This week’s User Group Report continues its focus on the Apple Regional Liaison Team with three more members. It also begins coverage of the events surrounding the upcoming Macworld CreativePro Conference & Expo, including the User Group Leadership Conference.
The User Group Report is the Internet radio show that features interviews with people making news in the user group community. It’s hosted by Chuck Joiner, editor of The MUG Center, an online resource for Mac User Groups (MUGs).
Macworld CreativePro Conference & Expo will run July 14-18 at New York City’s Javits Center. The event is expected to draw professionals from design, publishing, video, and audio fields, together with hundreds of exhibitors, and will offer in-depth conference tracks for Mac-using pros involved in different creative markets.
In this week’s User Group Report, Terry White of MacGroup-Detroit and Adobe outlines the successes and projects of the user group, his activities at the recent MacDesign Conference, and his presentation about MUG web sites at the upcoming User Group Leadership Conference.
Roy Atkinson of the Down East Macintosh Users Group and Regional Liaison Team member for the Northeast United States talks about his group, why they have Australian members on their listserv, and the reactions he’s had from groups in his area to his “first contact” efforts.
Thomas Piper of the appleJAC Macintosh Users Group discusses his role as the Central United States Regional Liaison, how he got started in user groups, and what he wants to accomplish in the coming months. Lynn Poos of the Silicon Mountain Macintosh Users Group is the only domestic third-term member of the Regional Liaison. He shares his insight into the development and evolution of the team. Poos also offers advice to help user groups in his territory and beyond understand what the RLT offers them.
Apple Regional Liaisons are user group leaders who run successful user groups in their communities. As volunteers, they have made themselves available to help groups in their areas. They also network with groups in their regions and keep Apple informed on local needs.
Also, the Mid-Atlantic Macintosh User Groups Team (MaMUGs) has posted photos online from last week’s sold-out MUGdinner, “MD25MD: Celebrating 25 Years of The Maryland Apple Corps.” The pics include shots of Steve “Woz” Wozniak, Apple co-founder, who gave the keynote address.
The event featured presentations by Arno Drucker, MdAC president; Victor Nazarian, MdAC member; Peggy Ireland, APCUG (Association of Personal Computer User Groups) president; Dave Marra, Apple’s senior systems engineer (K-12) and MUG evangelist; Chuck Joiner, Apple User Groups Advisory Board chairman; Fred Showker, editor-in-chief of M.U.G./AACUG (Mac User Groups/Apple Computer User Groups Association); and Daniel East, MaMUG president.
There’s also a dial-up and broadband version of the iMovie created from the event at the MaMUGs Web site; you can view it with QuickTime 6x or later. An additional movie is also available from Richard Taylor TV. What’s more, Dave Zeiler, SunSpot reporter, conducted an interview with Wozniak just prior to the event. The interview is now online.
MUGs are good places for making new friends, finding Mac-loving buddies, boning up your technical expertise, finding solutions to technical problems, and sometimes finding a good deal on used hardware. For more info on MUGs, and to find the location of the one nearest you, go to Apple’s User Group Web page.