APCUG
Hello Region 5
This is August's edition of NOOZ, sent to member groups from APCUG.
As the Advisor for Region 5, I would like to share some of this information with you.
I would appreciate some information about your user group. Let me know if you have had a successful program. I would love to share it with other user groups.
Several of you are sending me copies of your Newsletters. I find them most informative and feel a sense of pride at what clubs in Florida are doing. I have not received information about newsletter from all the groups. If possible, put me on your mailing list and send me a pdf copy. I hope to hear from you soon.
Stuart Silverman - EMail
APCUG Region 5 Advisor , FACUG Directors
View Issues - 2008 January | 2008 March |
January 2007 | March 2007 | April 2007 | August 2007 | December 2007
NOOZ - August 2007
The Florida Association of Computer User Groups (FACUG) will hold its Fall Conference on Saturday, October 6, at the Bahia Shrine Temple, Orlando, Florida, open to all computer user group members, whether or not their group is an FACUG member.
Roundtable discussions include: Double Your Membership! Financial reporting and 501C inform, Getting people involved in your User, How to do a PodCast, Let's talk Apple, Microsoft Vista, Networking, Newsletters & Editing, Solving Volunteer Shortages, Success of the Small User Group, The Importance of Software Review, The Ins and Outs of Blogging, Web 2.0: Changing Our World, What APCUG can do for your User Group, Working with Digital Videos.
We will have our usual door prize drawings and a featured speaker at the luncheon – all for $25 (early bird registration ends 8/31/07) or $30 at the door. Non-FACUG member groups’ registration is $35 by 8/31 or $40 at the door. There will be a pre-conference event Friday evening at PF Chang’s in Winter Park. Hotel info available on the website, WWW.FACUG.org. As you can see this conference is packed with information useful to any user group. I hope to see you there.
For more information: Email information
Come and visit the greatly enhanced website. Kudos goes to Cheryl Wilson, our webmaster who has toiled for many hours to add many new features to the website. President James Thompson has been spearheading our inclusion of Blogs, Forums, and our own Wiki. Come check it out. To paraphrase Mayor Daly, come to the site early and come often.
I have received several of our member groups’ newsletters. I not only found them informative, but also have sent several articles for APCUG PUSH articles and for Reports. Why not share; your expertise with others around the world? Send us your software reviews. They may be placed on either/or FACUG or APCUG website.
In this edition of NOOZ:
1.Jay Ferron new President of APCUG
2. 2008 Annual Convention
3. Fundraising Ideas
4. Regional Events
5. Peachpit User Group Program
6. Mindshare User Group Program
1. Jay Ferron new President of APCUG
At an Executive Session of the Board of Directors in July, Jay Ferron, Vice President, was appointed as President. Don Singleton was thanked for his many contributions to APCUG and remains a board member.
2. 2008 Annual Convention
The theme is Membership Retention and Growth.
Highlights and benefits planned for the 2008 event include: Jerry Awards; newsletter, website and digital photo contest awards; roundtable / educational sessions; vendor presentations; opportunities to meet vendors; meal / social events; opportunities to meet user group members from around the world; and the spouse program. Later this summer, registration information will be posted on www.apcug.net. The co-chairs may be reached at convention@apcug.net.
Don’t miss the opportunity to get some recognition for your group by entering the newsletter and/or website contests. September 1 is the beginning date for you to submit your website URL and newsletters and October 15 is the last date for these contest entries. Those are also the dates for your members to submit their digital photos for that contest. The results of the contests will be announced at the annual event.
The 2008 contest committee members are:
Bill James (bjames@apcug.net),
Melvin Weekley (mweekley@apcug.net),
Roger Tesch (rtesch@apcug.net),
Barbara Manning (bmanning@apcug.net)
Lori Berenson (lberenson@apcug.net)
3. Fundraising Ideas
Macy's:
Last year, Macy’s raised over $9,000,000 in a single day of shopping to benefit charities across America.
This year they will be having a Shop for a Cause on October 13, 2007. Each 501(c)3 UG can sell $5 passes for great discounts at Macy’s.
The UG gets to keep the $5 for each pass sold and the customer gets to use the discounts.
For further information go to www.macys.com/charity
To find your closest Macy’s go to http://www1.macys.com/store/locator/index.ognc
(from Stu Silverman, Advisor, Region 5).2008 Entertainment discount coupon books:
Selling season starts this month for 2008 Entertainment discount coupon books . Selling books is great / easy for user groups and the books are a super money saver for members, friends, family and colleagues. Discounts in 2008 books will be valid from early August 2007 through November 1, 2008. So the earlier people buy books, the more time they will have to save money.
Discounts cover everything from dining to travel (hotel, car rental, air fare) dry cleaning, car repair, theater and movie tickets, etc. It’s easy to save money on everyday purchases; you needn’t spend extra money for ‘savings.’
