Club Newsletters Mike Raffety, CTM District 30 Spring Conference

Agenda Why Who Style and format Regular content Articles Photos Layout Editing Publishing Software Templates Customizing Hints and tips Make articles fit

Why have a newsletter? Communicate with: your club prospective members district leadership Source for district newsletter articles (Spotlight) and other media Remember history … Improve your communications skills!

Who does it? Organizing and editing: VP Public Relations Writing articles: Club officers All club members How often? Monthly?

Your first newsletter This is the hardest Need a consistent look Set up a template Style and format Masthead Table of contents Distinguished Club Status

Newsletter style and format Colors May print in B&W, but people will also read in or on web site Graphic elements (TM logo, etc.) Title May just be club name Boldface member names Make it easy for people to find!

Masthead *Club name, number and district *Volume and number, month and year *Meeting time and place *Name, address and phone for: Editor (VP PR) Publisher (President) Officer list * Required for club newsletter contest

Table of contents Draw the reader in Make it easy to find interesting news Use in summaries when ing newsletters

Distinguished club status List the 10 goals Show how close you are Keep this very visible to members Celebrate each accomplishment

Articles You don’t have to write them! Draft officers to write Ask members to write Reprint articles from other sources (The Toastmaster, Spotlight, etc.) Be sure to credit!

Article ideas New members New achievements CTM, ATM, DTM, CL, AL, etc. Meeting summaries Contests area, division, district District conferences and TLI Elections, anniversaries, demo meetings, speechcraft, club awards, mission statement, officer meetings, more!

Photos! Easy way to fill space People love pictures Digital camera or scanning Put a border on the photo Click right and “Borders” Ideas: Meeting photos Achievements (CTM, etc.) Visiting dignitaries Members at contests

Layout Mix it up, avoid a page of all text Add large-print quotes Include color where possible Steal graphics from the web Use clip art

Editing Proofread! Spelling (red squiggles) Grammar (green squiggles) Content and interest Send draft to club officers “Toastermasters”

Publication Printed copies at meetings Send in – Adobe PDF! Include Table of Contents in mail text Post on club web site

Following newsletters Make a copy of first newsletter and replace text and photos Can do it in just a couple of hours

Let’s make a newsletter!

Software to create MS Word Included with most home PCs (part of MS Works) Can buy MS Works Suite 2002 for under $80 on Amazon Or use a computer at work Could use MS Publisher ($100) or others

Software to distribute Not everyone has Word BIG files Adobe Acrobat PDF Everyone has it Small compact files Fast to load from the web Can buy Acrobat ($250) Or use free Adobe web service Five free conversions per address

Fire up Internet Explorer

Preview several different ones

For example: Dots

Begin editing in MS Word

Start customizing Title Date, volume, issue Officer list Distinguished club status

Save before adding articles Makes future newsletters much easier! Just open this “blank” newsletter

Inserting article text Copy and “paste special” unformatted text Avoid having to change fonts back

MS Word hints and tips All text is in a box Move and resize boxes Put a border around text Click right on edge, choose borders The “P” symbol More tips at:

How to make articles fit Judicious editing Change column width Add large-font quotes Add pictures Change spacing between: Lines Paragraphs Change font size

Summary Why Who What: Articles Photos How Publishing

Good luck! Feel free to me with questions Please send copy of newsletters to me