Find an Apple User Group
Apple User Groups exist around the world. Find and join a user group near you today.
User Group Leader Support
Update your groups record, get meeting ideas, and many other support access and requests.
User Group How-To's
User Group Leaders, are you looking to run a better meeting? These how-to articles guide you through a variety of topics.
User Group Special Offers
User Group Leaders and Members, find special deals and discounts from our vendors.
User Group News Bulletin
How To: Delisting a Disbanded Group
The number of Apple User Groups worldwide is amazing, especially considering that many groups have been in existence for decades. Still, as new groups form, some groups cease to exist, often because key members retire or membership numbers drop. This article offers the the quick and simple, step-by-step process for delisting a group with the User Group Locator and the User Group Program.
December’s Featured Vendor: CleverFiles and Disk Drill PRO
Do you need to recover deleted files in Mac OS X, including critical business documents, music, photos or videos? Have files or whole partitions gone missing from your Mac? Are you having trouble accessing an external USB drive or camera card?
Disk Drill PRO from CleverFiles has the solution to your problems, making data recovery for Mac OS X easy and efficient. Disk Drill Pro can recover more than 200 types of files from internal Macintosh hard drives, external hard drives, cameras, iPhones, iPads, iPods, Android devices, USB flash drives, Kindles, and memory cards, often even if a device is failing, a partition disappears, or a drive is unreadable. Better yet, Disk Drill PRO includes free tools for disk monitoring, data protection, back up and so much more! read more…
Pyers Presents: End of Year Tasks for Apple User Group Leaders
Many groups do not meet from late December to early January, but there are things you can do while your group is on hiatus. This month, Nicholas Pyers of AppleUsers.org offers thoughts on ways to thank those who have served your community in the past year and ways to plan ahead for an even better 2017 for your group and members.
http://www.appleusers.org/ugr/end-of-year-tasks-for-apple-user-group-leaders/
Taking his advice regarding thanking those who have made our user group experience better, we’d like to say thanks to Nicholas for his articles over the past year. We look forward to taking his advice on planning for the year to come. read more…
Meeting Ideas: Apple AirPods, tvOS, and TV app
Need a presentation for your group’s next meeting? Ask your group’s ambassador about Apple Sales Web (ASW). From prepackaged demos to Apple materials that you can use to create customized presentations, ASW has it all.
Interested in the new Apple AirPods? Be sure to check out ASW’s AirPods – First Look posted on December 13 (L547674A-en_US). Curious about the new TV app and tvOS check out tvOS – First Look and TV app – First Look (L546871A-en_US and L549055A-en_US), both published on December 12.
Ambassadors: December is a great month to check out ASW!
November’s Featured Vendor: Gumdrop Cases
Gumdrop Cases provides stylish, heavy-duty, and incredibly protective ruggedized cases for iPads, MacBooks, iPhones, and more. Designed with durable protection that can withstand repeated 6-foot falls, Gumdrop’s cases are rapidly becoming one of the leading solutions to keep your tech safe from damage at home, school, and work. With over 1,600 certified case reviews from satisfied users, Gumdrop cases has a selection of cases types to fit your device, from DropTech type cases, to Hideaway, Sleeve Series, SoftShell, and more.
Webinar: Apple and Mac Oriented Password Manager for Teams
TeamsID is hosting a Apple / Mac oriented “Password Manager” Webinar on Wednesday, November 30th 10:00am PST / 1:00pm EST
Discussion Points:
- How to safely and securely share passwords with your Team
- The pro’s & con’s for an “On-Premise / Self-Hosted” solution
- How to make your company more productive and secure
- How you can make money by referring TeamsID
Meeting at: https://join.me/splashdata
Audio: You can use the join call by computer (VOIP) option or dial in by phone US Dial-in: +1.415.655.0381
(Conference ID: 313-566-616)
Send an email to this address to attend
Special Offer – TeamsID, a Password Manager for Teams: 33% Discount
TeamsID is a San Francisco based software company specializing in password management and encrypted document storage. With over a million individual users, SplashData, the parent company of TeamsID has been doing password management for 15 years. They are happy to be working with the Mac user group and hope to convert you to a lifetime user of their product.
Public pricing is usually $3(US) per user per month, but for Apple User Groups, TeamsID is extending a lifetime discount of 33%. Please note that every user gets their own “My Records” inside of TeamsID, which is a personal password manager that no one else has access to.
Get TeamsID at https://app.teamsid.com/create
See your user group Ambassador for discount password. (You will first get a 14-day free trial, after which entry of the Coupon Code during purchase will yield the discount.)
This worldwide offer is ongoing.
Leader Special Offer – Gumdrop Cases for Review
Gumdrop Cases provides ruggedized cases for iPads, MacBooks, iPhones and more. Designed with durable protection that can withstand repeated 6-foot falls, Gumdrop’s cases are rapidly becoming one of the leading solutions to keep your tech safe from damage at home, school and work. Learn more at gumdropcases.com.
One free evaluation sample is available per Apple user group. This can be kept or given away during user group meeting.
To accept this offer, contact Jason at jasonh@gumdropcases.com with the name, email, location and meeting presentation date for your Apple User Group. A posted written review of the accepted product would also be preferable.
This worldwide offer is ongoing.