The Capital PC User Group has sold these for many years and typically raises about $1200 each year. As the website shows, discount coupon books are available for most major North American cities. If you want your group to join, let Gabe know (ggoldberg@apcug.net) and he will get you enrolled. http://www.entertainment.com
(from Gabe Goldberg, Advisor, Region 2)
4. Regional Events
New this year is
the APCUG Region 1
Membership & Speaker Development Symposiumbeing put together by Sam Wexler, Region 1 Advisor.
The event will be held on
Wednesday, August 22
at the Home Town Buffet in Wappingers Falls NY,
from 4:00 pm to 8:30 pm.
The agenda includes dinner and fellowship time; a welcome to attendees and introduction of the vision for the meeting; introduction of attendees; successful membership and speaker development experiences; membership development around-the-room discussion; obtaining and developing speakers round table discussion; recap, closing message and follow-on. There will also be door prizes.
Although the majority of the ‘regional’ events are not sponsored by APCUG, most of the groups attending the various events are members groups. APCUG assists the events by listing the event information on www.apcug.net and by including articles in Reports and NOOZ.
See above for FACUG Fall Conference
Mini-Expo VI sponsored by the Chicago Computer Society.
This event, Technology for Fun, will be held on Saturday, September 15, 2007 from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm at Prairie State College in Chicago Heights, Illinois. Learn and network, win free high-dollar prizes plus lunch is included – all for $15 (prior to 9/10) - $20 at the door. ATEN (Assistive Technology Exchange Network) will hold a computer drive from 8 am until noon for the drop off of old computers and equipment. The equipment will be refurbished or properly disposed of by ATEN. For more information, contact Al Cheeks, alcheeks@bigfoot.com – www.css.org
The Northwest Florida Association of Computer User Groups 2nd annual NWFACUG Expo07
The Northwest Florida Association of Computer User Groups is holding its 2nd annual NWFACUG Expo07 on Friday, October 5. The event is held in Niceville, Florida.
Contact J.B. Hillard, president of NWFACUG, for more information bay59@myway.com - http://nwfacug.org/14th Annual Southwest Computer User Group Conference
The 14th Annual Southwest Computer User Group Conference was held July 13-15 at the Town and Country Resort & Convention Center. Over 270 attendees registered for the event. The conference was sponsored by 70 vendors, with 27 attending the Saturday evening Vendor Faire. Smart Computing, Pinnacle Systems, AMD, Corel and Microsoft sponsored the meal / presentation events; the Keynote at the Saturday morning breakfast was by Andy Marken, Marken Communications. His topic was DRM – How will the show end?
Attendees had the opportunity to attend seminars by Trend Micro, Heritage Makers, Migo Software, Nibbin, AMD, Pinnacle Systems, Data Drive Thru, Marken Communications and User Group Relations. The User Group workshops featured topics such as: Bringing the fun back into user group meetings; How to create a PowerPoint presentation that will wow your UG members; Equipping your user group for meetings; Working with Word - mail merge for labels, invoices and more; Skype - How to get that presentation when others can’t!; a brainstorming session for officers; Hackers: Changing the face of identity theft; Podcasting and Web 2.0; and Contrasting and Comparing Macs and PCs. New this year was the Face of SW Digital Photo Contest conducted by Cathy and George Margolin for the attendees of their workshop, Digital Photography with the Margolins. Plans are already underway for the 2008 conference to be held May 30, 31 and June 1. www.swugconf.org
5. Peachpit User Group Program
Did you receive your PIAB from Peachpit?
If your group is not a member you are really missing some terrific benefits. Each month your group is eligible for a free book (your choice) that you can use as a door prize, a volunteer thank you, put in the group’s library, etc.
In a recent Peachpit UG newsletter they offered their Photoshop PIAB. What fun to open the heavy box and finda Double Feature Video – The Peachpit Experience:
Photoshop World Las Vegas and Macworld Conference & Expo, San Francisco 2007 – something for both APCUG’s Mac and PC member groups. Also included was popcorn and M&Ms to share at the meeting, a t-shirt, three books (Adobe Indesign CS3 How-Tos, 100 Essential Techniques; Designer’s Guide to Max OS X Tiger; and Understanding Adobe Photoshop – Digital Imaging Concepts and Techniques) and a mouse pad that can be used as door prizes. There was also information about iStockphoto and New Riders’ Voices that Matter books with a 35% discount until 12/31/07.Of course, your members also receive a 30% discount on books they order from Peachpit – if your group is a member. usergroups@peachpit.com
PIAB - presentation in a box
6. Mindshare User Group Program
Sherri Sullivan announced at the Southwest Computer UG Conference in San Diego that the Mindshare website is being redesigned.
She encouraged all member groups to send an e-mail to mindshar@microsoft.com with up-to-date information about your club:Name of club and acronym, contact person, e-mail address, website address, meeting location address, and number of members.
Sheri also said that groups should be on the look-out for members to be nominated for Microsoft’s User Spotlight.Are you looking for meeting content? Check out the On-Demand Webcast link, as well as the Tips & Tricks at Microsoft Vista Tips and Tricks
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