by Saundra (Sandy) Foderick, Editor | Nov 11, 2023 | 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. Nicholas Pyers, Apple User Group Advisory Board member and popular presenter from 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 year ahead 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 thank you to Nicholas for his many articles over many years. We look forward to taking his advice on planning for the year to come and thank him for all of the expertise and wonderful resources he has provided over the years.
Nicholas Pyers is known for AppleUsers.org, the Apple Users Spotlight, his clever puzzles, and long-time championship of all things Mac.
Learn more at:
by Saundra (Sandy) Foderick, Editor | Feb 21, 2023 | Apple World User Group University, Leaders, Resources
AWUGU Meeting Report about Visual Organizing
by Tom Piper, Coordinator
This Apple World User Group University online gathering of Apple user group leaders was held at 5:00pm CDST, on February 20, 2023, via Zoom. We had 29 participants for the topics of CES Report and Apple Visual Organizing. The 80-minute video can be viewed at https://youtu.be/RKUcSRBHb7M (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.
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by Saundra (Sandy) Foderick, Editor | Dec 5, 2022 | Leaders, User Group How To
apple user groups
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.
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by Saundra (Sandy) Foderick, Editor | Dec 4, 2022 | Leaders, User Group How To, User Group Meeting Materials
Have your members asked about Freeform, the new free Apple app that helps users see, share, and collaborate on an infinite virtual whiteboard? Released on December 13, Apple includes the free app with the latest versions of iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. It can even be used while you are on a FaceTime call.
Freeform could make for a fun and interactive meeting activity.
Check it out!
Apple Support on YouTube – How to Use Freeform
Apple Press Release About Freeform
by Saundra (Sandy) Foderick, Editor | Nov 25, 2022 | Apple World User Group University, News & Events, Resources
AWUGU Meeting Report about SIGs
by Tom Piper, Coordinator
This Apple World User Group University online gathering of Apple user group leaders was held at 5:00pm CDST, on November 21, 2022, via Zoom. We had 30 participants for the topic of “AUG Special Interest Groups” (see attached JPG image and PDF attendance list). The 78-minute video can be viewed at https://youtu.be/8DmbTgPw3Cc (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.
The first segment was a presentation by Steve Welsh (The Oregon MacPioneers User Group) describing the many aspects of and opportunities for SIGs (see attached PDF slideshow). Many questions and comments followed. His “Tips for Success” were welcomed by many as excellent ways to build SIGs in Apple User Groups.
Next was a discussion by Susan Jensen (President, Apple Users’ Society of Melbourne [AUSOM]) about their extensive set of all-day Saturday Special Interest Groups in hourly break-out rooms (see attached PDF schedule). Many questions and responses were then exchanged, and thanks provided for describing their wide array of SIG opportunities.
Of the 8 attendees whose AUGs hosted SIGs, some brief descriptions were provided to share the variety of ways that these topics were handled. More questions and comments followed describing tools and services others used.
This was followed by a description about AWUGU Feedback 2022 provided by Marie Boughenou (Hyper Pomme Paris) who illustrated many of our group’s topics over the past year and shared compliments about the process. Although she struggled with English (French is her first language), many thanked her for her observations and inspirations, and made numerous suggestions about online translators.
Additional questions were asked, comments made, experiences shared and suggestions offered by user group leaders with the following excellent links providing further information: (more…)
by Saundra (Sandy) Foderick, Editor | Jun 19, 2022 | Apple World User Group University, Leaders, News & Events
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…)
by Saundra (Sandy) Foderick, Editor | Apr 18, 2022 | News & Events, Resources
Randy Singer, leader of the 9.000+ member strong MacAttorney User Group, co-author of multiple editions of the award-winning and well-loved Macintosh Bible, author of the ABA’s The Macintosh Software Guide for the Law Office, writer of the MacAttorney Newsletter, and popular presenter, has an excellent page listing current email software, email utilities, and email archiving software. If your members are looking for mail applications that run on the Mac OS, this is another great resource from Randy’s collection of helpful pages.
