by Saundra (Sandy) Foderick, Editor | Jul 13, 2021 | News & Events, User Group How To
In 2004 Sarah Friedlander Garcia was a student at Rochester Institute of Technology, a second-term Vice President of MacRIT, the university’s campus user group, Apple Campus Rep for RIT, and a member of Apple’s Campus Group Advisory Board. She was a long time Mac user, and a popular speaker at User Group University (UGU). Many groups struggle to attract young members, and at UGU Sarah offered some thoughts regarding finding and retaining young user group members.
Today Sarah is Director, Content Marketing at SugarCRM. Her skills are not limited to technology and marketing. In fact, she she has been known to play flute at Carnegie Hall. After a few years working in Santiago de Chile, she, husband Rodrigo Garcia, son Noah, and Aidan (resident dog) live in New York City.
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by Saundra (Sandy) Foderick, Editor | Jul 12, 2021 | Leaders, User Group How To, User Group Meeting Materials
Nicholas Pyers of AppleUsers.org always has expert ideas on ways to make leading your group easier and more efficient. In this article he discusses media releases: basic guidelines, finding topics, generating media interest, identifying media opportunities and more. His article wraps up with a link to a helpful article on creating a media kit.Check it out
!http://www.appleusers.org/ugr/getting-a-media-release-published/
by Saundra (Sandy) Foderick, Editor | Jul 10, 2021 | News & Events
Apple Watch is incredibly popular and the next OS brings new and nifty features, including more capabilities with the Home app, new workout types, an updated Breathe app, multiple timers, sleeping respiratory rate, a redesigned Music app that enables users to share songs, albums, and playlists through Messages and Mail, and enjoy music and radio all in one place, Severe Weather notifications, and more.
As you might expect, there are neat things ahead for iOS 15 as well.
Want to provide your members with the most-recent information? Check out watchOS 8 Preview – First Look (L592895A-en_US) and iOS 15 Preview – First Look (L592883A-en_US).
Ambassadors: July. is a great month to check out ASW!
by Saundra (Sandy) Foderick, Editor | Jul 8, 2021 | News & Events
Groups have had a positive response to accessibility as a meeting topic. Apple’s Accessibility home page says that the true value of a technology is not measured by how powerful it is, but by how much it empowers the user, and every Apple product contains amazing and empowering accessibility features right out of the box. From being able to take a perfect group selfie without being able to see the screen, to VoiceOver, display accommodations, Live Listen, closed captioning that displays far more than text, LED iPhone notifications, Switch Control, customized gestures, AssistiveTouch, Guided Access, typing feedback, text-to-speech, fitness algorithms for wheelchair users, and more, there are features to make every user’s tasks easier.
Another great way to enjoy an accessibility presentation is to bring your group to a Today at Apple Accessibility session showing the basics of using the assistive technologies that are built into every Mac, iPad, iPhone, and Apple Watch.
Check it out.
https://www.apple.com/accessibility/
Accessibility Support
by Saundra (Sandy) Foderick, Editor | Jun 14, 2021 | News & Events
Steve Welsh of OMUG passed along a great BGR article recently, discussing an upcoming feature that can help Apple users name a person who can access their iCloud when they are not able to do so. It is worth a read.
Where did the information come from? The upcoming Digital Legacy feature was shown by Mike Abbott at WWDC 2021, though it is not released yet.
iOS 15 adds an iPhone feature you might never use – but you should set it up anyway
Thanks much to Steve Welsh of the Oregon MacPioneers User Group (OMUG) and past Apple User Group Advisory Board member for this great tip!
by Saundra (Sandy) Foderick, Editor | Jun 14, 2021 | Apple World User Group University, Leaders, News & Events, Resources
AWUGU: Sharing Between Groups
By Tom Piper
This Apple World User Group University online gathering of Apple user group leaders was held at 5:00pm CDST, on May 17, 2021, via Zoom. We had 30 participants who joined for the topic of “Sharing Between Groups”. The 63-minute video can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/CG5z7WTR9kY (unlisted on YouTube).
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by Saundra (Sandy) Foderick, Editor | Jun 13, 2021 | News & Events
Looking for a quick meeting topic? ASW and Apple.com have information that can help you get up to speed. New tools in macOS Monterey are designed to help users get more done, stay focused, and collaborate, while iPadOS 15 introduces a multitasking experience that is even more intuitive, making features like Split View and Slide Over easier to discover
Check out macOS Monterey Preview – First Look (L592879A-en_US) and iPadOS 15 Preview – First Look (L592887A-en_US).
Ambassadors, June is a great month to check out ASW!
by Saundra (Sandy) Foderick, Editor | Jun 8, 2021 | News & Events
Are your members interested in what was offered during the WWDC21 Apple Keynote? Apple’s YouTube channel provides an in-depth look at updates on iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, tvOS, macOS, AirPods, and Privacy, broadcasting from Apple Park.
WWDC2021 Keynote
by Saundra (Sandy) Foderick, Editor | May 18, 2021 | News & Events
Like many people, I have missed getting together with friends in the user group community since the last Macworld, and even more over the last year. Still, I was surprised at how truly great it felt to hear from the long-time groups that left their names in the survey.
Each name brought a fond memory (in some cases many, many fond memories) and a reminder that the user group community is both vibrant and caring. With more than 70 responses, here are some of the groups that left comments and a hello (in alphabetical order):
| Apple Charlestown Apple Group |
Maryland Apple Corps, Inc. |
| appleJAC User Group |
MIAMUG (Midland, MI) |
| ApplePickers of Central Indiana |
Mountain View Computer Users Group, Sierra Vista, AZ |
| Ashland Macintosh User’s Group |
Naples MacFriends User Group Inc |
| Atlantic City Area Mac Users Group |
National Capital Apple Mac Users Group (NCA-MUG) |
| AUSOM Inc |
PMUG-NJ.ORG |
| Club HyperPomme Paris |
Portland (OR) Macintosh Users Group |
| Computer Users of Erie |
Prescott Mac Users Group |
| CVMUG – Conejo Ventura Macintosh User Group |
Silicon Mountain MacIntosh User Group |
| EAMUG Englewood,FL User Group |
South Suburban (Chicago) Mac Users Group |
| EMUG |
Suffolk Mac User Group |
| Exeter area Mac user group |
The Macintosh Guild |
| Franklin Apple Orchard |
The Oregon MacPioneers User Group (OMUG) |
| MAC2 (MAC2MUG) |
TMG Dayton |
| MacinTech |
TMUG – Tucson Macintosh Users Group |
| MacNexus |
Tucson Macintosh Users Group |
| MacValley User Group, Northridge, California |
VMUG (Victoria [BC] Mac and iOS User Group (vmug.bc.ca) |
Thanks for the comments and for sharing your thoughts, and thanks to Curt B. for suggesting the questions!
by Saundra (Sandy) Foderick, Editor | May 18, 2021 | News & Events
Responses show that prior to the pandemic most groups met face-to-face. True, well before the pandemic there were groups perfecting their streaming meeting skills while others excelled with fully online Zoom meetings, groups that were FaceTime experts and some experimented with truly novel formats (one group even met in a park with picnic blankets spaced 10′ apart). Still, most groups met face-to-face. Over the last 10-15 years, the number of solely online groups in the user group database has generally been around 10%. As one survey respondent said, “mostly on site, but dwindling numbers and meetings.” So, it is interesting to learn that some groups have been revitalized during the pandemic, helping members stay in touch during difficult times. Here are the results for pre-pandemic meeting formats:
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