On Wednesday, January 7 at 12 PM, Nancy Carroll Gravley, the President of Capitol Macintosh (CapMac) and the Computing with [...]]]> If you’re going to Macworld Conference and Expo and are (or want to be) part of your Mac User Group’s leadership, you need to be sure to attend two specific sessions in the User Group Lounge.

On Wednesday, January 7 at 12 PM, Nancy Carroll Gravley, the President of Capitol Macintosh (CapMac) and the Computing with Bifocals columnist from The Mac Observer will present Ways to Make Your User Group More Successful. If you haven’t been watching the CapMac web page, you’ve missed one of the most creative sets of meeting agendas and services in the MUG universe. Come hear Nancy discuss their successes and what goes into making them happen.

Then, at 2 PM the same day, Chuck Joiner, the editor of The MUG Center and president of the Hershey Apple Core, will discuss Evolving Your Mac User Group. Chuck’s extensive coverage of Mac User Groups and his years as Chairman of the Apple User Group Advisory Board provide him with a unique perspective on where MUGs are and where they’re going.

The User Group Lounge will be in Room 250, West Mezzanine in Moscone South. Check out all of the sessions to be presented there on our User Group Lounge page, or better yet, subscribe to the Macworld MUG Event Calendar in iCal and have updates synched right to your calendar.

The audio of the discussion at the first User Groups 2.0 Virtual Conference is now available for listening and download.

The MUG Center‘s first gathering of user group leaders to discuss the state of the MUG community, exchange ideas and look to the future was held on October 29, and keynoted by James Lee [...]]]>

The audio of the discussion at the first User Groups 2.0 Virtual Conference is now available for listening and download.

The MUG Center‘s first gathering of user group leaders to discuss the state of the MUG community, exchange ideas and look to the future was held on October 29, and keynoted by James Lee of Tropical Software. Jim addressed the group with his top 5 Tips for welcoming a vendor to your user group.

The participants in the conference included:

Allen Emory Triangle Macintosh Users Group	Pat Fauquet (co-host) Washington Apple Pi	Travis Good Washington Apple Pi
Dawn Hurwitz Hawaii Mac Nuts	Jed Mark Diablo Valley Macintosh Users Group	Bill Medlow Long Island Macintosh Users Group
Michael Potter Thumb Macintosh Users Goup	Nicholas Pyers AUSOM	Chuck Joiner (host) Editor The MUG Center

The User Groups 2.0 Virtual Conferences, initiated by The MUG Center, are a series of online/virtual gatherings of individuals who are ambitious about taking the Mac User Group community into the future, addressing the needs of today’s Mac enthusiast and continuing the tradition of being an important channel of information and influence for Mac users.

This week’s tip is simple. It involves little effort, is so basic that it is almost embarrassing to mention, and yet is missed by an amazing number of groups:

Make your group easy to contact.

We could point you to a dozen Mac User Group web sites where it is difficult, if not impossible to locate [...]]]>

This week’s tip is simple. It involves little effort, is so basic that it is almost embarrassing to mention, and yet is missed by an amazing number of groups:

Make your group easy to contact.

We could point you to a dozen Mac User Group web sites where it is difficult, if not impossible to locate and use any type of contact info. No email, no phone number, no fax number, no physical address, not even a leader’s name. Potential members have no option to learn more about the group or ask questions unless they are willing to come to a meeting (and that assumes that the meeting information is both current and complete, something that can be a *big* assumption).

Looking beyond potential members, there are other good reasons to have contact information easily located. More vendors are combining business trips with Mac User Group appearances. It would be a significant loss to your members if you lost a meeting speaker because they had no way to connect with you. The same would be true of a company offering review product: they need to arrange for shipping, gauge your interest and explain their terms. They’re not going to spend hours, or even minutes, searching your site; they’ll move on to the next one and the opportunity is gone.

Concerned about spam? While it is always best to have an address that is, “xxx@yourdomain.com”, there’s nothing that says you can’t use Gmail account from Google as your primary public address, or even to simply filter your email. Christopher Breen explained the process in an article about keeping spam off your iPhone, but the step-by-step instructions apply to regular mail as well. And if you’re using a blogging engine such as WordPress for your group’s web site, there are contact form plug-ins that can be easily implemented that prevent your group’s address from being harvested and spammed.

Don’t want phones ringing off the hook at all hours of the night? Sign up for a free voice mail and fax account at K7.net. Voice mails will be delivered to any email address you designate as a small audio file for you to review at your leisure.

One other item on your list of best practices for contacts: review and respond. Having an email or voice mail come in and be ignored is actually worse than not listing contact information at all, since it sets up an expectation that there will be an answer. The MUG Center was recently asked to help set up some potential appearances by a vendor at user groups in specific cities. Emails were sent out to several addresses found on the groups’ web sites…and the silence was deafening. No responses to a potential vendor presentation *at all.* Worse, there was no alternative contact information: no phone number, no fax number, not even and address to send a post card. That vendor won’t be considering those groups ever again, and it is possible that they might have left the experience with a bad taste in their mouth for MUGs in general.

