As the CONNECT 2026 event ended yesterday, and many already started talking about DSCOOP only weeks away, I couldn’t help but think about these user group events - and it’s not only good, so be prepared :-)

By Morten B. Reitoft 

We are all members of various tribes. Our family is a tribe, our colleagues are a tribe, and we become members of tribes when we decide to join a user group. User groups, in my view, are, by definition, great. You meet people with similar challenges, and you can help each other to become successful. But what happens if a platform for helping each other with real-life issues becomes a marketing platform, or even worse, a platform with no purpose?

I once listened to a radio program in which the host and guests discussed taxes. For Danes, it’s a recurring topic, as we have the highest tax burden in the world. Why do Danes accept extremely high taxes? The radio program circled around transparency. If it’s clear what you get for your taxpayer money, you are more likely to accept a tax.

So, deciding to join a DSCOOP, CONNECT, or any other event must be because you have positive expectations. The longer you are a member, the more difficult it can become to remember the original purpose of joining, and an event becomes as much about going where you meet your peers. Peers that have become friends, and people you trust.

When you invest in new equipment (accepted by the tribe), you will be celebrated on a huge stage with loud music and recognized as a contributor to your tribe. We all like being celebrated, and we all like everybody’s greetings, but did you check out the competition the same way you would have done before?

Most will tell you that, of course, I check out the products I buy.

If you are a big customer within a segment, you can be sure your purchase will be noticed, and if within the guidelines of the tribe, celebrated, but what happens if you choose to buy a competing product?

You can be pretty sure that you will be harassed. Your loyalty to your tribe is important, and, in the worst-case scenario, it minimizes competition. But there is a worse thing to say: you may lose a business opportunity, and your business will potentially suffer.

You will even see people that have been active in your tribe being kicked out of their tribe positions, and I am, of course, not comparing this with being a member of a sect, but in sects, the most difficult thing, breaking with your sect, is the loneliness and the isolation you often experience after.

So why do I write this? I do it for two reasons: the first is that fewer people attend the user-group events. That can be a sign of general fatigue, consolidations, temporary ups/downs in the industry, and more. The second reason: If user groups end up minimizing free competition, nobody, in the long run, should accept it, at least not the emotional power of a group.

I started saying that user groups “in my view, are, by definition, great,” but if the programs at events become too sales-oriented or too focused on everything except the original purpose, I fear they will create a new vacuum, and there is a tendency that PSPs choose smaller and more focused peer groups - and use the official user-group events more as a platform for networking.

I have interviewed several people from both DSCOOP, CONNECT, and other events, that talk about meeting friends and peers as more important than the actual programs. I have even spoken with people that openly recognize that the keynote speakers weren’t interesting, but still acknowledged the event for being good, because of meeting friends!

I know that there will be people that strongly disagree with everything I am writing above, and as with everything I do, I actually try to raise a debate, because the changes needed are to ensure that user groups in the future will and can exist.

So, what is the future of user groups? There will be more user groups; they will be smaller. There will be less “party” and more learning. It will be cheaper to attend. Meetings will be hybrid, so users can meet online and offline more frequently. And then there will be the huge gatherings.

The huge gatherings will be a challenge, as vendors will need to see whether cost-sharing with partners is an option, as you see at all the current user group events. Despite high partner price tags, events like DSCOOP are still considered one of the best investments for partners, but there are fewer partners, at least at some of them, and my take on the larger user-group events like DSCOOP, CONNECT, and similar, the OEMs must carry the majority of the cost, because these events simply have to focus on supporting their customers and users, rather than becoming a marketing channel for partners. For example, as software becomes more and more complex, users will accept marketing of new products and services from the OEM hosting the event, in return for valuable and in-depth learning, access to high-quality resources, and maybe running an annual user group event simply has to become a part of the overhead, rather than a marketing cost.

The need for education, inspiration, and networking is not declining - the execution and expectations for not wasting your time, however, are becoming increasingly in focus. I have been only once at DSCOOP, and I have no doubt that the learning and the keynotes are essential, but the ‘party’ in the evening was so boring that I felt like I was at an event where everybody was just thinking of an excuse to go to the bar instead, so the real conversations could start. If Americans find it “funny” to have these type party’s, I can say that I am almost certain that a majority of Europeans will find it strange and forced.

SO. Let’s have MORE user-group activities. Let’s make sure that when organizing bigger events that these are aligned with the original intentions - and monitor carefully how the demographics at your conferences change over time - your program needs to be aligned with these changes.

So, why the headline? A few months ago, I finished the latest Ken Follett book. This time, it was about Stonehenge and how it was built. We talk thousands of years B.C. The society at the time was divided into several groups: the hunters, the farmers, the forest people, and the leadership. The leadership was women only; they were the only ones that mastered counting to more than 20 (hands and feet), and they could predict days, seasons, etc. Because the tribes were small, the leadership feared inbreeding, and at the midsummer party, everybody was expected and allowed to have sex with whoever and with as many as they wanted. Men and women accepted that if a woman came back carrying another man’s child, it would be seen as the husband’s. All was to avoid inbreeding, and maybe also it made the midsummer party more fun.

When I read it, I realized that the strict moral codes we, for the most part, see as modern and morally right back then would be seen very differently. Does this have anything to do with my words on user groups? The answer is yes.

If user groups also become victims of inbreeding, maybe the solution is to renew the programs, the speakers, and the very formats, but that ALWAYS comes at a risk.