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Wrapping up on this weekend’s PMUG talk

Richard Charpentier Arizona, Notes from Rich, Prescott 1 Comment

Saturday I stopped by the Prescott Library and got to meet some of the Prescott Mac Users Group. I think some members didn’t make it due to the inclement weather we experienced……

You know….Snow, rain, sleet, freezing temperatures.  Everything you think of when somebody says, “Arizona.”

Even with the bad weather we had a pretty good turn out.  I met many of the members before the presentation, and we got chattering away about tech gadgetry.  That left me feeling pretty comfortable about the presentation.  Just talk gadgets and watch me relax and blend in with the crowd.  All good, because speaking in front of groups leaves most anyone a little nervous at the beginning.  But talk gadgets and I’m comfy and at home!

Bouncing around, but watching the corners for tangents

Anyone who has spent time with me knows I love tangents.  I’ll go off on a tangent for quite a while, you won’t know why, but I’ll finally loop back and connect the tangent to what we were talking about 20 minutes ago.  In my mind, we never left the subject, just grabbed the tangent express to get some more info on the main subject.  For folks that I talk with, the tangent might seem psychotically unrelated.  Until we loop back.

Glad to say, I kept my tangent habit to a minimum for the folks at PMUG.  They don’t know how lucky they are.

We had a fun conversation about a few Mac topics.  Nothing into the depth that we could have covered, but hey, when you’re working against a clock you’ve got to reign it in.

I first started out with a little intro.  “Hi my name is Rich and I used to use PCs…….I’m also a reformed economist…….etc, etc.”  Standard tech 12 step program stuff.  Then we moved toward the realm of blogging with a Mac, but I changed the topic a bit.  See, several folks were talking videos, podcasts, and tutorials for the group.

Ah, something I enjoy doing (although you wouldn’t know it since there hasn’t been a podcast here in months).  The members were chatting about getting tutorials, or doing tutorials, and while they were talking before the meeting I pulled up my website and the “Photographing Arizona Podcast.”

That’s where we started.  My travels, my blogging, the podcasts, and how the Mac tied in.  I clued folks in to an amazing thing.  Each new Mac comes with just about everything you need for podcasting.  Not everyone knows that.

In addition to the power that Mac offers would be podcasters and video creators, I did note they’d need a few extra toys.  MPeg Streamclip for instance.  Mac can’t always handle the video format of the latest from video camera manufacturers.  Annoying but true.  Fortunately, MPEG Streaclip is there to rescue us, convert our video, and leave us ready to produce on the Mac.

After talking about one great free software I also plugged another “pay for” program that’s worth much more than the price would indicate.  “IShowU” is a fantastic video program.  You use it to record what you’re doing on screen.  What does that mean?  Well, if you want to produce your own tutorial for using a piece of software, you can use IShowU to do the recording.  See, the PMUG members were talking about future tutorials at the start of the meeting, so I thought I’d provide them with an option for creating the tutorials.

Yes, the blogging & podcasting do tie in with just part of my Mac’s usage.  And rolling over to the tutorial creation software didn’t stray too far…….so see, I did alright!  🙂

For the second half hour I switched gears.  Alan had also asked about Macs and my usage of them for my current business.  Well, there’s a topic that I could spend a day on.  🙂

In the end, I decided to speak to the group about a digital photographer / printer’s workflow.  For my personal style, I use Lightroom, Photomatix, and Photoshop in my workflow.  So that’s what we chatted about, along with HDR and working up more stylized images.

Overall, I had a good time.  I think the group did too.  I only had one person exit a few minutes before we wrapped up.  I think he had another place to go, so no slight there.  Hey, one exit in a two hour meeting is a good sign.  I’ve been at lectures where half the audience tries to discretely slip away, and the more discrete they are, the more obvious it is.

I guess the best way to judge the whole experince is the response of folks when you wrapped up.  I’m invited back in the near future to do more with PMUG.  That’s a good sign.  Plus a few compliments at the end of the session always serve to let you know that you did in fact do a good job for the group.  🙂  I always like compliments.

For PMUGs wrap up, go check out their blog as well.

Thanks for having me at your meeting!  I’ll look forward to seeing you all again soon.

Comments 1

  1. Glad you liked my desert lily photos. Am using Lightroom almost exclusively now and for those photos used a bit of the vignetting tool you introduced me to when I was just starting with the program several months ago. Bet your students also come to appreciate your knowledge — as well as your friendship!

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