Blog This II

The below post is from Bill Pierson:


Well, well, well, it has been another interesting week of discussions among CASI members. I do believe that open discussions on various issues that affect CASI members, as long as they don't get personal, are healthy for the organization. It is encouraging to hear from the many voices of CASI. I can assure you,that while they don't participate in the discussions, the Directors are listening.

 

There are a couple of things I would like to clear up from my blog post of  last week. I want to be perfectly clear, I did not say that pod newsletters were insignificant. As a former newsletter editor and publisher, I am extremely aware of the effort it takes to produce a document your pod members want to read month after month. As a past Great Pepper, I am also very cognizant of the importance of a newsletter to the pod's success.

What I did say, was that the newsletter contest was insignificant. It has nothing to do with the quality of the entries (they were very deserving), but with the quantity of entries. When only two out of 71 pods choose to enter the contest, they deem it insignificant. In baseball, a .333 batting average is considered good, not great, good. If we had 24 pods enter the contest, it would be so much more meaningful.

 

Many people mentioned the "cancellation" of the newsletter contest. The contest was not canceled. Unlike TICC or the GPM, the newsletter contest is not a recurring event. It takes, each year, an action by the Board to have a contest. This year the Board apparently (I was not at the meeting) chose not to take the action. Based on the participation, I would agree with that non-action.

Several writers mentioned canceling the contest "in the middle of the season." Does that mean to say they would not have had newsletters if they knew earlier there would be no contest? I hope not.

 

This discussion has been good for the organization. Members should feel free, and have a forum, to voice their views without being attacked or chastised. We all have opinions, and we don't all agree, but let's hear what you have to say.

 

bp

Bill Pierson

cowboybill1@comcast.net