User-group events are “apples to oranges” in their difference to vendor-driven trade shows, according to the IOUG’s executive director, Carol McGury, who also manages other tech user groups for agency SmithBucklin. She says companies continue to invest in user-group events despite the down economy.

“The way we differentiate ourselves from what the ‘for-profit’ community does is that we might offer a full week of training,” she says. “This is content put forward by real customers talking about how products or solutions are put forward in the real world rather than offering what one particular vendor has to say about a particular solution.”

Ian Abramson, president of the Independent Oracle User Group (IOUG), describes it this way: “I like going to these things because I like finding new solutions to the same thing I’m already doing.”

Both say the face-to-face contact is invaluable.

Explains Abramson, “As much as I know people online, the people I’ve met in person, obviously it’s a different level of relationship. We are Oracle database technology professionals and everything that surrounds that stack. … People are there to help each other out.”

For many who attend, it’s about establishing relationships and building trust and regard between vendors, partners and customers. It’s also about the confluence of education and contacts.

Abramson explains: “I was in telecom for a lot of years and one of the things I went to see was a presentation put on by Virgin Mobile or Virgin Media talking about how they integrated all their business lines together and the type of analytics they were doing. I hadn’t seen any of this being done because I was in a telecom that wasn’t very innovative. … Not only was I able to bring back content and say, ‘These are the things I think we should be talking about,’ I actually was able to network with this guy and introduce these two companies together.”

Abramson said he had seen a virtual trade show, but said “I have to admit I didn’t love that part.”

Still, the group is adding some online dimension.

“Using Skype and streaming video from the event could work really well,” he says. “That’s the direction we’re going and trying to allow people to ask questions even during the session. Through a chat, there will be a moderator in the room and posing questions to the speakers.”

In addition, McGury pointed out that there’s a very active group on LinkedIn.

And on a not-so-lesser note in these days of widespread layoffs, these events can be a great place to network your way into a new job, McGury says.

“It’s all about networking and a lot of people are building their networks for continued employment,” she says. “Some people are paying their own way. If, unfortunately, they have been downsized … they will continue to come to the event because they know it’s a great place where they can find good prospects [for another job].”