As President & Newsletter Editor of the Boca Raton Computer Society, I receive the APCUG NOOZ email every month.

If your group is an APCUG member, you should be receiving it also, but I have started posting them here, just in case you have been missed.

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This January edition of NOOZ is being sent to the President, APCUG Representative, Newsletter Editor, Webmaster, Program Chair, Membership Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, and Vice President & Director of each APCUG-member User Group.

We urge you to share the information by including it in your newsletter, posting it on your website, or e-mailing it to members of your group.

Hi, this edition of NOOZ is coming to you from CES. It’s not like COMDEX but it is a place where you can find out about emerging technology, talk with vendors who remember you from year-to-year (always a surprise), and get in contact with vendors new to user groups and occasionally see someone you know wandering the event (always a really big surprise since there are so many people here). I really miss the Microsoft area and visiting with all of their partners. Every MS person I have spoken to recently has mentioned how much they will miss being here. The energy level in the area was always high and it was computer fix for the event. Happy computing, Judy

In this edition of NOOZ:

• 2013 Directors and Advisors
• 2012 Don Singleton Volunteer of the Year Award
• Winter Virtual Technology Conference – February 2
• Digital Photo SIG – January 16
• O’Reilly 5 book/Quarter Program
• Facebook / Twitter
• Become a Champion of Data Privacy Day (DPD), January 28
• Last Minute Meeting Ideas

1. 2013 Directors and Advisors

Congratulations to David Steward, Marie Vesta, and David Williams for being re-elected as Directors as well as Bill James, Roger Tesch and Cheryl Wester for being re-elected as Advisors. Annette Macioce was also elected as an Advisor; Charlotte Semple resigned as Advisor and Ray Baxter stepped in to take her place. Please see the attached Meet your Board of Advisors document for information about the Advisors.

2013 Board of Directors officers

• President – Marie Vesta
• Vice President – Hewie Poplock
• Secretary – Patty Lowry
• Treasurer – Sandy Hart

2013 Board of Advisors officers

• Chair – Judy Taylour
• Vice Chair – Bob Vance
• Secretary – Bill James

2. 2012 Don Singleton Volunteer of the Year Award – Jim Evans, Chair, DSVOTY committee

To honor long-time Director Don Singleton, who passed away in October 2012, APCUG established the Don Singleton Volunteer of the Year Award. The award recognizes the importance of the volunteer to APCUG’s member groups. We received 13 nominations. The committee (Jim Evans, Judy Taylour and Marie Vesta) would like to thank our judges Peggy Ireland (past APCUG president), Ash Nallawalla (former APCUG Director) and Dave Whittle (user group evangelist) for their work.

Using a scoring system, we ended up with a tie. APCUG is pleased to announce that Joyce Kloncz, President of Grand Computers Club in Arizona and Judi McDowell, President of the Quad-Cities Computer Society in Iowa are co-recipients of the Don Singleton Volunteer of the Year Award for 2012. They will both be presented with plaques at their next user group meeting.

Joyce Kloncz, President, Grand Computers Club in Arizona

Several years ago when the “snow-birds” left Phoenix for the summer the Grand Computers Club put the Macintosh SIG out of business. They sold their “blueberry” iMacs and discarded the software. Joyce showed up to a meeting and gave it her typical “can do” approach. In the past few years she has grown their resurgent SIG to over 250 members with Mac people holding three of five positions on the club’s board.

Joyce serves as the President of the Grand Computers Club. The club currently has over 1,400 members and the Mac Sig comprises approximately 22% of the membership. She has upgraded their computers from replacements for the sold iMacs to 25 state-of-the-art iMac computers in their 25-person classroom and their 15-person open-use room. They have a Lion server supporting their computers and have gone from three classes of Appleworks to over 45 classes running from a five-session freebie for newbies to the Mac to classes in UNIX. They offer over 40 classes to their members. Joyce is not just a leader; she is a doer as well. She teaches classes in Pages, Numbers, iCal and two of the Intro classes for newbies.

