Glen Crevier

The founding fathers of APSE were smart enough to put term limits into the bylaws. Three years and you're out of office. No two-term presidents.

That's a good thing, as it keeps new faces and fresh perspective moving through the top ranks of the organization. But there is one drawback. By the time you step down as president, you're just starting to figure out the job.

It's about more than editing a newsletter, running a contest or presiding over a national convention. Ultimately, it's about keeping an important organization vital and moving in the right direction. Or at least trying.

Some of the ideas that help accomplish that goal will be discussed in Las Vegas, such as opening up membership to online affiliates, a recommendation that will be made by Jerry Micco and the futures committee he chairs. Some other ideas, gleaned from a year's worth of experience, will be offered to the next president for free.

All, I believe, are worthy of consideration.

Membership

The good news is that as we approach the convention, we have 435 members, just four shy of an all-time high.

This is the result of an aggressive recruiting campaign during the year, spearheaded by Greg Brownell of the Glens Falls (N.Y.) Post-Star and APSE's outgoing third vice president. Brownell mailed hundreds of fliers to non-members and followed up many of the mailings with phone calls. In addition, our member information on the Web site was improved dramatically so that visitors to the site now can find out who we are, what we are about and how much it costs to join. During the year, we received a steady stream of e-mails from prospective new members.

But that's not enough. The time has come to open our doors to online sports editors at newspapers as well as to offer associate (non-voting) memberships to Internet organizations like Yahoo!, ESPN.com and Foxsports.com.

Sure, it's about growing our membership. But more importantly, it's about increasing our knowledge and learning from people who have the expertise to help us manage the sweeping changes that envelope our business.

Think about it: Can you imagine an APSE convention or region meeting in the near future that does not deal with some aspect of online publishing? We need experts to help guide us forward. Right now, some of those people are not APSE members. They should be.

Enhance the Web site

This was a controversial issue at the Orlando convention, but the fact remains that the content on the site is often not fresh enough to keep eyeballs coming back day after day. And it should be. The site should offer more than reports on region meetings and dues announcements.

Chuck Grimes of the Dallas Morning News does a terrific job with the design of the site and in posting stories when they are sent to him, mostly by APSE officers.

But Grimes can't do it alone. At the very least, he needs a content editor, someone to funnel the important news items of the day to him so that they can be posted on our site. And the content editor needs a staff to help find many of the newsworthy items that we should post to keep the site vital and relevant. Naturally, the content editor and the staff he or she recruits will consist of APSE members volunteering their time.

What additional content would our members enjoy?

A display of sports section fronts every day would be welcomed and, frankly, belongs on our site. It would be fun, for instance, on the Monday morning after the Super Bowl, to go to our site and see how papers across the country covered and displayed the game.

A password protected chat room or message board for sports editors would be interesting, too. If nothing else, it would provide a forum to share ideas, seek advice, debate the issues of the day, whine and praise.

And here's a radical thought: Reduce the number of newsletters to two per year – a convention primer and contest report in April and a convention report in August – and move many of the standing elements to the Web on a more regular basis. That would include Region Reports, On The Move, columns by the president, etc. There would be a substantial savings that could be applied toward enriching the Web site.

APSE's second VP, responsible for the six newsletters, could better manage content by assigning four or five features and guest columns a month rather than working through the crush of producing a newsletter every two months. And with a content editor and staff, there should be no reason why we couldn't produce fresh material on the site daily.

If we are progressive enough to allow dot.com members to join our organization, we hopefully will be smart enough to use their expertise to accomplish these goals.

Training

Providing professional training to our members may be the most important task of our organization. A year ago, region chairs were challenged to be accountable and to help APSE thrive at the local level.

I am happy to report that for the 2005-06 APSE year, we went over budget on region meetings. Even Ed Storin, guardian of our pennies, took some delight in that fiscal accounting. That's because for the first time in many years, our regions were active with provocative programs.

Eight of our 10 regions held meetings in the past year, and some held two. The Sacramento Bee hosted a drive-in workshop in May. At a time when many newspapers are cutting training expenses, the effort of the region chairs has been outstanding.

Still, we can do better. Members should elect region chairs that vow to take the position seriously. A committee led by Fred Faour of the Houston Chronicle outlined the responsibilities for chairs. It is online and is worth reading if you have an interest in running a region.

Looking ahead, APSE should consider creating a training committee that helps the president monitor the progress of region meetings and drive-in workshops (it's more than a one-man job), but who also reaches out to involve APSE in other training initiatives.

For instance, Buddy Martin, assistant managing editor/sports of the Charlotte Sun in Charlotte Harbor, Fla., helped organize a sports summit at Poynter Institute in April. It featured an eclectic gathering of reporters and columnists and about 150 eager students for three days of seminars on sports journalism. APSE should be a partner in this summit, and Poynter would welcome our participation.

Oh well, if it weren't for term limits ...

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Glen Crevier is the Assistant Managing Editor/Sports for the Minneapolis Star Tribune. You can reach him at (612) 673-4748 or via e-mail at gcrevier@startribune.com.

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