How many belong to a MUG?

I'd like to know how many people actually belong, attend, and find a MUG useful.

I have hesitated in going to my local MUG based on the information they post on their website. They say they are a regular MUG, as opposed to a special interest like training, or education, etc., but they do little or nothing and seem to cater to newbies.

Is this just a local occurance or something that seems to happen at most MUGs? I would love to join a MUG if they would help with job locating/networking, special speakers, specials deals on something that someone actually might want (not no-name software that someone is trying to clear their inventory of), and special deals/connections/invitations to Apple Store exclusive events, etc. In other words, make it worth my while.

I belong to a couple MUGs and they are great the meetings are set up far enough in advance everyone has input on the topics, and they cover newbie stuff to advanced scripting and FCP. THe one MUG is through the UNI so we play games and show off a bunch but they also sponsor video contests and have very informational list serves and BB.

I will be moving to an area soon that does not have any MUGs and was wondering how to start one, any ideas?

No, never was interested in going to a MUG.

sadly, I have tried to no avail. I am working at Middle TN State Univ and there is a mug on campus (which exists primarily through website). Unfortunately, its pretty much in ruins. No members come, no recruitment activites, no promotion at all. Its really sad. My only other alternative is to go to the active Nashville MUG. But its 30-40 mins away from me.

I did belong to a MUG only to find it too boring for me - Gold Coast, Australia.

The topics that are covered I already know, however, I must admit they are excellent for people who are new to the Mac or have been using them for a short while.


cheers
wgill

Hi! I'm the president of a MUG called MacTerp here at the University of Maryland (College Park) and we're gearing up/revamping things within our own group for the upcoming academic year. We've been an "official" group (recognized by both Apple and the University) since Fall '04 but it wasn't until I took over as president last semester that we really started to get organized and did some things. Our hardest challenege has bene finding students here who are interested in coming to MUG meetings and then "keeping" them so that they come back for more. Last semester, we were lucky to have about 5-10 people total show up for each meeting. In order for our group to get student government funding, we need 25 members minimum to be registered with our group (which we have now) but I'm hoping that with the coming school year we'll have more in attendance, as it's extremely hard to get anything productive or worthwhile done when so few people show up (and the majority of those that do are your other exec. officers!). We do have a website up at http://www.macterp.com and while it's not much to look at right now, we are planning to do a massive overhaul to the look of the website and it's features and might actually get it done within the next 2 months.

As for our meetings, I often feel in the dark about what people want from a MUG meeting. Last semester we talked a lot but rarely got anything productive done. Also, while we did hold movie nights and social events like Laser Tag, I felt like those who were coming to the meetings got bored quickly and I really don't want thta to happen. Usually at the meetings I do a Keynote presentation covering what the latest news with our group is and we cover things that we're currently doing and planning on doing and then oonce that's done, it's usually like an open forum in which anyone can talk about anything or ask any questions they might have about not just our MUG but Apple/Mac stuff in general. I think the keynote presentations are good ways of communicating info. to everyone at the meetings and I try to keep them short (15-20 minutes tops) but for the upcoming year, I'm going to do some stuff I should have done from the beginning to liven things up and hopefully catch people's attention so they'll keep coming to meetings for more.

Ideas I have for future meetings include spotlighting a new and different software application (could be an Apple or a 3rd party app) and basically showcasing it for all to see and consider using if they don't already and also hardwre demonstrations for users who may not know how to do simple things to their Macs like upgrading RAM, swapping out a hard drive, or making upgrades to processors or optical drives. In addition, I thought it'd be cool to record each future meeting as a podcast and then have it uploaded to our website for download (or maybe even have them uploaded to iTunes' podcast directory). We're also planning some trips to Brown University to see their Mac cluster there and (possibly) down to VA Tech for a tour of the G5 supercomputer they have there. Guest speakers from Apple stores are a possibility that we hope to incorporate at some point as well. Lastly, I was considering how cool it'd be to set up somethign like a tri-university MUG collaboration with nearby colleges and maybe like once or twice a year have one big MUG meeting between them all to see what each has been up to and to do some big things that maybe a single MUG couldn't do alone.

But aside from this stuff, what would you all like to see happen at MUG meetings if you went to them? I'd appreciate input and if any of you go here or are interested in coming to a meeting, E-mail us at info@macterp.com!

just visit http://www.apple.com/usergroups/

Strangely enough, ModYourMac.com was kind of invented around a MUG event. In the Washington, DC area, Washington Apple Pi has long been "the" Mac User Group. For many years they held a summer and winter garage sale at one of the local community colleges. I and my cohorts had a booth at every Pi show for almost three years. It was a chance to take out modded machines, make some money, support the local users, and generally run around like the Mac nerds that we are. Unfortunately, the Pi ended the garage sale.

Now, I cant speak ill of the Pi, as they've done many good things over the years. However, my observation was that they werent sure quite what to make of us. We're a bit boisterous, over the top and so on. We're also a good ten years younger (at the very least) than their core members. Now, I'm 30, so that should say something.

Honestly, I never joined the Pi, cause they didnt have much to offer me as a user. I work in a mac shop, so I'm a hare ahead of the curve. However, as far as on campus and in a locality, I wholly support the user group experience. If not for the Berkeley HomeBrew computer club, where would WOZ have ended up?

I'm a member of eMug (Estonian MUG)...
we rule

I went to the MUG here for a few meetings, but found that the average age was 72 and they covered only the basic info.  I also made a comment about a way of doing things that the President and lead speaker (every week) disagreed with and would not believe me.  Needless to say I stopped going to the MUG and started hitting the bulletin boards around the web instead.

I "have" attended MUG's however, find that for the more advance macgeek, it can be abit draining.

cheers,
wgill1981

I haven't joined any MUGs but I am in sort of a club that we host lan partys, war driving, hardware modding. A lot of us can get great deals on computer hardware/software too. For a example since I own a company I signed up with compusa's business plan that I get stuff at wholesale price and tax free. Sadly I can't get much off of Apple products because Apple doesn't do that much of a mark off. Another friend of mine can do the same thing and my friend manny can get car parts 50% to 60% off. Yes I know but it helps to have a car that runs right.

Also a few times I have gotten group deals though a small computer shop called RPC Computers of OrangePark.