The Chuff Zone

[catchacab]

The articles in der Gasser should all be quality articles, be it from a member of the exec bored (spelling not an error based on some of the exec members articles in the first issue).  I commend Maureen for actually getting many of the exec bored members to submit an article to dG.  If you look at other regions newsletters, the ones that stand out are the ones that combine original literature be it fiction, non-fiction, DIYs, articles about recent club activities, future club activities, histories and documentation about member's cars and  restorations. 

dG should excite the membership about becoming active in our club, print the articles from the exec bored that will raise the flag pole (David can fly his American Flag)  We don't need the to print the same message and information three or four times in the same issue.  The better the content becomes, the more dG will be read, and the more desirable it will become for advertisers.  Maybe, dG could even be profitable.

Dedicate a front page of dG to this forum to get more members involved!  Advertise the forum prominently in dG.  Get the dG advertisers to advertise on the website!

[Darren]

Totally, why not have banner ads on the forums?  Why can't we sell that?

[Tony356993]

Can there be a site for the Exec's on the web under the Club Activities/ Exectuive News  instead of taking space in the paper?

Or have no paper at all, save the money, and put Der Gasser on the web site under it's own heading.

Dave - I agree.

 

In today's world the web & forum should be the main form of communicating with the membership. If Der Gasser is that much work AND it is costing the club money, why do it? Do we really think that a large amount of our membership is not using the net?


 

[AMoore]

I usually look forward to reading Der Gasser until I actually read the too few pages therein.  People will not read the advertising unless they have other reasons to read the publication.  I am not very familiar with our budget, but I believe, (and I may be wrong), that overall, we are substantially in the black, and we have a history of using DE revenue for the benefit of other programs.  I would suggest that we do the same for Der Gasser.  Our publication should be the type that we save as keepsakes, like we do other Porsche publications.  That which is published on the internet cannot last forever.  I would welcome an opportunity to read old issues of Der Gasser if it included more substance.  As it is, I spend five minutes reading it before tossing it in the circular file.

[Brian Minkin]

I do not have statistics for RTR but in the 2007 national PCA survey less then 25% of the members have ever visited the PCA web site.  If our forum membership is a guide we have over 1300 members in the region and only 300 who have joined the forum.  And some of those forum members are PCA members from other regions. 

So this tells us that we need to have a printed newsletter. Maureen is trying very hard to improve the content of Dergasser and I am confident that she is on track.  However we already subsidize the publication with membership funds so increasing the size is not an option.  We would need several more major advertisers to increase the page count but because of our limited distribution we have actually had several advertisers drop out.

Web advertising is available now on the web site but no takers yet. 

Everyones projection that DE is a source of income for the region is correct.  However the other events we hold, Membership Meetings, Auto Cross and Social Gatherings all use that income to produce these events. 

Bottom line is that if we are not diligent about watching our expenses the region will quickly end up with no money to operate, as it was about 15 years ago. If the exec funded each request or idea it is presented with we could spend the treasury in no time.  Increase the size of Dergasser and your printing and postage costs go up.  For arguments sake lets say we would spend an additional $6000 a year to increase the size of Dergassser.  Also for arguments sake lets say that the exec approved RTR holding 5 AX events this year.  We loose about $1400 per AX so there is another $7000.  Lets have a big summer party/picnic and lets say 150 members attended and it costs the region $25 per person for food and location rental. We just spent another $3750.  Go a little over budget for this and that and before you know it we have spent the treasury in 4 or 5 years and we won't even have the funds required to make track deposits to run the DE program. 

I have been on the Exec for a long time and being conservative with spending has always been a primary focus of the Exec.  It has managed to keep this region in a healthy financial position so we can have the many successful events our membership enjoys.

Membership on the exec is open to any club member who wants to run for an office. If you want to have impact on the regions activities run for office or take a volunteer position on the Exec and get involved in how the region operates.

Regarding an earlier question about the region having a club race, we were looking into it and during this short period of investigation Shatenbaum booked Thunderbolt and applied to PCA Club Racing for a date which was approved.  So we got beat to the finish line on this one.