Judi McDowell, President, Quad-Cities Computer Society in Iowa

The club was on the decline in interest and membership when Judi assumed leadership. With her efforts QCS has gained numbers and initiated new programs. She helped lead the group in new directions with a series of beginner classes for novice computer users and presentations on the latest technologies. In addition to her presidential duties, Judi has led or helped lead SIGs in Excel, Word, Publisher, PowerPoint, Picasa, Quicken, networking and genealogy. She’s written newsletter articles and made numerous presentations for the club and other facilities on topics including Skype, virus protection, and tax software. She makes an effort to stay current on new technology and how it can be an advantage to QCS.

With Judi’s guidance, QCS has become more responsive to needs in the community. She is a gifted person with technical and creative skills that keep the group moving forward with the latest technology, PLUS she has a good working relationship with the board and other volunteers. If she can’t be convinced to stay on as QCS President, QCS will have a hard time finding someone to replace her.

Please watch for a call for nominations for the 2014 award in late 2013. In the meantime, value and treasure your volunteers.

3. Winter Virtual Technology Conference (VTC)

The Winter VTC will be held on Saturday, February 2. You and all of your members are invited to attend this free virtual conference.

The presentations are as follows:

• Windows 8 — Mysteries and Misconceptions Explained! – Frances Chao, Member, Tucson Computer Society
• To ‘Cloud’ or not to ‘Cloud’, that is the Question – David Williams, APCUG Director
• Free and Shareware, Marie Vesta – APCUG President
• Using Your Smartphone for Everything – Bill James, APCUG Advisor
• Are we losing this generation’s photos? – Rick Santich, President, MotoPhotos
• iPad Basics and a Bit More – Greg West, APCUG Advisor
• How to Publicize Your User Group – Judy Taylour, APCUG Advisor

Detailed information will be sent this week.

4. Digital Photo SIG Webinar – January 16

The January Central Florida Computer Society Digital Photo & Video SIG webinar will be held on Wednesday January 16 at 7:00pm Eastern time. To register and get a link to the session, please go to https://apcug.ilinc.com/perl/ilinc/lms/event.pl

You and all of your members are invited to attend this free presentation. The only information that will be needed will be your first name, last name, and an email address to send your personal invite with the link.

5. O’Reilly 5 book/Quarter Program

The 2012 4th quarter books are in the mail; the certificates will be sent to participating groups the week of January 14.

If your group is not receiving this benefit, please add your information to the spreadsheet at: http://tinyurl.com/apcug-oreilly
The deadline for 1st quarter sign-up is January 26. You do not need to re-enroll for 2013.

6. Facebook / Twitter

Please let me know if your group has a presence on Facebook or Twitter – don’t forget to include your account information.

7. Become a Champion of Data Privacy Day (DPD), January 28

DPD is an international day of awareness to empower people to protect their privacy and control their digital footprint. It is sponsored by the National Cyber Security Alliance, a non-profit public-private partnership focused on helping all digital citizens (that’s us) stay safer and more secure online and official coordinator of DPD. The new DPD theme: Respecting Privacy, Safeguarding Data and Enabling Trust, strives to articulate the protection of privacy and data stewardship as everyone’s priority. Information about Data Privacy Day can be found at the newly launched DPD Web portal at: https://www.staysafeonline.org/data-privacy-day/

8. Last Minute Meeting Ideas

I imagine many of you have had a speaker call at the last minute and say he/she won’t be able to give the presentation. What to do? You might want to consider showing an O’Reilly webinar. They can be found at: http://oreilly.com/webcasts/

Some of the choices are: Getting Started with Windows 8, How to Make Holiday Photo Gifts (get ready for the 2013 holiday season), How to Use Photoshop Smart Objects, Become an Expert Google Searcher in an Hour, The Joy of Combining Images with Photoshop, Photoshop CS6 Power Hour and more!

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There was also a PDF attachment to give some background on the 2013 Board of Advisors team:

January NOOZ Meet the Advisor Team

Check out the Advisor for your area, as well as the others, and get to know them.