by Saundra (Sandy) Foderick, Editor | Feb 15, 2016 | Group Milestones, News & Events
A little over 40 years ago Apple changed our lives, and probably changed yours as well. Officers and members often talk about the user group community, and outsiders are confused: What community? How can you be friends with someone you have never met face to face? What can you truly have in common with a person from halfway around the world? Still, people such as Amaya in Spain, Graeme in New Zealand, Graham in the UK, Nicholas in Australia, Rick in Myrtle Beach, Lynn in Tulsa, Chise in Japan and so many more bring our community to life. Some user groups did not start out as Apple groups. For example, one of my first groups started out as a HAM radio club and later became an Apple group. Others started when that first Apple found its way to their hearts. Still others started because of the first Mac or creative endeavors.
How old is your group? Does your group have members who have been involved for many years? Be sure to participate in this month’s survey.
User Group Anniversary Survey
by Saundra (Sandy) Foderick, Editor | Feb 15, 2016 | Group Milestones, News & Events
Has your group been meeting for many years? Does your group have a member or members who have participated for an amazingly long time? In light of this year’s 40th Apple anniversary, we are looking for long-standing groups and long-time members, so that we can feature these groups and members in the March edition of Apple’s User Group Bulletin and the Apple User Group Resources blog.
Your group may have started in 1976 with the first Apple, or it may have started in the ’60s as a computer enthusiast club or a technology group. Maybe yours was a Heath Kit chapter or an amateur radio club in the ’50s? Perhaps your group began as a creative pro group in the 1990s. Let us know.
User Group Anniversary Survey
Survey closes on March 12 and is limited to the first 100 responses.
by Saundra (Sandy) Foderick, Editor | Jan 17, 2016 | Leaders, News & Events, Resources, User Group How To
Nicholas Pyers of AppleUsers.org offers the fourth installment of his Dealing with Presenters series. While the first article covered Approaching Potential Presenters, the second offered tips for Confirming Presenters, and the third talked about Working with Presenters On the Night, the fourth, Working with Presenters After the Event, is especially interesting because it explains what your group should do after the presentation. As he notes, most groups do not engage in these important actions – actions that can can have an important effect on your group’s relationship with current and potential presenters.
Check it out!
http://www.appleusers.org/ugr/working-with-presenters-after-the-event/
by Saundra (Sandy) Foderick, Editor | Jan 16, 2016 | User Group How To
Written By Tom Piper
Our members are often too timid to ask questions at meetings because they’re afraid it might appear “dumb” or embarrassing. We just started a new way to elicit questions in advance of our monthly meetings which has become very successful.
Five days before each meeting, we email a notice to all members which reminds them of the topic, location and website information. Now, we have added the following:
(see NEW requests below . . . the iTunes card drawing will offered ONLY to those responding with questions)
• Meeting Question, what do you need to know?
(to submit, just highlight the Meeting Question above, click Reply, enter your questions, and click Send to email back your responses BEFORE January 5)
This has produced about a dozen questions for each meeting. These questions are projected on the screen for easy viewing, and the responses by our “gurus” often stimulate other related questions from attendees.
We are so pleased that this technique has gotten more people involved, and many warm comments have been offered afterwards.
For more information, feel free to visit our website at www.applejac.org, or contact me directly at macquest@mac.com.
by Saundra (Sandy) Foderick, Editor | Jan 16, 2016 | News & Events
Need a presentation for your group’s next meeting? Ask your group’s ambassador about Apple Sales Web (ASW) and Apple Sales Training Online (ASTO). From prepackaged demos to Apple materials that you can use to create customized presentations, ASW and ASTO have it all.
This month, take a look at the “Everything changes with iPad” campaign, highlighting how iPad—together with incredible apps from the App Store—can change the way users can do what’s important to them every day. Go to ASW and click on the Quick Training button to see what’s on offer.
Topics include:
(more…)
by Saundra (Sandy) Foderick, Editor | Jan 16, 2016 | News & Events
If your group is looking for an interesting meeting, why not try one of the current Apple in-store workshops? There are topics for everyone, from newbies to long-time users, and the workshops are free. Use the links at the bottom of this article to locate the workshops in your area.
Along with introductory-level workshops for people who are new to iPad, Apple Watch, or iMac, here are a few of the topics on offer in January: (more…)
by Saundra (Sandy) Foderick, Editor | Dec 19, 2015 | News & Events
All of us on the Advisory Board, the International Regional Liaison Team, the Apple User Group Support Team, and Pro and Online Groups would like to say a heartfelt thank you for a wonderful 2015. Each month has brought fun ideas, member support services, and great vendor discounts. When Rick ran our Google Analytics recently, the news was amazing, with close to 100,000 unique Pageviews across 97 countries, representing 70 languages.
We’d love to hear from you: what would you like to see in the year ahead? Are there how-tos that you would like covered? DOMs? Ready-to-go presentations from Apple Sales Web (ASW) and ASTO? Do you have a clever presentation or interesting service project that you would like featured? Need ambassador help? Let us know what you would like to see.
2016: New Adventures and New Tech…. Who could ask for more?
by Saundra (Sandy) Foderick, Editor | Dec 17, 2015 | News & Events
Written by Tom Piper
Since Apple introduced the Apple Watch, many members are eager to know more about the basics. Most groups are used to presenting on a projector or flat screen television. In a previous how-to, we discussed how to present iOS at user group meetings. But the Apple Watch does not have any built in features that easily allow us to share the screen interface. So, how do you present the Apple Watch then? With some new hardware and software tools, along with some previous tools, we will get you prepared for presenting and showing off the Apple Watch at your user group meetings. (more…)
by Saundra (Sandy) Foderick, Editor | Dec 16, 2015 | Leaders, Resources
Need a presentation for your group’s next meeting? Ask your group’s ambassador about Apple Sales Web (ASW) and Apple Sales Training Online (ASTO). From prepackaged demos to Apple materials that you can use to create customized presentations, ASW and ASTO have it all.
This month, ASW keeps you current on the latest and greatest Apple products, including a December 15th look at the new Beats Solo2 Luxe Edition – First Look (L543430A-en_US), Quick Training: Shoot, Edit, and Share 4K Videos on iPhone 6s (L543511A-en_US ), a ready-to-go Apple Watch presentation (L541023A-en_US ), and an Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard for iPadPro – First Look (L543590A-en_US).
Ambassadors: December is a great month to check out ASTO and ASW!
Apple Sales Web
by Saundra (Sandy) Foderick, Editor | Dec 10, 2015 | Leaders, News & Events
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 folk who ensure that their groups survive and thrive.
One of this month’s topics comes from Sarah Friedlander Garcia, a past member of the Apple’s Campus Groups Advisory Board, who has gone on to great success with Mozilla and AIR802, and is now Marketing Manger for W-Systems Corp. In 2004, she was one of the featured speakers at User Group University during the Macworld Expo in San Francisco, offering ideas for welcoming young people into the user group community.
Thanks Sarah!
Friedlander_Youth_2004
