We at the Drone User Group Network are looking for people interested in starting a Drone User Group in their local area or affiliating their existing group with our network. The Drone User Group Network is an association of community organizations that seek to promote the use of flying robots for community service, artistic, entrepreneurial, and recreational purposes. Our hope is that by creating a national (and eventually international) organization we can bring more people into this activity, promote innovation, and help demonstrate the positive potential of this technology for humanity. Individual drone user groups are the in-person counterpart to virtual communities like DIY Drones where people can help each other learn how to build drones, hold fly-ins and educational events, organize community service projects, and share their passion for this technology and its applications.
If you are interested in the possibility of starting a new group or affiliating your existing group with the network, please email us at info@dcdrone.org for more information. We will help you start your group on Meetup and build your community. You don’t need to be highly technical to lead a group; you just need to have a passion for helping people engage with this technology. Current Drone User Group Network members include the DC Area Drone User Group, The Los Angeles and OC Drone User Group, the North Texas Drone User Group, and the San Francisco Drone User Group. We hope you will join us in creating this dynamic new community.
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I shared this on the DIYDrones Twitter and Facebook. Nice work folks!
The group has a few different goals:
1) For our members, we seek to help new people learn to build and fly their own drones and to provide experienced fliers a community to network and try new things with.
2) Change the narrative in our society around the role of drones through public demonstrations, community service projects, and being visible in the press.
3) Influence policy through outreach to lawmakers and regulatory bodies.
4) Have fun while doing all of the above.
Not every member is going to be equally interested in all of these goals, although we are looking for DUG leaders who are willing to engage on all of these things. I think we are a bit different from other groups in that we are trying to draw in people who fly purely for recreation along with people who want to apply their drones to social and business challenges. Right now it seems like these communities operate quite separately from each other and we seek to be a bridge between hobbyist and professional users because we can drive innovation by bringing these communities together.
Thanks for your question, and let me know if I can provide any more information.
Glad to see this. You might want to also tap into the ~50 local drone users groups that already exist and are listed here.