By Don Patzsch, Tampa PC Users Group
The Fall Florida Association of Computer User Groups (FACUG) meeting was held in West Palm Beach.
One of the things I noticed was that several of the User Groups have been giving real service to their communities. And they have found out that public schools cannot refuse to let them hold their meetings in the schools in Florida. Federal and state buildings are also open according to law. Several of the groups told of their experiences with school people.
We met in the Palm Beach Lakes High School Media Center. The West Palm Beach User Group met with the evening school principal and they talked about how the school could benefit from allowing the user group to meet there. After a while, both the principal and the user group became enthusiastic about the idea. At the present time, the school allows the group to set up auctions to make money for the group. These are held in the school cafeteria to provide enough room for the tables. Other rooms are available for SIGs. All this is free to the WPBUG, and no insurance has been required of the user group. The same is true for other groups in the FACUG.
Several User Groups have now purchased projectors, mostly by getting a grant. Another interesting thing that you notice is that both Mac groups and PC groups are represented in the FACUG meetings.
The Orlando group now has about 850 members and sends out 5,000 newsletters each month. Each group told a little of how their group is set up and what they do.
We broke into small groups and discussed a subject in each of the groups. The Internet is well known now, and so the discussion there became quite technical, each person describing how his group obtained an individual domain address. The fun comes in listening to the different ways in which each group goes about its objective.
We broke for lunch at a unique place. The cost of the meeting is $8 per person and these folks made arrangements with a Chinese buffet, and we carpooled and went to the buffet which was included as part of the $8 entrance fee! Carpooling and all of us having lunch in the same place allowed us to talk about other experiences besides those in the User Group meeting. This was one of the better FACUG Fall meetings as I see it. Of course there are prizes at the conclusion of the day.
Another thing that was brought up at the meeting was how to teach the elderly or "senior citizen". When people call me and say they are disgusted because the grandkids can use the computer but they can't and they don't have the money to take any courses, this is what I do. First, talk to them a little to ensure that they are rational and really want to learn. Then remind them that free training is available at ANY library. Just call and set up an appointment, and a volunteer will sit with you and show you email, how to get civic info, and how to use the Internet. In Hillsborough County, the Library has NETSCAPE available and also Time Warner cable connections (free to the library). That is one way to learn at no cost, and you don't need a computer. Just go to each library, a different one each week is what I tell them.
I took several Bits of Blue along to the meeting to hand out. These are placed on a side table along with those from other computer groups. This is an excellent source of information on how the other groups accomplish their objectives. u