Another month has flown by, bringing us into the holiday season, and another month closer to Macworld. There are a couple of regional highlights I'd like to highlight, and also point to the MW SF events that are taking place.

With Christmas happening next month, I make no promises of a full blown newsletter, but will send the bulletin out when I get it. In the mean time, have a very good, safe and happy Thanksgiving!

Cheers!

Chris Kiltz
NW Regional Liaison
Apple User Group Program

CONTENTS
News from the Northwest

• MacCamp Wrap-up
  
• CMUG Celebrates 20 years
  
• Your holiday plans?
  

2. Important News about Macworld


News From The Northwest

MacCamp Wrap-up
Where else can you immerse yourself for a weekend of fellowship, friendship and fun? MacCamp happens twice a year, and is put on by PMUG (Portland OR). Here's a tasty excerpt from the wrap up Charles sent me.

If you'd like to enjoy the whole scoop of the weekend, you can find it here.

CMUG Celebrates 20 years
For those of you that will be attending Macworld, you're invited to a party - a birthday party for CMUG (Corvallis OR).

Saturday, Jan. 15th (day after MW closes). 10AM to 5PM - registration before 10AM

We will hold a one day event to celebrate CMUG's 20th (it really was last
month but hey good things take time:)).

Robin Williams and John Tollett will be here and give presentations through out the day. At about 4PM we will celebrate our anniversary - will presentations and raffle, etc.

We plan to charge a modest amount for the presentations by Robin and John but the 4PM party will be free to all.

Hope to see you there!

Your Holiday Plans?
How does your group celebrate the holidays? Do you have anything special for the December or January meetings? If you've already got your specialty planned, please hit reply and let me know - I'll post the ideas on my .Mac site so everyone can enjoy. And, if you're at a loss of what to do, drop by, I'm sure you'll come up with some good ideas.

The list is started, browse, and please share your ideas! http://homepage.mac.com/northwestrl/Personal8.html

To get the ball rolling, here's how JoMacs (Grants Pass OR - & my group) celebrate. Last year we had a "Santa's Raffle" - all of our raffle items were wrapped, and instead of selling tickets, everyone got a ticket as they came in. We passed our raffle bucket around and people gave donations, which in turn was given to Southern Oregon Head Start, along with the left over Raffle prizes. This year, members will be bringing wrapped gifts suitable for children, and we'll be passing them on to SO Head Start to help fill the spaces under the trees of the children in their program. Along with the fun twist, we try to have something special for our presentation, and this year we're planning a get together after the meeting at a local restaurant.

Important News about Macworld

Get into the heart of the action at Macworld. More exciting than just the expo floor is being a part of the MUG activities during the week.
From the kickoff event to the Adobe breakfast, and volunteering in between, here's how you can make your MW week memorable.

1. Attend the kickoff event (details on how to register below). This takes place Monday evening, and is the perfect way to start a perfect week.

2. Attend the Adobe breakfast on Thursday of MW (registration details below). Every year Adobe provides great presentations and has great prizes for those who attend - and we always go away with something (software).

3. Volunteer for one or more of the 3 MUG run activities. You may not realize it, but MUGs have a three fold presence on the Expo floor. These areas are fully staffed by volunteers, and give you a great opportunity to meet other MUG members, make friends, and best of all, pass on the MUG fire that burns within.

The UG Lounge - is a place away from the buz of the floor where you can have a chance to talk & meet w/ folks like Chris Breene, David Pogue, and others, and also put your feet up and network with others. Each shift only lasts 2 hours, so this is a great way to give yourself a 2 hour break from pounding the floor.

The Guides - this small booth lives close to the ACN booth, and is a place where people drop by when they're trying to find important things like the restrooms and food, or less important places like Vendor "X". Beyond interacting with the general public, you have a chance to make a new friend in the person you're working with - there's always at least 2 people on staff. The shifts only last 2 hours, so it's easy to fit it in around the tour of the Expo floor.

The Booth - This year the booth is a little different - in the sense that instead of the past where you had to have a large enough group coming down to staff the booth for a whole day, we've arranged it so that you (and your MUG) can be a part of the booth even if you're the only one coming down, and you can only spend 2 hours volunteering as booth staff. So, big group, or small, one 2 hour shift, all day, or all week - you can be a part of a dynamic area of the expo floor where people come with questions about MUGs, who are they, where are they, why are they, and you can pass the fire on to them.

To get more information, or sign up to volunteer, please get in touch with:

[email protected] for the Lounge or Guide [email protected] for the Booth

I'll be there, hope to see you there too!