West Michigan Azure User Group

The purpose of our group is to create a community of tech enthusiasts who are interested in exploring, learning and using Azure. Any and all within the West Michigan area who are interested in empowering themselves and others through cloud are welcome. We will be hosting various events to help our community learn and promote Azure. Look out for our upcoming events; virtual for now.

View past meetups on our YouTube channel.

Code of Conduct
Community Rules & Etiquette
Thank you for being part of the West Michigan Azure User Group community. To ensure the best possible experience for all members, we have established some basic guidelines for participation. You must accept these terms prior to participating in the online community, attending a local user group or attending a community event.
By joining this community, you agree that you have read and will follow these rules and guidelines. You also agree to reserve discussions and shared files and content to that best suited to the medium. The online and local communities are great mediums with which to solicit the advice of your peers, benefit from their experience, and participate in ongoing conversations.
Please take a moment to acquaint yourself with these important guidelines. In order to preserve a climate that encourages both civil and fruitful dialogue, we reserve the right to suspend or terminate membership in this community for anyone who violate these rules. Questions about these guidelines should be directed to our Member Services department via this site.
The Rules

• Always treat all Community Members with respect and courtesy. Don't challenge or attack others. The discussions and comments are meant to stimulate conversation not to create contention. Let others have their say, just as you may.
• Maintain a high degree of integrity within the User Group and within the community
• Use caution when discussing products. Information posted on the lists and in the libraries is available for all to see, and comments are subject to libel, slander, and antitrust laws.
• Refrain from discrimination towards any other individual regarding race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability or military status or political view. All defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal materials are strictly prohibited. Do not post anything that you would not want the world to see or that you would not want anyone to know came from you.
• Refrain from using the User Group name or logo without the express written consent of the organization.
• Contribute to meetings and other group functions in a positive and productive manner.
• Please note carefully all items listed in the disclaimer and legal rules below, particularly regarding the copyright ownership of information posted.
• Remember that the User Group and other participants have the right to reproduce postings.
• Post your message or documents only to the most appropriate lists or libraries. Do not spam several lists, libraries or individuals with the same message.
• All messages on the site, including blogs and discussion posts, must add to the body of knowledge. We reserve the right to reject any message for any reason.
• Job openings/postings are not allowed in the community.
• Report to the Community leadership any conduct by any of the group’s members or leaders which is illegal or unethical in its dealings with other members or organizations or businesses.

Partner Membership Eligibility
Partner membership is open to authorized VARs, Resellers, Systems Integrators, ISVs and Consultants who provide value added services to Customers using Microsoft Azure services.
No Solicitation Guidelines
In order to create an environment that is free from unwanted solicitation, we ask all participants to agree to the following guidelines:

• Refrain from soliciting or marketing their services or products or affiliated third party vendors to members of the User Group(s) except for sponsorship opportunities which have been authorized by the User Group.  This includes, but is not limited to, email, phone calls, direct mail, social media, online forums, special interest groups, local User Group meetings and other User Group events.
• We ask all participants to share their deep knowledge of the product and their thought leadership.
• While informational posts about products that address specific needs are acceptable when solicited by a participant, unsolicited promotional posts are not allowed and will be removed.
• Participants' contributions should be unbiased and free of any conflict of interest. As such, please refrain from making comments about affiliates' or competitors’ products, services or other offerings.

Online Community Etiquette

• Include a signature tag on all messages. Include your name, affiliation, location.
• State concisely and clearly the topic of your comments in the subject line. This allows members to respond more appropriately to your posting and makes it easier for members to search the archives by subject.
• Only send a message to the entire list when it contains information that everyone can benefit from.
• Send messages such as "thanks for the information" or "me, too" to individuals--not to the entire list. Do this by using the "Reply to Sender" link to the left of every message.
• Do not send administrative messages, such as remove me from the list. Instead, use the web interface to change your settings or to remove yourself from a list. If you are changing e-mail addresses, you do not need to remove yourself from the list and rejoin under your new e-mail address. Simply change your settings.

Local User Group Participation Guidelines
In order to create a positive, solicitation free environment where the community can come to learn and share with one another freely, we ask all local user group participants to follow the guidelines below.

• Register for the Local User Group meeting in advance.
• Promote Local User Group meetings to your customers as appropriate. If attending, accompany your customer if possible, but this is not a requirement for participation and attendance.
• We encourage participants to present educational content as requested by the Local User Group Leader.  We ask all presenters to:
  • Limit company information to one slide
  • Ensure content is educational in nature. Marketing and/or sales messages are not allowed.
  • If highlighting a customer, it provides increased value if they participate in the presentation
• Engage in conversation by sharing knowledge of the software and subject matter expertise.
• Refrain from marketing and/or sales-oriented discussions at the meetings. This includes, but is not limited to, promotion of products or services.
• Refrain from distributing handouts or promotional items unless formally approved in advance by the User Group; or unless approved as part of a paid sponsorship program authorized by the User Group.
• Refrain from requesting contact information from other Users at meetings for the purposes of solicitation.  Refrain from copying or accessing any information from meeting rosters.