Executive Vice President Report - 2090/09

Executive Vice President
Mark Smith; [email protected]
HI FOLKS! This month I want to
concentrate on discussing the value of club
newsletters. I have held nearly every club
officer position and believe me, the most
challenging to me is that of club newsletter
editor. It seems that I was always begging
people for items to place in the newsletter,
but eventually, it all came together.
I receive a dozen or so newsletters from
across the nation and by and large, they are
excellent! My main point is that the
newsletter is the primary means by which a
club communicates with its membership.
I have sat in club meetings where the
budget was an issue, and then someone says
we should cut the newsletter—then I stand
up and say my piece. We are naturally
bound together by our club newsletter and it
is vital to the club’s health and well-being.
One of the top newsletters I receive is
from our South Dakota associate vice
president, Jim Tiller. Jim is an
accomplished modeler, photographer, and
computer literate … all strong attributes for
an outstanding newsletter editor. Added to
this, Jim has a wonderful sense of humor.
Here is an excerpt from his June newsletter:
“Advice to the Propworn
“by Uncle Chuck
“I crashed my plane because I took off
on the first flight only to find the ailerons
reversed. What kind of dummy am I?
—Red Faced in Reder”
“I can’t tell you what kind of dummy
you are, you’ll have to ask your wife—she’s
the expert on that. As for the ailerons, I’ve
found it best not to worry about whether the
ailerons move the right direction. You’ve
got a 50/50 chance of getting it right. That’s
way more than the odds you’ll get a new
airplane down in one piece anyway. Why
waste time on things best left to fate?”
“What prop should I use on my O.S.
.46?
—Puzzled in Pringle”
“Preferably one that is not broken. Or if
you can’t find one of those, use the one
with the longest broken ends. If even that
fails go straight down, to Who’s Hobby at
715 Main Street between the hours of 9 AM
and 5:30 PM. Clancy will fix you right up.
The fact that I owe Clancy for a couple of
props myself, had absolutely nothing to do
with my mentioning his name here.
“I guess that does it for this.”
Building on this thought about how
important a club newsletter is to our hobby,
I thought I would ask our in-house AMA
expert, Liz Helms, who is one of the Model
Aviation magazine editors.
“Over the years I have had a number of
‘favorite’ newsletters and editors. As a
stranger to the club and its members, I felt I
got to know many of them through the
newsletters. The best ones had interesting
photos with captions!
“I always appreciated the ones with a
little (or a lot) of humor, jokes, or cartoons.
The rare ones had an editor or contributor
who could write well and kept even my
interest. Clay Ramskill of the Seven Towers
club in Texas comes to mind. He died a few
years ago, but he put together an excellent
newsletter. He was knowledgeable, a
humorous writer, and a good cartoonist/
illustrator. That man had it all!
“Most clubs use the newsletter to run
meeting minutes and club treasury
information, as well as report on the state of
the flying site, mowing schedules, site
improvement status, event schedule(s),
event planning—general things of interest
to members.
“The interesting ones had stories about
the people: who is building what, who just
flew his new behemoth, who just got kicked
out of the house for using the dining room
table as a workbench and spilling CA glue.
Airplanes bring them together, but the
people make the club.
“Sometimes I’ve seen months of
preparation for the club’s huge event,
excitement when the club gets raffle
donations or someone scores a great emcee
and music for the contest, pride that the
field looks the best
it ever has, then the
actual report is four
paragraphs and a
mass of pictures. To
me (as a stranger),
it’s a letdown. I’m
sure club members
know who is in the
pictures, but would
a new or
prospective member
(or some old lady
living vicariously
through the
newsletter)?
“Editorials are
good if they are
relevant and
positive—or at least
not negative. The newsletter is not a forum
to air dirty laundry. Having a number of
contributors made the newsletters
interesting—different points of view,
different interests. This is especially true of
larger, multidiscipline clubs. Sometimes
that encourages interest in other types of
flying.
“Winter indoor flying has brought this
out more. Ironically, some of the betterwritten
stuff covers New Year’s Day frozen
finger fly-ins and indoor get-togethers.
Maybe they just have more time to write in
the winter.
“Because I’m a longtime history buff, I
enjoy some of the ones that do write-ups
about particular airplanes, their origins, and
unusual stories involved in their makings.
“Always sad but interesting in their own
ways are the well-written obituaries. All the
newsletters have them, but the good ones
pay tribute to a man’s life and tell the reader
of his legacy. ‘John died, funeral Saturday,
send flowers to the funeral home’ isn’t
worth printing.
“I guess the best ones to me contain
humor, color pictures with captions, and
well-written event coverage.”
Thanks Liz for your insight! I hope you
can understand how important a club
newsletter is and be sure to say thanks to
your own newsletter editor, and volunteer to
write an article or take some pictures for
him or her.
In conclusion, I wanted to mention that I
attended the Joe Nall again this year and it
was, as expected, another outstanding
event! We expanded our AMA presence
and had many modelers stop by to say hello
and relax under our tent.
As you can see from the picture below,
Jim Wallen, Jim Tiller, and Jim Rice were
all engaged in telling stories and having a
lot of fun!
Keep in touch!
162 MODEL AVIATION
This is what happens when you say, “Hey, Jim.”
Mark Smith
Executive Vice
President
14632 W. 50th St.,
Shawnee KS 66216
Tel.: (913) 568-4347