Magazine

[dasadrew]

imported post

In all fairness and after much reflection, the situation regarding the Magazine is getting a naturally one-sided critique here.

The whole poulation of Members probably falls into 3 groups:

a) just read the Mag and like it. Don't use the Interweb
b) just use the Forum and the Mag is useless to me
c) Use the Forum, but like the Mag to take along to the Dentist's waiting room or whatever

It is then obvious that only b) and c) are present here and only group b) is going to voice an opinion.

10 years ago there would only have been the Mag
10 years from now there will probably only be the Web & Forum

We are in the middle and need to find, in my opinion, a way to serve all 3 groups.

This means to me that we need to be looking at:

1) a scaling down of the Magazine (be it numbers of issues, distribution, pages, colour, format etc.,) to get hte costs back into proportion and budget

2) a scaling up of the Forum to take on some of the Magazine's functions

How do we get there? Well, an idea would be to start publicising the Forum much more in the Magazine itself. A Forum is a good way to deal with "temporal" information such as events as these can be updated in real time and even modified if weather changes or whatever. How about a proper Forum section on "Events of the Regions" (a sticky per Region in a new Events section of the Forum for example) and continued remarks in the mag that these things are now to be found on the Forum. Perhaps this would encourage the Mag readers to log in and take away the stigma of not having the Mag for these things.

Perhaps once people are not waiting with baited breath for the Mag to see what's on and what was on, then the content could go in the direction of Running Reports, Photo Galleries, Technical Articles, long-term Events like National Day whatever. Maybe even exotic things like a parts catalogue in pull-out sections per issue to collect!

If we then have photos of the events almost in real time and colour, and people start looking to the Web for these things, then we could have more manoeuvering room for the Mag content, format and frequency instead of being a slave to the Area Newsletter function.

[PaulT]

imported post

The issue is the same issue facing the National press at the moment. The tension of online and offline media.

We could

a) Pretend that the Interweb is merely a passing fad, and continue to invest £80,000 in the magazine

b) Get really worried that this evil forum will one day dominate the planet

or

c) Have a well thought out strategy in terms of the channels and most appropriate media for each

It's not rocket science. Having not seen any of the minutes or seen any discussion from the SOC either on the website or forum, I have no idea whether this is being discussed.

PaulT

[NickA]

imported post

dasadrew wrote:

<snip>c) Use the Forum, but like the Mag to take along to the Dentist's waiting room or whatever<snip>.

I can't believe what I’ve just read;reading a document like the SOC magazine in a unsecured environment where someone who's not a member may get access. What if you left it behind and a non member, God forbid, actually benefited from the secrets within andfixed their Stag for free?

Personally I think the magazine should be issued to Area Co-ordinators only, along with the AGM minutes, so the club can properly control access to this vital resource.

[StagnJag]

imported post

dasadrew wrote:

In all fairness and after much reflection, the situation regarding the Magazine is getting a naturally one-sided critique here.

The whole poulation of Members probably falls into 3 groups:

a) just read the Mag and like it. Don't use the Interweb
b) just use the Forum and the Mag is useless to me
c) Use the Forum, but like the Mag to take along to the Dentist's waiting room or whatever

It is then obvious that only b) and c) are present here and only group b) is going to voice an opinion.

10 years ago there would only have been the Mag
10 years from now there will probably only be the Web & Forum

We are in the middle and need to find, in my opinion, a way to serve all 3 groups.

This means to me that we need to be looking at:

1) a scaling down of the Magazine (be it numbers of issues, distribution, pages, colour, format etc.,) to get hte costs back into proportion and budget

2) a scaling up of the Forum to take on some of the Magazine's functions

How do we get there? Well, an idea would be to start publicising the Forum much more in the Magazine itself. A Forum is a good way to deal with "temporal" information such as events as these can be updated in real time and even modified if weather changes or whatever. How about a proper Forum section on "Events of the Regions" (a sticky per Region in a new Events section of the Forum for example) and continued remarks in the mag that these things are now to be found on the Forum. Perhaps this would encourage the Mag readers to log in and take away the stigma of not having the Mag for these things.

Perhaps once people are not waiting with baited breath for the Mag to see what's on and what was on, then the content could go in the direction of Running Reports, Photo Galleries, Technical Articles, long-term Events like National Day whatever. Maybe even exotic things like a parts catalogue in pull-out sections per issue to collect!

