I have so much on my To Do List but i have been putting off NAPKA for a whole month since my Presidency.

1. I wanted to mention how we have RonH as the newletter / email editor. He's going to be a great asset to the club. In the past he use to drive the newsletter for BCKA. I would like to start this with NAPKA this season. I know many of you have asked / wanted something to read. I enjoy reading all your past and present kiting adventures. Most of you are pilots who attend different events around the country and we want to hear about it with pics to go along with it. I will be enjoy sitting on the throne with my Ipad reading the great stories you have to share. So PLEASE PLEASE contribute to the monthly / bi monthly newsletter. You too can have your little space being famous.
I havent posted RonH's email address so U2U him for now for details.

2. NAPKA isnt some special elite club for racers. Its a community for everyone of all skill level. Membership only helps pay for the "event insurance". You have a great crew of people to help you setup an event and which come with experience to do so, you just need to contact them, and use the event insurance we already have in place. Susan, Angus, Jon have dealt with events in the past so they are here for you. If you put on a weekend thang take advantage of it, its here for you to use.

3. Why the racing numbers?
Like every group numbers helps us identify you. It basically tells the general public you know what you're doing and understand the rules. Each location is different, but placing a number plate makes you look more official to the public eye.

4. Racing
I know may would like to race and many do not. NAPKA is just a governing body for kite sport rules. If you're going to race it can be fun or serious, but at the end of the day its all about having FUN. there is no rule that states you must use FISLY or Backyard or Peter Lynn. Just get a group of pilots together and just have fun doing laps. When we get serious about racing we will have to follow FISLY rules because its what everyone in all countries use. You wouldn't want to be trying to figure yourself out. And just have FUN.

5. Forum
next week ill be working with the new forum owner to get access open to the public for more viewing, but i would also like to place a section here on PKF, well mainly because out of the many forums I belong too. I find that PKF is the place most reside at.

6. Promoting
I've been to a few events now and speak the words of NAPKA and many brands and dealers want to join on board to get things moving for us. We need to keep land access open and open those in the past that have been ban to us. With some rules and a little fight I believe we can have what Europe has. Open Space to ride as we want and just a little self policing.

7. Im open to suggestions, and comments. This is about YOU not me and my focus. IT TAKES ALL OF US TOGETHER AS ONE. no brand, style, method should steer us apart. KITING is the keyword.

LETS MAKE THIS HAPPEN!!!

Excelsior !!!

Rip what is the website for NAPKA? I know I should be able to figure it out. :dunno:

http://www.napka.org/

ATB,
Sam

Thanks Sam.

Good job Ricardo!

With more people being involved than ever before the future of the club is looking very bright. We not only have new faces in new positions but still have the old faces in new positions :D And some that are still willing to carry on the great work that they have been doing.

Bring on the wind and let's have some fun.

I will join eventually...

its not a matter about joining, its not the message I was trying to get across

I JUST WANT YOUR ARTICLES AND PICS, we can piece together a great newsletter each month.

warm up your finger tips and get the thoughts flowing.

:tumble:

oh ok i gotcha, so we just post here then?

hows Canada doin? i got a hankerin' for some pound cake.

GET ER DUNN!!

once RonH sees this post, since I silently did this without his knowledge at the moment

all articles and pics need to be sent to him ... each month we'll publish a wicked newsletter for all to see.

who knows with enough members we could start doing mailings of hard copies instead.

i got a lot of replies so far for content ... anything goes "KITE RELATED".

some writting ideas:

-your wicked session (land / dirt / snow / water)
-your new kite you just got, NO COMMERCIAL
-kite events attend, past or present (advertise it)
-recent kite trips
-kiting locations in your area
-your personal best
-dino's pink skirt
-AXOMOXA (typo)


you can write about anything ... hell a long time ago I write a simple story just about the washrooms at our local park, how I also crashed into a Port O Potty with a buggy while someone was still inside.

the news isnt to take away from PKF, but sometimes its just good to read and follow pics like a book. thats just my opinion I guess.

later, Fellow Kiters

@H-Air ... come to NABX ill bring you some cake

Why mail a hard copy?

If anything, email a PDF version that could be printed if the individual wanted.

