 x-O                                                                 L STILL HAS GOOD INFORMATION IN IT.  Unfortunately some of those mentioned such as BJ and his AKRON BBS no longer exists. 
But in general the information is appTHE FOLLOWING IS A REPRINT OF AN OLD ARTICLE I WROTE FOR ST.LOUIS AUG WHICH I FEEL STILL HAS GOOD INFORMATION IN IT.  Unfortunately some of those mentioned such as BJ and his AKRON BBS no longer exists. 
But in general the information is applicable to STARTING A NEW AUG AND/OR EXPANDING YOUR PRESENT AUG. 
 
HOPEFULLY OTHERS WILL SEND IN SUGGESTIONS (on disk in English-EOS) to share on this subject.
 
 
HOW TO START A LOCAL AUG 
OR DID YOU MOMMA DROP YOU ON YOUR HEAD WHEN YOU WERE LITTLE 
Assuming you really want to start a local AUG and have the necessary background: (l) own an Adam; (2) independently wealthy; (3) hours & hours of free time; (4) lack of common sense, etc.  Here are some 
suggestions.  I am sure there are others but these are some we have tried that seem to work (at least in theory). 
First you need to get names of other Adam owners in your areas.  Write to N&B,Adams Alive, NIAD & A.I.M. the national newsletters, ask them to send you a list of their subscribers in your area (Zip code, state, whatever you need to describe the area you hope to serve).  When you get this list, write or call the individuals and discuss the proposed AUG with them.  Try to enlist their support & membership. Remember, however if they do not want an AUG you cannot force it on them.  
Depending on your area, there may be a local computer(all kinds) newsletter, as in St.Louis we have St.Louis Computing.  Place an ad or announcement in here indicating you are forming an Adam AUG and asking for Adam owners to contact you.  If you have a local paper where items for sale or trade are listed such as Trading Times, etc. Place an ad indicating you are selling or wish to buy Adam items. Most of these only charge you based on what you actually buy or sell.  Since you really are trying to meet other Adam owners and not buy or sell, this should not cost you anything. Contact the local Kaybee or Toys or Us or other store that previously s old Adams. Leave some flyers or other printed matter about your AUG and ask them to give these to anyone coming in asking about Adam items. Many people will go back here where they bought their Adam expecting to find all kinds of Adam items but at least they do come & make inquiry. If your local area has a Honeywell Repair Facility or other facility that fixes or used to fix Adams, leave them some fliers also to give out. You will have to periodically replace these at the toy stores & repair places as they are not going to go out of their way for you but if you make it easy enough for them they will help. 
This should give you a start as to finding other Adamites in your area. Be prepared to do most of the work yourself, especially at first. Later you may be lucky enough to find other owners interested enough to help with the work load. Now that you have a list of local Adamites you must come up with something that will convince them they want to join your AUG.  One possibility is a BBS or bulletin board system.  IF there are enough Adamites with modums you can setup a BBS for them.  You will need a modum yourself, some drives to store the BBS programs,etc. on, a phone line you can use, and some BBS software.

    
The Adam BBS systems are either one called an A-Net system by Alan Neeley of Utah or a CP/M System by Big John of Whatever he calls his company now.  You would have to purchase the software from one of these sources but once you had the software any of the other sysops (system operators) using that same system would be glad to help you get yours running.  There is a great spirit of cooperation among the sysops and they share ideas,etc. freely.  
The BBS could give Adam news, annuncements, allow for exchange of private & public messages,etc.  It is something to offer your members or prospective members but they will need a modum ($30-40) not a huge investment.  
A newsletter is another thing you can offer the members.  This can be anything from a single page announcment meetings to a full 20-30 page monthly newsletter. We have several national and many others published by local AUGS for wide distribution.  The editors of these newsletters are again very help & will share ideas, tips, etc. with you. Almost all of these will allow you to reprint parts of their newsletters as long as you indicate the source for the reprint.  Some newsletters have started simply as reprints of parts of other newsletters, eventually working into original material.  Since most owners cannot afford to get all of these newsletters, the reprinted items are actually new to them.  The St.Louis AUG newsletter is one that will work with you, even to the point of allowing you to delete their local news, take the balance of their newsletter, add your local news & publish it. Some restrictions apply but are not really burdensome.  A newsletter is a good means of keeping in touch & holding a group together.  It does cost money for postage and printing however. In the beginning you may have to put much of this money out yourself. Once you are more established and have a dues base, it will lessen your personal burden.  
 
FURTHER YOU NOW ARE ABLE TO USE THE RESOURCES OF A.N.N. The Adam News Network which can make putting a newsletter together much easier and efficent. 
 
MORE IDEAS ON FORMING A LOCAL USER GROUP MAY continue in the next issue.  WE INVITE OTHER LOCAL AUGS TO SHARE THEIR HINTS, TIPS, ETC.  WITH US BY SENDING THEM TO BARRY WILSON, A.N.N. 12967 Weatherfield St.Louis Mo. 63l46 
 Next we may look at the following:  PD libraries, group projects among other things. 
DON'T GIVE UP YOU CAN DO IT. OTHER ADAMITES WILL HELP. 
 
elete their local news, take the balance of their newsletter, add your local news & publish it. Som
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