By Don Patzsch, Tampa PC Users Group
patzsch@helios.acomp.usf.edu

At Boynton Beach, we saw an elegant building. No expense was spared to produce a very impressive Club House. Valencia Lakes is a sort of circle of houses around a lake. Each home is quite large and is protected by a guardhouse at the entrance. You drive around the lake to access the clubhouse. There is no way I can describe the giant outdoor pool, the exercise room, the kitchen, the room dividers for the main conference area with its very large stage, and the highest ceiling and stage lighting everywhere. All done in the most expensive way. This is one elegant building. The landscaping is worth walking around to view. My wife and I are not envious of others, but come and see this place.

Don't forget that at these meetings, you can pick up copies of newsletters from all around the state. I spend a lot of time reading these newsletters and going to the URL's that you find in each newsletter. Sometimes I think this is a real plus for attending the conferences.

My wife and I were pleasantly surprised by the breakfast, which was supplied by the Bank of America. Right after we sat around having breakfast and meeting the others, we attended the Bank of America presentation. I was delighted to hear how the software was incorporated into the web site. You may pay bills, check on your accounts, print both sides of a check; and many other features of the software were put on the screen. It is all free because Bank of America believes that the savings to them due to the fact that you do all your banking on the web results in less tellers in the bank. Great presentation. My wife won a very large umbrella in the drawings.

Our next session was the Adelphia people's presentation. We decided on this one because I wanted to get the latest on cable modems, etc. There was not much "new" that we learned, but it is always best to see what the future looks like.

After the Adelphia session, lunch was served. Stuffed chicken breast and all the trimmings made for a great session of chatting with the members.

After lunch, a Palm Beach County Sheriff's speaker told us many interesting stories of how people produce counterfeit money and steal others’ identity, and also how they had made many arrests. This is a good idea for future conferences, It is interesting to see what the thieves’ computers look like, the ones used in counterfeiting and stealing info on the internet. These men spend years finding ways to outwit the felons.

After the lunch speaker, we went to the session on How to Prepare Programs Without Vendors. I expected this to be boring, but I was wrong. Hewie Poplock presented a clear, neat, complete story of where you can look up information on the internet that will allow your members to make up interesting presentations. Everyone chimed in, and a really good session follwed. Hewie’s web site is great. You may see almost the whole session by going to http://www.hewie.net/facug.

The next presentation I attended was on web design. This is always a good session because every club is setting up web sites now and dozens of good ideas are passed around. What software do you use, and how do you make your club look good?

Last, but not least, is the afternoon drawing for the prizes. Everyone gathers around and waits for his number to be called so he can go up and pick out the best of what is left! If this group hosts in the future, I will surely want to attend. u