Macintosh Email Software
Thanks again to Randy for being such a wonderful resource for the community of Apple users!
by Saundra (Sandy) Foderick, Editor | Mar 20, 2022 | Apple World User Group University, Leaders, Resources
Report about AUG Media Resources
by Tom Piper, Coordinator
This Apple World User Group University online gathering of Apple user group leaders was held at 5:00pm CDST, on March 21, 2022, via Zoom. We had 42 participants for the topic of “AUG Media Resources” (see the PDF image and attendance list in Tom’s email). The 75-minute video can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/aw1TYrd8pWM (unlisted on YouTube).
This session opened with my welcome (especially to new registrants), plus a quick review of the meeting protocols, and an invitation to submit user group Product Review web links. Doug Smith, Chair of the Apple User Group Advisory Board (AUGAB) provided backup support during the call.
Isabel Collins of the Apple Users’ Society of Melbourne made a slideshow presentation about their paper and digital newsletter describing the process and editor’s recognition (see attached PDF slideshow). Steve Welsh of the Oregon Macintosh Users Group provided a slideshow about the history of media and evolution of their newsletter (see the PDF schedule and yes/no newsletter view sent in Tom’s email). Joan Newman of the SouthWest Florida Apple Computer Knowledge Society then provided a slideshow about the development and timing of their newsletter. This was followed by questions and experiences by a number of other participants, several of whom also sharing information about their newsletters, portals, message boards, blogs, ePubs, podcasts and other media resources.
Additional questions were asked, experiences shared and suggestions made by other user group leaders. The following links were offered for further information on this meeting’s topics:
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by Saundra (Sandy) Foderick, Editor | Dec 9, 2021 | Leaders, News & Events
Are your group’s Apple User Group Locator records up to date? This winter the Locator team will be updating the database. Groups who have not updated their records in the last two years, and groups with dead web links or non-functioning email addresses will be put on pending. The team is also checking web sites: has your web site been updated since 2019? Make sure your group stays on active status. Update your group’s records today.
https://www.appleusergroupresources.com/signup-form/
by Saundra (Sandy) Foderick, Editor | Nov 14, 2021 | Apple World User Group University, Leaders, News & Events
Report about AUG Marketing
by Tom Piper, Coordinator
This Apple World User Group University online gathering of Apple user group leaders was held at 5:00pm CDST, on October 18, 2021, via Zoom. We had 28 participants for the topic of “AUG Marketing”. The 62-minute video can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/yrTWnChvnM0 (unlisted on YouTube).
This session opened with my welcome, plus a quick review of the meeting protocols and a brief discussion about the products introduced at Apple’s “Unleashed” event earlier in the day. Doug Smith, Chair of the Apple User Group Advisory Board (AUGAB), was present to support this call.
Nicholas Pyers of AppleUsers.org led off the discussion about how to market for new members and retain existing members. This was followed by experiences and suggestions by George Brooks, George Rubin, Steve Welsh, Dan Wassink, Doug Smith, Curt Blanchart, Frank Salvanti, and others who joined in this discussion to provide more information.
The following links were offered for further information on this meeting’s topic:
• Nicholas Pyers (JCN) :
• Russ Conte:
– Raffle: did one on Zoom, speaker choose three random numbers, members post three numbers in the meeting chat, and the three closest were winners
• Andrea Suhaka : do raffles on Zoom for Take Control books
Ideas about updating the Apple User Group Locator and end-of-year activities discussed and selected as the topic for our next meeting, to be called “AUG Updates & Planning”, which is tentatively scheduled for November 18, 2021, at 5:00pm Central Daylight Savings Time.
AWUGU registrants will receive an invitation to all future meetings. To become a participant, any interested Apple User Group 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 November 16 in order to receive a Zoom Meeting invitation (a download of the free Zoom app in advance is also necessary, and an update will be important for existing users).