If we then have photos of the events almost in real time and colour, and people start looking to the Web for these things, then we could have more manoeuvering room for the Mag content, format and frequency instead of being a slave to the Area Newsletter function.

I don't think that the magazine costs are out of proportion, sure £80k is a big No. but break it down and it looks much better. 80,000 over, say 4500 members works out to be £17.70. Divide that by the No of issues per year - 11 and you get roughly £1.62 per issue. Including (I presume) the postage costs so I think that is pretty reasonable given the quality of the paper and print.

I am doing my best to encourage the magazine readers to take a look at the forum. I don't have the scope to write long articles in the way that Graham used to, but in my intro I try and add something to encourage people to have a look. I don't know if it has worked, I don't have access to the administrative logs of the Forum. (Graham ).

Running reports could be interesting, but I am not sure how long running reports on a car that we (mostly) all own and run ourselves. Maybe a running report of an overseas member and the additional issues they have such as parts availability and lack of access to Stag specialists.

The forum is getting a pretty good amount of coverage at the moment. The June mag has 5 1/2 pages how many do you think is enough? Get too much in there and people will be moaning that there is too much and not enough room for area reports :P

Rgds

Dave

[dasadrew]

imported post

StagnJag wrote:

I don't think that the magazine costs are out of proportion, sure £80k is a big No. but break it down and it looks much better. 80,000 over, say 4500 members works out to be £17.70. Divide that by the No of issues per year - 11 and you get roughly £1.62 per issue. Including (I presume) the postage costs so I think that is pretty reasonable given the quality of the paper and print.

I am doing my best to encourage the magazine readers to take a look at the forum. I don't have the scope to write long articles in the way that Graham used to, but in my intro I try and add something to encourage people to have a look. I don't know if it has worked, I don't have access to the administrative logs of the Forum. (Graham ).

Running reports could be interesting, but I am not sure how long running reports on a car that we (mostly) all own and run ourselves. Maybe a running report of an overseas member and the additional issues they have such as parts availability and lack of access to Stag specialists.

The forum is getting a pretty good amount of coverage at the moment. The June mag has 5 1/2 pages how many do you think is enough? Get too much in there and people will be moaning that there is too much and not enough room for area reports :P

Rgds

Dave

I agree with you that the magazine itself is pretty good value for the format and quality and number of pages etc. With "Out of Proportion" I refer to the amount of the subscription fee that goes to the Magazine - which is over 60% I think. It is by far the most overwhelming cost within the SOC and apparently runnning up a loss even as we speak.

With mentioning the Forum, I didn't mean reprinting it on glossy paper. I mean more in terms of, for example, an event report followed by a very prominent advert "More Photos on the Forum / Website under .....".

To reprint excerpts from the Forum is absolutely counter-productive to advancing the club. It encourages the Magaziine to linger on because it suggests that everything worth knowing on the Forum is printed in the Mag anyway. What I'm suggesting is the entire opposite!

What of course I am asking for is for someone to play the Gorbachev of the magazine. To take it on and move into a new phase. At least in the transition, which I really do believe is necessary, from paper to bytes, the Magazine should not be the Maginot Line of defence of the old world otherwise it will just get by-passed.

The Magazine is actually "typed" on a PC isn't it? I would even venture to suggest that the printsetting is done electronically and that an electronic copy of the Mag can be available without any further effort. What do you think the reaction would be if it were put to the membership that the subscription is £25 for members opting for the electronic mag from which £5 goes to a fully functional Website and Forum with lots of goodies and Forum Membership alone is £5 per year? (Don't nail me on the figures, it's the concept I'm trying to get across!). Get a single "rotating" Web Banner which swaps a decent link and advert for each of the Stag suppliers and get a few quid off of them for it and we're rolling!

Drew

[dasadrew]

imported post

NickA wrote:

I can't believe what I’ve just read;reading a document like the SOC magazine in a unsecured environment

My dentist has a TEMPEST certified waiting room!

[grahamb]

imported post

Dasadrew

I cant disagree with much that you say so I look forward to you getting some of these ideas adopted., I put a reminder in my calendar to check with the Chairmanthat you have signed-up on the committee.

I like the new Avatar as well