President's Notes (09/01)
President's Message
New Year Brings Change
by Phil Sorrentino
Member of the Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc.
I would like to thank all of you for your support in
the December elections. I would also like to
thank the nominating committee for their continued confidence in me and the
other remaining members of the board, and the superb choices for new board
members. We all are looking forward to an interesting, productive, and
successful 2009.
You probably heard the word "change" during the November
presidential elections so much that you’re sick of it (I share your
feelings). But, as we all know, "change" is the only thing that is constant.
2008 brought about more change to SPCUG than originally expected and 2009
will undoubtedly bring additional change. As you all know by now, last year
we had a very big increase in the rental rates for our monthly meetings and
our Saturday Educational classes. We have absorbed the increase for the
monthly meeting in our budget, but the increase at SCTI was beyond our
budget. So, we have had to change where we hold our Saturday classes. We now
meet at the Boys and Girls Club on Fruitville Rd. Additionally, we have
arranged to use the facility at the Senior Friendship Center (near Sarasota
Ford) for classes that do not require hands-on computer activities.
2009 is going to be a great year for SPCUG. We have
exciting presentations planned for the monthly meetings, expanded
educational offerings, and a host of opportunities for members to get
involved in. Starting off the year will be a presentation by Gene Barlow of
User Group Relations. Gene has been a regular contributor to our monthly
presentations and I’m sure this presentation will be very informative and
interesting. In the educational area, we will continue with our basic
classes, now held at the Boys and Girls Clubs. We have added many new
Mini-SIGs to explore specific computer topics in more depth. (Mini-SIGs are
one or two sessions in length, as opposed to the basic courses which are
typically 4 sessions.) We have also started to have Laptop Workshops.
(Laptop Workshops allow the student to learn an application on their own
laptop.) Our main communications vehicle, our award winning newsletter, the
Monitor, will continue to be filled with informative articles, software and
hardware reviews, and information about the organization. Our Computer
Refurbishing community service project will continue to provide refurbished
computers to many community organizations and individuals. To date, we have
refurbished over 1,000 computers. All things considered, it looks like a very
busy 2009.
One change, that has not been to our benefit this year,
is the change in membership. During 2008, our membership has slipped from
just over 1,100 at the beginning to just under 1,000 currently. There are
probably many reasons for this; the housing boom-bust, the economy, other
interests, etc. Increased membership means increased benefits for our
members. We can all help make SPCUG known in the community. There are SPCUG
Business Cards, available at the Badge Table. The cards have all the
information a perspective new member needs. Take a few and give them to your
friends and acquaintances. Let’s make sure SPCUG doesn’t remain "The best
kept secret in Sarasota".
Volunteers are at the heart of any non-profit
organization. It is what makes this organization run so well. I would like
to thank all of the volunteers who have generously given their valuable
time, and I encourage each of you to continue or even expand your
activities. For anyone who would like to pitch-in and help, please contact
our volunteer coordinator, Pat Wheeler. Remember "Volunteer, it just feels
good."
The coming year will be filled with interesting meetings, educational
events, communications opportunities, and community service projects. Look
to this column, in future months, for further information on these
activities. :
Copyright 2009. This article is from the January 2009 issue of the
Sarasota PC Monitor, the official monthly publication of the Sarasota
Personal Computer Users Group, Inc., P.O. Box 15889, Sarasota, FL
34277-1889. Permission to reprint is granted only to other non-profit
computer user groups, provided proper credit is given to the author and
our publication. We would appreciate receiving a copy of the publication
the reprint appears in, please send to above address, Attn: Editor. For
further information about our group, email:
admin@spcug.org/ Web:
http://www.spcug.org/
The Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc. has 1,100+ members
and was established in 1982. We are members of the Assoc. of PC User
Groups (APCUG), the Florida Assoc. of PC Users Groups, Inc., and we are
members of the America Online Ambassador Program.
See http://www.spcug.org for all reviews from the Sarasota PC
Monitor, go to the Newsletter Section.