 From Miami to Maine, Saint Augustine to San Francisco, user group representatives from around the country will gather in New York just before July's Macworld Expo to go to school. But at this school, making the grade will mean making user groups more responsive to the needs of their members.
Apple and the User Group Advisory Board have teamed up to stage the first User Group University, limited to 100 user group representatives from around the world. Gold Coast Mac has a huge role in making this happen. President Rose Lynn was asked to organize the one day event; Vice President Dave Game and Treasurer Charlie Carlin will take part in leading round table discussions, and director Jan Barkan will serve as a volunteer for the session.
User Group representatives will take part in a full day of presentations and round table discussions Tuesday, July 18th at the New Yorker Hotel, which is Expo Central for user group members.
The User Group Advisory Board intentionally limited attendance at the university, because the sessions are intended to give serious volunteers the tools they need to make their groups function better.
Topics are still being finalized, but "students" will participate in sessions ranging from "How to work with retailers" to "How to raise money," "Staging effective programs" and "Motivating members."
Rose has been handling the details by long distance and e-mail, setting up the panels, finding leaders, and helping to select the topics. She's also planning to bring a special Florida surprise to New York for the user group participants.
Apple is expecting a full house for the sessions, which include breakfast, lunch and dinner, and which are free to the user groups taking part. The participation is important, because the success of this first User Group University will determine if the concept survives as a way to make user groups more effective.
July 2001
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