Apple Senior Systems Engineer Dave Marra has updated his Mac User Group presentation schedule with some new appearances and some re-scheduled visits following the severe weather in the Northeast in the past few weeks.
Dave will bring his dynamic presentation of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and related topics to these groups in the coming weeks:

• March 08: Macintosh Association of Central NJ Users Group
• March 12: Hershey Apple Core
• March 14: Atlantic City Area Macintosh Users Group
• March 18: Macintosh Association of Central New Jersey
• April 19: Philadelphia Area Computer Society (tentative)
• May 07: Macintosh User Group of Oneonta
• May 09: Long Island Macintosh Users Group
• May 14: North Jersey Mac Apple Users Group

As always, be certain to to check each group’s web site for exact time, location and visitor policies, then mark your calendar to go see Dave!

Even more Mac User Groups will get their first look at Leopard from an expert, thanks to Apple Senior Systems Engineer Aaron Davis. Aaron has scheduled four different MUG presentations in the coming weeks:

• Virginia Macintosh Users Group - 11/5
• National Capital Apple - 11/10
• Maryland Apple Corps - 11/17
• Annapolis Apple Slice - 12/11

Interested parties are welcome at each group’s meetings, but you’ll want to check their individual sites for times, locations and visitor’s policies.

Apple Senior Systems Engineer Dave Marra is venturing outside his usual stomping grounds of the Northeast United States for two new Mac User Group appearances. Dave will be showing off Mac OS X Leopard at his upcoming MUG appearances, including these three new dates:

• 11/17/07 - MacTechnics
• 11/18/07 - MacGroup Detroit
• 11/20/07 - New Jersey Macintosh Users Group

Dave’s complete user group schedule, as of this moment, includes eight appearances:
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The Apple User Group Program has announced the appointment of three new Regional Liaison Team members.

Joining the team in a new position to specifically address the growing “pro application groups” segment of the community is Sue Lawson of the Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group. This is a new position introduced to specifically address this segment of the user group community.

Christian Coll of the Victoria Macintosh Users Group has assumed responsibility for Canadian Mac User Groups, succeeding the late Jim Foster.

Taking over the South Central United States territory, consisting of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas, is Doug Smith of the Houston Area Apple Users Group. Doug succeeds his fellow HAAUG member Rex Covington.

Complete bios and more information are available on the Apple User Group Regional Liaisons page on Apple’s web site.

The Tri-Valley Macintosh Users Group (TMUG) has announced that Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak will be their guest at a special event on June 21. Steve will be talking about his experiences during the early days of personal computing, his thoughts on Apple’s most recent developments and computers in education.. There will also be an opportunity to have copies of his book, “iWoz, personally signed.

The meeting will be held at the Amador Valley High School in Pleasanton, California, starting at 7 PM. The meeting is open to the public, but you’ll want to get there early for a good seat.
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This week’s MUG Event Calendar features a heavy Apple presence, a regional event for DIY’ers and lots of home-grown presentations all over the globe.

On the Apple front, Dave Marra will be the featured presenter twice this week, once in Pennsylvania and once in Maryland, while Tim Matheny will be in Tennessee and Charles Meyer will present twice in one day to a FCP group in Denver.

The Maker Faire will be held in California with a special presentation by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and Take Control author Steve Sande will present to a group in Massachutes.

Groups in California will enjoy presentations from Prosoft Engineering, Lights Craft and an Adobe Certified Trainer will demonstrate the latest version of CS3.

Other presentation topics include video blogging, mobile technologies, YouTube, web site authoring, iLife, switching, Keynote, NeoOffice and much more.

What’s your group have on the agenda for your next meeting? Let us know and we’ll add it to the list of outstanding topics published here every week.
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On Wednesday, May 16, the Denver Final Cut Pro User Group (DFCPUG) will host their city’s stop on the national Panasonic P2HD Tour.

P2 Product Manager Jan Crittenden Livingston will be on hand to show off the chops of the latest version of Panasonic’s HD professional camcorder line. Nationally renowned instructor, Michael Caporale along with Charles Meyer from Apple will demonstrating workflows with the New Panasonic cameras and gear.

The group will cap off the day with their May meeting with a visit from Apple Sr. Systems Engineer Charles Meyer, who will show off the new Final Cut Studio 2 suite, as well as Creative Cow/Denver FCP Pro Forum leader Jerry Hoffman reviewing the new AJA information.

Details on both events, including RSVP links, can be found on the DFCPUG web site.

Mac User Group leaders have many resources they can take advantage of to inform their members about the latest happenings in the Apple world, and several of them are provided by Apple itself. Among them is access to Apple Sales Web.

Apple gives the ambassadors of recognized Mac User Groups access to the secure part of their web site reserved for the sales side of the organization. That means that you can get the same training and resource materials for your group that are used by every Apple representative worldwide to present and inform audiences. That is always a very significant benefit, but it can be even more useful when Apple introduces a new product or a major upgrade.
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EmiratesMac, the first Mac User Group in the United Arab Emirates held their first major event as a MUG, hosting a special presentation by Apple on the new Apple TV.

The meeting was held on March 29, with about 50 people in attendance. Presentations included an overview of the group by President Magnus Nystedt and a demonstration of the Apple TV by Mushtaq Sarwar from Apple. A raffle of a Mac mini and other prizes wrapped things up.

Photos of the people and hardware are available on the EmeritesMac web site.

They’re doing it again. The Final Cut Pro User Group folks are going to stage their 6th annual SuperMeet at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show in Las Vegas on April 18th.

This year’s event, to be held in the Palazzo Ballroom at the Venetian, will be bigger and better than ever before. The guest speaker will be renowned sound editor Walter Murch, who credit’s include films such as Apocalypse Now, The English Patient, Cold Mountain and the upcoming Francis Ford Coppola film, Youth Without Youth.

Also making an unusual feature appearance will be Apple’s Final Cut Studio Development Team, who will be talking about the latest edition of the video editing suite, answering questions and also asking for feedback from the attendees.

Exhibiting at the SuperMeet will be over twenty vendors who will not be on any other show floor anywhere during NAB, so if you want to see them you need to sign up for the event now.
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