On March 11, SF Cutters, the San Francisco Final Cut Pro Users Group, will celebrate their 10th anniversary with a special meting and party at Adobe.

The event will feature not only the requisite celebratory activities, but also s special session of “Stump the Gurus with Kevin Monahan, Jesse Spencer, Karl Soule, Sean Safreed and more; a presentation by Karl Soule on the making of AVATAR & Adobe Production Premium, a sneak peak of the New Mercury Playback Engine; a sneak peak at new releases by Sean Safreed of Redgiant Software, organizing your FCP project with Chris Fenwick of Slice Editorial and more.

Space is limited, but registration is free, so be sure to do that now if you want to attend.

The Final Cut Pro User Group Network (FCPUG) has announced the San Francisco SuperMeet, on February 5, 2010.

Traditionally scheduled during Macworld Expo week, this year’s SuperMeet will get out of the gate early, on the Friday before Macworld week.

Details on presenters and format have not yet been established, but what we can tell you is that the SuperMeets have always been not-to-be-missed events if you’re into digital video at any level. Tickets are on sale now, and are $10 per person until January 4.

Visit the FCPUG site for more information on tickets, raffle tickets, hotel deals and all the details as they become available.

The first annual Final Cut Pro SuperMeet, held in London on June 25, drew over 600 digital filmmakers and Final Cut Pro (FCP) enthusiasts to the Kensington Conference Centre.

“This was our first standalone SuperMeet not tied to a trade show and to be honest, we were a bit concerned about the turnout,” said Michael Horton, head of the Los Angeles Final Cut Pro User Group and SuperMeet co-producer. “But the London production and post-production community came through and supported this event way beyond our expectations.”

“It showed us once again how much these SuperMeets matter to digital filmmakers,” added Daniel Berube, head of the Boston Final Cut Pro User Group and SuperMeet co-producer. “Clearly, this SuperMeet was well-timed and very well-received and enjoyed by those in attendance.” Read the rest of this entry »

The Final Cut Pro User Group Network (FCPUG) “SuperBooth”, part of NABShow 2009, will offer a full 4 day schedule of free immersive sessions with Final Cut Studio, Adobe and digital filmmaking Gurus who will answer questions, demo user-driven production and postproduction workflows, and screen content created with Final Cut Studio and other Macintosh based software. The SuperBooth will serve as an extension of the the Eighth Annual NAB FCPUG SuperMeet, to take place on Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at the Rio Hotel.

“We have always wanted space on the NAB show floor, but could never find the resources or money to afford it,” said Michael Horton, founder of the Los Angeles Final Cut Pro User Group and co-producer of the SuperMeets. “But this year we have gotten tremendous support from the community who are donating their time and expertise to make this booth happen. Our plan is to make the SuperBooth a social gathering spot for all Final Cut Studio users and Digital moviemakers who find themselves in need of learning and connecting.”
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Mac User Group activities at Macworld Conference & Expo slow down today, as attendees try to get those last minute visits in to the exhibitors they haven’t been able to get to yet.

The Diablo Valley Macintosh Users Group steps up to the plate to make it three days a row anchoring the Mac User Group Booth. Today, they partner with SF Cutters, a local Final Cut Pro User Group, to help make attendees aware of the depth and diversity that is the Mac User Group community.

The User Group Lounge will wrap up with a special presentation by John Christopher of DriveSavers. John is always entertaining with his takes of disk disasters and heroic data recovery, so be sure to stop in to learn more about what they do. You can bet that your MUG’s members will ask about DriveSavers sooner or later.

Get all the information on this year’s Mac User Group events and activities on our Macworld Conference & Expo 2009: User Group Events page.

The busiest day for Mac User Group events at Macworld Expo starts early and ends late today, with something for everyone.

If you registered for the Adobe User Group & Professional Association Breakfast, you’ll need to get up early. If you didn’t, you’ll need to get up earlier to get on the Wait List to have a shot at getting in.

At the show, be sure to stop by the User Group Lounge for a does of MacNotable appearances. Scheduled to appear today are Bob LeVitus and Christopher Breen. Chuck Joiner and Nancy Carroll Gravley will deliver presentations on making your Mac User Group a better place, authors and Mac Experts Tom Negrino and Dori Smith will share their expertise, and Deb Shadovitz will talk about being a better presenter.

The Mac User Group Booth will host the Diablo Valley Macintosh Users Group and a second appearance by the North Coast Mac Users Group.

One of the most important sessions of the week will also be held this afternoon at 5 PM in Room 102 of Moscone South. Paul Kent will host a special Town Hall meeting on the future of Macworld Conference & Expo, and all attendees are invited to come and get involved. If you find any value to Macworld Expo, you need to attend this meeting.

