Meeting Idea: Apple Professional Learning Virtual Conferences

 

 

 

Remember when Apple said it was expanding their professional learning sessions? The good news is that there are now 11 free Professional Learning Virtual Conferences on offer this summer. Sessions will be offered twice per day on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. One or more session might make for a wonderful weekday meeting topic.  All topics will be delivered via iPad sessions. Wondering which topics will be covered?

  • Become a Citizen Scientist
  • Create Audio and Video Stories
  • Develop Language and Literacy Skills
  • Dive Deep Into Learning with AR
  • Learn to Code with Swift
  • Make Math More Meaningful
  • Make Musical Masterpieces
  • Reach All Learners
  • Take a Cultural and Historic Tour
  • Tap Into Your Inner Artist
  • Tell Captivating Photo Stories

Check it out – you will be glad you did!

Apple Professional Learning Virtual Conferences

 

How To Write an Effective Review: A first Look

We have all read bad reviews. Whether it is the biased writer with an axe to grind or an under-the-table commission to earn, the boring writer who uses ten words where one would do, or the deadline writer who is rushed for time and uses a company’s marketing literature to mask lack of knowledge, a bad review wastes our time. Still, there are basic guidelines that can help you write an effective review.

Know your Audience

Just like preparing to give a presentation to your user group, your first step is to identify your audience. What matters to your audience? Are they new to the product or long-time users interested in the latest release? You want to be sure that your review offers value to each segment of your readership. (more…)

AWUGU Meeting Report about Old Tech by Tom Piper

Tom Piper

AWUGU Meeting Report about Old Tech
by Tom Piper, Coordinator

This Apple World User Group University online gathering of Apple user group leaders was held at 5:00pm CDST, on July 18, 2022, via Zoom. We had 40 participants for the topic of “Old Tech: Repurpose, Reuse, Recycle” (see attached JPG image and PDF attendance list). The 78-minute video can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/l-Se8X-KEkc (unlisted on YouTube).

This session opened with my welcome, plus a quick review of the meeting protocols. Doug Smith, Chair of the Apple User Group Advisory Board (AUGAB) provided backup support during the call.

I opened the presentations with a brief description of how I had repurposed older Macs and iPads for younger and older people to start them with technology. This was followed by very interesting descriptions from Fred Pryor (Computer Society of Cape Cod) and Bill Hulston (The Villages Apple User Group) describing how their user groups had reconfigured and repurposed older Macs to help others. Many others then told of their experiences, recycling opportunities, reuse of older software, use of virtual systems and much more.

Additional questions were asked, comments made, experiences shared and suggestions offered by user group leaders with the following excellent links providing further information: (more…)

Apple User Group Resources site: Privacy Policy formalized

Part of being respectful to the members of our community is recognizing the privacy rights of others. The team recently decided to create a formal privacy policy covering the materials on the site. The short version is that we ask for just enough information to list groups. We do not make group information contained in the Apple User Group Locator information except for the information that is needed to help potential members find groups that meet a searcher’s interests or geographical requirements. The information in the mailing lists is not available to the Board and subscribers can join or unsubscribe at any time.

UGAB Privacy Policy

About the Apple User Group Advisory Board

The Apple User Group Resources pages, Apple User Group Locator, AUGB Bulletin list, and AUGD discussion list are handled by the Apple User Group Advisory Board. Board members are not lawyers and we do not receive outside funding. We work to keep your information private to the best of our abilities. This document has information about how to join and leave any of our resources and who to contact if you have questions.

What Information we Collect

We collect officer contact email and phone numbers for user groups who voluntarily ask to be listed in the Apple User Group Locator. We also collect the meeting information that each group provides, including meeting location. To be listed, a group must provide a minimum of three named contacts as a way to verify that the group exists.

What information is Public

We publicly provide limited group meeting and contact information during searches of the Locator so that potential members can learn about groups they might want to join. We never provide a list of group contact names or emails for marketing or external purposes and do not charge for listings or searches. All information is password protected and located on a secure site. Only Board members need to access the site to maintain the Locator or blog have access to the database. These members are the site editor, the vendors’ offers editor, the Regional Liaisons who respond to Locator questions, and two site webmasters.

How we manage your information

The Apple User Group Advisory Board does not have access to list subscriber’s names or email addresses. The Apple User Group Resources website blog collects aggregate and de-identified visitor information through browser cookies, including visitor location, dates the site is visited, number of times each page is visited over a given period of time, and similar metrics. We collect this information in order to know what types of information are most useful to given groups of visitors. The Board does not retain dotted IP addresses or provide any information to other entities. The Board prohibits the use of deep links or page scraping by external users.

Each group listed in the Apple User Group Locator contains the contact information for that group’s ambassador. The person who is listed as a group’s ambassador is the person responsible for group communication. This means that the ambassador may receive information requests from potential members and may, occasionally, receive an email communication from the Apple User Group Advisory Board regarding user group topics.

How you can manage your groups information (remove or unsubscribe)

The Apple User Group Locator, discussion list, and Bulletin list are opt in only. Participants have the right to, and can easily remove their information at any time with no loss of access or loss of benefits.

