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Aerobatics ServerACRO E-mail Archive Thread: [Acro] Sport Aerobatics - the ideas....[International Aerobatic Club] [Articles etc] [Communications] [Contest and Patch Information] [Aviation Organizations] [Other Aerobatics Info] [Aerobatics Images] [Other Aerobatics Links] [Other Aviation Info (including weather)] [Search ACRO Website]Disclaimer: These aerobatics pages are developed by individual IAC members and do not represent official IAC policy or opinion. |
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Thread: [Acro] Sport Aerobatics - the ideas....
Message: [Acro] Sport Aerobatics - the ideas....
Follow-Up To: ACRO Email list (for List Members only)
From: Graham Bird <g.bird at opengroup.org>
Date: Thu, 06 Feb 2003 19:11:59 UTC
I want to try and present some of the thinking - first hand - that is going on wrt Sport Aerobatics. And to solicit input - for that we have had so far, thanks! First, it is important to point out the board view SA as a key membership benefit and communication vehicle. We are seeking to find ways to enhance and improve the benefit we all get from the magazine. Second, the EDITOR (and I deliberately emphasize the job title, more later) is a part-time position filled by Dave Kujawa. Final piece of context, times is hard! I live and work in the Silicon Valley area and we are feeling the chill - I'm sure that it's the same in other parts of the country. Aviation activities - and membership in associated organizations - is discretionary. I know that I'm looking at where my money goes very carefully. IAC is certainly not immune from that, our income and hence our budget, remains under pressure. And in this job, I look very carefully - with the support of a very able board and staff - at where our money goes too. A humorous (well others tell me it is) context setter: I'm a Yorkshireman by birth and used to have a boss who would introduce me as 'This guy's from Yorkshire; you know Yorkshiremen, they are just like Scotsmen but with the generosity kicked out of them'. I prefer to see it as I think long and hard about value for money. And in my time on the board I've been impressed with the focus on enhancing the value of IAC membership to the members. So, in November the board discussed SA and looked at options for further improving it. The current publication is 48 pages because print technology means that magazines are most economically produced in multiples of 16 pages. There WAS discussion about reducing the page count (as you can see a reduction would mean 32 pages), there WAS NOT a decision to do that. In fact, I was directed by the board to look at options for investing in SA to enable those improvements. The summary of my findings: Our editor has been doing a job beyond the editing task we pay him for. We are dependent on submitted articles (we do not, currently, commission articles). Members (and the board!) would like to see more in-depth articles on e.g. Nationals, regional contests, etc. but we cannot afford to fund staff or writers to travel. What can we do? I have asked Lisa to see how we can modestly enhance the amount we spend on SA in the budget we are currently planning for next year. This budget will be presented to the board for approval in March (our finance year runs March - February). Dave Kujawa has been added to the Chapter President's email list so that he can solicit input from them We looked at (and I am a proponent of) moving time sensitive information, such as contest results, to a more responsive medium such as the web. My personal view is that I see this information on the email list (in most cases) and would far rather go to the IAC web for such information. The web, again in my view, is a much underutilized resource. My the time contest results appear in SA, they are most often many months after the event. We can encourage contest directors and volunteers to write up regional competitions and other events, and to submit photos. How about appointing someone to this task VCs? Thinks, must talk to that Paso VC about that :-)) Our President, Gerry Molidor, has suggested that board members lead by example and submit articles for publication in SA. Some have already met his challenge. Gerry himself is sharing some of his experience in articles as well as the presidents page. We can and should encourage members to submit articles for publication. We have a cadre of stalwarts who do, and we would very much like to see more. In short, we are a largely volunteer organization, and we need YOUR help and input. Your opinions are very helpful, and I welcome them. But we also need you to turn your skills to producing and collecting material for SA to continue to improve and provide value. Hope that helps.... Cheers ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Graham Bird 3968 Oakmore Road Oakland, CA 94602 Treasurer, Home: 510 530 9008 International Aerobatic Club Cell: 415 999 3106 Fax: 240 214 1063 www.iac.org g.bird at opengroup.org ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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