Okay, so I have been laid up with knee problems for the last couple of weeks. Pain killers are good things, but they really make it hard to write. Knees got better with a serious dose of Prednisone and some longer term rest. Good thing too - This past weekend was SWUG - The SouthWest User Group Conference.

SWUG was a great thing. I am the president of the Phoenix PC Users Group, so I originally decided to go in that capacity. I ended up presenting “How to create a PowerPoint presentation that will wow your user group members” and running the TechSmith booth at the vendor fair.

The presentation was Saturday morning and went pretty well. People liked it. The rest of the weekend people were coming up to me and saying how it opened their eyes during the rest of the conference. Good fun. Good people.

The vendor fair Saturday night was a hoot. What fun it is to sit at a table, giving away free stuff, introducing people to SnagIt and Camtasia, and hearing people rave about the products. I even had someone come up to me with a comment about how great UserVue is (not what you expect at a peer to peer user group conference).

One of the things that always amazes me at conferences like this is how much free stuff is available for prizes if it is for a good cause. The crew who run SWUG got enough prize donations that everyone who came got at least two prizes. Total attendance: Well over 200 people. Pretty darn good!

Vendor support for the user groups was awesome too. Many demo versions of software for review, lots of presentation materials for group meetings, and a general air of mutual appreciation. Now, that is a good thing!

I am glad I went. I hope that I will be able to speak there again. Even if I don’t, I am guessing that this is another conference that goes on the “Can’t miss” list for me.

[tags]SWUG, user group, conference, techsmith, snagit, camtasia, user vue[/tags]