I've just become the editor of the Oregon Orchid Society Newsletter
(Calypso) and am looking for ideas to liven it up a bit. I'm a computer
consultant so the software part isn't a problem, but the content could
really use some help.

Thanks for any ideas you might have.

Beverly

Hi, Beverly,

First of all, go he

http://www.orchidweb.org/aos/Message...cs.aspx?fid=13

Lots of Editors (including, as of this month, me) post their newsletters on
that site, so you can get ideas. Basically, though, culture info, upcoming
events, special things like a call to members to participate in something, a
message from the President, etc. It helps to have a culture chairperson who
will write a monthly article. Until this season, we had one. Right now, that
is lacking, and I refuse to write one on the grounds that if I do it once it
will be forever, LOL.

I don't know if yours is in color, but if you can do it that way then you
can add photos, which really spruce it up. Ask people to forward pictures
they have taken at Society events, etc, and pix of orchids, naturally. If
it's not in color, it might be worth while to check with your printer and
find out how much it would cost. When I took this over, it was b&w. I made a
copy in color, included lots of pictures, took it to a Board meeting and
just laid it on the conference table. That did it. No more b&w. Sneaky, but
effective!

I think you'll find more people here who can guide you. Lots of Eds here.
HTH

Diana

Thanks Diana,

We do our web version of the newsletter in color, but the mailed version
is in B&W. We have been trying to ween as many members as possible off
the paper mailed version and use the on-line version (color on-line is
the incentive.)

We are fortunate to have Charles Baker of orchidculture.com as a member
of our society and he provides a monthly culture sheet. So that takes
care of the culture info.

The website link is wonderful. I'm sure I'll find some good ideas there.

I'm just beginning to panic since this is the first month I'm
responsible for the newsletter and of the 6-7 people that are supposed
to submit things to me for publication, only 2 have provided anything
and that is after reminder e-mails and phone calls. I've got to get it
to the printer by Tuesday and I'm apprehensive about beginning to write
too much myself, or I'm sure I'll end up doing it every month and I'm
really not up for that.

Thanks again.
Beverly


Diana Kulaga wrote:
Hi, Beverly,

First of all, go he

http://www.orchidweb.org/aos/Message...cs.aspx?fid=13

Lots of Editors (including, as of this month, me) post their newsletters on
that site, so you can get ideas. Basically, though, culture info, upcoming
events, special things like a call to members to participate in something, a
message from the President, etc. It helps to have a culture chairperson who
will write a monthly article. Until this season, we had one. Right now, that
is lacking, and I refuse to write one on the grounds that if I do it once it
will be forever, LOL.

I don't know if yours is in color, but if you can do it that way then you
can add photos, which really spruce it up. Ask people to forward pictures
they have taken at Society events, etc, and pix of orchids, naturally. If
it's not in color, it might be worth while to check with your printer and
find out how much it would cost. When I took this over, it was b&w. I made a
copy in color, included lots of pictures, took it to a Board meeting and
just laid it on the conference table. That did it. No more b&w. Sneaky, but
effective!

I think you'll find more people here who can guide you. Lots of Eds here.
HTH

Diana

Beverly,

Putting out a newsletter once or twice that's only 2 pages long with no real
content usually teaches people to get their stuff to you on time. You're
absolutely right to be firm and not be the content creator on top of the
editor.

That being said, try to enlist someone to take shots of as many show and
tell plants as possible each month - it's an easy way to fill space in the
newsletter and it's always fun for folks to see their plants "in print" the
next month.

Putting the full or summarized minutes of the last OS Board Meeting is nice.
It reminds people that there is a lot of work taking place behind the
scenes. Some OS bylaws require the minutes to be published for the
membership.

If you have an AOS judging region nearby, try getting digital photos of
recently awarded plants and list the awards along with the photos.

My favorite newsletter is Atlanta - and the editor himself is a regular
here, Danny Lentz. I bet he'll send you a sample copy to get ideas.

Good luck!

