Zoom-in Online

This recurring series looks at the communities that have sprung up to support Final Cut users. Big and small, near and far, users groups are a thriving part of the creative ecosystem.

· When did this user group start? April 2003

· Who runs the group? Rob Chinn

· How many members do you have? We currently have about 105 members. We normally average about 15 people at a meeting, although I think that number is set to increase.

· How often do you meet? Usually monthly, on the fourth Wednesday of the month.

· Where do you meet? Our current meeting location is Ball State University Indianapolis Center, 50 S. Meridian St., Indianapolis. About two blocks south of the circle, for anyone familiar with Indy.

· Favorite moment in the group's history? Our fifth anniversary meeting this past month. Orlando Luna just happened to be in town, and stopped by to show us Final Cut Server. We also had our first successful video iChat speaker, Philip Hodgetts. Those two are both great. We've listened to Philip for many years and had been wanting to get him into a meeting for a long time. Then we proceeded to give away somewhere in the neighborhood of $2,500 worth of software, books, and other merchandise, thanks to a lot of great sponsors.

· What percentage of members consider media creation their primary occupation? Somewhere around 35-40%. We have a good mix from hobbyists to students to pros.

· Do you have any other info or fun anecdotes you want to tell us? We have members that regularly travel from Illinois (3 hours) and Ohio (2 hours) to attend our meetings, which is very flattering. Our membership and meetings have always been and will always be free of charge. Thanks to our partner from Ball State, Jonathan Huer, we have offered hands-on training at meetings. Jonathan brought in the mobile computing lab of 17" MacBook Pros so everyone could learn and experiment with Color this past fall.