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July-September 2006

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Chicago Mini Expo VI
Judy McDowell, Quad Cities Computer Society President
Patty Lowry, Region 6 Advisor

The Chicago Computer Society hosted another successful Expo for computer users on Saturday, September 15, 2007. This was their 6th year and it ran like a fine-tuned clock. Check-in was quick and efficient; pre registration saved time and $5.00. Goodie bags were waiting for us filled with information from vendors and a T-shirt commemorating the event. There were several vendors with display tables of their products and some participated in prepared demonstrations later in the day. The most exciting time of the day was at the end of the expo when lots and lots of prizes were given away. One of the first things to decide was how many raffle tickets to buy. Two tickets were included with registration and early registrants were rewarded with two additional tickets, but if your budget allowed you to purchase more you could buy 1 for $1.00, 6 for $5.00 an arm’s length for $10.00 or wrist to wrist for $20.00. If you have short arms you find a friend with longer arms and use them to purchase your tickets.

Chicago Computer Society President Al Cheeks welcomed all attendees at 9:00AM with a slide presentation of the more than 200 prizes that would be raffled off at the end of the day. Five mini presentations were made throughout the day for exactly 50 minutes and a 10 minute break in between. A box lunch was also provided to all attendees.

Presentations included the following:

1. A member of the Chicago Computer Society showed us how to make Google your home page and then customize it with Google “gadgets” to personalize the page to your exact preferences.

2. Representatives from Smart Computing demonstrated their website. What a great value when you subscribe to one of their magazines. Not only can you read articles online, you can research past issues of all 5 of their publications or ask for technical help from other members or their own technical staff.

3. A representative of Epson printers informed us about printing beautiful professional photographs with Epson printers. We learned that there are big differences in ink if you want to print photographs that will last for 100 years without fading. Epson has developed an ink that resists fading, water spotting and smudging.

4. Microsoft WOWed us with new technologies coming in the near future using touch screens and “surface” computing. The tasks are endless with what you will be able to do on an interactive table surface. We saw a sneak preview of their latest game “Halo 3.”

5. Corel made becoming your own movie producer look easy with two of their movie editing programs.

The day flew by and before long the raffle tickets were drawn. Many people won prizes, some won many. Two lucky winners went home with the grand prizes: a Toshiba laptop computer and an Epson Stylus 1400 Photo Printer. The day was both enjoyable and informative and we want to thank the Chicago Computer Society for their hard working team that made their Mini-Expo VI a big success.