Simply put, there is absolutely no excuse for not having contact information on your web site. A 2.0 User Group shouldn’t even have to think about this. Take a look at your group’s web site right now and be sure you aren’t incommunicado.

If you were there, you had a chance to see how it displays the prizes, [...]]]>
TicketDrum, the new software that simplifies and enhances the process of drawing raffle prizes for your Mac User Group, make its debut at both the Adobe User Group & Professional Association Breakfast and User Group University at Macworld Expo last week.

If you were there, you had a chance to see how it displays the prizes, makes drawing the numbers easy (and fun), and helps capture information on the winners for later publication.

We want to remind user group members that developer Jack Beckman has a special introductory discount available on TicketDrum that expires on Sunday, January 21. Until then, you and your group can save 20% off the regular price of $25. That’s only $20 to help make your group’s raffles something special.

To learn more about TicketDrum, visit the TicketDrum page on Jack’s web site, or hear Jack talk about the software on MacVoices #6103. You can also hear MacGroup-Detroit president Terry White talk about TicketDrum’s roots in the user group community on MacVoices #6101.

The world of Mac User Groups is an evolving one. The Internet, advances in technologies and changes in the demographics of Mac users all represent both challenges and opportunities for MUGs everywhere.

To help facilitate the the growth and positive development of Mac User Groups everywhere, The MUG Center, “The Resource Site for Mac User [...]]]>

The world of Mac User Groups is an evolving one. The Internet, advances in technologies and changes in the demographics of Mac users all represent both challenges and opportunities for MUGs everywhere.

To help facilitate the the growth and positive development of Mac User Groups everywhere, The MUG Center, “The Resource Site for Mac User Groups,” is proud to announce the creation of the User Groups 2.0 Virtual Conference Series.

The conferences will take place both online and off, with opportunities for MUG leaders, enthusiasts and others to interact with each other and with those in the community who are leading the way by innovating with their groups and their activities. The sessions will also be podcast, to create an additional resource for those who want to help create the modern MUG community: User Groups 2.0.

Want to know more? If you’ll be at Macworld Conference & Expo next week, stop by the User Group Lounge on Wednesday at 1 PM when Chuck Joiner of The MUG Center will present, “User Groups 2.0: Recipes for a 21st Century Mac User Group,” including details for the conferences and information on how you can participate.

Not going to Expo? Watch The MUG Center for details as we help Mac User Groups move into the future.

Is that really necessary? At the moment, from a legal standpoint, no. But with the focus on personal information confidentiality brought about by [...]]]> This is a simple tip, but it will help distinguish your user group as a competent, modern organization, aware of its responsibilities to its members and itself: draft and adopt a privacy policy.

Is that really necessary? At the moment, from a legal standpoint, no. But with the focus on personal information confidentiality brought about by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB) running rampant, the standards of handling such information have changed. Have you noticed the disclosure statements you receive annually from your bank, broker, insurance agent, credit card companies and every other financial institution? Those are required by law.

What is not required by law are the notices you see on all sorts of web sites, email list sign-up pages and message boards allowing you to opt in or out of receiving certain types of information, and promising to share or not share your information with various classifications of partner or associate entities. The fact that they are there (assuming they are followed) is an indication that someone thinks they are important enough to include.

Important?
Who thinks they are important? For one, Apple. Did you know that, to join the iTunes Store Affiliate Program, your web site is required to have a posted privacy statement?

Your group’s members, for another, if for no other reason that the spam problem. If you doubt this, consider what happens when someone successfully posts a spam message to a closed newsgroup. There is an almost inevitable flood of protestations and complaints from list members. And that is in response to just one spam email.

Think how your MUG would be viewed if you decided to share you members email addresses with, say, a vendor who promised an extra-special product discount? Or a group member who has a service to sell. Some of them might not mind, but others will be looking for someone to blame.

To Share or Not to Share?
Developing a privacy statement is simple. Decide whether your group is willing to share your membership roster (emails, home mailing addresses, phone numbers, etc.) with anyone, under any circumstances. If the answer is yes, spell out exactly what information you would share, with whom and under what circumstances.

Now that the policy is determined, give your members the opportunity to opt out. An additional field in your membership database will be sufficient to track who does not want their information shared. Consider setting up a separate email address at your group’s domains to handle the requests; that can also help you maintain a record of who makes the requests and when.

Finally, publish the policy on your web site and in your newsletter, and include it in any new member welcome package, email or letter.

The Gatekeeper Option
An option that you might want to consider is to have the group’s leadership act as a gatekeeper. Rather than hand over your members’ information to a third party, accept and evaluate anything that third party wishes to deliver to your members. If it is something that is indeed worthwhile, distribute it through your own channels (email lists, web site, newsletter, etc.). Your members still receive the benefit, their information is protected and the organization is protected from blame or worse.

A published privacy policy requires a small investment in time and can save your group from all sorts of arguments while protecting your members.

And in case you were wondering, yes, The MUG Center has a privacy policy for your review.