 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Command File Ian Robinson |
By the time you read this, the PC 88 exhibition in Sydney will be over. Once again, I would like to thank those members who were able to help us out at the Group's stand. Keep in mind, however, that besides being an opportunity to pick some more interstate members, this show served as a dress rehearsal for the most important one of all - PC 88 in Melbourne. Remember that June is not all that far away, and we are currently preparing plans for the Group's stand at the forthcoming show, and associated promotional activities.
Besides needing members to help look after the stand, we are keen to find some corporate sponsors to assist us with PCs, furniture, giveaways and other goodies. In particular, we would like to see our 'new member' showbags brimming over with discounts and special offers. These would be available to financial members only, including those who sign up at PC 88.
Even if you cannot afford to spend the time helping our volunteers on the stand, why not try to drop by at some stage and give them some moral support. We will be forwarding a free entrance pass to each member in a later issue of PC Update.
PC 88 will also be a good opportunity to introduce friends and associates to the Group, its facilities and its members. Like the Sydney show, we will have public domain software specials, demonstrations of our powerful bulletin board, and plenty of copies of PC Update and our recently-released public domain software catalogue.
It will certainly be a busy week for the group, since PC 88 coincides with our monthly meeting in June. For the meeting, we will be attempting to get hold of some PC industry personalities who may be visiting Melbourne for the show.
Meanwhile, don't forget that the forthcoming April meeting is actually happening on Wednesday March 30, due to another booking at Clunies-Ross House. This time the subject is PC languages and, as with all our meetings, we will attempt to meet the demands of the broad spectrum of PC users, from novices through to experts.
From this meeting onwards, we expect to have a door prize, whereby all financial members attending are placed in a draw. The prize will be a small item of software or hardware donated by one of our corporate sponsors, so don't forget to pick up a number at the door!
At this meeting we will also be introducing our 'mini-review' segment, where we will have five-minute wrap-ups of SideKick Plus and the Norton Guides to OS/2, among others. If you have just bought a new item of hardware or software, or even a PC book, why not consider presenting a mini-review?
This way, other members can hear a genuine PC user's opinion on a new product, rather than market-ing hype. In fact, those that are really organised may consider writing down their presentation, so that all readers of PC Update can benefit, rather than just those at the monthly meeting. Remember that we have a large number of country and interstate members who cannot often make it to the meetings.
While on the subject of country members, the question was raised at a recent committee meeting as to how we could better support those outside the metropolitan area. Since we put so much effort and expense into planning and staging our monthly meetings, it is only fair that we consider some compensatory measures for those unable to attend due to geographical factors. Suggestions included boosted bulletin board credits, removal of handling charges from public domain software, and the establishment of regional bulletin boards to ease STD charges. What do you think?
We will also keenly support any moves to establish further regional SIGs, as the Geelong and Bendigo groups seem to be ticking along very well. The number of SIGs continues to grow, with the Retired Persons SIG being our latest addition, under the guidance of Keith Bower.
It has been suggested that we run a Beginners SIG concurrent with the Random Access section of the main meeting, so that the more experienced users can partake of that section, while the novices occupy a separate room for their own Random Access. Then at 6:30pm, everyone is back in the main auditorium for the formal part of the meeting to commence. If anyone is interested in organising the Beginners SIG, or has some alternative suggestions, please pass them on to myself, or to one of the committee members.
I look forward to catching up with you all at our next meeting - and hopefully the PC 88 exhibition as well. See you there.
Reprinted from the April 1988 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
