Delegating Work

As the newsletter editor for our chapter, and someone who generally tries to stay busy with chapter activities, I often times find myself overworked and on the verge of being burned out. While I enjoy being involved, there are certain times of the year that are really demanding, not only because of the needs of the chapter, but because of the needs at home and at work. I've found myself on a couple of occasions grinding out a newsletter on the day that it needs to be at the printer... not the way I prefer to do things.

Anyhow, I think we may look at forming some committees within our chapter... something we have kicked around in the past, but never really organized or implemented. Hopefully that will spread the load out a bit and offer others an opportunity to have a stake in what we are doing. A sense of ownership is always a good motivator, and makes those involved want to do a better job.

One of the things I hope to introduce to help ME out is to ask for volunteer contributors for the newsletter. As a relatively new member, and one of the youngest, I don't have the background in aviation that some of our members do. I know there have to be good stories and such out there, but I certainly don't have many to tell. Not only would this help me to fill the pages each month, but it will hopefully keep our newsletter fresh and interesting by offering writings from different perspectives rather than just my own. My hope is that I can get 10 volunteers to offer a 1-2 page article one time this year. In other words, each will be assigned a month (Feb - Nov) and they will each be responsible for contributing an article on their month. I don't care if they tell us about a previous project, a lesson they learned, a trip to an aviation museum, or whatever... it just needs to be relevant to our purpose.

In addition to newsletter contributions, another area we could use some help is with our pancake breakfast. It always seems to be the same people being tasked with flipping cakes, sausage, etc. in order to feed the masses. While most of them do not mind, often times they want a break or simply cannot make it to every breakfast, but it is difficult to find replacements because no one is familiar with the equipment or they are just intimidated at the thought. Well, I think maybe we'll simplify that process too by assigning double duty... as in, if it is your month to write an article, it is your month to flip pancakes too. I think this would be great for relations as well! I've heard several of our members comment that they don't know several of their fellow members... well, get that spatula in your hand and you'll get to say good morning to all of them that come to eat! They'll be putting faces with names in no time! On top of that, since our newsletter reaches everyone a few days before the pancake breakfast, it would give folks a chance to say, "Hey Jim, enjoyed your article on [fill in the blank]" as they pass through.

I don't know, does this sound corny? I don't really think it does, but I guess we'll have to wait and see how well it is received at the meeting next month. I plan to hand out cards to those that volunteer (see below), plus I'll jot down their information so that I can send them a reminder a few weeks in advance of their article being due.

Comments?

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Having been an EAA/IAC chapter president for 5 1/2 years, my observation is that attempting to do everything is a death sentence for your enthusiasm and energy. So you have to grit your teeth and insist that a list of jobs gets done by volunteers who are not you. And if no one volunteers, you have to leave those jobs not done. If the members are unhappy with the result, then you ask someone to step up. A sort of tough love. And learning to recruit, encourage, and set limits on your own contribution are skills that you will use throughout life. In the case of your chapter newsletter, the members get what they are willing to put in the effort for. In the case of a newsletter, I suggest that you do the basics and ask other members to contribute, as you have. Publish what you get and don't stretch to fill in the blanks yourself. If members would like more. then soon the members will contribute, or not. You can not make folks what they are not.

So don't forget to have fun yourself. A chapter has to be a cooperative enterprise. Don's sabotage yourself by trying to do it all.

Best of luck,

Wes
EAA/IAC Chapter 35 Present Emeritus

Hi, Mark;

I understand completely what you're saying.

I've been our Chapter's newsletter editor for (?) 4 years or so. I've always asked for contributions. The issues I've found are that:

a) folks send copyrighted stuff (thanks, but.....) or
b) no one contributes.

I'll be the first to admit that I've got one guy in the chapter who tries very hard to get me original works that he's done over the years, and for that I'm thankful.

Additionally, not to toot my own horn, but I write several items a year if appropriate. I go to AirVenture every year, so I'll include a few pages of pictures and also relate any good things I've learned from Trevor and Brenda (and loads of others). I also had the first flight of my Sonex this year, so I've done some presentations and written stories about that adventure.

One of the main issues is that the guys with the time on their hands are on the more mature end of our chapter demographic. They might *do* email, but they're not going to sit at a keyboard and two-finger-peck out a page or two of content. Some are getting to the point where it's hard for them to even use a pen and paper for a longer period of time. Or they might be concerned about their writing style. Not tossing rocks - it's a phase of life. It's been noted that if one were to take a tape recorder (! - OK; some kind of voice recorder) and TALK to the members, great stories will come out. Of course, then it must be transcribed, etc., which may not be do-able within your time constraints.

As Wes noted above, if you don't get material, you can't be expected to fill in the blanks. When Fred Stadler was a member of our Chapter, he came up to me at my first Thanksgiving party as editor and said to me, and I'm paraphrasing, "It's not that you have a newsletter bursting with articles. It's that you get a newsletter into the member's hands every month..." The point was, the newsletter maintains awareness of the Chapter and encourages members to show up to the meetings. If the Chapter goes NORDO, why should the members bother showing up?

