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If your group hasn’t yet, you may renew your group’s membership online here.
A fillable and print enabled pdf is available here.
If you pay by check, mail it with a copy of your form to:
APCUG
3155 E. Patrick Lane, Suite 1
Las Vegas NV 89120
If you elect to pay by credit card, after clicking on Submit you will be taken to the Thank You page where you click on Buy Now. That link takes you to APCUG’s secure online store. Click on Add to cart and then Checkout. If you have used the online store before, you can just login or you can register as a new customer of the store.
Note: Full Members are those groups with more than 25 members; Associate Members are those groups with less than 25 members (or groups where membership is not open to the public).
It is little recognized, and is way under-utilized, but the officers who keep APCUG functioning are one of the greatest assets that member groups have going for them. These people have been there and done that! President, Vice President, Program Chair, you name it, they have probably done it. This means that, in all likelihood, whatever problems you are having, they have had in the past and have dealt with it! Every User Group is assigned to a region and has an Advisor, and if they are unable to help they will send your request to all the Board and Board of Advisor members. You are sure to receive some solutions.
Each month your Regional Advisor sends out NOOZ which includes a variety of information regarding APCUG, your own region, contests, and much more.
Every quarter, APCUG sends out its official publication, Reports, to selected User Group leaders. It is full of information, event news, What Works in User Groups articles, contact information, and much more.
With over 300 member groups, there are probably several groups within a 250 mile radius of your UG. Look them up on the APCUG website via the Directory and get to know them! Share presenters, help each other, cross advertise. Everyone benefits.
Being part of APCUG gives you an inside track to hosting Vendor Presentations. An excellent way to attract Vendors is to team up with neighboring UGs so the vendors can make presentations on consecutive days. This lets them justify the high cost of sending someone to your meeting.
Well worth the time to investigate! You will find lots of help, such as: Help for Your User Group, Bylaws, Articles of Incorporation, UG directory, past issues of APCUG Reports, vendor contact information, UG newsletters (online newsletter list), free web space for User Groups, and a WebBoard so that groups can hold meetings online, etc, etc!
APCUG will host your group’s website for free -- it’s included in your membership fee!
With WebBoard you can set up a conference area for each of your officers, SIGs, and members so they can communicate with fellow members between meetings. This is accessible via the Web, through a Mailing List interface, or through a News Reader interface. The WebBoard offers chat room access for all conferences.
APCUG member groups periodically receive information regarding vendor discounts that can be passed on to their members.
Every year, APCUG has a conference that is packed full of vendor-sponsored meals and presentations, roundtables, networking opportunities with participating vendors and other User Group leaders, and a Vendor Fair and Reception! All this for a registration fee of under $150.00!
Named after one of APCUG’s founders, Jerry Schneider, the Jerry Awards provide recognition for the many APCUG groups that are involved in community service projects of all sizes and scope. The purpose of the Jerry Awards is to recognize and reward these projects and to encourage new and expanded involvement. These projects exemplify how the mottos of “users helping users” and “user groups helping user groups” have evolved into “user groups helping the community.”
Every month, APCUG sends several articles to UG editors to use in their newsletters, as needed. The articles are written by UG members, professionals and, occasionally, vendors. They are an attractive option for editors who need help filling the pages of their newsletter.
APCUG maintains a list of online User Group newsletters. A great place to find out what other groups are doing and get ideas for your newsletter, program ideas, etc.
The APCUG website has excellent “How-To” guides to organizing a user group, including examples of Articles of Incorporations, constitution, by laws, budget help, and lots of extras. There is also information for program chairs, growing your user group, newsletter and PR guidelines and more that have been compiled from various sources including past APCUG Conferences and regional events.
APCUG maintains a list of vendors who provide alternatives to having a vendor present at your meeting. Some of the vendors who provide PIABs include User Group Relations, Microsoft, Corel, Blue Squirrel, Smart Computing, Allume and more.
While our on-line database has room for other officers, APCUG’s main interest is in the President, Editor, Program Coordinator and APCUG Representative of your group. These are officers that APCUG sends Reports to, and who we send information to via e-mail. The other officers that we would like to know about are the Webmaster, Secretary and Treasurer, Directors and Membership Chair. From time to time, we may need to contact them.
If you are having trouble making updates to our on-line database at http://cdb.apcug.org/login.asp, have your President and/or APCUG Representative send an e-mail to cdb@apcug.net with the information about your group and its officers. Please include the full name of the group and the city. For security reasons, we will only send the user name, password and directions to your group’s President and/or APCUG Representative.
Thank you. See you next time.
- Jim Evans