HP user groups reach out to Interex members

Independent Hewlett-Packard (HP) user groups Encompass and OpenView Forum International (OVFI) are offering members of defunct rival organization Interex free, one-year memberships to both of their groups, the bodies announced Monday. The offers run from now until the end of the year and will be valid through Dec. 31, 2006.

The aim is to offer Interex members “a try before you buy” approach to joining Encompass and OVFI, according to Kristi Browder, president of Encompass, speaking in a phone interview Tuesday. “Our goal is to embrace those folks and engage them as quickly as possible,” she said. The offers are available until the end of December in order to provide Interex members with time for a “grieving process” for their former user group, Browder added.

Interex closed its doors on July 20 at the same time as announcing the cancellation of its HP World show, due to run Aug. 14 through Aug. 18 in San Francisco. The 31-year old user group that had 100,000 subscribers for its publications then filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection on Aug. 11.

Encompass, which today has 10,000 members, began life in 1961 as DECUS, a user group for customers of Digital Equipment Corp., which later was purchased by Compaq, which in turn was acquired by HP. OVFI was founded in 1993 and has an unspecified number of “thousands” of members, according to information on its Web site.

“Primarily, all the user groups have a similar charter in the areas of education, networking and our advocacy role with HP,” Browder said. In order to “try to keep some sense of continuity” for Interex members joining Encompass, Browder exerted her right as president to appoint a new member to the Encompass board of directors, Chris Koppe, a former Interex board member, she added.

In the event that any former Interex members have already joined Encompass since July 20, Browder said she would refund their membership dues.

Encompass and OVFI are currently hard at work with HP on the rescheduled HP Technology Forum due to take place in Orlando from Oct. 17 through Oct. 20. “Preparations are going very well,” Browder said. “We’ve just opened up registration again.”

The event was originally supposed to run Sept. 12 to Sept. 15 in New Orleans, but after that city was devastated by Hurricane Katrina, the organizers decided to relocate the forum.

“We’re very fortunate that Orlando reached out to the New Orleans Convention Center and they had a slot for us,” Browder said. “Both the airlines and the hotels have been very accommodating” in changing flight and room reservations, she added.

HP, Encompass and OVFI are trying to stick as closely as possible to the same schedule for the forum that they had originally planned for New Orleans, according to Browder. “We might even see some increase in [attendee] numbers,” she said as more people including those who’d originally planned to attend Interex’s HP World might be able to attend the rescheduled event.

Back in July, HP offered complimentary passes to the forum to Interex members who had already paid to attend HP World.