Re: Re(4): AUGD: Free Ride for Board Members?
Re: Re(4): AUGD: Free Ride for Board Members?
- Subject: Re: Re(4): AUGD: Free Ride for Board Members?
- From: Nicholas Pyers <email@hidden>
- Date: Mon, 3 May 2010 17:25:13 +1000
On 03/05/2010, at 3:27 PM, Dave G wrote:
Apple has saved itself... and as much as I believe User Groups did
a far
better job of keeping the Apple Flag visible back in the '90's then
Apple
itself did, that is no longer the case in the 21st Century
A User Group is neither a for profit enterprise or a cause. It's a
non-profit group of people with a similar shared interest: a fan
club.
I agree that User Groups are now basically fan clubs... or social
groups
that are bought together through a common interest of the devices and
software that one company produces.
But I disagree that a User Group can't be a "for profit"
enterprize... as
there are groups out there that are exactly that - look at some of
the Final
Cut Pro groups as a perfect example that works extremely well under
a "for
profit" arrangement.
I respectfully disagree that a User Group can be truly "for profit".
As I stated, a for profit organization is out there to make money.
That's it's goal. User Groups are designed to bring people together.
When looking at "what's good for the members" and "what makes money",
a for profit venture would decide on money. While I'm sure it
wouldn't do something "bad" to it's members, ultimately by it's
definition it has to make a profit. Nothing wrong with for profit
ventures, but to have someone volunteer in a for profit venture isn't
really volunteering. It's giving of your time to make someone else
money.
Making money is NOT a bad thing for User Groups to do. Often the
thing that will make money will also be good for the members.
And the money raised doesn't have to go back to individuals - it can
be plowed back in to the club itself and provide additional services
for the members.
I think the FCP groups are great, but are in a different league on
every level than Apple User Groups. They have more in common with
Macworld and WWDC , IMHO
I agree wholeheartedly that the FCP are currently in a slightly
different league to the 'traditional' User Groups.
Part of that is because the adopted a very different approach to the
way they run themselves and the audience they target.
They provide the services that their members want , yet the group
makes some money from it
Every group that I have seen take that attitude isn't around
anymore, or are
quite visibly killing themselves right now
Problem of course is, when you do what the members want, then you
aren't leading. Don't expect anything to change if you do what the
existing members want. You won't attract new members. Eventually,
though attrition, your group dies out. You'll be paralyzed by the
status quo
Whilst I strongly advise all User Groups that they need to EVOLVE,
they
don't need to be reactionary with changes. Evolution is a gradual
change.
I think, respectfully that's an excuse. When groups still debate
whether to support classic users, then it's gone from gradual change
to extinction.
Oh, I agree 1000% with your statement about groups still debating to
support Classic Users... it is probably already to late for those
groups. They took toooooo long to evolve and will become extinct
sooner rather than later.
But changes can't happen over night either.
For example, there are hints that Apple are pulling back on their
support of Mac OS X... eg No Apple Designs Awards for Mac OS X
developers this year - yet they have a new category for iPad
developers already!
So User Groups should be looking at supporting iPad users sooner
rather than later... and I said the same sort of thing 10 years when
Apple introduced Mac OS X... many groups then were slow to embrace Mac
OS X and they continued to inform their members who to perform certain
things under Classic rather than Mac OS X even after Steve Jobs held
the funeral for Mac OS 9... they were slow to evolve and many groups
weren't in a position to support new Apple users who never knew
Classic and only had Mac OS X on their shiny new systems.
Are printed newsletters and disks of the month emulating Apple's
behavior? Or is it acting like Microsoft that STILL allows you to
run
WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS on the newest and latest computers?
There are still places for newsletters and Discs of the Month, even
in the
21st century... but again they need to be thought about
differently... and
form part of an overall strategy of attracting the same sort of
customers
that Apple themselves now target.
Enlighten me. I simply can't imagine a scenario where the ancient
discs of the month and printed newsletters make sense. I know the
argument: "Our members wanted printed newsletters", "They are on
dialup and need these discs". Is that leading? Apple isn't targeting
people that don't have broadband internet connections. They don't
even make phone modems anymore. Those were discontinued. These
aren't customers Apple wants to support or attract. They want these
customers to enter the 21st century.
The Disc of the Month is an entire separate topic that I'm planning on
covering in a few weeks times.
But the main argument FOR newsletters and DotM is the internet is so
vast it is impossible to be aware of everything that is available out
there. Newsletters and DotMs can help point members in the right
direction for finding other resources
Also, American's need to understand that not everyone has 'unlimited'
broadband internet access. Here in Australia we pay through the nose
for plans that have traffic quotas - some ISPs even count uploads as
part of that quota... some charge $150+ per gigabyte for 'excess'
usage... others throttle the connection speed down to a mere 64K if
you exceed the monthly quota... they even break the quota allowance up
into peak and off-peak times
And I understand Australia is not unique in these practices.
Then again, Apple itself isn't exactly democratic in the way it
appoints
its' own board. The Board itself effectively nominates itself and
then
shareholders ratify those nominations.... usually for the Board as
a block
and not for individual nominees.
And shareholders certainly don't get a say in the day to day
management of
the company nor the projects that Apple work on and eventually
bring to
market or even kill off before they get to market!
Oh yes they do. I'm a shareholder and get to vote on nominees. I
always vote to remove Bill Campbell. Intuit treats the Mac like a
second class citizen. Topic for a different day. As a shareholder I
also get to go to the annual meeting, start shareholder initiatives
etc. It's much more democratic than the way User Groups are run.
OK... I stand corrected.
I hope this leads to an interesting and much needed discussion
that is
long overdue.
hear, hear :)
Alas, it would be nice if other voices join in.
Agreed :)
--
Nicholas Pyers (email@hidden)
Founder & Publisher, AppleUsers.org
http://www.appleusers.org/
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