Portland Macintosh Users Group

You Don't Know Mac Site

Andy Ihnatko, MacWorld Magazine and Chicago Sun-Times tech columnist, will be the special guest and Master of Ceremonies for Oregon's 5th annual "You Don't Know Mac!" statewide MUG Event Day, November 1, 2-6:30 pm (PDT), in Canyonville, Oregon -- presented by the statewide Oregon MacPioneers User Group (Omug).

Oregon's 14 Macintosh User Groups will converge in southern Oregon for YDKM 2003, which will feature a UG Summit workshop (leader brainstorm session), a Vendor Hall of Fame exhibit, a UG resource sharing area, and the highlight of Event Day, a 4-team on-stage Trivia Contest (with audience participation!) to crown our annual state champion with the Golden Apple Trophy. MUGport (Newport) is the defending champion. Ihnatko will be the MC for the trivia event, and will go face-to-face with our audience in a Q&A session afterward.

YDKM 2003 is FREE to the public, although preferred seating may be given to MUG members (via online registration). This year's event facility will be the Seven Feathers Hotel & Casino in Canyonville (about 15 miles north of Grants Pass, just off of I-5).

YDKM is hosted by a DIFFERENT Oregon MUG each year -- showcasing that host MUG and its community. This year 3 groups will tri-host: JoMacs (Grants Pass), the Apple Blossom Computer Club (ABCC, in Winston) and Rogue Macs MUG (Medford). This event is worth crossing the border for, and celebrates the purpose and spirit of Mac User Groups... make your plans to attend! All the info and updates you need are at the Omug website: Link

Read more about our MC in this excellent interview on O'Reilly Associates website: Link

Apple legend Guy Kawasaki will be the special guest and master of ceremonies for Oregon’s premiere statewide Macintosh User Groups event, "You Don’t Know Mac!" (YDKM), at the Inn of the Seventh Mountain in Bend, Saturday, November 9.

YDKM 2002 Event Day is free and open to the public, although seating is limited and online registration is preferred.

The fourth annual YDKM event is scheduled for 2:00–6:30pm that Saturday, and among the highlights of Event Day is a three-round trivia contest on stage between four Oregon Macintosh User Groups (MUGs). The trivia contest is audience interactive, too. Every seventh question in the first two rounds is directed to the audience for prizes. The trivia features a mix of Apple, Macintosh and industry history and insights—and a lot of laughs.

Apple likes to say its customers "Think Different"—this statewide user group celebration, YDKM Event Day, proves that Macintosh users like to "Play Different" too.

Kawasaki will be the Master of Ceremonies for the trivia contest, adding his personal Apple history reflections, and will go face-to-face with the YDKM audience after the contest in a Question & Answer session.

When Apple Computer changed the face of personal computing with the introduction of Macintosh in 1984, company software evangelist Guy Kawasaki, a member of the original Macintosh development team, was at the heart of the Mac’s success story from the beginning. Kawasaki’s task was to convince software developers to program their software for a yet unseen computer platform (the Mac). He did his job well enough that he became the technology industry’s most well-known "evangelist"—a title and job that he embraced emphatically with his wit, humor and to-the-point insight.

Kawasaki, after leaving Apple as an honored Apple Fellow, has since been the CEO for a popular database company, created a free EvangeList online campaign, has several "kick butt" books, worked the guest speaker loop, and is now CEO of Garage Technology Ventures www.garage.com based in San Jose, California.

A unique feature of YDKM is that the event is hosted in a different MUG town each year, showcasing the host MUG and its community. Previous YDKM Event Days have been held in Corvallis (1999), Newport (2000) and Portland (2001).

YDKM Event Day will have co-hosts for the first time. Joining forces will be Central Oregon MUG (COMUG) based in Bend, a 100-member group, and Black Butte MUG (BBMUG), 30 members.

The Inn of the Seventh Mountain, an impressive facility with great overnight accommodations, is just a few miles outside of Bend, nestled near the base and in full view of spectacular Mt. Bachelor (ski heaven for many). There will be discount rates for YDKM attendees staying at the Inn of the Seventh Mountain (which is encouraged, since it will help offset costs of the event!).

Want to feel the wild west in Oregon? Then it is just around this Bend. Because the event starts at 2pm on Saturday, this provides a wonderful opportunity to soak in central Oregon sights and sites before and after YDKM Event Day. Central Oregon offers a drier climate, more sun, snow in the winter, rock climbing, great golf courses, a stunning mountain range, hiking, tennis, the beauty of timberland and lava rocks, great buttes, and well... you name it.

Visit such scenic towns as Sisters (21 miles west of Bend), the Black Butte Ranch (where co-host BBMUG resides) or the Sunriver resort south of Bend. A well-known attraction, too, is the High Desert Museum—a fun trip for the family, or solo. And then there is snow-capped Mt. Bachelor. In Bend you have one of the fastest growing towns in the state.

Updates, attendance registration info, directions and details about YDKM can be found on its website: homepage.mac.com/ydkm

There are 12 active MUGs throughout almost every region of the state, and last year nine MUGs and their communities were represented or participated in YDKM. Let’s make it 12 out of 12 this year and bring the largest crowd ever to our 2002 event! Don’t miss your opportunity to help make YDKM a success, benefit your MUG, embrace the user group community, get to know a couple of other groups even better (our co-hosts), have a blast, and take home some prizes.

We may reserve a large/high quality prize for the MUG that brings the most members to this year’s YDKM; so recruit, cheer-lead and carpool—it will be worth it!

Other highlights of Event Day will be a Vendor Hall exhibit (featuring local and national technology companies), user group sharing, a user group leaders Summit Workshop, an Apple commercials video, and attendee grab-bags to take home.

Another guest of YDKM will be the Program Manager for Worldwide User Group Relations at Apple, Garr Reynolds. Garr was last year’s Master of Ceremonies, and this year will be the special guest for the two-hour UG Summit Workshop.

The UG Summit is a critical component of Event Day. Up to two group officers or leaders from each Oregon MUG can attend this face-to-face brainstorm session, where topics will include (among others) UG health/growth, improving our Oregon MUG communications and sharing of resources, and making our YDKM Event Day even better.

The Vendor Hall of Fame offers attendees the opportunity to make contact with some of the best industry companies and local vendors around, check out and have hands-on with products, and even tap into discounts just for MUG members. This is also an excellent chance to thank our vendors for past and present support of Oregon MUG members.

Start making your plans to attend this once-a-year spectacular. This is also a great opportunity to bring friends or co-workers who are not user group members and show them the benefits, unique talents and people that make our MUGs something special to join.