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 Website, or e-mailing it to the members of your group.

 

In this edition of NOOZ:

 

1.         Annual Convention

2.         Regional Conferences

3.         Fundraising Idea

4.         FACUG Spring Conference Recap

5.         APCUG’s News Magazine, Reports

 

Reports is online at http://reports.apcug.org/2008q2.htm
       

1.          Annual Convention. The Board of Directors and Board of Advisors recently had a discussion regarding the Las Vegas annual convention and decided that APCUG will try something new. The annual meeting will not be held in Las Vegas. It will be moved around each year to a new location at regional events. This solution allows different user groups to attend APCUG events. Discussions are ongoing to offer events around the world as user groups show interest in hosting a local event. APCUG is willing to work with the user groups who would like to offer these regional events in their area. If your group is interested in helping start an APCUG-sponsored regional event, contact Jay Ferron at president@apcug.net. More details will be found in Q1 Reports that will be sent to selected officers in April.

 

2.         Regional Conferences. Two APCUG-sponsored regional events are planned for 2008. The first Membership & Leadership Development Conference (Growing Your User Group in Today’s Digital Age!) will be held May 16 – 18 in West Nyack NY, 30 miles north of New York City. This is the first meeting of Eastern regional groups in over 10 years and something they have been looking forward to. The $49 early-bird registration fee ($60 for non-APCUG members) includes breakfast and lunch for two days as well as a welcome bag and t-shirt. This rate is good until April 15. Friday evening will feature a welcome event for those who come early; Saturday is an entire day of speakers and workshops devoted to building and increasing your group’s membership; and Sunday workshops are on technology, promoting your club, and the ins and outs of running a club.

 

The conference will be held at the Palisades Center Mall, one of the largest in the U.S. There are many restaurants, shops, movie theaters, a bowling alley and ice skating rink so that all can enjoy their time in NY. There are hotels/motels within a few miles to fit any budget. See the conference website for special event rates and book early. If you have any questions, please contact Sam Wexler at swexler@apcug.net.

www.apcug-ldc2008.org

 

The second regional event will be the first APCUG Midwest User Group Conference to be held at the Prairie State College in Chicago Heights, IL, September 19 – 21. The Chicago Society will host this event. The theme of the conference is “Technology for the Rest of Us.” Again, everyone is invited to attend. This three-day conference will feature topics that will cater to the membership of organizations rather than its leadership. The conference begins on Friday with registration and an evening social gathering with light snacks being provided. Saturday will feature vendor and member presentations. Sunday will feature a Vendor Fair and end with the ever-popular prize drawing. For spouses of out-of-town attendees, brochures of sites in the Chicago area will be available. For further information, please contact Patty Lowry at plowry@apcug.net.

 

A third event, the Southwest Computer Conference, will be held in San Diego, May 30 – June 1 (the weekend after Memorial Day). Although this event is not an APCUG-sponsored regional conference, this is the 15^th year for the conference and the majority of the attendees are members of APCUG-member user groups. As with the other two events, all are invited to attend. Some of the new activities this year will include a presentation on Friday afternoon on the History of Computers and a keynote address by a representative from the Homeland Security Department in Washington DC. Saturday activities include user group leadership and personal productivity workshops as well as vendor tech sessions. Saturday evening is devoted to the Vendor Expo and Sunday features the Digital Photo Contest awards, door prize drawings and another round of workshops. The $60 early-bird registration fee includes all meals, workshops, a welcome bag and t-shirt, as well as numerous door prize drawings. For further information, contact Judy Taylour at JudyTaylour@theswcc.org

www.theswcc.org

 

3.         Fundraising Idea from Gabe Goldberg, Region 2 Advisor. Become an Amazon Affiliate. It’s easy to join Amazon’s Associates. Just visit

 http://affiliate-program.amazon.com/gp/associates/join and follow the instructions. Once you’re approved, simply tell your members and everyone they know to shop at Amazon through your group’s store link rather than going directly to amazon.com. Then count the money rolling in. Gabe says that until you have your own group’s store established, the Capital PCUG would LOVE for you to use their store. Just go to http://shop.cpcug.org/ and shop away. See Q2 Reports for more information.

 

4.         FACUG (Florida Association of User Groups) Spring 2008 Conference.

A very successful 14^th annual FACUG Spring Conference was held just north of Tampa on Florida’s west coast in early March. All of the participants and vendors gave extremely positive feedback. The member presentations were great and each and every vendor presentation was stimulating and interested their audience. Kudos to FACUG. They had the courage to try many new concepts and swept the 150+ attendees off their feet. For pictures and a description of the program, as well as a copy of some of the presentations, visit www.facug.org.

 

5.         APCUG’s News Magazine, Reports. Some of the interesting information you will find in the Q2 issue are: Preparing a Gadgets Presentation for UG Meetings by Gabe Goldberg; more about the LDC in New York by Sam Wexler as well as a recap of the recent FACUG event by Stu Silverman; an article by Terry Roberts about the ICON Computer Users’ Group annual technology fair, “The March of Technology Expo,” held in Springfield, Missouri, on February 29; an article by Ash Nallawalla on his award-winning list of computer user groups new website; Windows Home Server by Clint Tinsley; an APCUG White Paper by Ash Nallawalla on Realignment with Consumer Electronics; plus much more.

 

Happy computing,

Judy Taylour, Chair

Board of Advisors 

 

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