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Written by Gabe Goldberg
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Thursday, 02 October 2008 |
In this edition of NOOZ:
0.1 Gabe's Travels
0.2 We need an East Coast Regional Conference!
0.3 Keep me informed about your group's activities!
1. The Search is On! Elections 2008
2. Which groups are eligible to vote?
3. Learn how to do a remote vendor presentation!
4. North Orange County Computer Club, California, answers
computer-related questions in their local newspaper
5. Melbourne PC gives green light to convene IT professionals SIG Meeting
6. Microsoft Mindshare Program
7. Share Your Community Stories
8. Program Idea - 101 Fabulous Freebies
This edition of NOOZ is sent to the President, Vice President, Director,
Secretary, Treasurer, APCUG Representative, Newsletter Editor,
Webmaster, and Membership & Program Chairs of each APCUG-member User
Group.
Please 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.
0.1 Gabe's Travels
I've lately been on the road attending user group meetings and regional
APCUG conferences. I've been twice to the NovaCom Northern Virginia
group, where I first enjoyed a Skype presentation and demo, and then
presented my talk on keeping a PC clean and uncluttered. I delivered my
talk on gadgets to the Fredericksburg, VA and Northern Neck, VA user
groups. I just returned from APCUG's excellent Midwest Regional
Conference where I presented the PC cleanup talk.
Attending these meetings -- and presenting -- is a key part of my role
as an APCUG Advisor; it lets me meet group members, volunteers, and
officers, and learn/communicate success stories, best practices, and
resources. Which is what APCUG is all about!
Let me know if you'd like me to visit; the longer in advance we can
plan, the better.
0.2 We need an East Coast Regional Conference!
As announced earlier, APCUG replaced its yearly Las Vegas conference
with a series of regional events around the country. An excellent
conference was held near New York City and one is planned for Florida,
but there's nothing coming in the mid-Atlantic region. Regional events
are a great way for neighboring groups to meet each other and
collaborate/partner in various ways such as sharing equipment purchases,
producing joint events, operating community service projects, and
running more efficiently together.
Planning and operating a regional event is an enjoyable and rewarding
experience. With a team effort, it's not overwhelming for participants
and APCUG provides logistical, planning, and financial support. Let me
know if you'd like to explore -- with no obligation! -- creating an
event.
0.3 Keep me informed about your group's activities!
I appreciate some groups having added me to their newsletter mailing
lists -- paper or electronic. It lets me know what you're doing and
helps me share information, speaker ideas, etc. -- not to mention,
making groups and people famous for their innovations and successful
ideas. So if I'm not on your mailing list, please add me.
1. The Search Is On! Elections 2008.
You have from October 1 to October 15 to complete the candidate interest
form to run for a Director or Advisor position. You will find the
Candidate Form at http://apcug.net/contacts/forms/candidate_form.htm.
You should also read the APCUG Code of Ethics and the APCUG
Non-Disclosure Agreement and must agree to both of these to submit your
name for consideration. Voting will take place during the month of
November. Download and complete the file and send it to Jay Ferron at
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Incumbents running for office include:
Directors
Claudette Marshall (appointed this year to the Board of Directors)
Kathy Jacobs (appointed this year to the Board of Directors)
Don Singleton (member of the board since 1994)
APCUG's Board of Directors is the direct management arm of the
organization. Directors participate in the daily operation of APCUG;
each serves a three-year term. Directors actively participate in all
regularly scheduled online / telecon business meetings or such special
meetings as may be called by the president and participate in APCUG
business via e-mail. Each Director is encouraged to chair a committee.
Advisors
Stu Silverman (Region 5 advisor since 2007)
Patty Lowry (appointed as Region 6 advisor in 2007)
Roger Tesch (appointed Region 7 Advisor in 2004)
There are also openings in Regions 9, 10 and 11 as well as International.
Advisors serve a two-year term and have no role in APCUG's day-to-day
operations. Instead, Advisors serve as liaison between member user
groups and APCUG by:
o Regularly communicating with all APCUG groups in your assigned region.
This Communication is usually done by sending a NOOZ e-mail to all
User Group Officers in your region at least monthly, and also includes
expeditiously answering email sent to you from user group officers.
o Contributing an article to the Quarterly APCUG Reports new magazine
describing your regional activities. Where do you get this
information? From groups' newsletters and websites. Or ask your groups
to send you information on what is happening in their group.
o Submitting a short monthly report regarding your interaction with
assigned groups (prior to the monthly on-line BOA meeting).
o Encouraging holding regional meetings in your assigned region and
attending those meetings.
o Actively participating in all regularly scheduled online business
meetings (3rd Sunday of the month at 6:00 pm Pacific time) or such
special meetings as may be called by the Chair. Participate in BOA
business via e-mail.
o Accepting an individual leadership role from the Chair by chairing one
or more BOA projects.
o Soliciting non-APCUG members in your assigned regions and following-up
on lapsed member groups.
