So you want to be a bulletin editor

At age 19, I was drifting along from job to job, searching for some direction. I found it when I decided to join my dad one evening for some singing. Every time I tell this story, somebody chuckles when I state that I walked into that meeting a choir singer and walked out a Barbershopper. It's true. I sang lead and tenor. Before that meeting started, three other guys were busy teaching me the lead part to the tag "Behind." Once I heard those chords lock and ring, I was gone - hooked for life. Our group licensed about two months later, then chartered in September 1975.

At that time, our chapter meeting hall was my family's church. So, Dad and I would always come early to help set up for the meeting. A few weeks after Bill's death, I accidentally found our chapter Board "in session" before the regular chapter gathering. I sat quietly as they conducted their business. All of a sudden, chapter President Earl Robinson uttered the phrase that would change my life forever, "So, what are we gonna do about a bulletin editor now that Bill's gone?"

Now, I could have contemplated that question quietly all night long while minding my own business. But noooo, my mouth acting independently of my brain, blurted out, "I'll give it a try. What do I need to do to get started?" There was dead silence for several seconds, then our president looked at me and replied, "If you want the job, it's yours!" Earl was a very smart man to nail down a volunteer before I had a chance to change my mind!

Did I run for cover; did I try to backtrack? Nope! I looked Earl in the eye and said, "Okay!"

Now, I had no journalism background whatsoever. I did okay in English throughout school and had a decent vocabulary. I knew how to hunt and peck on a typewriter. So, I promptly recruited a fellow chapter member to reproduce the bulletin on his copier, and I stepped right in and put out a March issue. The first few issues were pretty crude, and I cringe when I see them today. At first, I experimented with a lot of different formats. I finally settled upon the traditional 8 1/2" by 11" size pages printed two-sided, and stapled in the corner bulletin. I attended every bulletin class offered at COTS, and most importantly, our chapter secretary enrolled me in PROBE. Once I saw what a real bulletin looked like, I was off to the races. I promptly joined the Bulletin Exchange program (ably run by Lloyd Davis, Pal/Pac, California, Chapter). I started receiving bulletins from all over the country. You should have heard my mother when she saw all the bulletins that arrived stuffed into our mailbox. I'll spare you the details.

I typed everything out on an IBM Selectric II typewriter, then obtained blue grid layout sheets, rub-on lettering, border tape, rubber cement, etc. and put out a monthly Mountain Talk until early 1984 when I transferred to Mile Hi. It seems that every issue, I was trying something out that I had seen in another bulletin, learned at a bulletin editors class, or (are you still with me: this is important) learned at the printers! I learned more from those printing guys; it was unbelievable! They taught me what works for effective layout, what will reproduce well, the use of Liquid Paper, etc. I made a lot of friends while searching for the best price to get my bulletin printed.

I sometimes wonder if I should have taken some journalism classes in high school. Maybe my learning curve could have been increased. No matter! I had a great time learning how to build a bulletin and how to get contributions (whimpering works, sometimes) from chapter officers, committee chairmen, members, etc. There's a fine art to getting contributions. You gotta find the guys who are busiest; they seem to respond the best! I think that first Bulletin Editor of the Year award probably helped more than I ever realized. It motivated me - I tried harder, the guys saw that, and responded in kind. I am proud to say that I am a self-taught bulletin editor.

But, I was so glad that I had the resources and advice available from PROBE, the PROBEmoter, other bulletin editors (both chapter and district), COTS classes, and many Society "bigwigs." That list includes Robb Ollett, Sev Sevrance, Dick Girvin, Lloyd Davis, Dick Teeters, Ray Heller, Bob Arthur, Herb Bayles, and Wade Dexter, just to name a few. When I edited the RMD New Harmony Horizons bulletin for five years, 1983-1988, many district presidents became my good friends as well, through their support and encouragement.

If you were to ask me for any words of wisdom, my first response would be, "If you think the words bulletin editor are singular - WRONG! It takes a lot of chapter and district support, with good/timely advice, and education/training to be an effective editor. "Try it, you'll like it!"