by Saundra (Sandy) Foderick, Editor | Jun 14, 2020 | User Group How To, User Group Meeting Materials
Over the years, some of the best ideas for user group leadership have come from the worldwide community of user group officers, the hard working leaders and experts who ensure that their groups survive and thrive.
This month’s How To features one of the most popular presentations ever presented at a User Group University session. In this session, Dr. Scott Pelok talked about the various sorts of difficult people we encounter in our groups and in everyday life. The Board still gets letters asking about the presentation and we have heard from folk who say his tips helped resolve challenging situations in their groups. Use the link below to download his presentation.
Difficultpeople
Thanks Dr. Scott!
by Saundra (Sandy) Foderick, Editor | Jun 12, 2020 | News & Events
For more than 20 years Michael Horton, founder of the LA Creative Pro User Group (LACPUG), has brought storytellers together. In fact, over the last twenty years, Michael, leading LAPCUG, produced 220 events (WOW!). He started the LA Final Cut Pro group in 2000, was instrumental in groups moving from a single tool to a focus on the greater creative pro community, and was a co-founder of the CPUG Network and their SuperMeets. Over the past few years, there have been wildly popular SuperMeets in London, Austin, Amsterdam, San Jose, Boston and San Francisco, each with its World Famous Raffle and each offering another opportunity to enhance the lives and expand the networks of creatives across the world.
Congrats to Michael – The creative community are glad you are planning to stay on for at least one more year!
Michael Horton Lifetime Achievement Award at NAB 2019 (more…)
by Saundra (Sandy) Foderick, Editor | Jun 11, 2020 | News & Events
Looking for a meeting topic? Apple recently released a major update to Logic Pro X, with a professional version of Live Loops, a completely redesigned sampling workflow, and new beat-making tools.
Check it out: Logic Pro X – First Look (L574602A-en_US)
https://asw.apple.com/Salesresource/L574602A-en_US
Apple Ambassadors, June is a great month to check out ASW.
by Saundra (Sandy) Foderick, Editor | Jun 10, 2020 | News & Events
With so much misinformation and partial information regarding COVID 19, Apple has two new offerings that you can trust. Apple, in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the White House-led coronavirus task force, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, developed a useful and trustworthy COVID-19 app and website that can help you identify best practices and personally-tailored next steps during this difficult time.
The app and website provides a series of questions around risk factors, recent exposure, and symptoms for the user or their loved ones. Once the questions are completed, the user will receive clear and practical CDC recommendations, including guidance on social distancing and self-isolating, how to closely monitor symptoms, whether or not a test is recommended at this time, and when to contact a medical provider. This is not a COVID 19 test – it is a pair of wonderful resources that can help users access trustworthy information, decrease anxiety, increase safety, and identify next steps, all personally tailored to each user’s answers and experience.
Check these resources out today:
Apple’s COVID-19 website, available on any platform via your preferred browser.
https://www.apple.com/covid19/
Apple’s Apple COVID-19 App – currently #1 in Health and Fitness on the App Store:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id1504132184
Information about Apple Store Openings:
https://www.apple.com/store-opening-letter/
Thanks to Apple Engineer Dave Marra and OMUG President Steve Welsh for this great tip!
by Saundra (Sandy) Foderick, Editor | May 14, 2020 | News & Events
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.
May 21 is Global Accessibility Awareness Day (third Thursday in May), accessibility is a popular user group meeting topic. From being able to take a perfect group selfie, write a text, or email without being able to see the screen; to VoiceOver to describe what is happening on any Apple device, display accommodations that can even assist with color blindness, Live Listen, closed captioning that displays far more than text, FaceTime and health tracking, LED iPhone notifications, Switch Control, customized gestures, AssistiveTouch, Guided Access, typing feedback, text-to-speech, fitness algorithms for wheelchair users, AirPods, and so much more, there are features to make every user’s tasks easier – truly empowering each user.
Want to make accessibility your group’s next meeting topic? Apple’s Accessibility Website, 17 YouTube videos on Apple Support’s Channel, and Today at Apple can make your next meeting a great one:
Apple Support’s YouTube Channel: Accessibility
Apple Accessibility Website
Today at Apple Accessibility Sessions
by Saundra (Sandy) Foderick, Editor | May 14, 2020 | Leaders, Resources, User Group How To
Groups are always looking for a great presentation and this month Nicholas Pyers of AppleUsers.org offers valuable insights into ways to find guest presenters. His recent article, the fifth installment in his “Working with Presenters” series can help you reconceptualize the process and increase your ability to organize great meetings. Want to know more? Check out all five articles in the series.
Thanks as always to Nicholas for these wonderful resources!
(more…)
by Saundra (Sandy) Foderick, Editor | May 14, 2020 | News & Events
Apple World User Group University: First Meeting Report
By Tom Piper, AWUGU Coordinator
Apple User Group Leaders:
Our kickoff AWUGU online gathering of Apple user group leaders was held at 8:00pm CST, on April 20, 2020, via the Cisco Webex Meeting app. We had 25 participants who joined for the topic of “Online User Group Meetings”. The full hour and a half video can be viewed at:
https://uguonline.my.webex.com/recordingservice/sites/uguonline.my/recording/playback/20ac887171cd406983cf3ad6407341c3 (use password: Ve3VTAwn).
(more…)
by Saundra (Sandy) Foderick, Editor | Apr 14, 2020 | Monthly Featured Vendors
Matias has quite a following in the Mac User Group community because of their reputation for high quality products and for rescuing lost or abandoned technologies. Matias has been making some of the best wired and wireless keyboards for the Mac community for over 20 years, including their popular Silver Matias Keyboard. They are also known for their Dvorak Pro keyboard, Half Keyboard for one handed typing, and Half-qwerty Keyboards, not to mention their iRizer and iFold portable ergonomic laptop stands. While they have been producing award-winning Matias products for over 30 years, they still offer the same level of truly personal and truly excellent customer service. Best of all, they are offering a generous limited-time user group discount for Apple User Group officers and members on their Silver Matias Keyboard in this month’s Bulletin and Blog.
Visit Matias.
https://matias.ca/
by Saundra (Sandy) Foderick, Editor | Apr 13, 2020 | News & Events
It can be hard to find a meeting topic when members are doing their part to flatten the curve. Have you heard about the new offerings from Today at Apple? Today at Apple – At Home offers great sessions that your members will enjoy. From drawing playful portraits with iPad, to capturing striking photography with iPhone, and shooting photos full of personality with iPhone, the tutorials are fun and easy.
Learn a new skill today.
https://www.apple.com/today/feature/today-at-home/
by Saundra (Sandy) Foderick, Editor | Apr 12, 2020 | User Group Meeting Materials
Your members enjoy the iWork suite, and the just-released updates can make for a great meeting topic. The good news is that ASW has the information you need. Collaboration is easier than ever, with support for iCloud Drive folder sharing and offline editing of shared documents. Smart Annotation, innovative spreadsheet templates and interactive sliders, animated objects, Instant Alpha, and more make for a feature-packed update with easy to use features. In addition, there are beautiful new templates and themes. Your members can even use Presenter Mode and Pages to turn their iPhones or iPads into a virtual teleprompter.
To help you out, Pages, Numbers, and Keynote—First Look (L589382A-en_US) pdf on ASW has some quick and easy demo ideas as well as a description of the updates.
Apple Ambassadors, April is a great month to check out Apple Today and ASW.