Wrapping up the day is the 8th Annual Final Cut Pro User Group SuperMeet. This event always sells out, but you might be able to sneak under the wire if you get there really early.

Get all the information on this year’s Mac User Group events and activities on our Macworld Conference & Expo 2009: User Group Events page.

With only 12 more days to the 8th Annual FCPUG SuperMeet to be held Wednesday, January 7, 2009 at the UCSF Mission Bay Conference Center in San Francisco, CA, the agenda for the event has been announced. Subject to change, as all such things are, the presentations deliver something for everyone:

• Apple: The latest on Final Cut Studio

• JVC: Craig Yanagi of JVC will announce the world’s first acquisition product developed especially for Final Cut post production. Come and be a part of this historic event.

• BlackMagic Design: Animator/filmmaker M dot Strange shows you the ultimate low budget 3d animation techniques that can be utilized to create eye popping animations without having to break the bank, or your brain. Featuring a walkthrough of two recent 1080p 3d animated music videos he produced in the past year.

• Bruce Nazarian: Blu-Ray on the Cheap. How to build a compatible Blu-Ray Disk and burn it on DVD-R media without a Blu-Ray burner.

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The South Florida Final Cut Pro Users Group will hold a special event on August 14: a presentation by Bruce Nazarian, MPSE, “The Digital Guy” and President of the DVD Association International.

Bruce will give a presentation on how video creators/producers using Final Cut Pro and Final Cut Studio can take advantage of Blu-ray authoring in a knowledgeable way. He will address a number of “gotchas” that currently exist in BD authoring, duplication and replication that make the current path to BD publishing not as straightforward as it is for DVD. The DVDA’s mission will be to eliminate this confusion by providing information on what options are available for successfully producing and publishing using Blu-ray Disc.

Seating is limited, and you are strongly encouraged to RSVP.

For complete details including time and location, vist the SoFlaFCPUG web site.

Michael Horton, one of the organizers of the Final Cut Pro User group SuperMeet at NAB, has provided this wrap-up report of one of the most successful SuperMeets yet.

“The 7th annual NAB FCPUG SuperMeet is now officially over and you missed it. Well, some of you missed it. An estimated crowd of about 1500 showed up for what turned out to be the largest SuperMeet in our history. People started lining up at 3PM and the show did not end until after 11PM. We had presentations from Apple, Red, JVC, Blackmagic Design, Adobe, Wounded Marines Career Foundation, Phantom and a scary editing tool called the Assistant Editor. We had a crowded room of 30 vendors with some tables 20 people deep. It was nuts.

We gave away more than $90,000 worth of raffle prizes to a completely crazy out of control bunch of fun loving FCS users who could not of been more enthusiastic or patient. 250 “SuperBags” were handed out to the first 250 in line. 1000 “SuperMags” with 100 pages of tutorials and feature articles were also handed out. It was a great night, a long night and whole lot of fun for all of us. If you missed the event, you missed one heck of an event.

Special thanks must go to Apple for arranging the room at the MGM and for their extraordinary generosity and support. Also thanks must go to Adobe, Blackmagic Design and JVC and the other 27 companies, big and small who gave not only their financial support, but their time and expertise. And BIG thanks to all of our volunteers who work so tirelessly and with good humor.

Next up is IBC in Amsterdam. Yes Virginia, we plan on bringing the SuperMeet to Europe and are in the planning stages now. We are currently scouring Amsterdam for a suitable venue and plan to hold the event on Sunday, September 14, 2008. So if you are going to IBC or live in Europe and want to experience a SuperMeet, mark your calendars for September 14, 2008. Trust me, you have never been to an event like a FCPUG SuperMeet.

More on the IBC SuperMeet in Amsterdam as we get closer to the event. Right now, its back to the real world for me.”

If you were not among the lucky ones who were in Las Vegas, fear not: you can still benefit from the event by enjoying the podcasts of some of the presentations available from the show.

New ideas for Mac User Group leaders and enthusiasts are the focus of The User Groups 2.0 Virtual Conferences, organized by The MUG Center. The second of these conferences was held on November 27 and featured keynote speaker Michael Horton of the Los Angeles Final Cut Pro Users Group. Mike discussed many of the differences between the traditional UG models vs. those adopted by the Final Cut Pro groups. Mike shared some ideas that he would like to see community groups consider and fielded questions about his group’s structure and operations from an enthusiastic audience. Looking for some new ideas fro your group’s evolution? Then listen online or download this edition of MacVoices to hear what Mike and the attendees had to say.

The attendees and the groups represented included:
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