Exec reports - VOCene Editor

Introduction

The VOCene Editor:

• Compiles "what's happening" information and trip reports.
• Very reliable, collects any club gossip for publication.
• Prepares the email version of the VOCENE, following the exec meeting.
• A good position for somebody who is computer literate (*note* "computer literate" is a subjective term - as long as you can send an email, then you're fine), available to collect articles each week, and who can coerce people into telling us what they're planning or what they just did.
• Also a good position for anyone who likes having a captive audience, feels lonely and needs someone to talk to, wants to feel important, has serious plans for world domination (umm....wait...scratch that last one).

Current Exec Report

2010 - 2011

VOCene Editor: Gili Rosenberg

Timing

The question of when to send out the VOCene comes up periodically. Generally it should come out mid week, on Tuesday or at the very latest on Wednesday morning, every week during the school year. During the summer, if not much is happening, then a biweekly schedule can be adopted. However, the club has been growing very rapidly, and so has the number of trips - it might now be necessary to send it out weekly during the summer too.

There are several issues that should be taken into account when considering when to send it out:

• Exec meetings

Historically, the VOCene was presented at the weekly exec meeting and sent out by email afterward. Indeed, some say the VOCene should go out after the exec meeting, in case issues/additions/corrections arise. However, the day and time of exec meetings changes every term/year, so this isn't a reliable way of deciding when to send it out. Also, if the exec meeting is too early/late in the week, this isn't practical (due to the other issues below).

• Slideshows/socials

During the academic year the VOC often has slideshows or other social events on Wednesdays, and in summer the monthly BBQ's and weekly ultimate frisbee are on Wed. Therefore, it would be preferable for the VOCene to come out on Tuesday or at the very latest on Wednesday morning early.

• Trips/pretrips

If the VOCene comes out too late in the week, it doesn't give enough time for people to find out about last minute trips, or decide last minute to go on trips they didn't know about. In addition, for most weekend trips the pretrip is on Wed evening.

• Addition of trips

Trips are often advertised midweek, both for the coming weekend and the one after. There are probably several factors contributing to this trend, such as: recovering from that previous weekend rules Monday out, preparing for the next weekend rules out Friday, and also midweek one has a better idea of the weather/conditions for the coming weekend. For this reason, sending out the VOCene too early (say Monday) would be too early.

Compiling the VOCene

The numbering of the VOCene resets to '1' every year after the Banquet or soon after. The VOCene itself is compiled by starting with the VOCene from the past week (since many things will be the same), then going through the trip agenda tool and the message board (make sure to check both forums) to find out what trips and events are happening. It might be best to first make a list of the events for the "contents" section of the VOCene, make sure that nothing is missing, the order and numbering is correct, and only then fill in the blanks by adding some info on each trip. Feel free to include trips for at least the two coming weekends, possibly three, depending on how full the VOCene is.

These are then listed in the VOCene along with a short description either written by the VOCene editor or shamelessly copied from the trip's wiki page. It is best to keep this very short - one or two sentences. If people want to find out more about trips, they can do this by following the links to the trip agenda tool/wiki/message board, so it isn't necessary to include full information about a trip - just make it sound interesting and attractive. Staying on top of what's being discussed on the message board is key - sometimes a trip's advertised title no longer describes correctly the objective or timing. Remember to add links to the trip tool page and message board posting (and possibly wiki) for each trip.

Sometimes it is appropriate to include a "Special Announcement", if an event or issue is worthy of additional advertising. Examples are the journal deadlines, the banquet, winter social, etc.

The formatting of the VOCene is not set in stone so feel free to put your own spin on things. It is very helpful to use Rich Text Formatting (bold/italic/underline) to make things stand out. Aside from the events and trips, here are some additional ideas, some which have been incorporated in the past:

• Ms. Manners

Ms. Manners was introduced by Roland Burton in 2008 and makes for a welcome addition to the VOCene. Questions are either submitted to the editor or they can be made up as desired/needed and can be either serious or funny, although funny seems to be more popular with the crowds. Especially if it incorporates something that really happened in the VOC in the past week or two. It was commented that it would be best if the answers would not focus too much on the negative side of things - people don't like to be told what not to do (but do as you feel right).

• Past trips

Here you can include a sentence about each trip from the last week and a link to the message board where a TR was hopefully posted. This allows people who don't scan the message board frequently to see what's been happening.

• From the exec's desk

It has been pointed out that our membership has no idea what the exec does. This section is meant to give insight to a few things that the exec has been discussion / has been busy with lately. It isn't meant to be comprehensive, and use your judgment - some things are "off the record" or just not appropriate/worthy for wide publication.

• Editor's message

In some past years the editor has included an editor's message, that can be on anything, but is typically at least related to the outdoors see example.

• Quote of the week

How about a quote each week? Should probably be at least loosely related to the outdoors, see example.

• HTML

Should we have the VOCene formatted in HTML? It would look "nicer" but perhaps the minimalist format that we have had so far is good enough?

• Photo of the week

How about including a chosen photo from the last week's trips? If so, it should probably be: small, have a caption and be linked to the TR for that trip.

Sending It Out

The VOCene, once compiled, needs to be uploaded to the website. This is done by clicking on the Admin link on the website and then on 'Upload a VOCene or Meeting Minutes'. The draft VOCene can then be copy and pasted into the text window that comes up. After clicking submit, a preview will be shown which provides an opportune time to proof read the whole thing. If everything is good, then confirm the submission otherwise hit the back button to make changes. Once uploaded to the website, the VOCene can be sent out to the mailing lists. There are separate mailing lists for members (voc-members) and alumni (voc-alumni) both 'at' interchange.ubc.ca, so make sure to send it out to both. Sending out the VOCene will result in a dozen or so bounced email messages which can be eliminated by either updating the mailing list or adding appropriate filters to your inbox (less work).

Past Exec Reports

It is my understanding that we now no longer file exec reports by years - just update the above when it is your turn to pass on the throne.

Exec report - VOCene Editor 2008 - 2009
Exec report - VOCene Editor 2007 - 2008
Exec report - VOCene Editor 2006 - 2007