FAQ
Questions
How do I become a PCS
member?
Why haven't I been getting my weekly email newsletter?
How can I get into the Members-only area of the website?
How can I get a new name tag to wear at the General meeting?
What can I do with some old but still usable computers or
computer equipment that I have?
Why are there tables of computer items at the back of the room
during some PCS meetings?
What do you do with the used ink and toner cartridges you
collect at the General meeting?
How do I give a presentation on a computer-related topic with
which I am familiar?
The easiest way is to fill out a
membership application and bring it and a check made out to PCS
for your dues through the end of the year to any meeting and give both to a
PCS officer or other responsible person. We'll see that you get on the
weekly newsletter mailing list, have access to our membership list and other
benefits. Dues are $24 for a full calendar year.
During this difficult economic climate, the PCS Board has tried to be
as frugal as possible. For example, our newspaper columns have provided
excellent free publicity. We have encouraged ourselves as well as our
members to use free software. In 2010 the Board set the annual dues at $24, a
twenty percent reduction from the previous year.
For more information regarding joining PCS, please contact the Membership
Chair, Dave Emery.
Contact Dave
The weekly email newsletter is usually sent out every Monday
morning. If you have not been receiving it promptly, there
could be several reasons why this might happen.
1) The
newsletter is sent out using this address:
It's possible that this address has been erroneously listed as a
spammer. Your should check the blacklist (remove the PCS address
from here) and whitelist (add the PCS address to here) sections
of your email provider's website as appropriate.
2) If you have changed your email address recently and forgotten to
tell us, please inform us of your new address
here.
3) Your PCS membership may have expired. Usually memberships
expire at the end of the year and your newsletter subscription will be
terminated after a few months of gentle reminders. Some memberships
happen to be on a different schedule. To check on the status of your
membership, when it expires, etc., please contact the Membership
Chair, Dave Emery.
Contact Dave
The Members-only area of the website contains our membership list, photos of
some members and back issues of the weekly email newsletter. For
privacy reasons and to keep our members from receiving spam, we restrict
access to only those members who have set up user accounts. To obtain
a user account and password, you will need to be a current PCS member and
contact the Webkeeper with your choice of User Name.
We will open an account for you and email you back with a temporary
password.
To further protect our members, if your PCS membership expires, your user
account will be terminated.
Please contact Phil
Ball and ask him to make you up a new one. The tag will be
waiting for you at the next General meeting.
You have many choices in this area. You can try to sell or give away
your equipment and there are local organizations which will take all your
old equipment off your hands. For more complete info, check out the
Recycling page. Also, see the following
question about why there are tables in the back of the meeting room.
At the General meetings, we usually conduct a raffle of computer items for
your enjoyment and to encourage your attendance until the end of the
session. A PCS Board member will hand out a pair of tickets to all
attendees before and during the meeting. Simply take one of the
tickets and place it on or near the item you would like to win and retain
the other ticket. At the end of the meeting, a drawing will be held
and the prizes awarded.
On other occasions, people will bring computer items that are still useful
but they no longer want. Anyone is free to take any of these giveaway
items for their use. There's no raffle here - first come, first
served. If you take an item and find it's not what you wanted, please
feel free to bring it back to the next meeting and pass it on to someone
else.
And, yes. Sometimes the items on the "Raffle" table are mistaken for items
on the "Giveaway" table. Please pay attention to the tables so you don't
confuse the two. If, for instance, you mistakenly snatch up that nice
printer on the "Raffle" table that already has tickets on it, we will have
choice but to track you down and take it away from you!
PCS has an arrangement with Think4Inc,
a local merchant which sells printer supplies. They refill our used
cartridges and sell them at their two stores in Prescott and Prescott
Valley. In return, they give PCS credit and we
use those credits to purchase office supplies from them. Those
supplies are primarily used to produce the "Messenger", our monthly
hard-copy newsletter distributed at the General meetings. As a result,
we all benefit from reusing your old cartridges.
We are always looking for some new people and talent to give presentations
at our meetings - they can be of whatever length you feel comfortable doing.
If you have attended our meetings, you will notice that some presentations
fill the entire two-hour time slot and others are much shorter, even to the
point of being "fill-ins". We would be glad to accommodate your wishes
and abilities. Please use the Contact
Us form and give us the basic information about your proposed
presentation. We will be pleased to review your proposal and determine
where it best fits into our schedule and mission.
For some information about how to run a presentation for PCS (and other
organizations) or just to find out what the typical PCS presentation
entails, you will find the following articles very informative.
So You
Want to Become a SIG Leader by Andy Reti
Presentation Tips
by Ray DeCosta
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