-Eric in SF
www.orchidphotos.org

"Beverly" wrote in message
. ..
Thanks Diana,

We do our web version of the newsletter in color, but the mailed version
is in B&W. We have been trying to ween as many members as possible off the
paper mailed version and use the on-line version (color on-line is the
incentive.)

You need to figure out which people are reliable, and focus on getting stuff
from them. Having to hassle someone about a small column every month isn't
worth the stress, it may be easier to find a replacement or do it yourself.
If people consistently can't meet a deadline then just drop that item from
the newsletter (unless it's something like meeting minutes that are required
by your bylaws). Pictures do help fill a lot of space, especially of local
plants. Do you put a picture of the species along with Charles Baker's
culture sheets? That is a great resource to have.

You can see my newsletters at
http://www.atlantaorchidsociety.org/newsletters.html. They tend to be
fairly long just from the columns that go into it every month, but I've been
really slack this year about finding/writing articles. I did much better in
that department early on. After nearly three years my focus on the job has
slipped a little bit lately.

-danny

"Beverly" wrote in message
. ..

I'm just beginning to panic since this is the first month I'm responsible
for the newsletter and of the 6-7 people that are supposed to submit
things to me for publication, only 2 have provided anything and that is
after reminder e-mails and phone calls. I've got to get it to the printer
by Tuesday and I'm apprehensive about beginning to write too much myself,
or I'm sure I'll end up doing it every month and I'm really not up for
that.

Thanks again.
Beverly

p.s. Does anyone else that's looked at our newsletters on the web have any
trouble? I think I just have some weird problem between Acrobat and Firefox
on my computer, but it's strange that it mostly happens retrieving the
newsletters from the AtlOS web site (Acrobat locks up and takes Firefox with
it).
-danny

Thanks Eric,

Photos of the show and tell plants is a great idea. It might also help
encourage folks to participate in that part of the meetings. Now all I
need to do is find someone that has a decent camera, a bit of
photography skill and a willingness to help.

There are apparently some issues in the society I wasn't aware of when I
took over the position making board minutes unavailable at this time.
However one of the reasons I decided to get involved was to try to help
rectify some things that don't seem to be working very well.

I Goggled Atlanta Orchid Society and found they have their newsletters
available on their web site. Just a quick perusal of a couple of issues
and I concur it is very well done. Danny if you are out there reading
this, you are doing a great job.

Thanks again!


Eric Hunt wrote:
Beverly,

Putting out a newsletter once or twice that's only 2 pages long with no real
content usually teaches people to get their stuff to you on time. You're
absolutely right to be firm and not be the content creator on top of the
editor.

That being said, try to enlist someone to take shots of as many show and
tell plants as possible each month - it's an easy way to fill space in the
newsletter and it's always fun for folks to see their plants "in print" the
next month.

Putting the full or summarized minutes of the last OS Board Meeting is nice.
It reminds people that there is a lot of work taking place behind the
scenes. Some OS bylaws require the minutes to be published for the
membership.

If you have an AOS judging region nearby, try getting digital photos of
recently awarded plants and list the awards along with the photos.

My favorite newsletter is Atlanta - and the editor himself is a regular
here, Danny Lentz. I bet he'll send you a sample copy to get ideas.

Good luck!

-Eric in SF
www.orchidphotos.org

Hi Danny,

Thanks for your input. I've looked at several of your newsletters at the
Atlanta Orchid Society site and although I use Firefox had absolutely
no problems. In fact I was quite pleasantly surprised at how fast the
newsletters opened since they had a lot of pictures etc. I'm using the
most recent versions of both Firefox and Adobe Reader. You might want to
try uninstalling and reinstalling Adobe. If that doesn't fix things,
uninstall both Adobe and Firefox. Reinstall Firefox and then Adobe. If
you are using a lot of Firefox extensions one of them might also be
causing some kind of conflict. OK I'll take my computer geek hat off now
and get back to orchids.

Thanks again Danny.