If you have anything you want in a newsletter send it to me.

e-mail it to me using the e-mail function of PKF.

I don't know if there will be enough for a monthly edition but we will see.

I am going to expect something from the executive of NAPKA for the newsletter. :o

No firm date for the first one... I'll see what comes in before I/we start begging!

Ron

You rock.

Thanks Ron,

You can count on my help. You just ask and I will do it if I can.

I agree monthly is a bit much. Quarterly seems more like it ?

Hey Bladerunner, an article each month is what he needs from you to fill the pages of the newsletter! Call it "Slices of wisdom from the Blade!" I just submitted my first! :bigok:

Quote:

Why mail a hard copy? If anything, email a PDF version that could be printed if the individual wanted.

This is probably a whole other discussion but from a newsletter - kite club perspective, we used to do nice big printed newsletters that we mailed out and people looked forward to them and we increased membership with a good quality newsletter. When it switched to electronic version, a drop in membership from people that only wanted the newsletter or were on the fence about the small club fee (15.00) many people could get the newsletter for free now - always passed along by someone in the club.

Of course the other side of the coin; mailing a printed version is also very expensive and to keep that up, club fees would have had to increase quite substantially.

I'm all for an electronic version... I have piles of magazines scattered across my desk and tables that I just dont take time to read. If its not on my iphone, chances are I dont read it... Thats just the way life is right now.. I'm a bit sad some of hte magazines DONT come in a format readable on my iphone...

I think there are arguments for both the PDF and hard copy editions...

I still go through old issues of the newsletters for the BCKA. I have them all on my computer as PDF's but I never open them unless I want to dig up an old photo or something like that.

We have to start electronic as there is no cost involved. Yes printing and mailing get expensive.

So...

I have 2 articles for the newsletter already!

Keep em coming.

Ron

Quote:

When it switched to electronic version, a drop in membership from people that only wanted the newsletter.... Mailing a printed version is also very expensive and to keep that up, club fees would have had to increase... I'm all for an electronic version... I have piles of magazines scattered across my desk and tables...

The electronic would be easiest and cheapest for dedicated readers/members.
You can then follow that up with an option to request receiving a hard copy for those who fall into the category you described.
You can also then print a limited quantity to be 'distributed' in shops or kiteschools where new enthusiasts are exposed to the organization as well as in shops that cater to the same type of crowd; ie. scuba, motorcycle, biking, and surfing.
A more limited printing with a predominant distribution in an electronic form will
keep the costs low while maximizing exposure to potential new members.
At the same time, an efficient use of the moneys like this would ensure that member/enthusiasts are not overcharged and are then happy to 'subsidize' printed newsletters to nonmembers because of the ROI.

Or on membership we could include your choice.

Those that want to go green - PDF

And some who want reading material.

Although I care about the environment, etc etc, 'going green' is usually not a motivator for me, personally. It's viewed more as corporate speak for 'reducing your benefits' or
'buy into the hysteria'. When companies use such catch phrases, I'm more apt to feel manipulated.
I'd personally bill it more of a 'keeping your dues low' myself.

Maybe in order to get the ball rolling the 1st one could go out in PDF form. In that newsletter members can be canvased and those who would like it in print form can make that request. If not too many wanted it that way I'm sure we could work out a way to send them out? I'm sure Rip' and I could cover the mail cost or something ?

OOPS double post

if people would like mail outs, i think with the future sponsors coming aboard now we have the funding to do so.

im excited we got the ball rolling

ill be typing up my articles on the bus to work and on rainy weekend.

SUCCESS!!! :wee:

Ricardo for President

If you use the PDF format you could include videos that print copies can't do.

Why not just go straight to web? If we write all this content why just keep it to ourselves? If it's worth reading share it publicly and let it others see what we like so much about the sport. It's good for the public image. It's good for growing the organization.

Use a blog engine like Wordpress. It's easy to integrate images and video. Articles wouldn't have to be monthly. They could be published whenever. Older articles would just roll off the page. We could have multiple authors submitting their own articles if that streamlines publishing. Subscribers could subscribe to the RSS feed.

I've just started to do this myself for some non-kite stuff. It's pretty easy. If we want a spiffy look we might want to pay for a commercial theme, but it's not a lot of money.

Sound interesting?

Philip