Atlanta Macintosh Users Group (AMUG)

Atlanta Macintosh Users Group is (as what they say on their website), "a dues supported not-for-profit Georgia corporation organized and operated exclusively for the purpose of providing education and assistance to its members in the use of the Apple Macintosh computer and software.

History
The Atlanta Macintosh Users Group was founded in 1984, and was incorperated in 1992. It originally held informal gathering at a local computer store, but eventually moved to Emory University and currently meets that in the auditorium of MacQuarium.

Meetings
The Atlanta Macintosh Users Group holds monthly general meetings on the third Tuesday of each month that are open to members and the general public. These meetings are held at the offices of MacQuarium, at 1800 Peachtree Street in downtown Atlanta. Meetings typically start at 7:00PM, although an informal social get-together begins shortly before the meeting.

The meeting format is typically a 15-20 minute Q&A from the audience, and then that evenings presenter begins. A break is often held at about 8:15PM, club business is quickly reviewed before the presentation resumes, and the meeting concludes by 9:00PM after a brief raffle of door prize(s). Only members are eligable for raffle tickets for that evenings door prize(s).

AMUG's Board of Directors typically meets on the first Tuesday of each month, with the location being published on its web site.

As a requirement of being a corporation, an Annual Meeting is held on the date the general meeting would normally be held on in November. This meeting typically sees the final step in the election process of half of the Board of Directors (Board members sit for staggering two-year terms), as well as any other major club business.

To learn more about AMUG's meetings visit their web site or even join AMUG on-line

What AMUG Has to Offer
AMUG is a registered 501(c)3 corporation, registered with the Georgia Secretary of State. As a 501(c)3 corporation its mandate is to help educate its members and the general public on how they can use computers, and how computers can improve their daily lives.

In addition to its SIG, they offer MacCollege which is a semi-regular event where novice and experienced attendees can learn more about various programs and hardware, in addition to much more. Occasionally they'll hold a Maclanta Xpo, which includes all of the events of a MacCollege as well as guest speakers, a swapfest, local, regional, and national publishers and vendors, and other events and activities.

One of AMUGs strongest facets is its OC. For several years this has been based on the FirstClass software, but was on older BBS software before that. The on-line community is a gathering place where members can post and read messages from other members on topics as obvious as computer hardware and software and items for sale, to as diverse and gender issues and movies. Non-members are allowed limited read capabilites.

AMUG also offers a semi-regular newsletter available either as an on-line only edition (available in PDF format), as well as a printed and on-line edition. Currently titled Maclanta, it was originally published under the title of the Fishwrap.