Starting a OpenNebula User Group is a great opportunity to take leadership in the cloud space, meet with other OpenNebula users, network, and perfect the art of cloud computing within a community. Join the Community Discuss mailing list if you want to lead a User Group or any event talking about OpenNebula. This mailing list is for any question in the organization of OpenNebula User Groups and events.

• How to Start a OpenNebula User Group
• How to Run a OpenNebula User Group

List in preparation.

ONE User Group - France

• Location: Lyon
• More Info: Google Group and WIKI
• Leader: Rodrigue Chakode (SysFera)

ONE User Group - Italy

• Location: Milan and Pisa
• More Info: Google Group and Web
• Leader: Massimo Stradelli (WebFacilities) and Giovanni Toraldo (Liberologico)

ONE User Group - Spain

• Location: Madrid
• More Info: TBA
• Leader: Jaime Melis (C12G Labs)

ONE User Group - Hungary

• Location: Budapest
• More Info: Web and Facebook
• Leader: Sándor Ács (SZTAKI)

ONE User Group - Cuba

• Location: La Habana
• More Info: TBA
• Leader: A. Hernandez (CUJAE)

ONE User Group - Egypt

• Location: Cairo
• More Info: TBA
• Leader: Mohamed Elrefaey and AhmedX A Mohsen (Intel)

ONE User Group - Germany

• Location: Nürnberg
• More Info: XING
• Leader: Bernd Erk (NETWAYS)

1. Check the Existing List of User Groups

Before starting a new User Group consult the list and find one in your area. It takes time to operate a User Group. You could instead focus your time in co-leading or contributing to an existing User Group.

2. Share your Plans with the Community

If you want to lead a new group in your area, join our Community Discuss mailing list, introduce yourself, briefly describe your experience with OpenNebula, and let us know about your plans. You can also ask in the Community Discuss mailing list if there are other people also planning to start a User Group in your region.

3. Identify a Leader

One of the most important aspects of a successful User Group is an enthusiastic leader. User Group leaders are evangelists of OpenNebula and excited at the prospect of helping others. It may be helpful to share the responsibility by identifying an additional person that can act as a backup. User Group leaders are responsible for choosing the meeting location, promoting the meeting, and organizing regular content/speakers.

4. Setup the Group Infrastructure

You would need at least a wiki or web page in your local language to provide information about the User Group and a system to allow members to communicate with each other and share information. You can use whatever system works best for you and your members like Meetup.com, Google+, Facebook or LinkedIn. You can use all material available at the OpenNebula site.

5. Make the User Group Public

Once the leadership is identified and the User Group infrastructure is ready, we will add your new User Group to the User Group page.

6. Announce the New User Group

To help you attract new members, we will help you announce the creation of the new group in our mailing list, social instruments, and blog. You can also use the OpenNebula logo in the promotion of the User Group.

1. Maintain the Group

User Groups are maintained by group leaders.

2. Build Community

Members join groups mainly to gain practical knowledge to implement specific technologies, or to network and grow their businesses. Successful groups are transparent about their intent. User Groups are run in the local language.

3. Build a Good Agenda

Strong content creates successful User Groups and attract committed members. Ask your community for content ideas and proposed speakers. Speakers can include organizations with running deployments, code contributors, OpenNebula representatives, or other cloud technology expert or representative. Give a small presentation at the start of each User Group and moderate the conversation to ensure all attendees are participating and learning at the event. You can also organize hands-on tutorials. You can use all material available at the OpenNebula site.

4. Schedule Your Meetings

Find a reliable meeting location that has a permanent projector and an Internet connection. Ask your members if they have a conference room you can use. You can find sponsors who would like to help you promote the meeting. User Group meetings are not for profit events and ideally for free. Schedule your first meeting. We can help promote the event and provide additional guidance. After the meeting, you can prepare a summary blog post with images, links to video… You should run a User Group at least each two quarters for two to three hours.

5. Other Activities

User Groups can also coordinate other activities like providing local language support or translating the OpenNebula Guides and GUIs.