How the Boston Computer Society Macintosh User Group was born

I spent some time taking a survey over at Making the Macintosh because thier history of Macintosh user groups didn't include one that is near and dear to my heart, The Boston Computer Society Macintosh Users Group.

After sending the survey in, I got it back in my email as returned mail. So instead of wasting all this good information about the Boston Computer Society Macintosh Users Group (BCS Mac) I'll just post it here:

What Was I Doing at the time?
I had taken computer classes on college and had been a computer programmer. At the time the Mac came out I was a computer salesperson in downtown Boston.

The Group Name
In 1984, Apple Computer chose to introduce its Macintosh to a BCS meeting for the product's East Coast roll-out.

The Boston Computer Society Macintosh Users Group, BCS MAC, was formed by people who signed sign up sheets at that meeting.

Group Leaders
Jack Hodgson - Leader
Steve Garfield - Meeting Co-ordinator
Rob Hafer - Software Librarian
Raines Cohen
Ben Calica
Becky Waring
Rich Colombre
Rick Kollmeyer
Ric Ford
Alex Rosenberg

Meetings
We had between 300-500 people per meeting. The meetings had a well prepared agenda with featured presenters who were given 15-20 minutes. The meeting always closely followed the agenda.

All meetings drew a big crowd and we had them in a large auditorium at the Mass College of Art.

Attendance
I attended all the meetings.

When Apple came to present we had to move to a larger hall.

Bulletin Board System
The user group had a BBS and it was not controversial. The Boston Computer Society had a network of BBS's and it was a logical thing to set up.

Relations
The group was very close knit. Many people went on to other jobs in the computer industry.

Newsletter
I read everything in the group newsletter.

Leaving
The Boston Computer Society disbanded in 1996.

Apple
Apple was a strong supporter of user group and had a user group coordinator. The local office in Marlboro was helpful.

Experience
The user group was so well run that I learned a lot about how to put on a good meeting, prepare speakers for waht was expected of them, and how teamwork and working with people that you truly enjoy working with is the key to success.