The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group
President's Report
Joan Hegedus

Here I sit in front of my PC with a blank screen staring back at me. If someone had told me six months ago that today I would be lost for words whilst preparing my first President's Page I would not have believed them Rarely am I lost for words - but here I am - and my only audience is my PC: Still I've got the whole evening ahead.

Someone told me once that when you are talking in front of a large group of people you should talk about something that is very familiar to you and that you find easy to relate. So perhaps I should use this opportunity to let you know a little bit about me and fill you in on some of my vital statistics. I was born in Warracknabeal in Victoria's Mallee in 1951 but spent most of my growing-up years in Bairnsdale. My first career was in nursing where I specialised in Emergency Care in St. Vincents' Casualty Department

My second career started ten years ago when I was the other half of a partnership that formed a computer company. Well the partnership blossomed and expanded in size and here we are today.

I'm not sure when I joined Melbourne PC User Group. And it is too late for me to ring the office and find out. My membership number is 2883 so you can compare your number with mine to see whether you are an older or younger member. I know that the membership numbers have now hit the 10,000s so it must have been a while ago that I joined up. I have been a member of the committee since March 1992.

Now that got the fingers tapping. Perhaps I can get this page completed by midnight. Now onto some real news.

Since January our Committee has been very actively engaged in some very exciting new activities for the group and also some not very exciting activities.

Over the past three months we have had our differences of opinion. It was decided at our March Committee meeting that there would be a spill of all office-bearing positions. New office-bearers were elected - with some old faces being re-elected. The entire Committee now looks forward to concentrating on the new activities planned for this year. 

Back in the second weekend of February we went away to Emerald for the weekend of strategic planning. It was a very fruitful weekend. Below are some of the plans.
  • We want new members to feel more at home in our Group. 
    I remember the first meeting I attended some years ago. I sat right down in the very front row but didn't speak to anyone. No one spoke to me either. I remember it well, I think it was probably the last time that I was tongue-tied. I really wanted someone siting next to me to say hello, just so that I would be reassured that I had made the right decision to come along. No one spoke. I left feeling a little disenchanted. It took me another 12 months before I returned. Have any of you had a similar experience?
  • New Member Table 
    We plan to have a New Member table set up at each monthly meeting so that members who are unfamiliar with the Group are made feel welcome. Let's find out their desires and needs. We can introduce them to other people who have similar interests, direct them to the right SIGs and generally send them away with the feeling of a wish to return.
     
  • Helping the Helpers 
    We also plan to have an Activists' table at the monthly meetings. One of our activists (Bill McLeod, I think) will be in control of a database that will help him to match up interested members with suitable responsibilities. If you are a man (or woman) without a mission but would like one please stop by the table.

    We are now a Group of almost 6,000 members and we need every human resource available to help in maintaining and improving the services offered to the members.
  • Education and Training
    Our education and training programme is being improved and extended. Bill Westhead and Lorelle Sellick have worked tirelessly over the past three months working towards ensuring that courses offered by the Group are first class. New courseware is in the wings and registrations are running hot. Tap Bill on the shoulder and ask him about it at the next meeting - he's the Paul Keating look-alike. 

Well, I've done it! I've completed my first President's Page. The sun will soon be rising so I'd better put my PC to bed and bid farewell. I've enjoyed the chat. Perhaps the next one wont take me quite so long. As the new day breaks I feel confident that we have a great Committee who is more than ever dedicated and determined to get on with the jobs that we were elected to do. I look forward to the membership reaping the results.

Reprinted from the April 1992 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia