Term 1 is Underway!

We are now into 2019 and have a number of Courses and Workshops for you to choose from to keep your IT learning up to speed. If you go to our Website you will see the programme for Term 1 (Courses here and Workshops here). When you have made your selection please phone Elaine at  021 169 6256 to make a booking.

Open Days

Earlier this month we held the Coastlands Day, where we had over 40 enquiries and then the two Open Days which attracted 7 new members which brings our total membership to 307.

We are currently reviewing our promotion plan so if you have any ideas on how to  ‘Spread the Word’ then please let us know.

Membership Renewal for 2019-20

It will soon be time to renew your membership and Veronica will be sending you a reminder early next month. You can of course pay us now by Internet banking and take advantage of our “Early Bird Discount”. Details on how to pay us electronically are described on our website here.

Learning Centre – Comfort

You will be pleased to know that we have fixed the air-conditioning/heat pump system, so that everyone should be comfortably cool in summer and warm in winter. We will also be getting it serviced more regularly to try and avoid those unwanted cold spots in the winter.

Why are you viewing this Newsletter on the web?

You have probably already noticed that our email about this Newsletter has connected you back to our website to read the actual articles. Why have we done this you may well ask? Well it’s a long story but I’ll try to be brief!

Late last year we started encountering significant problems sending emails direct to our members. Many were being blocked by email service providers (mainly Gmail and Xtra) and often we were being treated as spammers. We have found an elegant solution by using a Bulk Mailer called SendPulse as well as taking some technical actions to “legitimize” ourselves as bulk mailers.

So far things have gone very well but we have noticed that Xtra are still rejecting anything we send out with an attachment – which is how we used to send you our Newsletter. After some discussion, the Committee has decided to simply publish this Newsletter on our website each month (which we have always done anyway) and notify you by a short email with a quick link included.

If you are reading this, then our strategy has worked and thanks for following the link.

SeniorNet in the Community

In conjunction with the Books at the Beach event which happened on 16 February, SeniorNet Kapiti was invited to provide information on downloading e-reader apps and e-books. The instructions provided were specific to installing the Kindle e-reader app and Kindle format e-books, because some of the authors at the Books at the Beach event publish e-books and those books are in Kindle format as a common denominator.  If you are interested, check out this link to read the instructions.  Of course, if you need more help with this, just contact us.

Message from the Chair

We have commenced a new year of great classes and workshops here at SeniorNet Kapiti.  We are back with some old favourites including: Managing the Data on Your PC, iPad and iPhone Basics, Introduction to Computers, and Email Using Windows Mail.

We have also added a new class for Android users:  The Smartphone Camera Course is a new offering that guides you through how to get the most out of the camera on your (Android) smartphone. There are great tips on photography with mobile devices as well as a rundown of the camera features that may be available on your device from the common to the unusual. This course runs for four weeks and commences on 20 March.

This term’s specialty workshops include: Using the PC When You Have Accessibility Issues, Understanding OneDrive, and Introduction to MS Access.  Of course, we are still offering our standard workshops: How Do I…?, Smartphone and Tablet Basics, iPad and iPhone Basics, and the Questions & Answers session (where we offer great presentations from other community groups and services, but also field general questions about computing).

We are always open to suggestions from our members regarding new courses or workshops that might interest our group, so please if you have an idea, speak up.

I have not mentioned all of our classes and workshops offered this term.  You can find the complete schedule for our current classes and workshops on our website and remember Elaine is just a phone call away at 021 169 6256.

Teresa Urutia
Chair SeniorNet Kapiti Inc.