On Your Marks!
At 7:30 a.m. Ronnie Roche, board member of the North Coast Mac Users Group (NCMUG), scurries across the floor of the cafeteria turned exposition hall. Carrying a large speaker unit in her arms and an extension cord around her neck, she personified the helping hands atmosphere at NCMUG’s ninth annual Mac Computer Expo (MCE), the club’s fundraising event held in Santa Rosa, California. Late arriving tables, and even later tablecloths, could not deter the club volunteers from their mission.

Under the direction of club president, Lorene Romero, the first priority for the event was to raise awareness about the Mac, especially for small businesses and new users. MCE also provided a venue for local vendors to advertise their Mac services and sell their products. The daylong event was a good way to raise funds to help the club operate throughout the year.

Alan Kantor, club webmaster, today plays floor plan director. Volunteers tote tables, chairs, and boxes in every direction in the cafeteria at the Santa Rosa Junior College as Alan refers to his map and walks hurriedly. “This way!” he says emphatically. Gayle Walz double-checks her list to see if all the morning volunteers have arrived. Julie Dinkins and Jim Liebich have the book sale set up. Janet Mobley, Linda Chatham, Barbara Brown, and Joan O’Brien are all set at membership and raffle. David Wysocki and Nate Friedman help set up A/V for the various venues and are at the ready to troubleshoot technical problems. Wayne Till, the club’s disk librarian, mans his station.

The doors opened on time and only a few tables were left vacant by vendors who were unable to attend as a result of the tragedies in New York and Washington, DC. At the bright blue welcome booth outside the expo, Deborah and Juan Caro collected funds for the September 11 relief effort. Over $500 was donated by visitors. NCMUG then matched the funds, providing a total of over $1000 to the American Red Cross.

Take Me To Your Speaker
Free workshops held throughout the day provided a look at topics as varied as Computer Forensics by Marc Helfman, Branding In the Digital Age by Garr Reynolds from Apple, and AppleWorks Tips by Janet Mobley, NCMUG’s award-winning newsletter editor. Eric Culver spoke about database design, encouraging listeners to use pencil and paper and lots of thought about what they want their database to do before they even open their software program or hire a consultant. “Eric encouraged database consultants to also consider bidding the early development phase as a separate bid item,” said Teddie Pierce of Technology Consulting Alliance. Macworld editor, Jason Snell, was the keynote speaker and told listeners about upgrading to OS X.