Put your best MUG foot forward by improving the graphics on everything your MUG produces! Learn the truth about resolution, pick up tips on scanning, and decode words like "resampling." Discover sharpening and edge effects to make your photos pop. Cast away unwanted colors introduced by digital cameras, and learn super simple ways of fixing both underexposed and overexposed photos! There's something for everyone in this session whether you're producing graphics for Web or print. You'll also pick up online resources for stock photography and other clip art.

Sure, everybody in your MUG wants to be involved in the website -- until it's time to do the actual work. Join RandomMaccess Publisher Chuck La Tournous in a lively discussion on creating and maintaining your group's website even when your entire Web team consists of, well...you.

Join Gary Adcock, president of the Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group, as he discusses the special ins and outs of running an application-specific Apple User Group. While Final Cut Pro User Groups often have differing requirements from other types of user groups, there are also requirements that are the same for all groups. Come on in and let's consider topics such as tax status, web advertising, suggested meeting topics, and alternative funding.

When working together as a team, "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts." A user group is made up of people with various backgrounds, skills, and experiences, but many groups lack an essential element: active youth members. This session will lay out ideas and techniques that will help to attract valued young members to your user group thus adding further dimensions of skills and insights to your membership.

As Mac users become more diverse and their skill levels widen, it becomes increasingly difficult to have meetings that satisfy everyone. In this session you will learn some techniques that will allow you to deliver the best meetings possible to appeal to the widest audience possible.

Lessons Learned



Pat Fauquet

What was the best self-produced meeting you have done? What was the worst? What was the best fundraising event your group has tried? What was a real failure? What was your best newsletter? What one really bombed? In this session, we will ask questions to draw comments from the group and hope to turn your worst nightmares into shining moments.

Getting your website found is becoming increasingly difficult in a world where thousands of websites are added to the Internet daily. Search engine bots are becoming more sophisticated and selective than ever as they slither around the World Wide Web, indexing sites. Why should you care? Because as the Web continues to expand at warp speed, it decreases the likelihood that your target audience will ever find your site. If you want your website to be the doorway to your user group, you need to improve the odds a bit, and you can do just that through a little magic called search engine optimization.

In this session you will learn what search engines are and how they like to be treated; the top ten plus things you can do to get your site found and ranked highly by the search engines; and what online tools are currently available to help you achieve these goals.

Whether you are planning an educational or social event for your MUG, there are many things to consider during the initial planning stages that will insure a successful event. This session will help you with everything from financing the event to putting that last chair away once the event is over.

Newsletters, whether published on paper or online, are a key resource that most user groups produce. They are also one of the most challenging because they require regular content development. This session will introduce you to a variety of resources of quality material for your newsletter that will not only enlighten and entertain your membership but also make your newsletter editor's job much easier.