Nicholas Pyers Presents: End of Year Tasks for User Group Members

Nicholas PyersMany 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:

https://www.appleusers.org/

AWUGU Meeting Report about Visual Organizing by Tom Piper

Tom Piper

 

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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How To: Delisting a Disbanded Group

apple user groups

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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Meeting Idea: Give Freeform a Try

Apple Peek PerformanceHave 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

 

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: Report about AUG Media Resources by Tom Piper

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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Annual Records Update: Is Your Group Ready?

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/

AWUGU: AUG Marketing

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:
• Dan Wassink: https://akappleug.com
• Nicholas Pyers (JCN) : 
• Steve OMUG: Oregon MacPioneers statewide users group:  https://omug.usergroupresources.com
• Russ Conte: 
– iQR codes at Chicago AUG use iQR that allows addition of logos INSIDE the iQR image: https://iqr.hrubasko.com/
– 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
 
We are very pleased with this ninth meeting of 2021. Files related to this meeting are available on our AWUGU shared folder: https://www.icloud.com/iclouddrive/0kF7XwYI98VG0fqvL86PJm02g#AWUGU
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).

Meeting Idea: GarageBand v10.4.4

When GarageBand was introduced in 2004 it was amazing! Mac users could record up to 8 tracks at once, fix timing and pitch, view and edit in musical notation, and so much more. Who could have imagined the 2021 version? GarageBand v10.4.4 for macOS is a whole music creation studio right inside your Mac—with a complete sound library that includes software instruments, presets for guitar and voice, and virtual session drummers. Better yet, is runs on your current Mac and optimized for Apple silicon. But wait, there’s more: GarageBand v10.4.4 for macOS includes a new collection of instrument sounds and loops across a variety of genres, including from some of the world’s top producers.

Why not plan a meeting around GarageBand v10.4.4? 

GarageBand for Mac – First Look (L544712A-en_US) 

Ambassadors, November is a great month to check out ASW.

How To: Q&A Best Practices by Tom Piper

Written by Tom Piper, Past President of appleJAC User Group and Head of the Apple User Group Vendor team

One of the most valuable services provided by Apple User Groups to their members are the “question and answer” sessions. For the past 35 years of our existence, appleJAC has evolved through a variety of Q&A processes. This How-To session will describe each of the successful methods that we have used.

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