Mac User Group events at Macworld Expo for Tuesday are highlighted by a special appearance by Apple Senior Systems Engineer Dave Marra in the User Group Lounge, and the opening of the Mac User Group Booth.

Also scheduled for the User Group Lounge today are discussions by Randy Singer and Ilene Hoffman.

Groups exhibiting in the Mac User Group Booth include the North Coast Mac Users Group and the Stanford/Palo Alto Macintosh Users Group.

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

If you’re in San Francisco for Macworld Conference and Expo, you may want stop by The Westin San Francisco on Market Street around 4 PM and see if there are still tickets available for the Apple User Group Reception.

Special guests scheduled to attend read like a MacNotables roster: Christopher Breen, Adam and Tonya Engst, Dennis Sellers, Jason Snell, Jim Dalrymple, Bob LeVitus and Chuck Joiner.

Tickets are $20, but may be sold out, since the event is limited to 200 attendees, so if you’re walking up, plan to do so early.

Find out about all of the Macworld Mac User Group-oriented events and activities through The MUG Center’s Macworld Expo 2009 coverage.

After two exceptionally quiet weeks on The MUG Event Calendar, Mac User Groups around the world are firing up their first meetings for 2009. Even with that, the word for the week is: Macworld.

Microsoft Office, social networks, McSpeech Dictate and online banking are all on the agenda, but the real action will be in San Francisco. Macworld Conference & Expo will feature a wide variety of Mac User Group activities and events that you should already be aware of but just in case, here’s what you need to know and how to get it:

1. Review The Macworld MUG Event Calendar and subscribe to the iCal version, so you have the latest news and information integrated right into your schedule.
2. Sign up for the Adobe User Group & Professional Association Breakfast. The longest-running Mac User Group event at Macworld Expo is not to be missed, but space is limited. If registration is closed by the time you read this, consider showing up *early* to try for the Wait LIst.
3. If you’re into video, or want to be into video, get a ticket for the 8th Annual Final Cut Pro User Group SuperMeet. Again, if you’re too late to register in advance, plan to arrive early
4. In town on Monday? You can try to get into the Apple User Group Reception, but attendees were limited to only 200.
5. Want a preview of some of the vendors, people and events at Macworld Expo? Check out MacVoices’ The Road to Macworld series of shows.
6. Stop by and say hello to MUG Center Editor Chuck Joiner. He’ll be doing a session in the User Group Lounge on Wednesday at 2 PM, entitled “Evolving Your Mac User Group.” Can’t make that session? Chuck will also be taping editions of MacVoices on the show floor at at various booths throughout the week. Check the list to see what matches up with your schedule.

Be sure to email your group’s meeting upcoming meeting information to us, since we won’t be doing our usual extensive surfing of your sites, so if you want your information included on The MUG Event Calendar and in our weekly Briefing, we need to hear from you.

See you at Expo!
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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.
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The holiday season continues to take a toll on The MUG Event Calendar, with only two groups listing meeting dates, and event those don’t have agendas set.

Fear not, however. With Macworld Conference & Expo coming next week, the Mac universe will kick into high gear, and that means Mac User Group events at Expo. If you’re planning on attending, there are a few things you should be doing now:

1. Review The Macworld MUG Event Calendar and subscribe to the iCal version, so you have the latest news and information integrated right into your schedule.
2. Sign up for the Adobe User Group & Professional Association Breakfast. The longest-running Mac User Group event at Macworld Expo is not to be missed, but space is limited.
3. If you’re into video, or want to be into video, get a ticket for the 8th Annual Final Cut Pro User Group SuperMeet.
4. Want a preview of some of the vendors, people and events at Macworld Expo? Check out MacVoices’ The Road to Macworld series of shows.
5. Be sure to email your group’s meeting upcoming meeting information to us. We’ll be in San Francisco at the show, and won’t be doing our usual surfing of your sites, so if you want your information included on The MUG Event Calendar and in our weekly Briefing, we need to hear from you.

Happy New Year, and we hope to see you in San Francisco.

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 Macworld MUG Event Calendar is your one-stop information source for all things Mac User Group scheduled for Macworld Conference & Expo. Bookmark this page or subscribe to the iCal version of the calendar and take it with you on your iPhone or iPod. Read the rest of this entry »

With the upcoming holiday week around the globe, even Mac User Groups go quiet, opting to have re-scheduled meetings or skipped December completely. All but one.

To keep the holiday party circuit going, the NorthEast Ohio Apple Corps will hold a holiday party and special live recording of a locally produced podcast on December 27. Other than that, the ramp up to Macworld Conference & Expo will begin quietly.

The MUG Center sends our best holiday wishes to everyone, Mac users and the unenlightened alike. We hope you have a terrific few days with your families. If you are spending any of that time planning your MUG’s next meeting, think of us and email your group’s meeting information to us. We’ll make sure it appears on The MUG Event Calendar and in our weekly Briefing once the holidays are over and the Mac universe starts buzzing again.

Macintosh User Groups will have a home on the Exhbit Hall floor again this year. Booth #226 in the North Hall will host this year’s User Group Booth. Scheduled to exhibit are:

Tuesday

• North Coast Mac Users Group
• Stanford/Palo Alto Macintosh Users Group

Wednesday

• North Coast Mac Users Group
• Diablo Valley Macintosh Users Group

Thursday

• Diablo Valley Macintosh Users Group
  East Bay Macintosh Users Group

Friday

• Diablo Valley Macintosh Users Group
• SF Cutters

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 User Group Lounge, Room 250 on the Mezzanine level in Moscone South, is the place where user group leaders and members gather to interact with each other and with notable Macintosh personalities.

This year’s schedule includes: Read the rest of this entry »