you start recording.

During the event:

Have icebreaker questions ready to go into the chat or in-person. Throughout keep engaging with the audience as applicable. Thank people for feedback, notes, and you can also clap or other with emojis under the text of any chat comments.

Post links and resources quote being said during, and helpful information so people can capture it in notes or re-share more readily in social during it.

Make it memorable for those attending!

When anyone has a question, say their name and/or from the chat if you spike out a comment from someone.

Remind people to take the survey after the event to relay any feedback or kudos.

Post-event:

Take a screenshot from the event. Perhaps pick one with an audience member chatting with the speaker(s). In group Hubs, post the screenshot, tag the speaker, and all the attendees that you can remember. Do a quick summarized recap, thank all involve, include links to any noted resources. If anyone replies to the posts, be sure to like and respond to them.

Email select attendees and thank them for coming (as applicable).

⁠

Send out post-event survey.⁠

⁠

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Planning Your Event

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