Executive Vice President Report - 2090/09
Mark Smith; [email protected]
From Mark Smith
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 seemed 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.
Excerpt from Jim Tiller — "Advice to the Prop Owner" 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."
Comments from Liz Helms (Model Aviation editor)
I thought I would ask our in-house AMA expert, Liz Helms, who is one of the Model Aviation magazine editors, for her thoughts.
"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
- club treasury information
- reports on the state of the flying site
- mowing schedules
- site improvement status
- event schedules and event planning
- general items 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 better-written 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
- 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.
Joe Nall and AMA Presence
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!
Conclusion
Keep in touch!
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
