Communications Thread Leading to 17 December 2025 Zoom Meeting
eMail 17 Dec 25 @ 0845; Joe Rocchio
All,
First, David Shinkfield has done an amazing job in producing the Winter edition of The Mainsheet — both in the “normal” print publication format also available as a pdf AND in a great “embedded edition” sent our to the PWG by email. I thank you, David, for the hard work and industry!
I reviewed the embedded MainSheet Test and found that it worked and displayed well on my MacBook, iPad, and iPhone. On the latter two devices its presentation morphed nicely between portrait and landscape views (as did the embedded Jibsheet). Both embedded versions are attractive, easy to read, and have easy to follow links.
As further homework for today’s Zoom meeting, I reviewed our email exchanges since the last Zoom meeting. There are a good number of issues discussed and suggestions made.
I have put these email exchanges as well as David’s most recent embedded Mainsheet Test on separate PWG webpages. I think following the development of the group's thinking is more easily followed as they are all sequentially displayed on one page by scrolling from most recent at top to oldest. Try it..
See you at 1600
Cheers, …Joe
eMail; 15 Dec 25 @1854; Hank Recla
To all: Since I am not available to attend the meeting on the 17th, I’m offering my input for what it’s worth in determining our recommendations for the next board meeting.
I reread John’s letter based on Dick’s suggestions. Basically, my interpretation of the letter is to have only one publication called “MainSheet”, eliminate the JibSheet and drastically reduce all costs.
I suggest providing our publications similar to what the LSC is doing. They send out a monthly online newsletter.
They also send out an online magazine called the Little Ship once in the Spring/Summer and another in the Fall/Winter.: The insert clearly states that the magazine is a “print on demand only publication” if the form is submitted.
Based on this method, my British friends tell me that they do not have to make and mail that many printed copies. I can ask for the exact count if necessary.
In preparation of our report at the next board meeting, I suggest:
1. Emulate what our forefathers of the LSC are doing.
2. Publish a monthly online newsletter; e.g., the Jibsheet providing information of upcoming events and how to register for such events.
3. Publish a bi -annual online magazine embedded in semi-annual online newsletters e.g., the Mainsheet, with insert form which must be submitted for requesting a mailed paper copy of the Mainsheet. Each Mainsheet will provide information of events that occurred during the previous six months plus any other investing stories.
4. Proceed with the telephone survey (by Joe and Hank) and, together with the results of returned insert forms, make a decision based on such results whether to continue/discontinue mailing out paper copies of the Mainsheet.
5. Periodically re-evaluate the decision to continue/discontinue mailing paper copies of the Mainsheet.
I’m willing to bet that by following the above, we can streamline our communications and reduce our costs.
What I took as our task from the 9 Nov meeting was for the Working Group to followup on the proposal contained in the Memo John Butler put before us. That is to re-evaluate the two TCA publications to see if it made sense to combine them OR to provide other suggestions in light of the strong comments made by a few Members about the importance they attached to the printed version of The Mainsheet.
The PWG was not given the mandate to make a decision— but to do the homework that would lead to a future enlightened decsision.
I propose that the Publications Working Group present a progress report of our efforts to date at the next BoD/AG meeting.
1. Dick Marsh’s revision of The Jibsheet to an embedded format that went out to Members in December
2. David Shinkfield’s development of a prototype The Mainsheet to go out in parallel with the “normal” printed Winter edition.
3. A status report of the phone survey Hank Recla and I will conduct as soon as Membership renewal drive ends to clarify what % of Members view the printed Mainsheet is essential.
4. A status report on an investigation of “print on demand” as a potential alternative to the current printing procedure (lower cost, simplify process)
5. A draft motion to the BoD/AG for a revised TCA Publications Policy
Note; I suggest we work the details of this out on the 17th conference Zoom
As a strawman, here is a rough draft we can refine on the 17th.
TCA Publications Policy 1. Maintain the current dual publications: The Jibsheet and The Mainsheet 2. The Mainsheet to continue to publish quarterly and focus on completed events and reports from Members at longer length. 3. The Jibsheet to come out 8 times a year between the 4 editions of The Mainsheet 4. The Jibsheet continue as an embedded-email publications similar in format to the recent prototype Embedded Link to a pdf version Links to sources of additional information on upcoming events Photos and text on upcoming events Photos and brief summaries of recently completed events Additional items of interest (tech notes, etc) as the Jibsheet Editor deems appropriate 5. The Mainsheet be published as an embedded-email publication and print edition for Winter edition 6. A plan be developed to continue to provide a printed edition equivalent in quality to current practice to those Members for whom this is an essential to their continued Membership 7. The CX survey tool be used to get member feedback via a link in the embedded versions of Jibsheet and Mainsheet.
eMail; 14 Dec 25 @ @0854; Hank Recla
David,
I cannot speak for others but this would be my preference. Provide an online Jibsheet once per month even though it may have a lot of redundant information , and embed the MainSheet in the Jibsheet once per quarter even though it may have a lot of redundant information. Doing this would fulfill Joe’s philosophy; Tell them what you’re going to tell them; Tell them; Tell them what you told them. Or something like that.
This way, our members won’t be able to say “I was never told that.”
BYW: Being the good Sponsor that you are, you might want to console John Juzbasich into taking over your position, of course with your excellent training, since he does have an editorial background. See his resume.
