by Tom Piper, Coordinator

Our fifth Apple World User Group University online gathering of Apple user group leaders was held at 8:00pm CST, on August 17, 2020, via Zoom. We had 31 participants who joined for the topic of “Using Zoom as a Presenter” (PDF images and attendance list available upon request). The 96-minute video can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/e7ncZMg2WmA (unlisted YouTube).

This session opened with my welcome, a brief memory about our first April meeting about virtual meetings, and an introduction to Virtual Macstock in Woodstock, IL (macstockconferenceandexpo.com/virtual-macstock) and registration for next year’s event (macstockconferenceandexpo.com). I also introduced Sandy Foderick and Rex Covington, who are Bulletin Editor and Photographer respectively of the Apple User Group Advisory Board.

Next was a detailed and very informative presentation about Zoom presentation preparation and delivery by Nicholas Pyers of AppleUsers.org (AppleUsers.org), whose slides can be viewed at  nicholaspyers.com/presentations/using-zoom-as-a-presenter/. This was followed by Ann MacKay of Apple Charleston User Group (charlestownappleusers.com) about their retirement center Zoom experiences (her slides available upon request).

Carol Fortlage of The Villages Apple User Group (tvaug.org) then spoke of her personal perspectives as a Zoom presenter. Next was a presentation by Mike Kwasniak of the Suffolk Mac User Group in the United Kingdom (www.suffolkmug.co.uk) who described his conversion to Zoom for his most recent two meetings.

The meeting was extended to provide Robert Zimmerman of MacinTech (macintech.org) an opportunity to illustrate his international week-long Zoom Society of Allied Weight Engineers Tech Fair (PowerPoint file available upon request). He was joined by Rick Hyman who provided a collection of Zoom guidance (Zip file available upon request). Bob Barton of Mainline Macintosh Users Group had intended to present next, but his Internet connection failed, so he shared his slides afterward (PDF file available upon request). A few questions and answers followed.

A brief discussion was held and suggestions made for future meeting topics such as backups, membership records and renewals, website maintenance, and online forums. 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:

Presenter links from Nicholas:

▪ Upgrade Hardware

▪ Environment

▪Have Assistants

▪Using Keynote

▪Before you start

Security tips experienced at another’s Zoom meeting from Bob Barton:

  • Set up a breakout room and use it as your main meeting room
  • Screen participants when they log in to the main Zoom
  • If they pass (invited, etc), move them to the breakout room
  • This allows interaction that the waiting room does not

Fast Company video link from Ann McKay:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNcZVmSjy5c

Email link from Carol Fortlage interested in Q&A:

       cfortlage@gmail.com

We are very pleased that this fifth meeting was very interesting, entertaining and educational. Our next tentative meeting is scheduled for 8:00pm CDT, September 21, 2020, about “Backups, Forums & Websites”, and on October 19, 2020, a discussion about “User Group Business Practices”. 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 September 19 in order to receive a Zoom Meeting invitation (a download of the free Zoom app in advance is also necessary).