The Sacramento PC Users Group was well represented again this year at the KVIE Art Auction, thanks to Ken Hopkins' continued coordinating efforts. Ken has been coordinating this volunteer effort for several years, bringing in a group of volunteers to staff the computers that handle the fast-paced price and item data that displays on the lower left corner of TV screens during airtime. The volunteer staff this year was: Ken Hopkins, Don Frieze, Stan Morris, Tim Cardozo, and Milt Hull. Thanks, guys!
Volunteers in Action
Doug Hohn has volunteered to lead the "Online Home Tutorial" project. As the coordinator, Doug would be involved in keeping track of and assigning members to specific personal tutorials at a person's home. Chuck Harris is the latest volunteer for this effort, and he will be going out to members' homes and other locations for the 1-2 hour sessions.
If you are interested in joining the team, email Doug Hohn.
Volunteer Thanks
We are experimenting with outsourcing our transcription services beginning with the May general meeting. As mentioned last month, this service will replace our overworked volunteers who have been doing the tedious job of transcribing our meeting for inclusion in Sacra Blue and eBlue. Brian Lavender volunteered to drop off the tapes for us this first time at Sacramento Transcription Service.
Tom Anderson, one of our co-editors, has volunteered to pick them up each month. We still will need someone to deliver the tapes on a regular basis each month. If you work or live in the downtown area, or pass through within a few days after our general meeting, we could really appreciate your help.
Volunteer Openings
Please take a look at the following volunteer openings. If you think you can help, contact the "contact person" for that position, or e-mail Stan.
1. We need several volunteers who will visit as many computer stores as possible on a monthly basis, and ask them to have our membership information available to their customers. If we could get into the big stores like Frys, CompUSA, and Computer Warehouse, we would probably get a lot of coverage. Other big computer sellers include office stores like OfficeMax, Staples, and Office Depot. Also, include electronic stores like Good Guys, Circuit City, Best Buys, and even Radio Shack. Then the other computer-specific stores like the Gateway stores and all the mom-and-pop computer stores. Contact: Ken Hopkins.
2. An additional volunteer(s) will be needed to do research on area computer stores for an "area guide to computer stores" booklet. We would want to know the name of the store, their locations in the area (and phone numbers), the product lines they carry, and additional useful information. We may include a consultant section in the guide as well. This would be updated and published periodically as a PDF. This would be a handy resource for everyone. We could sell ad space in this publication, but not require it for entry. We would create a form for the volunteer or the store to fill out. Contact: Ken Hopkins.
3. More newsletter writers are always needed for Sacra Blue and eBlue. There are several options here: You can write a regular or irregular column on a computer subject—lots of subjects are available. You could write tips for a tips column, which may also be used as filler. You could also write news articles about current events, evaluate hardware and/or software and write product reviews, or write stories about how you solved some computer problem. Contact: Tom Anderson or Ken Hopkins.
I am sure you will find this volunteer work very rewarding and it could even create some interesting opportunities for you. You may be surprised how little time is involved in some of these positions.