· To remove a subscription to the AUGB discussion list, go to the AUGB page and fill out the unsubscribe field at the bottom of the page:

https://lists.apple.com/mailman/listinfo/augb

· To remove a subscription to the AUGD discussion list, go to the AUGd page and fill out the unsubscribe field at the bottom of the page:

https://lists.apple.com/mailman/listinfo/augd

· To remove personally-identifiable information (PII) from the Apple User Group Locator, generate a link by going to:

https://www.appleusergroupresources.com/signup-form/

Note that the group’s primary contacts will be notified when any change is made to the group’s listed contacts. This is to prevent unauthorized changes.

Additionally, by accessing the Apple User Group Resources site, blogs, or Locator, please recognize that Internet transmissions are never completely private or secure. Any message or information sent to the site may be read or intercepted by others even though security measures are in place and all data collected is voluntarily provided.

Meeting Idea: How to Make Emergency Calls on iPhone or Apple Watch

Your members might enjoy learning about ways that the Health app can make their lives better. One nice tip covers the way that members can set up information that can be accessed from their iPhone’s Lock screen via Medical ID. Why? First responders can access the information if an emergency occurs, saving precious time during a medical response. Better yet, set up is easy.

Ambassadors, this could make for a great part of a medical themed meeting.

Set up Medical ID on iPhone

Make an emergency call from a locked iPhone

Make an emergency call on Apple Watch

 

KansasFest 2022: Be There

KansasFest 2022, the premier annual Apple II convention, is scheduled for July 19–24, 2022 in Kansas City, Missouri. This year marks the 34th time that this event, an annual convention offering Apple II users and retrocomputing enthusiasts the opportunity to engage in beginner and technical sessions, programming contests, an exhibition hall, and camaraderie, has been held.

Once again, any and all Apple II users, fans, and friends are invited to attend this year’s event. In upcoming weeks, the KansasFest web site will announce registration details, so keep an eye on the site listed below.

KansasFest is an annual convention offering Apple II users and retrocomputing enthusiasts the opportunity to engage in beginner and technical sessions, programming contests, an exhibition hall, and camaraderie. KansasFest was originally hosted by Resource Central and has been brought to you by the KFest committee since 1995.

Session proposals will be accepted through June 5 (see link below). The exciting news is that Robert Woodhead will be this KansasFest’s keynote speaker

KansasFest 2022

Submit a Session Proposal: https://www.kansasfest.org/sessions/

 

AWUGU Meeting Report about WWDC 2022 Followup by Tom Piper

AWUGU Meeting Report about WWDC 2022 Followup
by Tom Piper, Coordinator

This Apple World User Group University online gathering of Apple user group leaders was held at 5:00pm CDST, on June 20, 2022, via Zoom. We had 40 participants for the topic of “WWDC 2022 Followup” (see attached JPG image and PDF attendance list). The 77-minute video can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/p2bH4wUzvfs (unlisted on YouTube).

This session opened with my welcome, plus a quick review of the meeting protocols. Doug Smith, Chair of the Apple User Group Advisory Board (AUGAB) provided backup support during the call. (more…)

AWUGU Meeting Report about Hybrid Meetings

Tom Piper

AWUGU Meeting Report about Hybrid Meetings
by Tom Piper, Coordinator

This Apple World User Group University online gathering of Apple user group leaders was held at 5:00pm CDST, on May 16, 2022, via Zoom. We had 40 participants for the topic of “AUG Hybrid Meetings” (see attached JPG image and PDF attendance list). The 65-minute video can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/zyEomVIoNvA (unlisted on YouTube).

This session opened with my welcome, plus a quick review of the meeting protocols. Doug Smith, Chair of the Apple User Group Advisory Board (AUGAB) provided backup support during the call.

I opened the presentations with a brief overview of how we use in-person and Facebook streaming together since November 2021 to hold our appleJAC User Group monthly Tuesday night meetings (visit applejac.org for more information). This was followed by a 30-minute slideshow presentation provided by Josiane Morel (KHapplclub of Knokke Heist, Belgium) about their experiences and recommendations about doing in-person and Zoom meetings (PDF slideshow attached). Frank Salvatini and Jeff Scheibe of Suburban Chicago Apple Users Group provided more information about their experiences and mishaps in starting hybrid meetings. This was followed by questions and experiences by a number of other participants, several of whom also shared information about their experiences and suggestions. (more…)

Storyboards and Magic Movie on iPhone: True iMovie Magic

How To Use iMovie On An iPad

Many user group members are creatives, who enjoy photography, videography, and more. Your members might enjoy a meeting presentation based on the newest version of iMovie featuring Storyboards and Magic Movie. What are Storyboards? Pre-made templates for popular types of videos, including DIYs, cooking tutorials, product reviews, science experiments, and more. Better yet, Storyboards offers step-by-step guidance for which clips to use for each video type.

Want an even simpler version? With Magic Movie, users can select a group or folder with materials and Magic Movie will instantly create a polished video from the clips and photos the user selects, automatically adding transitions, effects, and music to the edit. And, the finished project can be edited if the user wants to make changes.

iMovie – share the magic with your members:

Create a movie on iPhone

iMovie user guide for iPhone