Official Newsletter of the Tampa Bay Computer Society www.tampa-bay.org

August 2005 Association of Personal Computer User Groups NOOZ 

Cheryl Wester Region 5 Advisor cwester@apcug.net

1. Susy Ball Resigns as APCUG Director and President

2. APCUG Board of Directors Elects New President

3. APCUG’s Annual Conference – January 2 through 5, 2006

4. Jerry Award Contest

5. Newsletter & Web Site Contests

6. Auditing APCUG Books

7. Would you like to recruit younger members? Microsoft’s Chris Norred, who is with their "Expert Zone", has some very interesting things to say about the ‘older generation’ of computer users.

1. Susy Ball, has recently resigned as president and director of APCUG. She had several crisis lines converge at the same time and felt she could no longer effectively serve APCUG. This was a very difficult decision for her to make but she feels she needs to concentrate on her family at this point in time. She and her husband recently moved from their long-time home in Fresno to Napa where he accepted a new job, they moved into an apartment and have just recently purchased a house and will need to move again, and she is coping with the loss of her father who passed away in late-July. Susy has been a long-time APCUG volunteer and we thank her for her many contributions.

2. At a special Board of Directors meeting Ken Bundy was elected President of APCUG to complete Susy’s 2005 term as president.

3. APCUG's Annual Conference is scheduled for January 2 through 5, 2006 at The Stardust Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. To register for the conference go to www.apcug.net and click on Registration under APCUG Annual Conference. Don’t forget to complete the entire form. After your registration has been received, you will be taken to the payment options page. Registration fees may be paid with a credit card through APCUG’s secure online gateway, or with a check. Before you complete your registration, we suggest you read the APCUG Privacy Policy, and the APCUG Refund/ Cancellation Policy.
   Early Bird registration of $75.00 ends on October 17 and, if you pay by check, it must be received no later than October 25. If you register between October 18 and November 30, the fee is $100.00 and the check needs to be received by December 7. If you register after November 30, the fee is $150.00. The last date to register and receive your choice of t-shirt size is November 15.
   To register at The Stardust, call 866-281-1034 and mention Group Code APCUG06. The negotiated conference room rates end December 2, 2005 --- so, make your reservations early!

Room and Suite Rates:

Sunday Mon/Tues Wed-Sat

1/1/06 1/2- 3/06 1/4-7/06

West Tower $150 $ 67 $112

Spa Suites N/A $110 $175

The surcharge for triple occupancy is still $20 per room, per night.

4. Jerry Awards. Entry forms for the Jerry Award contest will be available soon. In the meantime, please go to http://apcug.net/events/conference06/ Jerry_06.htm for information about the contest.

5. Web Site & Newsletter Contests. The criteria for the contests will also be available soon. Please check out http://apcug.net/events/conference06/website.htm  or http://apcug.net/events/conference06/newsletter.htm for information about the contests.

6. Some user groups have been fortunate enough to find a qualified volunteer among their ranks or within the community who is able and willing to do a complimentary audit of the group's books. One group even had a member who was a retired IRS auditor who did an annual informal audit of the books. APCUG needs help of that nature! If you know of anyone who is willing to audit APCUG books gratis, or just for reimbursement of expenses, please have them contact Sharon Fry, APCUG’s Administrative Assistant, at sfry@apcug.net.

7. During the Microsoft event at the 2005 Annual Meeting, Sherry Zorzi, Advisor – Region 8, sat at a table with Microsoft’s Chris Norred, who is with their "Expert Zone." After CES, Chris wrote about the APCUG event on his blog - http://weblogs.asp.net/ expertzone/archive/2005/01/07/348307.aspx.
   Note particularly that he saw an advantage for younger people to join a group consisting of seniors! "An interesting thing about the user groups is the demographic makeup. There are a lot of members in their retirement years. There is a potential bonus in this for working age and younger computer enthusiasts.
   Remember all those really cool home computing projects you intend to master? For me, it's the DVD scrapbook of my son's first years. But you can't find time because the porch needs painting, the kids have soccer, and the boss wants another batch of paperwork by Friday.
   Well, a lot of user group members, apparently, don't have kids or bosses anymore. They have time to figure out how to use the software, or put together the PC and the home network, and they're eager to share their information. All you have to do is go to a user group meeting and ask them." Chris is smart enough to see something a lot of people don't!!! Older people can help young people. Chris is onto something that Sherry thinks makes a perfect angle for us to pitch in recruiting younger members. We need both – seniors give us numbers to keep our club's viable; younger people give us vitality and a future.

That’s all for this NOOZ. Please let me know if you find this information useful to share with your group – it’s a benefit of your membership in APCUG. If you have anything you would like me to include in NOOZ, just let me know.