April Blue Beret

[wheel interested]

Traditionally I do not receive my Blue Beret until well into the third week of the month. If anyone has anything to highlight from the April Blue Beret will you please scan or quote the entire article? It's a frustration to me that I am not able to keep current with WBCCI BB news and am always playing catch up with bits and pieces I hear.

Does any unit or member scan and make the BB available online?

I have already heard of news so if you would like to quote something or have any comments about what you have read in the April BB please post them. Thank you. I am sure others would be equally interested in this.

[streamer23]

I would also be very interested.I don't expect to receive my BB until the end of the month.It's usually 'old news' by then.

[Buttercup]

Same here - by the time I get it I have already read the highlights here on the forums. king of makes an online version a dream. What a savings on postage and ontime delivery.

[dwightdi]

I got mine today. It is full of interesting stuff. I have been getting mine real late for the last few months but April is ok. Don pushs for the Motorhome proposal on the inside front cover. There is the usual Resume's of all the candidates. Jim Elmlinger has 2 1/2 pages devoted to passing the proposal or the club will implode. There are 3 pages of new members addresses. 2 pages of responses to the question "What we should keep in the club and why it is great. Four (4) out of the 5 responses tell them to keep it an "Airstream only club" The other letter does not address the issue. My reply got the last columne and a half. Lieppers had a 2 pages to explain their 4 generation history in the club. Eight pages are dedicated to what will happen at Perry. The rest of the mag. is devoted to the usual national Caravans, region and special event rallies, and Region reports. It would be good for HQ to scan in the mag feature articles into their website so everybody could look at them in a timely manner. The articles could also be a good adverising tool to interest prospective members to join the club.

[streamer23]

Thanks for the timely update.

[wheel interested]

It certainly sounds like something I would want to grab and read this month. Not that I had any doubts I would be interested in this issue. Still hoping for the text. Only now I am hoping even ever so much harder with the great outline from Dwight! So I hope someone can get the articles up or I will be teased senseless for 3 weeks.

[WALLY 54]

Originally Posted by dwightdi

It would be good for HQ to scan in the mag feature articles into their website so everybody could look at them in a timely manner. The articles could also be a good adverising tool to interest prospective members to join the club.

Scan 'em?

The magazine should be layed out in a program like Quark or InDesign which makes them a quick and easy conversion to a pdf download or a jpeg to Web for viewing. Scanning is old school.

And, YES, the articles would be great for new/prospective members. Having them up on the website would make them an easy find through search engines. [more marketing!]


k

[SilverRanger]

Originally Posted by WALLY 54

And, YES, the articles would be great for new/prospective members. Having them up on the website would make them an easy find through search engines. [more marketing!]

Hold on there! This radical concept could nudge the club closer to the 21st century, save money, and possibly lead to increased membership. Seriously, both units that I'm affiliated with put their newsletters online (complete with color pictures, logos, etc.), and many magazines and and newspapers are starting to offer on-line versions of their publications. Granted, not everyone has access to high speed internet, but I believe enough do to justify the option of an electronic version.

[rideair]

All,

Don't mean to hi-jack, but currently we (WDCU) put our newsletter on our website, via .pdf format. Is there a better, faster, smaller, format than .pdf that a unit can use on their website? If so, what? cost? etc... I now return you to your regularly scheduled programing.

[wheel interested]

Kind of like going from 12 volt to the transformer to the inverter to to the 12 volt? But first gathering everyone together to decide who best could go to the store and get it, then who would plug it in, and perhaps a study first.

Yeah but I am asking for it before the end of April. Scanning may be old school but I could have it in within minutes if someone would do it. Now getting headquarters to do something like that, not even having to take those scanning minutes and upload it would take a year IF they wanted to. Goodness knows they could have been doing that ages ago. Maybe someone will shoot a picture of it?

The magazine should be layed out in a program like Quark or InDesign which makes them a quick and easy conversion to a pdf download or a jpeg to Web for viewing. Scanning is old school.

And, YES, the articles would be great for new/prospective members. Having them up on the website would make them an easy find through search engines. [more marketing!]


k

[HowieE]

If the International Office installed a server they could set the mag. up on the web to look just like the printed page that is currently mailed. They would almost have to go that route rather than a pdf. file to insure the advertising was displayed. That's where the money comes from. Now as for the cost of the server the reduction in mailing would more than offset it. Members should have the option to receive the BB in hard copy or by e mail. Remember we have to make it easy for all those Four Winds Full Times to get it while on the road.

