If you've been thinking about starting a local technology user group in your area but have been looking for some guidance, you should definitely check out this recent post from Joe Ferguson with some good "dos" and "don'ts" around groups and organization.

When I introduce myself before I give a talk at a conference or a user group I mention I am a user group leader and very passionate about community. I happily receive questions from people starting new user groups or reviving old groups.

I wanted to share a recent response I sent to someone today who was asking for advice about their meetup group: Congrats on jumping into the world of running a UG. A lot of this is “in my experience” so your milage may vary

He starts with the "dos" (like keeping it small to start and making meetings consistent) and "don'ts" (not to worry about sponsors and making the talks "conference level" every month). He also includes an interesting section about "protecting" your user group, preventing things like over-zealous recruiters from coming in and giving people a bad impression of the group. He also links to lots of other resources you can read and participate in to make you a more effective user group leader.