Past Meetings

Our monthly meeting for November included our Annual General Meeting, deferred from August. Financial Statements were tabled and AMUG members can download them in PDF format by logging in to the Members’ Area of this website here:
amugsydney.asn.au/members/financial-statements-2016-17/

Meeting convenor Robin Workman thanked the previous committee for their work and declared all committee positions vacant. Discussion then centred around asking who would be willing to stand for committee positions, for which there were seven nominations… incumbents Barbara Watson, Serge Tauber, Karen Shuttleworth and Ken Driver, plus 3 more volunteers. Thanks to all those people! Committee members for 2017-18 are listed on our Contact page.

We had a very welcome guest speaker at our October meeting – Mr Hugh McMullan from MICROSECONDS, located at Ultimo in Sydney.  Hugh has many years experience with, and intricate knowledge of, the inner workings of all models of Macintosh computers. He showed us the different types of hard disk drives, comparing the performance of older ‘spinning platter’ drives to the newer SSDs (Solid State Drives). Hugh’s talk was very informative and injected some much needed technical and practical advice for the members present.

Originally planned to be our Annual General Meeting, the main discussion topic at the August 2017 meeting was the issue of vacant Committee positions and its impact on the future of the club.

The following decisions were made by Committee and General Members present:

• To reschedule the Annual General Meeting to a later date this year, most likely 6 November;
• Members present at the August 2017 meeting agreed to be available for secondment to the existing Committee if needed; and
• Current membership status is extended until the end of the year, for members who were financial as at 30 June 2017.

Therefore, no renewal fees are payable until after the deferred AGM in November, when a reduced membership fee may apply for the remainder of the 2017/18 year (amount to be advised).

Our last meeting for 2016…

After a delicious supper to celebrate the Christmas season, our major raffle prize was an Apple Watch Series 1, won by member Fran Maher-Fish (pictured right).

Colin’s demo topics and discussion included the Photos app on the Mac and using Siri.

This was the last meeting presided over by our long-term presenter and meeting convenor Colin Palmer, having joined AMUG in 1994. On behalf of the committee and members, Ken Driver thanked Colin for many years of sharing his considerable knowledge and experience of all things Apple, and presented a ‘Thank You’ gift from the club, together with a card signed by all members present at this meeting (pictured below).

Colin took us through an in-depth look at iOS 10.

Prizes included a battery pack recharger for iPhone 5, two $20 iTunes cards, two 16GB USB flash drives and a key ring mini screw driver.

Unfortunately for us, Colin announced his intention to step down next year from his regular role as presenter at our monthly meetings. We have been very lucky to benefit from his considerable knowledge of all things Apple and Mac for several years now, and he leaves the position with our thanks and appreciation.

Deferred by one week because of the Labour Day Public Holiday. 

Colin gave us a demo of the new macOS Sierra, and a detailed look at a Sierra compatible Apple Mail Plugin called MailButler.

The main prize was a SanDisk 32GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive, exclusive to Apple Accessories and valued at $44.95. And there were a few other interesting surprises as well.

We welcomed a visitor from Adelaide’s South Australian Apple Users Club, in Sydney briefly for a temporary work assignment. Cheers Rick, thanks for dropping in!

Colin’s topics covered ANZ/Apple Pay and a demo of the ‘TeamViewer‘ remote access app.

Because of a shortage of resources and people at this particular meeting, we skipped the usual raffle and supper break.

Next meeting is 10 October, deferred one week because of the Labour Day public holiday.

The August meeting coincided with our Annual General Meeting. Incumbent president Warwick Harty thanked the 2015–16 committee for their efforts over the past year. After many years of service, all outgoing committee members stood down and nominations were called for. At this stage, the positions of President and Vice-President are vacant. Accepting their respective nominations for 2016–17 and being elected unopposed were:

• Secretary/Public Officer: Diane Pattinson
• Interim Treasurer: Barbara Watson
• General Committee: Serge Tauber and Karen Shuttleworth
• Meeting Convenor: Colin Palmer
• Webmaster/Editor: Ken Driver

Financial Statements for the 2015-16 year were tabled by the Treasurer. These are available for members to view in PDF format – please login to the Members’ Area.

Treasurer Barbara Watson announced Commonwealth Bank’s decision to cease processing of credit card transactions that involve a paper trail, from 31 August 2016. Consequently, AMUG Sydney can no longer accept credit card payments for membership fees.

Prizes of $100, $50 and $20 JB Hi-Fi Gift Cards were won by Helen Hoyer, Roger Williams and Gordon Maxwell respectively.

After supper and refreshments, Ken Driver presented an overview of the 2016 Census of Australia’s Population and Housing, which has a greater focus this year on submitting the form online.

With reduced member numbers in attendance due to the cold weather and other factors, a small intrepid group witnessed Colin’s demo of the Apple Pencil on a recent model iPad.

The main raffle prize was an Apple Magic Mouse.

The next meeting on 01 August is our AGM.

Colin took us through the pros and cons of purchasing Microsoft Office for Mac, comparing the subscription based method (Office 365) with buying the standalone Office 2016.

Mark Paul won the main raffle prize, a portable Cygnet Chargeup Digital mobile battery charger, valued at $100.