Reg Loeppky
President
ST Users Group of Winnipeg
5-390 Carpathia Rd
Winnipeg MB  R3N 1Y4
Voice: 204-488-7183
BBS: 204-772-7349


An Open Letter to Atari User Group Presidents & Clubs

Greetings from Winnipeg!  Over the past year I have had the 
opportunity to travel across Canada and have met many of you during 
my journeys.  I have really appreciated the exchange of information 
and experience with each meeting.

We have taken many steps in recent years to turn our group around and 
prepare for the advent of the Falcon.  It has been fun and exciting 
and we are not done yet.

One of the goals we have is to network more with other users, groups, 
retailers, developers, and Atari.  

I would like to ask for your participation in setting a new direction 
for Atari users in Canada.  The ideas that I will propose and the 
information I will share are by no means the only ideas worth 
pursuing.  Instead, I view them as a starting point for discussion 
and the beginning of a new relationship.

Please discuss the items below with your executive and respond either 
by mail or by calling our BBS.  (I am not on Genie...yet - Our sysop 
is but is on vacation so I cannot offer his user ID for contact)

The bottom line is communication - we need it to survive and to 
promote the use of Atari computers.  We all know through experience 
that Atari and many retailers are limited in the advertising, 
exposure, and support they offer.  User groups are better positioned 
and can help the over all purpose of increasing the number of Atari 
users in Canada.  We can help improve the picture.

We have seen various user networks come and go (remember the 
Revolution?).  What I am proposing is a low-tech, low-cost method of 
networking.

1) Take some time to review the listing I have included in this arc 
file.  I have tried to list the user groups, retailers, Atari BBS's, 
developers, distributors, publishers, services, shareware 
distributors, and U.S. dealers that I am aware of.

IF THERE ARE ANY ADDITIONS OR CORRECTIONS TO THIS LIST THAT YOU FEEL 
SHOULD BE MADE CONTACT ME AT THE ADDRESS OR BBS LISTED ABOVE.  I WILL
THEN AMEND THE LIST AND REDISTRIBUTE.

User Groups: I would like to list your BBS phone number, a voice 
contact number and the name and phone number for all your executive 
members.  I would like you to give me the name of your newsletter (if 
you have one), your mailing address, meeting location (time & day 
too), present membership total, and how many Atari users you estimate 
are in your area (there may be more than you think).

Note: We were amazed to discover how many Atari users are in our area 
that are not a member of our group.  We are now working hard to try 
and find these people, identify their needs, and invite them into the 
group.  Our group is key to maintaining and growing the Atari market 
as we see it.

Developers: I would like to list the names of the products you 
produce or distribute.  Same goes for Product Distributors.

Publications: Full contact info, frequency, and rates.

Services: Full contact info and specific services.

Shareware Distributors: Full contact info, possibly your catalog on 
file that could then be distributed.

2) Let's exchange newsletters.  We have started doing that with some 
groups and find it to be interesting and helpful.  There may be ways 
to reduce your mailing costs and we can talk about that.  

I would also suggest that we mail copies of our newsletter to the 
developers and retailers to emphasize our presence and the real 
market we represent.

3) Let's talk to each other.  Maybe we can set up some loose national 
umbrella organization to communicate through.

Perhaps this organization could coordinate either an electronic 
newsletter that each group could distribute or a dtp file of a 
laid-out newsletter that each group could then print and distribute.

4) When one of your members moves or transfers to another location 
refer them to the new local user group.


I hope the list opened your eyes to the real presence of the Atari 
community in Canada.  

I look forward to talking with you one way or another.  As I continue 
travelling in the next year(s) with my work I will contact you when I 
am in town.

Thanks for your time.  Don't file this away somewhere and forget 
about it.  Let's all work together to help make things happen.
Let's get some discussion and communication going to develop a plan.


Sincerely,


Reg Loeppky
STUG President