2018-06-01

Mac News – June 2018

[Apologies for the deafening silence here for so long! I'm about to move this to a new platform, but in the meantime, here's my latest update!]

Happy June, Mac Doc followers! Man oh man, what a spring we've been having! Let's not even mention the 'D' word, but instead enjoy these gorgeous days while they're here, and dream of the healthy monsoons to come... 😊 

Many of you have been asking what's happened to my classes. Well never fear, I have a new plan! I continue to be swamped with my usual Mac Doctor business (as the tech world gets crazier and more complicated by the day!), on top of the responsibilities that come from all the other hats I wear, so I'm feeling the need to make some changes.

What I've decided to do is to continue to do a class or two, a month, probably alternating between Ridgway and Montrose. There may be months that I don't do a class at all though. Of course, I'll continue to do presentations at the monthly Mac User Group meetings for much of the year as well. [As a reminder, those meetings are held at the Montrose Proximity Space at 7 pm on the second Thursday of every month. Attendance is free, but membership is encouraged, at only $12/year or $18/year for a couple.]

What I'm really excited about, however, is that I've decided that the best approach for many of my recurring classes is to make recordings, here in my office/studio, lasting an hour or hour-and-a-half, post them online, and offer subscription access to them. To test out that approach, I'm going to make one for Photos first, and hope to complete that soon.

Here's where I need some help from you all again. My thoughts are to either charge a one-time fee per recording (say $20), which would give you something like a year of access to each class, and/or to charge a higher fee (say $50-75/year) for access to all class recordings. I would guess that I'll eventually have a dozen or more recordings available. I plan to cover: Photos, Pages, Numbers, Keynote, Safari, Mail, 'Security Essentials', Facebook Marketing, Mac Basics, iPhone/iPad Basics, etc. Feel free to suggest others, and do let me know your thoughts about the different pricing models and costs.

Please get back to me with your feedback on this idea. I've mentioned it to a few of you, and had universally positive response. I think it's a great way for folks to be able to go over the content at their pace, while allowing me to cover topics in a more organized (uninterrupted) fashion. I'm very excited about the idea!

In the meantime, here's the brief June schedule:
  • Thurs., June 14th, from 7-9 pm at the Montrose Proximity Space, the monthly Black Canyon Mac User Group will hold their regular meeting. I'm not able to attend this month's session, so I'm not sure what the topic will be at this point, but you can be sure it will be fun and informative! This event is free, and there's no need to RSVP.
There won't be any other classes this month, as I plan to focus on producing my first couple of recorded classes. Stay tuned for news about that, and with any luck, I'll have at least one to share with you by the end of the month!

Thanks, as always, for supporting the Mac Doctor!

Best,
John