Thanks for your comments Wes and Carl... I feel exactly the same about some of the points you mention. I have been our newsletter editor for almost 3 years, and I really don't mind it most of the time. I enjoy writing and would prefer to do so whenever I have time... I much prefer original material over regurgitated material that can be read elsewhere, but occasionally a good piece comes along that makes the letter, with proper credit of course. I'd rather publish an interesting aviation story or EAA headline than leave pages blank... having said that, I did leave a full blank page in an issue last year with the comment, "This page intentionally left blank... for your article" right across the middle of the page. You know, kind of like you would see in a technical manual or something. I put this on page 2, right after the events section... not sure how much attention it got, but judging from my e-mail inbox it didn't generate more offerings.

Carl, your points A and B are pretty accurate. We do have a couple of people who will write something when asked, but I usually only tap them when I know they have been somewhere, i.e. a big fly in or somewhere that many of us were unable to attend. I do appreciate their offerings. As for the editor's original writings, I also contribute regularly to our letter... whether it is a piece about my own project, or our trips to Oshkosh, or the USAF museum, or the annual Pietenpol gathering in Brodhead, WI, or a tech tip, or... well, you get the idea. I enjoy writing when I have time and a worthy subject, but that isn't always the case. Having others contribute would (in my opinion) make it representative of our membership and our chapter. I often joke that I am not the newsletter editor, rather I am the newsletter author.

I understand about people *doing* e-mail. We have some that don't *do* anything with computers, which is okay. I actually did try the voice recorder approach back when I first started. My intent was to run a series of articles called "Who's Who in Chapter 10", which would have filled a page per month for quite a long time and also would have helped others become familiar with some of our more accomplished members. The problem occurred when I went to interview one of our long time members one evening and ended up visiting until after 11pm on a work night. My 90 minute DVR was full and I had a couple pages of notes to boot! But that was only the beginning of my effort for that month's installation... next I had to replay the 90 minute recording and summarize all my notes into a one page writing... yeah, this was going to take several hours each month... setting up interviews, reviewing notes, etc. While I thoroughly appreciated those that contributed, and enjoyed visiting with them, I called it quits on that project after only two months because I could tell that I wouldn't have the time to sustain the effort the way I would want to. My solution was to prepare a simple questionnaire that members could fill out and submit... simple, right? Kind of a who are you, when/where/what did you learn to fly, what or who were your inspirations, are you currently working on a project, what is you favorite airplane, where are you based, etc. There were enough basic questions that even short answers could have made for a decent writing. You know how many responses I received? Exactly zero.

I understand that it isn't necessary for our newsletter to be bursting with articles, but I also know that we have a very active chapter and that members stories might encourage and inspire others to do more... heck, it might even attract others to our organization! I know of several projects that are going on, whether they are restorations or new construction, but I don't know the details of the project. I've had several people ask me, "Is anyone doing anything in our chapter?" As in, do we just get together for coffee, or is anyone actually building, restoring, etc.? My answer is always, "Oh yeah, there are several things going on"... unfortunately the information isn't shared or even discussed much outside small circles.

Oh well, I'll welcome the new season with the same enthusiasm that I have in years past. Hopefully it will be a memorable and productive year for everyone!

One or two other thoughts:

I've frequently gone thru the Sport Aviation archives to do a "40 years ago..." recap. Since most of our members were there at the time, it does bring a smile to their face when they recall something that hapened at AirVenture, or when Paul P would come out with some very good opinions, etc. I have even searched on our Chapter (34) since there was more chapter content back then. This made it even more relevant to our long-time members.

Sometimes I include things I find in Experimenter or the EAA eHotline newsletter if I find it interesting (hey - *I'M* the editor - I include what *I* find interesting [just being a wiseacre]). I mostly do this because last year at one of our meetings, I asked for a show of hands for those members who read the weekly emails from National. You got it - about 2 out of the entire chapter.....

Like you, I frequently find myself *starting* the newsletter the evening I intend to send it to the printer. *sigh*

Both good ideas Carl... I need to do a better job at scrounging the archives and e-letters for entertaining/informative information.

We have a pretty weak newsletter - just one page about what happened last meeting and what's scheduled the next with maybe something going on around us - but I like it. Simple, easy to read in no time, and it keeps me up to date.

For presentations and stuff, we use the "you're up" method:

1. "You need to give a presentation on...."
2. "And you're up next month."

There is also the "beg" system, which I invoke:

1. "I have no clue how to do..."
2. "Next month I really need you to give a class on how to do it."

:)

We are creating a new ChapterGram e-letter that will now come out once a month (it was twice a month last year). After getting an excellent response on a survey we sent out to all chapters, we will have an area in the ChapterGram that will feature a selected article from a Chapter newsletter, with permission to be able to reprint in your newsletter, if you think it is a good enough article. Hopefully this will help with finding good content. The articles selected may simply be a great story that the chapter has to share, or it may be an article on a great idea that worked for that chapter, etc.

If you have not signed up for ChapterGram. It is free of charge and can be done so here: http://secure.eaa.org/newsletters/subscribe.html

Highly recommend subscribing. This will be one of the main venues of communication with our chapters.

Blue skies,