 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group CPU (Club President's Update) Colin Lovitt colinl@melbpc.org.au |
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The May monthly meeting saw the election of Doug Brooke as an Honorary Life Member of Melb PC. No one deserves that honour more. Doug has devoted an enormous amount of his energies to the Group, be it the Committee, Hardware SIG, training (always declining any remuneration), sysop of the BBS, selling shareware at the monthly meetings, teaching about communications, BBSing, New Users, etc. His was the voice of experience when I first logged on to the Bulletin Board, and a source of considerable knowledge and assistance for new and old users alike.
Doug's characteristic modesty caused him to say at the meeting that there were perhaps others who should have been considered, and that he was somewhat mystified why he had been recommended by the Committee and voted in by the membership. Everyone else knew why, Doug. Congratulations.
New Users Central SIG
Speaking of Doug Brooke, by the time this page appears, he will have given his presentation at Felix van Lier's New Users Central SIG on archiving. Whilst I can't plug that meeting (third Monday of the month at headquarters), I recommend Felix's plan to systematically introduce new users to various facets of computer use involving other SIG leaders. He aims to facilitate members being better informed before perhaps attending the more specialized SIGs.
Hence, Graham Paul has already demonstrated the rudiments of Windows, and, in June, Philip Lew will discuss the BBS, communications programs and offline readers (big task on one night, Phil!). Worth noting down now - see the SIG news in this magazine and pencil into your diaries Monday, 20th June, 7.00pm.
Family Membership
Shortly, after Gary Taig has rebuilt the members' database we will be moving to introduce a family membership. It will probably take the form of an additional cost of $10 for each family member living at the same address. Hopefully, this will avoid the sorts of problems that arise on the BBS from time to time when, using the registered member's log-on and password, we find we are in fact talking to his or her partner or progeny! It will also encourage family participation at a more equitable cost.
Look for the necessary changes to our Rules being introduced within the next few months. A comprehensive Rules review is currently underway.
The Office
Whilst our Secretary and Treasurer put the finishing touches to the Office Policy Manual, may I reiterate something I said in this page last month.
The office is there to carry out various tasks, including maintaining the membership, handling renewals and new members, accounts, training and the hiring of the Hewlett-Packard training room, and acting as a focal point for Melbourne PC User Group. It is often happily aided by the generosity of a plethora of volunteers who have varying degrees of skill and experience regarding the tasks they are asked to perform.
A variety of volunteers means a variety of telephone skills. Janet and Trish are not there simply to act as wet-nurses for new users - this is not the purpose for which they were employed and they frankly have enough to do without attempting to deal with enquiries about how to unarchive compressed files or why the BBS isn't answering.
What this all means is that you may ring and be greeted by a volunteer, who may have little experience in answering your query. Please think carefully before troubling the office with questions that should be sent to the Committee, or uploaded to the BBS, or dealt with by utilizing Dial Help or the First Aid line.
Netcomm
By the time you read this, Netcomm's Scott Blackstone will have spoken at the May Communications SIG. I understand that one lucky SIG member will be walking away with an extremely valuable piece of Netcomm equipment. (No, Don, I don't mean illegally, but due to the largesse of Scott and his company!)
We were lucky enough to be presented at the May monthly meeting with two 28.8 Netcomm modems, known as the M11F. Shortly these will be seen in operation on the BBS. We are extremely grateful to Scott and Netcomm. Melb PC acknowledges such generosity in many ways. This little thank you is just one of them.
Hewlett-Packard Training Room
The training room, fully equipped with 12 x 486 H-P machines, printer, and other teaching and demonstrating aids, is available for hire during the day. It is generally in use on most nights and week-ends for the purposes for which it exists, namely to train members in various computer pursuits. Several companies now utilize the room's facilities during normal week-day office hours.
We welcome any enquiries. Janet Henstock personally oversees this part of operations. Prices are very reasonable.
The Vice-President.
There is an old joke about the two brothers - one of whom ran away to sea and the other became Vice-President of the United States. Neither was ever heard of again! :-)
Recent events in the US have given the lie to that story, and the same applies at Melb PC. Peter Freeman with his extraordinary diversity of talents and areas of knowledge, is hardly the sort of V.P. who sits quietly behind the scenes. He's a mover and shaker and bloody good company. When he turns his mind to it, he writes some of the wittiest stuff on the BBS; if he is annoyed, he is positively frightening! .
At the time of writing, I am preparing for a fortnight's holiday. Peter will preside over the forthcoming (May) Committee meeting. I would love to be a fly on the wall! I won't need to wish him luck, but anyone mucking him around may need a bit. I'll keep you all posted. .
Membership
There is currently a thread on the BBS in the private committee area discussing the attrition rate of membership renewals. Whilst people are joining at a satisfactory rate, no doubt spurred on, inter alia, by the quality of the magazine and the BBS, we are suffering a non-renewal figure which is unacceptable. We are currently looking at it and seem likely to improve our invoicing methods.
When you consider that the magazine alone is easily worth the price of membership, and that the BBS, Dial Help, First Aid, SIGs, monthly meetings, etc., provide a plethora of bonuses, it's hard to understand why over one-third of new members don't renew after the first year.
These sorts of questions will be addressed by the members' survey which is planned for the near future. I repeat my call for members who have expertise in the field of surveys, marketing, and statistical analysis to put a little bit back into the Group by offering their assistance. You never know, it might even be fun! .
Reprinted from the June 1994 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
