In addition to several Access Conferences in 2024, Access aficionados will be able to have regular top ups of their Access knowledge by attending the various Access User Group meetings.
The first cluster of virtual user groups is the global platform AccessUserGroups.org, provided by Access MVP Juan Soto.
The groups have a monthly meeting schedule with an invited speaker presenting a topic relevant to Access developers. Sessions include time for questions, general discussion and for sharing ideas. All meetings are led by current or former MVPs and are free for all to attend. Unless otherwise stated, meetings are in English with captions available.
Depending on your time zone, meetings are available at times from breakfast, lunch, evening or even during the night. All meetings are recorded and made available on YouTube shortly after the session.
Access Lunchtime (AL) https://accessusergroups.org/lunch/
Our group is focused on helping users, IT pros, developers and new users have a place to meet, share ideas and get questions answered.
Meetings are on the last Tuesday of the month, from 12 noon Central US Time (UTC-5 in summer / UTC-6 in winter) and are led by Maria Barnes.
Access Europe (AEU) https://accessusergroups.org/europe/
The group’s focus is on innovative and lesser known features in Access and is led by Colin Riddington and Alessandro Grimaldi.
Meetings are on the first Wednesday of each month starting at 18:00 (6 PM) UK time (UTC+1 in summer / UTC in winter)
Access Espana (ESP) https://accessusergroups.org/espana/
The group is designed for both newbies and expert developers. Meetings are led by Juanjo Luna and are in Spanish.
Meets on the third Thursday of each month at 9:00 pm (21:00) Central European Time (UTC+2 in summer / UTC+1 in winter)
SQL Server With Access (SA) https://accessusergroups.org/sql-server-with-access/
The group’s objectives are to discuss, help and provide information on how to use Access with SQL Server.
Meets every second Tuesday of the month at 6:30 pm (18:30) Central US Time (UTC-5 in summer / UTC-6 in winter) and led by Juan Soto.
Access Pacific (AP) https://accessusergroups.org/pacific/
Led by George Hepworth. Provides a late day forum for Access users locally and around the world.
Meets on the first Thursday of every month, from 6:30 pm (18:30) Pacific Time (UTC-7 in summer / UTC-8 in winter).
The YouTube channel for AccessUserGroups.org contains the recordings of all meetings.
Denver Area (DA) https://www.daaug.org/
Established in 1994 and led by George Young. Meetings on the third Thursday of each month usually starting at 6:30 PM (18:30) US Mountain Time (UTC-6 in summer / UTC-7 in winter).
Dedicated to helping everyone from novice users to advanced developers improve their Access database skills and understanding.
The DAAUG YouTube channel has recordings for all meetings since 2019.
In Germany, there is the tradition of Access-Stammtisch (regulars' table). Traditionally, these are face-to-face meetings in pubs, beer gardens and similar places. During the Covid era, many of these switched to virtual meetings. Now the majority are in person again.
The Access-Stammtisch Hannover meets once a quarter, on the third Wednesday of the second month.
The Access-Stammtisch Ruhrpott meets every 3rd Friday in odd-numbered months. The next planned dates are January 19 and March 15, 2024.
The Access-Stammtisch Rhein-Main still meets virtually (Skype!) every second Friday of the month.
The Access-Stammtisch Munich meets once a month and has always done so in person (with beer medicine) during the pandemic. The brave survivors ;-) have their next meetings on January 11 and February 8, 2024.
There were or are a few more regulars' tables in Germany (Stuttgart, Berlin, Bremen, etc.), but their current status is unclear. Even before Covid, some of them didn't have websites and the pandemic certainly didn't help with organizing.
In the United Kingdom, the UK Access User Group was established in 1995, originally as a subscription service. It is led by Peter Bryant and Rod Gordon.
Post-Covid, membership is now free and the group continues to run a mixture of online and live events. Their next online event is on January 11, 2024. Recordings of all events are available to members. The group also has a very active list server (email group).
In addition to the formal Access User Groups listed above, other, less formal, local groups in your area may also meet to discuss Access topics. You might contact other Access developers to see if a group exists near you.
If you know of further Access user groups anywhere in the world, please write us a comment with information and links about them.