OCTOBER 1996

Meetings

Annual General Meeting

This year’s Annual General Meeting was attended by about 120 members who braved the cold and wet weather to attend another interesting PCUG event held at Manning Clark Theatre, ANU the 30th of September, 1996 at 7.30pm. It was a fairly business like presentation although there were a few stumbles and at one point an agenda item was missed and returned to later. The President’s message is included here for the benefit of all members. The financial report was presented to the members for approval and a lively discussion began after several questions were raised about the financial statements.

We moved on to accepting the nominations for the officers and committee members for the next year with the exception of the Vice-President’s position for which there were two nominees. Mike Gellard and Ken Livingston were given the opportunity to speak to the group stating their reasons for seeking the position of Vice-President. The group then cast their votes and after several counts Mike Gellard was declared successful in gaining the position of Vice-President.

Another highlight of the evening was a presentation of an award which is seldomly bestowed on members. Karl Auer was presented a ‘Lifetime Membership’ award by the President in recognition of his tireless and extraordinary contributions to the group over many years. A loud and lengthy applause from the members signalled their endorsement and appreciation.

The following Declarations of Interest were received from last years Committee:

Iain Gould
SCITEC Australia Pty Ltd

Craig Gibson
Link.IT Australia Pty Ltd
Microtech Computer Service
InterACT Internet Services Pty Ltd

Lis Shelley
NULLLABOR Electronic Publishing

Gabrielle Wright
Lexicon Secretariat
PCUG Advertising Manager
PCUG Centre Booking Officer

Ann Byrne presents Karl Auer with a lifetime membership award.

John Heggaton collects this month’s doorprize at the main meeting. The 1996/97 PCUG Committee

President’s Report

At the Annual General Meeting

This year has seen yet another big step taken in providing improved benefits for our members. The success of the Internet Project has exceeded expectations and there are now over 2000 members subscribed. This is two thirds of our total membership.

It became obvious towards the end of last year with the increase in membership and of the activities of Special Interest Groups that the premises at Fyshwick were inadequate. The centre at Fyshwick although a tremendous step forward for the group from our previous arrangements was somewhat out of the way particularly for members relying on public transport and our training facilities being at the head of a long flight of stairs did not cater for everybody. The past year we have participated in various local and interstate events and made several submissions to local and federal Government involving computer related topics.

Sixteen Bits has once again won another major overseas publishing award, this time a first prize for design and layout. Congratulations to Lis Shelley editor at the time and the editorial team.

The BBS is still receiving in the area of 1500 calls a month and is still a popular means of communication.

The group’s major initiative this year has been the search for and leasing of new premises at Belconnen to house our centre. The floor area has almost doubled with ground floor access and with very pleasant surroundings, handy to parking, bus interchange and Belconnen Mall.

Our official opening is on Saturday October 12th at 11am by the Chief Minister Kate Carnell.

Please come along and help us celebrate this special occasion. Please note the centre will be closed on the long weekend, (as it is every long weekend.)

However the opening hours of the Centre have been extended and we are now open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays (excluding public holidays) between 10am and 2pm for members convenience. Our valued Executive Secretary Petra Dwyer will be in attendance during these hours. Of course we are still open at weekends between 9am and 5pm when the centre is manned by volunteers.

The volunteers efforts are much appreciated as always, these are people who in offering their time and talents make a significant contribution to the successful operation of the group. It was vounteers who put together "The Consumer Awareness Guide for the Purchase of Computer Hardware" a very popular publication indeed.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Committee for their support. The amount of time and effort involved on a voluntary basis by the Committee members is what gives the general membership the services some unfortunately tend to take for granted.

There were four declarations of interest received by the Committee this year and they will be available for perusal after the meeting.

I come to a most pleasant duty, the Group does not often bestow life membership so such awards are not given lightly, however the Committee this year was unanimous in the de-cision to give the award to Karl Auer, in recognition of his long serving Presidency and continuing work for the Group particularly in relation to the Internet Project, and as our Communication Spokesperson in local and interstate forums.

So if Karl would come forward I would like on behalf of the Membership present him with this award.

That concludes my report ladies and gentlemen which will be tabled for inclusion in the minutes.

Questions

A statement from the PCUG Committee

At the AGM, a number of questions were raised from the floor in regards to the Group’s audited financial statements for the year ended June 1996.

The Committee fully intends to provide answers to the questions that were raised. How-ever, we want to take every precaution that our answers are fair and factual. To this end, we are looking into these matters very carefully to make certain that no errors were made, and if they were, to correct them.

Due to the publication deadline of Sixteen Bits we are unable to adequately address these questions in time for inclusion here. Answers will be forthcoming in tip.announce and in the journal as soon as we have completed our in-vestigations.

The PCUG Committee

Coming Events

October Meeting

This month Gillian Dyers of Asia Pacific Multimedia will present an overview of the software products they distribute in Australia which include the Asymetrix range of 3D graphics programs and TriSpectives (as re-viewed in Sixteen Bits last month). If you have ever wondered how those stunning 3D graph-ics we all see in presentations and web sites are produced, the next meeting will be you chance to find out.

November

Yes, the event you have all been waiting for, the PC Users Group annual ‘Bring and Buy’. This is your big chance to clear out those shelves and closets and then fill them up again with new toys! Honestly, it’s a terrific event with wonderful bargains and a lot of fun thrown in for good measure. This year the event will again be held at the Albert Hall on Commonwealth Avenue, Tuesday 26th of November, 1996 starting at 7.30pm.

Members wishing to book tables for the evening should contact Lis Shelley as early as possible on 248 6607 (7.00pm to 9.00pm) to ensure space is available. Volunteers are also required on the night, so if you can help please give Lis a call soon.