 

[STEVEMCMORN]

catchacab wrote:

The articles in der Gasser should all be quality articles, be it from a member of the exec bored (spelling not an error based on some of the exec members articles in the first issue).

I'm sure you meant to add '.... with the exception of the award-winning, whole page, quite marvellous AX articles which usually include nice photos' but accidentally forgot

[dmano]

Not to throw any more CAM2 on the fire but, the other car club that I belong to, 2 years ago announced to the membership that their news letter would be available only on the web because of printing costs. Not everyone liked the idea but now all the members young and old use the web site. Might be an idea to run across the membership.

Take a vote,  ask the members to go on the website to vote to have the news letter on the web or to have it on paper in the next copy of Der Gasser

[Brian Minkin]

dmano wrote:

Not to throw any more CAM2 on the fire but, the other car club that I belong to, 2 years ago announced to the membership that their news letter would be available only on the web because of printing costs. Not everyone liked the idea but now all the members young and old use the web site. Might be an idea to run across the membership.

Take a vote, ask the members to go on the website to vote to have the news letter on the web or to have it on paper in the next copy of Der Gasser

Not a bad plan of attack David. Certainly worthy of discussion with the Exec. The other plus about the publication being on line is that it can be a full color publication.

However I also want to point out that only 50% of our regions membership have recorded email addresses in their membership record. So it appears that many in our membership do not live in the cyber world as we do.

[catchacab]

STEVEMCMORN wrote:

catchacab wrote:

The articles in der Gasser should all be quality articles, be it from a member of the exec bored (spelling not an error based on some of the exec members articles in the first issue).

I'm sure you meant to add '.... with the exception of the award-winning, whole page, quite marvellous AX articles which usually include nice photos' but accidentally forgot

Those are quality articles. Even with the funny accent

[catchacab]

An example of an Exec column

 

Spring has Sprung

 

I awoke this morning knowing the world around me has changed.  No longer did I wake up to my wife smacking me in the head saying, “wake up dummy, you better get your ass off to work!�?    This morning I awoke to the sound of birds chirping.   Since I was running late, I brought my breakfast;  a cup of coffee and a pack of cigarettes to my truck that was parked outside.  I noticed, that the birds that have so peacefully awakened me, left some deposits on my Ford pickup.  My ride to work takes only 10 minutes, I open my windows, not to expel the dark cloud of smoking 20 cigarettes in under ten minutes, nor due to the dark cloud of last night’s bean burrito dinner, but to enjoy the warm spring air.

I sit in my office figuring how to depreciate my client’s wife’s cosmetic surgery.  She is a stripper at a local club, but I and the IRS do not know how much she truly earned.  I do their tax returns for free, but I don’t pay for lap dances from her.  Wow, what a body!

I get home from a long day at the office and find my dog Sabre by my front door cleaning himself.    I am truly amazed how he can clean his entire body without sitting in a bath, his only instrument , his tongue.  I can’t stop thinking how much money I can save on my water bill, gas bill, and soap, by imitating him.  I try, but there are areas I can’t reach with my tongue.  I try and try, if I succeed, I probably would never leave the house again.  I open the windows, a warm spring breeze flows in.  My wife walks in, she looks great, she is wearing a long flowered skirt, and a light V-neck sweater.  She tells me what a great day she had, and that it is mating season.  Three minutes later, I am satisfied, but sad, three hundred and sixty five more days till mating season, at least I have the track to keep me occupied until November.

I go outside, it is 6 P.M., and I can still see the sun.   The boys are out back throwing around a base ball.  For too many months we have stuck inside.  We keep throwing the ball around until we can’t see it anymore.  We go into the garage and start up the Porsche; it turns over without any hesitation.  The boys jump in and we drive.  Just a month and a half till we will be at the track.  Our first Auto X is on May xx,xxxx, The 35[suP]th[/suP] Annual Concours will be held at Wax Off on July xx, XXXX.  We are planning on a social event at Sillies.  There is something for everyone.  If you haven’t been to a club event, I and the rest of the Exec Bored are inviting you.  All of us Exec Bored members are looking to meet members who we never met before.  Generally it is because we are losers, and no one likes us.  We need friends.  Will you be our friend?

 

-Ebored.