APCUG Reports
July-September 2011

Who presents the programs in your User Group? If your is like most UGs, I suspect most programs come from either one person, or one of a very small group. I suspect that person (or small group) may be getting tired, having just one month to learn a new program or product well enough to give a presentation on it. I am sure everyone loves their presentations, but just think how much better their presentations would be if they had several months to fully learn the program or product, and then prepare a PowerPoint slide show, perhaps with handouts, for their presentation.

Sure that sounds good, but what are we to do for programs in the meantime? How about inviting a presenter to speak from another User Group? We are the only group around here, and with the high cost of gasoline no presenter is going to drive all the way here just to do a program for our group. Don’t you have access to the internet? A presenter from a User Group clear accross the country can do a Remote Presentation for your UG, from the comfort of their own home, and if you usually take guest presenters out to eat after your meeting (some groups call this a Pig Sig meeting), you will not even have to buy him dinner.

I am physically disabled. I can no longer even attend my own UG meetings in person, yet on May 24 I did a presentation on Google Calendar for the Western New York Computer Society (http://www.wnycomsoc.org), and then six days later I did the same presentation for my own group, the Tulsa Computer Society, and in both cases I never left my Lift Chair in my living room.

A number of speakers are prepared to offer Remote Presentations to APCUG Member Groups using the internet. See http://www.apcug.net/speakers. If you have wired broadband internet available where you meet this should be easy. If all you have is WiFi I recommend running a test before scheduling a presentation to be sure there is sufficient bandwidth for a presentation. If you do not have adequate internet access where you meet, you may still be able to participate in this service. See the article at http://reports.apcug.org/2010q2/16.htm to see the results of tests Fox Valley PC Association did of various alternatives. You may also find that one of your members has invested in Wireless Access for his laptop for business purposes, and who might be willing to let you use his/her laptop and Wireless Access on meeting nights.

Currently we have five speakers, with a total of 42 programs, available to be remotely presented, and we would love to add speakers from your UG to the list. Just think how excited your members will be to see a presentation by someone from clear across the country, and just think how your primary speakers will appreciate having the time to really develop a fantastic presentation, and then not just present it one time to your UG, but to spend the next few months sharing that same presentation to groups all across the country.

Local User Groups form to share ideas and help other computer owners in your local area. But with the APCUG Speakers Bureau you can share ideas and help other computer owners all over the country (and in some cases even in other countries). Doesn’t that caat a new light on what User Groups are all about?