Not a sermon, just a thought! Hank
eMail; 13 Dec 25 @ 1530; David Shinkfield
Hi Hank, You ask some good questions.I can only give you my thoughts and must wait for our meeting to better understand where everyone else is.
I think that the decision about JibSheet and Mainsheet is separate from whether to stop printed copies of Mainsheet. That decision can only be made after you and Joe have spoken to some Corinthians who get the printed copy.
As for the Mainsheet and JibSheet issue, there are two questions
Do we produce an email version of Mainsheet? We already produce an email version of JibSheet. My thoughts on this issue is "Yes", but I think it is dependent on finding a new editor of Mainsheet. I need to hand this role to someone new.
Can JibSheet and Mainsheet be combined? My suggestion here is as described in my previous email. We produce Mainsheet at the end of each quarter - 4 times each year, and we produce an email version of JibSheet in the other 8 months. We need to coordinate the content to ensure that we do not duplicate material. My thoughts are that the copy of Mainsheet would include all the information about upcoming events with links to the relevant page in the web site. It would not include flyers in the quarterly copies of Mainsheet, but they would be visible by clicking the link to the web site.
That is where my head is at. Let us see what everyone else proposes. Have a great trip to Denver. David
eMail; 10 Dec 25 @ 2009; Joe Rocchio
Perhaps we can get this done by email based upon what we covered in last Zoom:
1. Deliverables: 1.1 An embedded version of Mainsheet that will go out along with the “standard, printed” version for the next edition.. 1.2 The list of members who have never actually said they must have the printed version - but are getting it.
2.1 Yes. As we already decided to do both a printed Mainsheet and a test embedded version for the next edition. 2.2 I will use that Test Mainsheet to explore print-on-demand tests.
3. We agreed that we would wait until after the close of the annual Membership renewal process. Then Hank and I would call the list from 1.1 above.
4. The revised, embedded format of The Jibsheet crafted by Dick Marsh nicely meets the original objectives (Memo to 9 November Board & Aferguard) for a revised format that would (1) be much more visually appealing, (2) be more informative by providing summaries of events that quickly follow their completion, (3) make it easy for Members to follow links to information; (4) Allow members to download a pdf version of the publication; (4) provide for inclusion of additional articles as may be appropriate the month of publication.
As the 2026 budget has already been approved with a printed Mainsheet, we discussed and agreed to go ahead with the process as is for the first quarter. That would give us time (Jan). We can use this time to poll memembers on the new Jibsheet format as well as the embedded Mainsheet format. Hank and I will also be able to complete the phone survey.
David, a note of hope: From my experience using an editing system for webpages that is similar to the CX email tool, you will have already done >80% of the hard work by getting the layout components in place and determining the optimal fonts and sizes for each element for the first Test edition.
With that done, that version can become a template.
Then each new edition can be prepared by moving text and image elements into the appropriate place in the template. I find this to take about 10-20% of original effort.
…Joe
eMail; 10 Dec 25 @1735;; David Shinkfield
Hi all, I had a brief conversation with Peter and we agree that a follow up meeting on JibSheet and Mainsheet is now necessary. We will do this over Zoom. Here is a suggested agenda.
What are the next set of deliverables, who is responsible and when do we need them? One option is to produce a Mainsheet at the end of each quarter, (March, June, September and December) and JibSheet on other months.
Do we need to try to produce an email version of Mainsheet to complement the formal version? I will send out my latest version - fonts have been standardised, and Dick's latest events at Morgans have been included. Producing it is time consuming and the workload may make it difficult to recruit a replacement Editor.
Hank and Joe agreed to call recipients of the printed version of Mainsheet to get a view on the impact of eliminating printed copies. What is the proposed timetable?
Possible times for our Zoom call. 4:00 pm on Friday, 12th, Monday 15th or Wednesday, 17th December. Please reply all to let us know the best date. Thanks for all your help, David
27 Nov 25; Joe Rocchio
Dick Marsh sent to us on 21 November, what I think is a great new draft layout of the Jibsheet.
I looked at the comments and also talked with Dick about the mechanics of producing the document using the CX email composition tool. This tool is very much like the tools I use to build my various websites — but much less flexible. So I decided to address the reviewers comments and build an experimental version of Dick’s draft document using my composition tools.
These are very simple to use: 1 get a file of images; 2 get Word document(s) with text; 3 develop a layout template for the final product 4 drag and drop images and text into the desired position in the document body. 5 Switch from edit to view of product 6. Adjust 5. Copy rendered product from the editing tool and past into the body of an email. 6. Send
Attached is the result received by email recipients.
Note: It uses the rendering engines built into mail apps on current devices: phones, tablets, laptops to: 1. adjust column width to display on device 2. easily switch from portrait to landscape when phone or tablet is rotated. 3. allow readers to “pinch and zoom” when desired
NOTE: I MADE MINIMAL ATTEMPT TO MAKE THIS LOOK “BETTER” — just drag and drop elements in Dick’s draft.
I included for test purposes 1 simple “drag and drop” of a one-page pdf flier 2. an excerpt of a longer article (Annual Cruise 2025) to test how it would be rendered.
So focus on the overall utility to meet our needs — the mechanism of production can be refined, improved, simplified further
