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April-June 2006

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Region 13 Report
John Hirsh

Garneau User Group, Orleans

by Dan Legros

Since we have returned from Las Vegas we have been busy preparing our upcoming meetings. Students will be presenting the new XBOX 360 as well as team speak, online communication software.

We are gearing up for our Computer Olympics, in which about 200 students take part every year. Categories range from A+ (computer assembly), CCNA (networking), Programming (VB.NET), Typing, Graphic Design (Corel Draw) to name a few.

We are also having our next LAN party in March.

Thank you and Happy Computing,



Vernon Personal Computer Users Club

by Betty Holtskog

We are located in the sunny Okanagan in Vernon, British Columbia (in the interior of B. C.) situated on the north end of Okanagan Lake. Kalamalka Lake, better known to the world as "the lake of many colours", is at the south end of the city with Swan Lake to the north. This is a very desirable area to live in for all seasons as there are all the summer sports available and our famous ski hill, Silver Star, provides both the cross country and downhill skiing, and the snowmobilers have a place to enjoy their winter sports. We're at 1365' elevation (410m), us Canucks are forced to use the metric now. HA!

I have not been involved in the executive aspect of the club until most recently. Our founding president has turned over the organizational aspects of the club to a new executive and we're trying to get good groundwork established. That is where we're challenged.

We recognize the problems with the "expert level down to the beginner" and are trying to be ever so mindful that we meet the needs of the membership. In the past, we were able to count on speakers from local businesses to bring new and exciting information to us, but with the brisk market and the lack of time, we haven't been as successful.

At one point, we had about 80+ people showing up, we were crammed into a classroom best suited for about half the size and had people leave totally upset with us. Our new executive is very aware of the problems; we are making every effort to build a good foundation. We see the challenge and want to be up to the task of meeting it.

We now meet at a Seniors' Center and this seems to be working very well with level access and our equipment can be stored there as well making it very convenient.

We don't have a projector, but the club has purchased a computer which we can hook up to a large TV. If we need a projector we rent one..We have moved out of the school where we used to meet. We were allowed to use the computer lab, but we had problems with the custodian, and the school raised their rent so that the club couldn’t afford it anymore.

We now have a Special Interest Group which meets separately from the main group dealing with photography both digital and "the old way". We're fortunate to have a very experienced photographer in our group, who leads the group of about 10 to 12 members. Any larger and it would be a challenge to get anything accomplished.

Where we are challenged is in the area of expertise and keeping everyone’s needs met. We have the green beginner to the more proficient user, and no computer “geeks”. We find that, in this busy market, our dealers and computer repair business people are just not able to find the time to come out and speak.

Another problem is that we may be successful in arranging a speaker only to have them cancel or not show at the last minute. To fill the holes left by this, we always try to have a backup program to pull out of a hat. [ Editors note: John suggested PIAB (Programs in a Box) as a possible solution to this problem many groups have. ]

We devote 30 minutes or more to "TANQ" ..There Are No (stupid) Question. This is always a learning curve for the majority.


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