| In this column I hope to foster communication
and support for 8-bit and ST computer owners... presenting a positive and
directive approach. This will help to strengthen the users group base and
encourage the executive element.
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| Earlier in this column I mentioned what I believe to be the three necessary
elements in a users group meeting. These three elements can be called the
mapping session, the demo session, and the random access session. While
the first and third provide needed communication between members of the
users group, the second provides information. Doing a successful demo session
is not as difficult as some think.
|
| Since most Atari users groups do not have the benefit of a local dealership,
procuring dealer demos are not easily done. There are other means. Membership
participation is a common theme in this column. And recruitment is not
as hard as it seems.
|
I found it difficult to nag people into doing demos, "Please do
something..." until I found the key. Ask them to talk about something
they enjoy. Be specific. Be sure they understand that you do not want a
"speech." You want them to show the group something about the
computer, something the other members might not know about. This approach
tends to
focus on the need instead of on the performance.
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| A good approach is to make a list of topics that are of interest to
the members of the group. Then ask the members to pick one that they can
do. Write it down on the calendar. This will get the ball rolling.
|
| The demonstration does not need to be formal nor elaborate. In fact,
simple and clear is much more beneficial. Leave the elaborate demos for
trade shows. Each member has something to contribute.
|
After one meeting, a few of us were hanging around chatting. One of
the members made a comment that he didn't like the way the desktop made
you bring a window to the forefront just to copy a file. Another member
told him just to hold the right button down while selecting the file from
a background window and drag it to the active window. He thought it was
simple. It's even in the users manual. But none of us knew it. This made
me realize that the reason people don't share what they know about the
Atari is that they think "everybody knows that." Well, not everybody
does.
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| You can get great demos from members of your own users group. Find
out what the members' favourite programs are. Then ask them to do a brief
talk on it. If you have a club computer, encourage them to run the program
on the computer after the brief talk.
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Find out what your members do for a living and see if that would provide
a platform for a demo. One of our members is an electrician. He brought
in a parts book and talked to us about hooking up the computer. He discussed
power and electricity. (Something he obviously enjoyed talking about.)
And he provided good information for purchasing a uninterrupted power supply
(UPS). Another who programs on various platforms discussed the various
operating systems. He also explained the difference between Intel-based
chip design and Motorola design. Another member was an electrical
technician. He gave a talk on opening up the Atari computer. He provided
helpful hints for the ambitious. Once we had a MIDI demo with two keyboards
and a full sound system. (He demonstrated Notator.) He got voice samples
from members of the group, and then used the computer to alter the voice
so it sounded higher or deeper. Very interesting.
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| I think the most common excuse I hear is, "No one would be interested
in what I do." Once I helped a member salvage bad files from a disk.
While at his house he showed me his business. He wrote government required
documents for truckers using his Atari 520ST with a single-sided floppy,
no hard drive, and a 9-pin dot matrix printer. Not too impressive of a
set up for most. However, the documents he produced were very impressive.
(It impressed me.) But I would have never know this if I had not been in
his house. He never thought anyone would be interested in what he did.
To him it was just work.
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| Another method of getting demos is to write software publishers and
developers. Identify yourself as a users group officer and ask for a demo
or two. I have received many disks this way. If you have access to the
INTERNET, GEnie, or one of the other paid services you can contact most
Atari developers via Electronic Mail (EMail). The ones I have contacted
this way have readily sent me the information and diskettes I requested.
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| Atari has a users group correspondent, Bob Brodie. I have written him
many EMail messages and he has responded. I now have flyers and brochures
to hand out at our meetings to encourage the membership to buy Falcon computers.
You can contact Bob at <BOB-BRODIE@genie.geis.com>. Bob has also
been a users group member for many years and has some helpful hints for
users group officers. Drop him a note.
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| And finally, the one source that gets a lot of attention: New computer
purchases. When one of our members bought an Atari TT we asked him to bring
it in. We announced the demo and we got a crowd of people. We did the same
with other newly purchased products. One of our members put a GEMulator
in a i486/DX and showed it off. We got it running PC-Ditto and emulated
an IBM-XT on a 486! We have had a demo of each new Jaguar game (the latest,
Tempest 2000) by our Jaguar owner. Encourage your member to "show
off" what they have.
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| A demo doesn't need to be an elaborate dramatic expression of artistry
in motion to be enjoyable. Ask your demonstrators to just do a brief talk
about what they have and then show it. Sort of like show and tell in grade
school. It works, don't knock it.
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| In the future we will cover Membership (methods
of increasing it), Networking with other users groups, etc., and I will
share from my own exploits as a users group president; the frustration
and the elation. Stay tuned.
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