Tools for Groups

Groups use tools to organize activities, host conversations, connect people, & engage both members and the world. The choice of tools is driven by your group’s goals, membership, & preferences.

There is a constellation of tools available to support group activity. The keys are to grow organically, keep things simple, and connect activity and data as much as you're able to.

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Tools_QuickReference_AdskCommunityDojo.pdf

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PDF Quick Reference

	Use cases for tools include
​​​	Group Leader Work Group leaders need tools to plan group activities, stay connected with each other, and manage the data associated with running groups. (shared documents, files, databases, surveys).
​​	Websites, Social Media & Marketing Tools Having a public face and a public voice of your group helps people find & understand your group. The front-door of your group could be a website that is a central point for information on what your group does, how to engage, and what’s coming up. A social media account can be the group’s voice: where leaders can broadcast to the world what the group is doing and you can see who else is engaging with the group.
	Community Conversation and News The information and value exchanged in conversation is the core value of a group. Peer-to-peer tools enable people post ideas, questions, requests for help and support, and job opportunities. Announcements and news from group leaders might be sent through email distribution lists.
	Event Planning and Hosting Event planning tools give you a way for people learn about the event and sign up, and might complement your group website. There are various platforms for hosting virtual meetings. For hosting physical gatherings you may want to create a portable kit of AV equipment and signage.
	Knowledge, Content, and Code Management If your group is focused on generating knowledge and content, you may end up with a library of past presentations or some other knowledge artifact you maintain as a group. If you have a developer group, you may work on or maintain code repos.

Some community tools span all of these categories. For example, Facebook has a connected toolset that enables event planning and marketing, connected to community conversations within Facebook Groups. Meanwhile, Google Groups focus on e-mail listservs, member management, and permissioning on documents, drives, and websites.

The Autodesk Group Network has a Meetup Pro account, which provides Meetup.com for any group within the network at no cost to your group. When the Group Network was founded in 2019, many existing user groups were already using Meetup. It’s a great tool for local groups that host regular meetings.

Meetup is an event planning, hosting, and marketing tool that can also serve as a basic website for your group.

Learn more and get access. See the Autodesk Group Network on Meetup to see all of the groups using Autodesk's Meetup Pro account.

The Autodesk Group Network will subsidize any group that needs virtual meeting technology (e.g. Zoom) to continue its activities during the time of the COVID pandemic.

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Submit questions, feedback, or suggestions on group/ community tools

Connect with a peer mentor on hosting events - access codes listed here for Autodesk Group Network members. Become a peer mentor