Nicholas has hit the nail on the head:
User Groups must evolve with the times... Many had to in the '80's as
Apple change direction from the Apple // series to the Mac... then in
the late 1990's as the internet came into common use... we were able
to ride the wave of Apple's resurgence in the last decade... now that
we are in 2010 and are well and truly in the 21st century, we need to
evolve yet again...
It has been my experience, yes, people still want demos and prezos. But that seems to be the old guard.
My experience tells me that the new guard wants to learn by example. For instance, they want to show a project that they produced. Then when people want to learn how a special effect was achieved, they question the producer. Same goes for spreadsheets, keynotes, flyer layouts, etc, Voilà! Instant Q & A!
Yes, it's almost the same as a preso except people show real world examples of what they did with their Mac. ("I didn't think that you could pull off that effect with IMovie! How'd you do that?")
As for the business end of things, volunteers with capped lengths of service. New blood = new ideas. No one volunteers, then you have proof that there is no need for a MUG in that location.
My $.02US.
Frank Petrie Curmudgeon
Downloading, double clicking, dropping out from my iPhone.
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