AWUGU: Vendor Meeting Report

by | Jun 17, 2020 | Apple World User Group University

Our third Apple World User Group University online gathering of Apple user group leaders was held at 8:00pm CST, on June 15, 2020, via Zoom. We had 28 participants who joined for the topic of “Vendor Offers and Presentations”. The 93-minute video can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/4Xmq9fEO24o (unlisted YouTube).

This session opened with my welcome, Zoom instructions, and a 10-minute presentation about “Vendor Offers” where I presented the most recent Apple User Group Bulletin and website illustrations about current and ongoing offers (https://www.appleusergroupresources.com). There were several questions about how to find and improve vendor response to discount requests.

Next was an interesting presentation by Joe Kissell, publisher of Take Control books (https://www.takecontrolbooks.com), about his experiences with over 100 presentations to user groups. He described both the successes and disappointments of these presentations, and welcomed feedback from participants to find ways to become more effective. An extensive discussion followed. Take Control books provides an ongoing worldwide 30% discount to Apple user groups at this coupon-code-loaded URL: https://www.takecontrolbooks.com/catalog?cp=CPN90219MUG.

Next was an excellent presentation by Nicholas Pyers (Apple Users’ Society of Melbourne, located in Junee, Australia, which is also famous for Licorice & Chocolate Factory) who discussed how and where to find presenters. He has published a promo page with his slides and the links discussed at https://www.nicholaspyers.com/presentations/finding-presenters-for-apple-user-group-meetings/.

This was followed with comments by podcaster David Ginsburg (Suburban Chicago Apple Users) about his experiences with presenters and recommendations for potential meetings in the future. He mentioned their next user group meeting of June 20 (register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87405331111?pwd=R0d0a21lOEVldTVSQytqM2tYQzFmUT09).

A brief discussion was held and suggestions made for future meeting topics such as vendor presentations, Ambassador roles, tracking memberships, backups and other items. Participants also agreed with a survey proposal from Jeff Gaier (Central Wisconsin Apple User Group) in order to build a profile of Apple user groups (available for completion immediately at https://forms.gle/LtBmfEQZtZqjzozh6. 

The new AWUGU resource page to share and exchange information is available (https://www.appleusergroupresources.com/category/awugu/) hosted by the Apple User Group Advisory Board. Interesting information was shared including the follow links:

We are very pleased that this third meeting was very interesting, entertaining and educational. Our next tentative meeting is scheduled for 8:00pm CDT, July 20, 2020, about “Nuts & Bolts of User Group Management”, and on August 17, 2020, a discussion about “Backups & More”. We will attempt to keep these meetings to about an hour, as originally planned. All AWUGU previous registrants will receive an invitation to these meetings.

To become a participant, any interested AUG leader must first register with the AWUGU Coordinator by emailing their name, location, and user group name and web link to macquest@mac.com. Registration must be received by July 18 in order to receive a Zoom Meeting invitation (a download of the free Zoom app in advance is also necessary).