What is a Liferay User Group?

The Liferay community is made up of thousands of individuals who share a common thread: to support and grow the Liferay mission of an open source, developer friendly, enterprise class web interaction framework.  Liferay User Groups exist to provide local, "last kilometer" support and collaboration of smaller collections of community members that have an even more focused set of commonality amongst them (such as geography, a common industry, or virtually any other specific common trait).  Especially for those working in small companies, or are remote, user groups are great ways to interact with others on specific topics regarding Liferay and its underlying technology, and learn from each other in ways normally not associated with very large communities.

In addition to Liferay learning, user groups can drive the use and understanding of ancillary technologies commonly used in and around Liferay, especially when those technologies are commonly used within the groups (either voluntarily or by de facto standard).

Liferay User Group Guide

Liferay maintains a User Group Guide, outlining the basics of User Groups, including how to start them, and how to make them great. Below is a summary of a few key sections. Be sure to download and keep the guide as a handy reference, while starting your group!

What Makes a Good User Group

Starting a new user group is the easy part.  Keeping content fresh and members interested is much, much harder.  There are many ideas on running user groups found on the web.  Below are some tips on creating and maintaining a successful User Group.

• Start with a small set of core members who have the desire to create and maintain the group.  Ideally, this would be 2-3 people at most.
• The initial organizers should have strong interpersonal relationship skills.  Getting to know the future members of the group on a personal level is very important for the ongoing health of the group.  Even if you cannot meet in person, your online presence and the level of activity will attract members that might otherwise not participate.
• Keep the content of the group fresh, and continually ensure that members are kept abreast of upcoming activities, new members that recently joined, and new resources available to the group.
• Host local events where people can get together to socialize, exchange ideas, and build working relationships.
• Attend 3rd-party conferences and other local meetups as a group.  Make tee shirts and represent your interesting user group!
• There are many other tips and tricks you can find on the web.  Do a search and find out what has made successful groups successful.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask community@liferay.com or post up your questions on the group forum.

Available Resources on liferay.com

The Liferay Community actively maintains user groups on http://liferay.com/community/user-groups.  Each group is initially given a set of pages for maintaining content, consisting of a homepage, a forum category dedicated to the group, and a group calendar.  Announcements and other content can be placed on the homepage.

Each group has an associated Team (using Liferay's Team feature).  Team members are able to maintain the team's content, and can add new members as needed.  

If you are interested in creating a new user group, contact community@liferay.com.  Existing groups that have already established external user group homes can also maintain a presence on the main user group listing page.

User Group Policies

Founder Requirements

To reduce the amount of potential conflicts of interest, each user group must be founded and maintained by at least 2 individuals, 1 of which must not be employed by or have a direct affiliation with a Liferay Partner company.  In addition, there must be at least one founder employed by, or affiliated with, a company different from all other founders.  This ensures a little "check and balance" of group leadership.  Existing groups with a sole founder (or multiple co-founders from the same company) will be given 6 months to find a suitable co-founder to represent the group.

Activity Requirements

In the interest of keeping interest in user groups high, it is important that all user groups maintain some amount of activity.  Groups that have not had any reasonable activity for 12 months will be subject to disbandment, or re-assignment to a different set of founders.  

Liferay Trademark and Logo Usage

The Liferay trademark and logo was developed for the Liferay Community to foster the use of Liferay products and services as well as to protect the quality and mindshare associated with Liferay by individuals who are a part of the community.  Usage of the logo is governed by Liferay's Trademark and Logo Usage Policy.  The good news is that, for user groups whose purpose is to foster the growth of the Liferay Community, contribute back, and have no commercial intent, the logos and trademarks can be used for website banners, events, etc, as long as you follow the Liferay Trademark/Logo Usage Guidelines.

Additionally, if you wish for Liferay to create a logo for you, please contact community@liferay.com.