[From the Ontario District's newsletter, The Trillium, issue 60-02, April - June, 2006 , Waldo Redekop, editor.]

Bulletin Editor of the Year

By Rod Mills, Guelph Chapter co-editor

Thank you to the Ontario District for instituting and preserving the opportunity for our chapter to submit our newsletter each year for review.  Just like many of our chorus and quartet reviews by the music judges after contest,  PROBE has been there to give us positive and encouraging feedback for our bulletin.

PROBE is the Association of Public Relations Officers and Bulletin Editors, an independent organization affiliated with the Barbershop Harmony Society.  The PROBE judges score a bulletin according to a preset format, and provide suggestions that are personable, supportive, and really insightful.

Shortly after I joined the Royal City Ambassadors in Guelph three years ago, a kind and friendly gentleman named Serge Tremblay asked if I’d help him with the chapter newsletter.  That is how it began for me, and after that first year, we submitted our chapter’s bulletin for the Bulletin Editor of The Year (BETY) contest .

Wow, there was so much feedback that really at that time it was overwhelming, but we did try to incorporate a couple small changes to our format and content. We learned that when a chapter’s members support us by providing articles for the bulletin each month, it becomes easy to make the newsletter interesting and relevant for our members.

A year later, Serge and I were honoured to receive “The Waldo Redekop Most Improved Bulletin” district award, and the next level of encouragement in the reviews by PROBE. Another year has passed so quickly, and this year, it was exhilarating to be bestowed the honour of “The Jim Smith Award for Bulletin Editor of the Year” and again “The Waldo Redekop Most Improved Bulletin” trophy. It is a great privilege to receive these awards, and we are proud to be members of the Ontario District!

I’d like to take this opportunity to present a personal invitation to all of you — chapter board of director members, music teams, chorus and quartet singers — please support your chapter’s bulletin editor. Take a moment right now, today, to write an article for your chapter about your chapter.

Think about that first time, you joined your first chorus or quartet. What about your position as a volunteer in the chapter — anything that you’d want to share with the members this month? How was that last chorus activity, according to your perspective? What events are coming up for your chapter? What has your chapter quartet done this month? What really makes you happy about four-part barbershop harmony? There is a lot of goodness that we can share in the chapter, and the bulletin is only one of the amazing ways to do so.

You will be pleasantly surprised at how many members, wives, family, friends, and prospective members actually do read the chapter bulletin. When you have more people adding to the newsletter, you will find that more people will want to read it too.

For the chapter board of directors, I respectfully ask you to encourage your bulletin editor to submit your own newsletter for review by PROBE. There are always so many gold nuggets in the feedback, which in turn promote a positive influence for your subsequent bulletins. Just think, anything that is positive for our newsletters, blossoms exponentially for the members in our chapter, and therefore becomes another amazing element maintaining and encouraging growth for the support of barbershop harmony in our fantastic Ontario District.

Thank you especially to the Guelph guys, for your enduring support and the kind articles that have really made our bulletin!

[ED: All editors and marketing people, plus those interested in communications should join PROBE. It is only $10 US / year and allows you to enter their contests as well as receive a wealth of information that will help you communicate better.]     k