APCUG Reports
July-September 2007

Newspaper

• Get to know the people you are sending your media releases to. Put a kit together that includes information about your UG – t-shirt, coffee mug, newsletter, brochure, application, etc. and make an appointment to meet with the person you will be sending your releases to. Reporters love food – take along some cookies or invite them to lunch.
• Ask how they want to receive your Press Releases – fax, e-mail, document attached to an e-mail or the fill-in form on the paper’s Website and how many days (weeks) in advance of the event it should get to them.
• Call your release a “News/Media” release instead of “Press” release when dealing with media other than print.
• Send your News/Press release early in the morning. Sending it in the afternoon sometimes interferes with their deadline and it might get lost.
• Include quotes in your release.
• Include a photo with your release.
• Put the most important things at the beginning of your release.
• Use your grammar checker. If it states that your release is at a 9th grade level or higher, then it will be too difficult for others to read. A 5th – 7th grade reading level is ideal!
• Send a thank you fax / e-mail after they have put your meeting info in the newspaper.
• Put a meeting announcement in your local free classified newspaper(s). Ask for it to be placed in the Computer section, not the Meeting section.
• Put a meeting announcement in the local paid classified newspaper. It is usually free for non-profits.
• See if your local homeowners associations and churches will put your meeting information in their newsletters / bulletins.

Radio

• Check with your local radio station to see if they need filler and will mention your meetings, events, etc. If so, find out the length of the announcement. After you have written the announcement, time yourself (and others) saying it to make sure you haven’t gone over their time limit. Get to know what they want.
• Do you have a local station with a computer call-in show? If not, offer to start one once or twice a month (or weekly).
• Do you have a larger market computer call-in show? If so, have your members call in with questions – always mentioning they are a member of your UG.

TV Station

• Cable companies are required to have local public access programs.
• Have a few people in your group videotape a commercial to air on the public access station. Here’s an example of one that my group did:
  • Computer set-up in front of a blank wall (we moved my furniture aside).
  • Woman (my daughter) working at the computer & husband at her side.
  • Husband asks her what she needs helps with.
  • She responds that Tyler took care of fixing ............
  • He then asks but what about (another task).
  • She replies again that Tyler showed her how to do it.
  • He then asks if Tyler can help him with (another problem).
  • She responds — 16 or 32 bit (this was three years ago)?
  • He asks where has Tyler learned so much about computers.
  • Camera pans to a 7-year old (grandson) working at his computer and he says ... “I go to the Santa Clarita Computer Club Meeting” [big smile]. We filmed an alternate ending at a meeting with all the attendees saying Santa Clarita Valley Computer Club instead of Tyler’s response. Each month, the person who filmed & edited the tape does a short comment at the end about the upcoming meeting. This was a project for a class he was taking.
• Videotape a meeting where you are putting a computer together, etc. and offer it to the public access station – they are always looking for content.
• See if they have a scrolling list of meetings, etc. If so, get your group listed.

City Website

• Check your city website to see if they have a community meeting page. If so, make sure your meetings are listed. When new meetings are listed on my city’s website, an e-mail is sent out (about twice a month) to those people who subscribe to that service.
• See if they have a link to community organizations on the City website – get your group listed.

Community Websites

• Search by your city’s name to see if there are any ‘commercial’ websites specifically for your city. If so, they usually have a listing of organizations where you can list your group’s name, website address, meeting day, etc.

Cable Vendor

• Check to see if they have a website devoted to your community. If so, make sure your group is listed.

Schools

• Check with your local Adult Education and Regional Occupational schools to see if they have computer classes. If so, ask if you can come and talk to them for about 10 minutes at the beginning of each new session. Prepare a handout to give to each student: brochure, newsletter, application, free ticket to attend a meeting, copy of flyer for next meeting, etc. Also visit the computer classes at your local junior college.

Organizations

• Contact the Rotary, Kiwanis, etc. to see if you can give a short presentation about your UG. Again, provide packets of info for attendees.

Community Outreach
(not a regular meeting)

• Have a membership recruiting meeting and show attendees how to install & customize the Google toolbar, talk about security and free anti-virus & firewall programs ---- whatever your members are comfortable demonstrating.
• Sponsor someone from the local police department talking about identify theft, computer security, etc. Always have a membership table with group hand-outs for each attendee. We had WordPerfect come out years ago and our table was right by the door. We got a ton of new members. We always wondered if they thought they had to join to see the presentation . Some people are still members.
• Does your community have a Business Expo? Ask if they have an area for non-profits where you don’t need to pay for the booth. Ask if members can put on a computer-related mini-seminar.
• Ask all of your privately-owned computer stores, ISPs, digital camera stores, etc. if you can display your brochures at their store. To spread the work around, have one person responsible for each store. Cultivate them so they can possibly put on a program for your group.
• Place your brochures in all of your libraries, senior centers, retirement homes, etc.
• If your community has a Computer Show (aka swap meet), ask the promoter if you can have a table. Have all the usual stuff to hand out. You’ll also need a banner (under $100) to hang behind your table. If they are reluctant to give you a free table, offer an ad in your newsletter in exchange for the table.

General

• Brochure: do not include time-sensitive information to avoid obsolescence.
• Logo: for easy recognition on all printed materials.
• Business cards for officers.
• Have the technical editor from your local paper speak at your monthly meeting.
• Have someone from your local ISP, PC Club, etc. speak at your monthly meeting. If they get to know you they will recommend your UG to customers. Our PC Club manager had such a good time, he asks to come back about every quarter and has volunteered raffle prizes even when he’s not at the meeting.
• Check with your local paper to see if they need a ‘technology’ columnist.
• Provide “How-to” articles that members write to include in the newspaper. For every article written, also include information on your user group.
• Understand journalistic lingo.
• Send your monthly newsletter to the press, radio and public access TV station.
• Double and triple check your sources. Work with other user groups in your area to raise the public awareness of UGs.