2. Which groups are eligible to cast a vote in the election?
APCUG-member groups with full membership status. Associate member groups
with less than 25 members and those whose membership is not open to the
general public are not eligible to vote. Voting will take place during
November and online voting information will be sent to either the
President or APCUG Representative of each eligible group.
3. Learn how to do a remote vendor presentation!
Don Singleton at
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will show your group how it works.
You will need high speed Internet at your meeting location and a
computer and projector so that everyone can see what is on the
computer's screen. Depending on the size of your meeting room, and the
number of expected attendees, you may need some way to connect the
speaker output of your computer into the room's audio system.
Don will need to spend an hour or two working with whoever owns the
computer you will use to get some software installed on it, and to make
sure they know when he needs them to do a few steps.
They will need to have Skype (http://www.skype.com/) and LogMeIn
(http://www.LogMeIn.com) installed, and Don will need to be able to send
them emails during the presentation. Don is not sure about the other
three products. You will need to install them to initiate your own
screen sharing.
o Sign up for Acrobat.com
http://www.adobe.com/go/acrobat_com_all_open_en
o Get a Windows Live ID http://www.unyte.net/download/index.php
o Download SharedView
http://connect.microsoft.com/site/sitehome.aspx?SiteID=94
o Download Unyte http://www.unyte.net/download/index.php
Don needs to know:
o The date and time for your presentation
o How long he has
o Who will be running the presentation from your end (name, phone, and
email), and when they can get together to practice
o A cellphone number Don can reach that person by during the
presentation, if something goes wrong
After Don's presentation you will be able to encourage those vendors who
can't travel to your location to do an online presentation.
4. North Orange County Computer Club, California, answers
computer-related questions in their local newspaper.
What a great way to get new members and be a service to your community.
From the September OrangeBytes newsletter - President's column: The "Ask
the PC Club" column that has been running in the Orange County Register
newspaper on Tuesdays in the Marketplace section, has been having a
positive effect on membership. In the last month six new members have
mentioned that the column was where they became familiar with the club's
existence."
5. Melbourne PC gives green light to convene an IT professionals SIG.
Most of the founding group provide IT support services to small- and
medium-sized businesses and getting together on a regular basis will be
a great way to share common issues. You could even open the SIG to the
computer consultants in your group that support individual clients. You
might also have members who work for an IT department who might benefit
from attending this type of SIG. Give it a try if your group members fit
the criteria.
6. Microsoft's Mindshare Program.
We hear from Sheri Sullivan, Mindshare Project Manager, that not all
APCUG-member groups have updated their information. Microsoft has
combined their user group programs under one umbrella at
www.mindshare.codezone.com You will need to create a profile and then
link it to your user group. You can also create a log-in and password
for your UG members so they can create their own profile "Group username
is unique identifier of your user group you can use in web services etc.
Group password should be provided to user group members, so they can
register themselves as members of your user group."
7. Share Your Community Stories!
How is Windows Vista making a difference in your group or for your
members? Microsoft is looking for some great testimonials-from groups or
individuals-who want to share their Windows Vista stories with other
groups on www.mindshare.codezone.com . Need a few ideas to get you
started? Here's a few: "How I Saved My User Group Photos from Disaster,"
"Easy Steps to Keep Your Group's Data Safe and Secure with Windows Live
OneCare," or "My Family Is Always by My Side with Windows." Send your
'article' to
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8. Meeting Idea - 101 Fabulous Freebies.
MSN Tech & Gadgets has posted a fun article, listing 101 free finds on
the Web. Click here to check out the list:
http://tech.msn.com/products/articlepcw.aspx?cp-documentid=6729042 .
Your group is a member of APCUG; you have received this e-mail to inform
you of updates, changes, or special news and information. Our policy is
to send e-mail messages only to announce such information, and we will
continue to honor this policy. If you no longer want to receive these
e-mails, please reply to the sender. Thank you for being a member of
APCUG.
--
Gabe Goldberg APCUG Reg. 2 (DC/DE/MD/NJ/VA) Advisor
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3401 Silver Maple Place, Falls Church, VA 22042 (703) 204-0433
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