The best way to make this happen is for a knowledgeable member to go to Jackson Center and set it up. Once in place the current staff could easily publish on the net since almost 50% of the contents is boilerplate.

Has anyone approached the staff to see if they would consider this.

[JStanley]

Three of the organization I belong to, offer reduced membership dues for those who choose to receive their monthly newsletters via the Email. After all, the original copy is created and edited on a computer. Many of our very senior members still get the paper hard copy in the mail. No disrespect intended, but at the meetings I detect that if they read the pass issue, they forgot all the details. Maybe a concise or abridged version would be a good idea.

I copy, save and file what I want, and delete the rest. Faster, cheaper, better.
But lets face reality- -what are the chances of getting IBT approval?

[rickandsandi]

Greetings- To bring this thread back to its original subject; I am shocked and dismayed that someone who has been a member of WBCCI for 44 years and has spent 1000 of hours volunteering and rising through the ranks of the organization has publicly announced in the April 2007 issue of the Blue Beret that the club has failed its members, and I quote: "The club knew about Wally, respected him for he was an icon. ..... The new generations don't know about the effect of Wally. His hugh impact on the Club remains only in the memories of the older generations." I am sorry to hear our own president of the Wally Byrum Caravan Club International (Mr. Don Shafer) say that in his opinion, we as newer members apparently have forgotten Wally and only the older members of the WBCCI have any memories of Wally. The Club has then failed and so Don Shafer puts it in writing. No, the IBT has failed to keep Wallys memories alive if that is the way they feel. I along with 100's if not 1000's of WBCCI members have read all that Wally has written, searched for what was writen about him and everything and anything I can find. I wanted since I was a young boy to own an Airstream and be part of that wanderlust. I now own an Airstream and thought I belonged to the WBCCI to carry on the legend of Wally, not destroy it! I have not forgotten Wally! Mr. Shafer also turns the tables on the membership ... "In order to better understand the two views, suppose that 'Airstream Company decided to curtail trailer production' and built only motohomes. If the situation was reversed, how would you feel and what would be your comments?" Well, first I don't believe in dealing with what if's. We should stay focused on the issue and facts and not what if's. Airstream Company did not decide to curtail the production of travel trailers so why even discuss it? But OK Don, what if they did? It would then be up to me to continue owning a product built by Airstream. I could do that in several ways. I could continue owning my present Airstream and keep it in good repair; I could purchase an older Airstream and restore it (what a novel idea); I could purchase one of Airstreams new products; or I could decide it was time to retire from the Club. Don, it is very simple and there are hundreds of clubs around the glode which require ownership of a certain product in order to remain or stay in the club. When we sold our MG Roadster do you really think I had any grounds for remaining in the club because I no longer wanted to keep up with repairs? No.To continue, if you are so worried about loss of members if non-Airstream products are not allowed in, perhaps the IBT should look at the numbers of lost members before this issue was even on the slate! How many members have we lost over the past three years and why? Why have our new member numbers been declining over the years while the sale of new Airstreams has increased every year? Forget the motorhome issue, we are already lossing members and I will bey you $1 that if this motion to allow non-Airstream products into the Club will cause 3 members to leave for each member you retain. I appologize for the long, long post, but I am still shaken by what I have just read in our Club magazine by the President of our Airstream Club!

[Buttercup]

I have not read the article because of course I did not even get it and will not for a few more weeks. But I can say this. Based on what I have read so far Don is pushing an item that has been in the works for years, it didn't just now crop up. The IBT has had this in it's sights for a long time and it is NOT a response to Airstream getting out of the Class "A" business. Don is attempting to sell Wally in a shiny new Fourwinds MOHO.
I am sure Wally is rolling in his grave at the efforts of "leadership" to end the club.
Wally was a salesman - but he was an Airstream salesman and everything he did was to sell more Airstreams. Don is selling Fourwinds Class "A"s and nothing more.
I hope he realizes that he is leading the most divisive action in the club and history has proved time and time again that this will not lead to a bigger, better club, but to the end of the club.

[Mike Lewis]

Perhaps better than an online edition Of the Blue Ber. Would be a monthly edition printed buy "Thetford" on "Aqua Soft". I would love to roll off some of Dons editorials after reading them.----pieman

[WALLY 54]

k