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News from APCUG |
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Early stage planning details are rapidly progressing for the APCUG 2008 Leadership Development Conference with the theme “Growing your User Group in Today’s Digital Age”. It will be held on Saturday and Sunday, May 17-18, 2008 at the Palisades Mall, West Nyack, NY. There will also be something special planned for Friday night. This will be for all APCUG Regions east of the Mississippi River, however all User Groups are welcome to attend. The date and venue were chosen by the attendees at last month’s very successful APCUG Region 1 Membership & Speaker Development Symposium. Mary and Leonard Ginsburg have joined the Symposium coordinators Hank Feinberg, Dick Kranz, Jack Marsella and Sam Wexler to plan this conference. All Eastern US APCUG Advisors (Gabe Goldberg, Judy Taylour, Stu Silverman, Bob Kwater, Patty Lowry and Sam Wexler) are involved with Sam Wexler (swexler@apcug.net) having overall responsibility for this event. In a project as big as this, we are always looking for more volunteers so please contact anyone above if you wish to join us in making this another successful event. Please pencil in and tell others to reserve the third weekend of May, 2008 to sharpen your User Group leadership skills.
This edition of NOOZ is sent to the President, Vice President, Director, Secretary, Treasurer, APCUG Representative, Newsletter Editor, Webmaster, Membership and Program Chairs of each APCUG-member User Group.
We urge you to share the information in NOOZ by including it in your newsletter, posting it on your Web site, or e-mailing it to members of your group.
In this edition of NOOZ:
1. 2008 Annual Convention
2 Website, Newsletter & Digital Photo Contests
3. Jerry Award Competition
4. Don’t forget to say thank you to our sponsoring vendors
5. Welcome to New Groups
6. What did you do on your summer vacation (from the August Microsoft Mindshare
newsletter)
7. Print Artist SIG
1. 2008 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 much more. Conference information may be found on www.apcug.net and the co-chairs may be reached at convention@apcug.net.
Registration
The convention will again be held at the Riviera Hotel and Casino. Call 800-634-6753 and ask for the APCUG08 Conference Rate; online reservations may be made at https://www.asentus.net/apcug/2008Convention
Early Bird registration [$100] through 11/1 (checks must be received by APCUG
by 11/10)
Standard Registration [$150] 11/2 through 11/30 (checks must be received by
APCUG by 12/12)
Late registration [$175] 12/1 through 12/25
On Site registration [$175] begins 1/3
Non-APCUG member group surcharge = $25
Keynote Speaker
Veteran journalist Dwight Silverman will be the keynote speaker. He has written about personal computers since the mid-1980s and is currently the computing columnist and technology blogger at the Houston Chronicle, as well as the co-host of "Technology Bytes", a weekly PC-help call-in radio show on KPFT-FM. You can read his blog and columns at http://www.chron.com/. Dwight writes extensively about all aspects of computing including PC and Mac computers, Linux and all the latest computing gadgets. Dwight and Larry Magid co-wrote the book Microsoft Windows Vista, which was published in May 2007. Currently, Dwight is working on a new book, Running Windows on your Mac, which is scheduled to be published in January 2008.
Roundtables
Some of the RTs planned for this year’s convention include: User Group Development, Finding & Retaining Volunteers, Program Chairs – When Things Go Wrong, Setting up a Server for your Home Network, Working with Cameras and Digital Cameras, Setting up a Secure Home Wireless Network plus many more. Some of the topics need one or two volunteers to lead the discussion. Please contact Ash Nallawalla, anallawalla@apcug.net, if you can help. If you have a new topic in mind and can lead the topic, please get in touch with him.
2. Website, Newsletter & Digital Photo Contests.
APCUG’s Newsletter, Web and Digital Photo contests are underway. The contests started September 1, 2007 and you have until October 15, 2007 to submit your website URL, newsletters and Digital Photos for these competitive events. If you or your group has not yet entered, don’t miss this great opportunity to get some recognition for your group. That’s what it is all about. If your UG publishes a great newsletter, maintains a website, or has members that take great digital photos - show the world!
The contest rules and criteria are on the APCUG Website:
http://www.apcug.net/2007contest/website.htm
http://www.apcug.net/2007contest/newsletter.htm
http://www.apcug.net/2007contest/photo.htm
The results of the competitions will be announced at APCUG’s Annual Convention, January 3 – 6, 2008 in Las Vegas; you do not need to be present to win. Awards and certificates will be presented at that time. Winning newsletters and websites will also receive APCUG newsletter and web logos for use on your group’s newsletter and website. The results will also be posted on www.apcug.net/ and sent out via NOOZ and Reports. All submitted Digital Photos will be on display at the conference.
APCUG Contest Committee
Bill James, Chair
Melvin Weekly, Newsletter
Roger Tesch, Photo Contest
Barbara Manning, Website
Lori Berenson, Website
3. Jerry Award Competition.
The purpose of the Jerry Awards is to encourage User Groups to get involved in community service projects. If your group is doing something within the community, take this opportunity to write-up a How-To document as to how your group is accomplishing or accomplished the task and have a chance of winning a monetary award for your efforts.
The judges will be provided with a ranking system where they will assign a certain number of points based on what a group is doing. A larger number of points will be given if their submission describes how they do what they do, in enough detail where another group can start a similar project in their area. Groups who have never won before will be given extra points to help level the playing field with established groups who "seem to win all the time." Groups that have won multiple times will need to do an especially good job explaining exactly how they do what they do, in order to win this time, since groups that have never won before will have a leg up. http://apcug.net/2007contest/jerry.htm
4. Don’t forget to say thank you to our sponsoring vendors.
From the Cascade Lakes, Florida, email Bulletin Magazine. I just bought a laptop last week and had trouble with getting online in a public place (i.e. clubhouse, hospital, McDonald's). I called the 800 number at Smart Computing and spoke to one of their tech reps in Nebraska. After an hour online they were able to help me with three problems and solved them all. We, as a computer club, benefit from subscriptions since we get one free for any five paid. When you subscribe make sure you mention Cascade Lakes Computer Users Club. Just the help I received more than paid for my subscription.
5. Welcome to our New Groups.
Northern Virginia Computer Club, Alexandria, Virginia; Haines City Computer Club, Haines City, Florida; Cascade Lakes Computer Users Group, Boynton Beach, Florida www.cascades.net; Lake County Area Computer Enthusiasts, Waukegan, IL www.lcace.org; SunRiver St. George Computer Club, St. George, Utah.
6. What Did You Do on Your Summer Vacation?
from the August Microsoft Mindshare newsletter. If you haven't yet joined the ranks of people who are creating personal web sites for sharing photos, experiences, videos, and more, you may want to click over to Windows Live Spaces and take a look. Windows Live Spaces is a free online tool you can use to share pictures, stories, contacts, and more. Setup takes only a few minutes, and you can control who gets to see your space (you can make your space private or public, depending on your preferences). This is a great way to stay in touch with family members and friends who may be scattered across the globe. http://home.services.spaces.live.com/
7. Does your UG have a Print Artist SIG (or possibly you had one in the past)?
If so, Dorothy Alexander, President of the Sarnia Computer Users Group in Canada would like someone from the SIG to get in touch with her. alexander.dorothy(at)gmail.com