Club newsletters

[Loops]

Hi Folks, I hope the season is ramping back up for you all, and in a reasonably normal way!

Do any of your clubs have particularly good newsletters?  If so, can you send me a link?  I'm looking for models and content ideas.

Thanks!

[Bill_S]

I won't judge its merits, but if you are looking for ideas, here's the Columbus club's web site.

https://columbusfsc.com/

[FigureSpins]

Most clubs email their newsletters to members now, out of concern for privacy.    North Jersey FSC, for example, has a mailing list that they use with Constant Contact to send out their well-written newsletter.  My club uses Entryeeze to reach out to members with our newsletters.

Check your PM box for more info.

☺

[Query]

Most clubs email their newsletters to members now, out of concern for privacy.

Last I knew, Email, like many Internet things, isn't really private, unless you take precautions that make them too hard to use for many people. I won't get into the details. Surface mail can also be intercepted and/or modified, but the bad person generally has to come to your home to do so, making it a bit harder.

One major benefit of email or other online publication is that they can be free. Surface mail costs money, and requires more effort to create.

There is a huge benefit from publishing your material through open web pages that search engines can look through: It is a good way to advertise the club's presence and activities. Another way is to convince your rink to let you have a bulletin board at the rink (many rinks let you have one for free, because it helps attract customers), on which you post similar things.

While I don't belong anymore, the Washington Figure Skating Club uses their own website, Facebook, Twitter, and at least at one point used Yumpu.

I also used to belong to the Gardens Figure Skating Club, which uses their web page in a similar way.

The clubs I belonged to in the past used newsletters and online resources to:

1. Advertise upcoming tests and competitions.
2. Advertise other events that they run, such as picnics and other get-togethers, fund raisers, used gear sales events (maybe that isn't common anymore?).
3. Advertise club logo gear (tee shirts, jackets, etc.), another type of fund raising.
4. Brag about people in their club who have done well in tests and competitions. They often post skater pictures.
5. Announce competition results.
6. Advertise skating teams (like Synchro, Ice Theater) that they are associated with.
7. Recruit volunteers to help them run various events.
8. Keep up enthusiasm, both for members, and their parents - which is perhaps part of why they do the other things.
9. Some have their own online message boards, or equivalent, but if you don't moderate those, which people say is a lot of work, you they tend to receive a lot of inappropriate or unpleasant content.
10. Advertise members' used gear, but I think other online resources have largely taken that over.
11. Carry ads from local businesses, another type of fund raising.
12. I haven't seen club newsletters invite fun articles from members and parents not associated with the newsletter itself (except sometimes club officers), but I think that would be a great way to keep up involvement and enthusiasm. But you don't want to make people think it is their duty, or they may resent it.

[Loops]

12. I haven't seen club newsletters invite fun articles from members and parents not associated with the newsletter itself (except sometimes club officers), but I think that would be a great way to keep up involvement and enthusiasm. But you don't want to make people think it is their duty, or they may resent it.

Thanks everybody!

Part of this discovery process has also been discovering the other fun non-skating but community-building activities that other clubs do. It looks like some clubs have a really incredible off-ice presence.  I think that is something we'll take on to recover from the toxic atmosphere, rebuild a positive, if not happy community, and open a new chapter.  There is such a need in our club. 

But baby steps, the president is still very much against getting people together because of covid risks (he himself is in a high risk category, and many of his generation here are taking incredible precautions).  We have to have an annual meeting for legal reasons, but he'd absolutely forgo it if he could.

As far as the newsletter, because I know getting content from the officers is going to be like pulling teeth, I have already thought about Query's point 12 above.  Maybe getting skaters of all ages to submit drawings, or comments or anything they want really.  But that is a a good point about it needing to be clearly optional.

[Query]

Maybe getting skaters of all ages to submit drawings, or comments or anything they want really.

Submit pictures and videos of them skating, to be placed on a web page?

If they aren't able to ice skate right now, perhaps you can include pictures and videos of them roller/inline skating, or playing with spinners, jumping rope, stretching, pretending to do skating patterns on the floor, or other exercises related to skating?

Many kids now use Android and IOS smartphones instead of PCs, etc., so it would be wonderful if the web page was viewable on them.

If storage space is an issue, you could ask them to place the videos on their own pages, and just make a link - but that may go beyond some kid's abilities. So, if not, you may need to re-compress some of the videos to a more compact form.

[LunarSkater]

Our club bylaws also state we must have an annual member meeting, but the board came to the unanimous conclusion that nothing said we had to hold it in-person. We ended up using Zoom and had record-breaking attendance. I don't know if that would be something possible for your club, but it might be something to consider.

[Loops]

Our club bylaws also state we must have an annual member meeting, but the board came to the unanimous conclusion that nothing said we had to hold it in-person. We ended up using Zoom and had record-breaking attendance. I don't know if that would be something possible for your club, but it might be something to consider.

Our bylaws don't say anything about it being in person either.  They only specify the minimum percentage of members needing to be in attendance.  We have the access to meeting software, so in theory it is possible. But our most recent board meeting was kind of a hassle, and I think it put us off the idea of having it virtually.  I think the prez is sitting tight- school starts on Tuesday.  Once we see how the numbers are affected, the officers will make a final decision.  I'm not surprised that there were record numbers of people.  Not having to go out and find parking is definitely a bonus.

[mapleleafmama]

I won't judge its merits, but if you are looking for ideas, here's the Columbus club's web site.

https://columbusfsc.com/

OMG I love the format of that! Thanks for sharing; I may borrow some ideas from there.

Ours is available online. It's just a standard MailChimp newsletter but I like to think I do a nice job with it.
https://us11.campaign-archive.com/?u=f0223b8a4b3bedab311d17017&id=102e9fb546

[Loops]

OMG I love the format of that! Thanks for sharing; I may borrow some ideas from there.

Ours is available online. It's just a standard MailChimp newsletter but I like to think I do a nice job with it.
https://us11.campaign-archive.com/?u=f0223b8a4b3bedab311d17017&id=102e9fb546

Thanks!!!! You do do a nice job.