Beverly (aka The Computer Lady)

danny wrote:
p.s. Does anyone else that's looked at our newsletters on the web have any
trouble? I think I just have some weird problem between Acrobat and Firefox
on my computer, but it's strange that it mostly happens retrieving the
newsletters from the AtlOS web site (Acrobat locks up and takes Firefox with
it).
-danny

I publish "notes" from the board meetings in the newsletter, not the actual
minutes. Even putting in the notes isn't required in any way. The notes
usually cover almost everything in the minutes, but not everything discussed
in the board meetings needs to be published in a public forum. The quality
of minutes can also vary greatly depending on the current secretary. The
official minutes from our monthly meetings have to be published in the
newsletter, but apparently there is no such rule for our board meetings.
Not sure how other societies handle it.

Every society has issues.

-danny

"Beverly" wrote in message
There are apparently some issues in the society I wasn't aware of when I
took over the position making board minutes unavailable at this time.
However one of the reasons I decided to get involved was to try to help
rectify some things that don't seem to be working very well.

No problems here, Danny. What version of Acrobat do you have?

--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Artwork, Books and Lots of Free Info!


"danny" wrote in message
.. .
p.s. Does anyone else that's looked at our newsletters on the web have
any trouble? I think I just have some weird problem between Acrobat and
Firefox on my computer, but it's strange that it mostly happens retrieving
the newsletters from the AtlOS web site (Acrobat locks up and takes
Firefox with it).
-danny

Acrobat 6 Standard (6.04). I think that's my problem, most people just have
Acrobat Reader. Maybe some day I'll try the uninstall/reinstall of the two
programs in the order Beverly recommended.
-danny

"Ray" wrote in message
news:BgOTg.9227$3T2.1470@trnddc06...
No problems here, Danny. What version of Acrobat do you have?
--
Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Artwork, Books and Lots of Free Info!

In addition to everything everyone else has said there used to be a website
for newsletter editors and webmasters. I think it was mostly supplanted by
the AOS Forum site Diana mentioned. It was run by Carol Holdren and you can
google her information at the AOS. She'd be helpful too. I run a website in
which we try to make our information available to societies as long as you
get permission from the author and say it came from OrchidSafari
http://www.geocities.com/brassia.geo/OSTA.html Most of our content these
days is provided by Marilyn Light, and she's always willing to allow
reprints, but you do have to ask her. The links are (usually) on the
articles.

K Barrett

"Beverly" wrote in message
. ..
I've just become the editor of the Oregon Orchid Society Newsletter
(Calypso) and am looking for ideas to liven it up a bit. I'm a computer
consultant so the software part isn't a problem, but the content could
really use some help.

Thanks for any ideas you might have.

Beverly

Additionally, didn't you guys just get a new judging center? I'm the
webmaster for the 2 centers here and I always send local editors updates of
plants awarded at the centers. If you can get the clerks at your centers to
provide the same service its always good for a few column inches.

K Barrett

"Beverly" wrote in message
. ..
I've just become the editor of the Oregon Orchid Society Newsletter
(Calypso) and am looking for ideas to liven it up a bit. I'm a computer
consultant so the software part isn't a problem, but the content could
really use some help.

Thanks for any ideas you might have.

Beverly

I'm using the same version...

--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Artwork, Books and Lots of Free Info!


"danny" wrote in message
. ..
Acrobat 6 Standard (6.04). I think that's my problem, most people just
have Acrobat Reader. Maybe some day I'll try the uninstall/reinstall of
the two programs in the order Beverly recommended.
-danny

"Ray" wrote in message
news:BgOTg.9227$3T2.1470@trnddc06...
No problems here, Danny. What version of Acrobat do you have?
--
Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Artwork, Books and Lots of Free Info!

Yes we did get a new judging center that is just starting this month. I
have a good friend that is a judge and I think I'll need to go to the
next judging and have him introduce me to anyone that might be able to
send me the information you suggested. Thanks for the idea.

I've visited your Orchid Safari archives in the past for my own
edification, but hadn't thought about it as a source of information for
the newsletter. I would definitely seek approval and give credits.

Thanks again.

Beverly



K Barrett wrote:
Additionally, didn't you guys just get a new judging center? I'm the
webmaster for the 2 centers here and I always send local editors updates of
plants awarded at the centers. If you can get the clerks at your centers to
provide the same service its always good for a few column inches.

K Barrett