6e. Officer + Committee Reports - CFC Newsletter Committee

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Originally Posted by Michael von Keitz

Just a reminder that if anyone has an amendment in mind, feel free to put it forward as such.

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At the moment it is difficult to decide where to start as far as amendments are concerned. We have a proposed budget with changes to the way things are currently being done but there is not a full disclosure of what is being changed. Based on my reading of the report I would assume that the current cost structure is
$650 to editor
$850 to newsletter contributors with about $280 of this amount going to Edward Porper for his articles.

Is my reading of the report correct and does this correspond to the current situation?

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Originally Posted by Vladimir Drkulec

At the moment it is difficult to decide where to start as far as amendments are concerned. We have a proposed budget with changes to the way things are currently being done but there is not a full disclosure of what is being changed. Based on my reading of the report I would assume that the current cost structure is
$650 to editor
$850 to newsletter contributors with about $280 of this amount going to Edward Porper for his articles.

Is my reading of the report correct and does this correspond to the current situation?

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The status quo is:

$750 to editor
$750 to contributors with $250 of this amount going to Edward

I think the main work of the committee was

a) to decide if the amount of money spent on media was appropriate. We decided that we could support the current level.
b) to decide a rough framework for information distribution. We decided on the $1200 - $300 breakdown per month.

I think a simple motion would be to accept the general proposals, but specifically approve the budget of $1500 per month. Amendments could be made immediately on the amount per month and the committee would reword the budget available if a different amount was approved.

I share Chris Mallon's concern that we are spending virtually our entire discretionary budget on this one item. If given a choice, I would favour a monthly bulletin, but much shorter and less expensive than the current version with two objectives:
1. Report on Canadian events and Canadians in international events; and
2. Serve as a medium for the executive to communicate with its membership.
Some of the material in the bulletin such as rating lists and upcoming events is duplication of information easily accessible on the website.

I don't believe that our e-zine comes close to delivering value for the money. The quality of the photos is abysmal and the articles are hit and miss. Paul Leblanc's suggestion makes more sense. I would cap the budget at $800 per month.

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Originally Posted by Hal Bond

I don't believe that our e-zine comes close to delivering value for the money. The quality of the photos is abysmal and the articles are hit and miss. Paul Leblanc's suggestion makes more sense. I would cap the budget at $800 per month.

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Could you possibly specify which articles you consider a miss, Hal - and how you would divide the $800 between the editor and the contributors?
And just in case, do you mind to surmise, how many hours a month does it take, to produce an issue?

imho, the biggest miss was with a Polgar's interview.

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Originally Posted by Egidijus Zeromskis

imho, the biggest miss was with a Polgar's interview.

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Could you elaborate, why?

not original material, too long, not much Canadian. How much did you charge for that issue?

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Originally Posted by Egidijus Zeromskis

not original material, too long, not much Canadian. How much did you charge for that issue?

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She is one of the superelite players - and completely unique, at that. I thought that her life/chess outlook would be fascinating enough to justify the publication. The original publication was not at a popular English-speaking site, and it required a lot of formating. So I got all the necessary permissions, did the job and published. The article alone took me about as much time as the rest of the magazine - so I charged extra 35% or so. That said, I didn't have to pay anything - and any original article of that caliber would cost the budget at least that much.
Even if that was wrong, it was a misunderstanding - and a one timer.