How To: Presenting Hidden Features of iOS
Many times at User Group meetings, the presenter may take time to let members ask questions or seek out tech tips or support. User Group Ambassador Rick Lantz of the Maui Apple User Society took a new view on the Q&A sessions, and decided to do a “How did they do that?” session at his meeting and show some hidden and unknown features of macOS and iOS. Below is his presentation material regarding iOS. User Group Leaders, feel free to use this material and demonstrate at your meetings. Click more to see video and meeting material:
Pyers Presents: Software Freedom Day Resources
September 17 marks the 13th annual Software Freedom Day celebration, with over 300 planned events worldwide. The day calls attention to software that is free to distribute, modify, access, share, study and use.
As part of the celebrations of Software Freedom Day 2016, AppleUsers.org has compiled a selection of some of the best, yet totally free, software that’s available for the Mac, collected together on a single DVD, called Spotlight on FOSS 2016 plus a bonus video and a copy of The AppleUsers Spotlight Software Freedom Day 2016 Special Edition. Fans of Stephen Fry will especially enjoy his Happy Birthday to GNU video.
Thanks as always to Mr. Pyers for these wonderful resources! See below for more information.
Pyers Presents: Finding Guest Presenters
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 Mr. Pyers for these wonderful resources!
Macstock2016: Mid-America’s Second Gathering of Apple Faithful
By Tom Piper, Vendor Liaison, Apple User Group Advisory Board
Woodstock, the home of Other World Computing, is a great town of about 25,000 people in northeast Illinois (not New York), just 51 miles northwest of Chicago (a metro area of over 9,500,000 residents). It was also the host for the second year running of Macstock2016 (macstockconferenceandexpo.com) on July 15-16, 2016, at nearby Luecht Conference Center at McHenry County College (a delightful and very comfortable venue).
This year’s event was a half day longer that the first Macstock in 2015 (at the same location). This extra time allowed for 18 knowledgeable presenters to share their experience in intensive 20-minute sessions, most using accompanying slideshows. The Saturday session topics included:
Apple User Group Leader’s Survey: The Results
Thanks for the interesting and informative responses to the Apple User Group Leader’s survey. It is clear that groups in our community face similar problems, including finding good meeting topics and speakers. Too, groups would like more discounts offers on popular items. As one writer noted, it is hard to find fresh topics for 10 meetings a year for when their group has been meeting for 9 years, and a good speaker can have a real impact on how many people show up for a meeting. Groups large and small, long time or new, echoed that comment.
Here are the results from the survey:
How To: Raising Money With Patreon For Your User Group
Raising Money With Patreon For Your User Group by Rex Covington
Last month we talked about raising money for your User Group on YouTube. This month we’re going to talk about raising money with Patreon and YouTube. Patreon Is a subscription-based crowd funding platform that helps creators collect financial support from their fans. You can use Patreon to fund your projects, Special Interest Group (SIG), or just to support your User Group by uploading YouTube videos. https://www.patreon.com
Pyers Presents: Does your User Group have a website?
Nicholas Pyers of AppleUsers.org offers us two great articles on ways to make leading your group easier and more efficient. In this article he examines group website essentials: why every group should have a website, how to create and name your group’s site, how hosting works, and what information should be covered on your group’s pages.
Check it out!
Meeting Ideas: Swift Playgrounds and watchOS3
Need a presentation for your group’s next meeting? Ask your group’s ambassador about Apple Sales Web (ASW). From prepackaged demos to Apple materials that you can use to create customized presentations, ASW has it all.
This month, ASW will help you be ready for your member’s questions with watchOS 3 – First Look (L546830A-en_US) and Swift Playgrounds – First Look (L546898A-en_US).
Ambassadors: July is a great month to check out ASW!
Meeting Ideas: WWDC Hardware and Software Announcements
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, ASTO and ASW will help you be ready for your member’s WWDC questions with Quick Looks and presentations covering the latest hardware and software announcements.
Ambassadors: June is a great month to check out ASTO and ASW!
June’s Featured Vendor: Eltima Software
Eltima is a software company that features great solutions, created in response to a demand from users who want the best in file synchronization, bulk image editing, file sharing, file managing and so much more. You have probably used their SyncMate to sync all of your devices to your Mac, or played media using Eltima’s Elmedia Player. Their Airy is a YouTube downloader and PhotoBulk offers an easy way to edit images in bulk. Need to recover a pdf password or back up your iCloud drive? Eltima has you covered.
How To: Raising Money On YouTube For Your Users Group
Raising Money On YouTube For Your Users Group by Rex Covington
A quick note about me. My name is Rex Covington. I have been making and posting videos on YouTube for about seven years. At this time I have posted over 500 videos, and I have 740 subscribers with over 184,125 views. My YouTube Channel – http://www.lonestarrider.tv – is basically a travel channel. It includes video destinations while traveling on my motorcycle, product reviews, how to’s. photography, and even a few videos of my granddaughter. I do not claim to be an expert at earning money on YouTube, but I do earn a little money that takes care of my gear and fuel for traveling.
My hope with this article is to lead you in the right direction to earning some money for your users group or yourself.
Nicholas Pyers Presents: Presentation Ideas
Are you looking for a clever idea for a meeting presentation? Stuck for a topic that will interest both your new and long time members? Nicholas Pyers of AppleUsers.org has some wonderful ideas that can add a spark to your next meeting. From a design application shoot out to a look at favorite podcasts, you will find something your group can use. While you are there, have a look at his tips for working with presenters.
Check it out!
http://www.appleusers.org/presentations/presentation-ideas/
