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Hi Skip, Thank you for the feedback, and for the excellent questions. The USMS Transition Team, the Publishers, and the USMS Executive Committee discussed all of these items in great detail before any decisions were made. There was very careful reasoning behind each decision. Originally posted by Frank Thompson “I have had several people ask me about the workout card and why there was not one in the magazine.” There were a few reasons for making the workout card an online bonus rather than a printed feature. • USMS is making a concerted effort to integrate the web site and the magazine. Because the workout card is a very popular feature, we felt pushing it to the web would bring more readers to the web. • The workout cards will become part of a growing archive, which will allow everyone to access the information at all times. In contrast, printed workout cards can be pulled out of the magazine and lost. Having an archive ensures that you will be able to find any workout card whenever you need it. • When USMS decided to publish its own magazine, one of the goals was to keep the cost fixed. When discussing the option of a cardstock piece, we discovered that including it raised the production cost significantly. DMC’s original proposal did not include this budget item. • We do not necessarily want to duplicate features from other publications. Originally posted by Frank Thompson “Why is the online version not consistent with the print mailed version and vice versa?” Some points to consider: • Integration between the magazine and the web site is one of our key objectives. • USMS membership has many benefits, and one of the most important benefits is the magazine. If we published the whole thing online, there would be considerably less incentive for potential members to join our organization. • We decided to select bits and pieces from the magazine for online release, hoping that potential members would get a taste and want more. If people want to see the features that are not online, the idea is working. Originally posted by Frank Thompson “Why there is no newsstand presence of our national publication?” Newsstand distribution is a huge budget consideration, and we need to be very prudent when making these types of decisions. We do not want to put the cart before the horse. DMC recommended against newsstand distribution at first, and we accepted this recommendation. Some thoughts: • Our first objective is to provide a great member benefit. • One of our other goals is to use the magazine as a marketing tool to reach beyond our own organization. • We definitely see the potential for future newsstand presence, which is why we set out to create a magazine that would lend itself to newsstand distribution. • As we get started, we are evaluating how we will reach non-members. We’re trying to plan some print overrun distribution at special events, such as conferences and large triathlon events. • We also have subscriptions available online for non-members. The discussion about newsstand distribution will certainly be an ongoing discussion, but we must be ready before we take that step. Originally posted by Frank Thompson “If someone buys a USMS membership shouldn't they be entitled to the full benefits of the magazine? I have a lot of senior swimmers that don't have computers and they will never see the bonus section of the magazine.” As you may recall, the theme of the 2004 USMS convention was “The Future is Now.” Statistics strongly reinforce this message: • Currently, 81% of our registered members have e-mail addresses in the USMS database. • In 2003, only 36% of our members had e-mail addresses in the database. • Between 2003 and 2004, the percentage of USMS members with e-mail addresses increased by 36% (it literally doubled!). • Currently, 64% of our "65-and-over" swimmers have e-mail addresses. • In 2003, the percentage of 65-and-over swimmers with e-mail was only 17%. • Between 2003 and 2004, the percentage of 65-and-over swimmers with e-mail addresses increased by 33%. Given these statistics, it is safe to say a very large percentage of USMS members have internet access. Looking at the recent trend, it’s also safe to say the number of members with internet access is growing very rapidly. In projecting for the future, we do not expect to see a reversal of this trend. When we set out to create this magazine, we weren’t just looking at what was happening today. We were looking toward the future. In the future, we expect an even larger percentage of our members to have internet access, and this question will probably become a non-issue. Personally, as a retired Masters coach, I encourage you to take a more proactive approach. When I was coaching, there were several senior swimmers who didn’t have access to certain information. I felt my job was to bring the information to them. In this case, I would have printed the bonus web content, laminated and posted it on the team bulletin board at the pool, and made extra copies for distribution to those who needed it. Bill

Still haven't received my copy, but I'm sure one of my superteammates will lend me their's when I go to Raleigh in April. Then we can have pizza and beer and exchange birthday gifts.

It's just amazing the venom over a simple magazine that is but one part of a measly $30 annual membership. The magazine is darn good when you consider you get it as a package deal. All these folks with their million dollar ideas should try to do as much on this budget.

Today, I think my mail delivery person thought I was going to attack him. I chased up to him to ask if my magazine was in his bag. Unfortunately, it wasn't. I'm beginning t o believe that it has gone somewhere else. That great big room in some post office of undeliverable mail. I've seen one in both DC & St. Louis. I used to be incahrge of sending the Smithsonian mag to members who hadn't gotten their issue on tiem. I was called many names. Many times, people told me that they knew I had selected them out to ensure they didn't get their mags. This was for the local DC membership. Lots of paranoia in DC. Some day I'll get mine. Maybe this is pay back.

Hi Bill: Thank you for recognizing by proactive and positive approach to help promote and distribute information about the magazine. I appreciate it and appreciate your efforts as well. I did not know that all of the items in question were dicussed for months in great detail by the committes you mentioned. A lot of people do not know of the details that go on and the only place that I see any published decisions are the Executive Committee minutes posted on this website and they don't necessarly address the questions that I had. Also in the last issue of SWIM there was no mention of the new publication that would be going to the membership and this caused mass confusion to people that are not as well informed and don't use the website as an information source as others in USMS. This caused considerable problems with people being confused and paying for a subscription to SPI and being disappointed with that magazine features. To top it off because they made a subscription to that magazine and did not pay attention to the lead time some have not received that one either. Since those same swimmers have not received USMS Swimmer because its late getting out, they are wondering what is going on. Plus 2004 USMS swimmers that are not registered yet got the magazine free and yet newely registered swimmers who paid for the 2005 year cannot get one. They see the name Bill Volckening in both magazines (SWIM JAN/FEB 2005 and USMS Swimmer) and think we as USMS are responsible. I answer everyone and set the record straight as best as I can except when I don't whats going on, hence the questions. I have two suggestions for improvement to help myself and people that are confused, miss informed, and don't what has gone on or what is going to go on in the future. Publish the minutes of the meetings of the USMS Transition Team and the USMS Swimmer Editoral Board if its ok and does not breach confidentiality. I know there was a meeting February 9 and if I saw those minutes I might have not had all the questions I had. This way people could see the decisions that set the policy, monitor the progress, and integrate all USMS publishing activities. Basically the teams look idential with the exception of the Sponsor Liason not being on the Editoral Board. Also if its not to much of an effort, have a web page either created like the "USMS Task Force on Structure and Governance" or have all of the publication posts together. As an example take posts like "2004 USMS Convention Notice", "Swim Magazine What Happen", "Poll USMS Magazine", and "New Swimmer Magazine". This way I can direct people to the whole story of this and it would save a lot of time of the Editoral Board to responding to posts like today with Matt Shirley. Jim and Lynn answered questions with excellent answers and people could learn why we did what we did. I hope that these are proactive and positve suggestions to help better improve communication and make the new publication prosper. Again I appreciate all of the efforts of the people involved in the success of the new publication.

Hi Skip, I’ll do my best to respond with the information I have. Some points of clarification: Originally posted by Frank Thompson “…in the last issue of SWIM there was no mention of the new publication that would be going to the membership…” • The last issue of SWIM Magazine in our contract period with Sports Publications was the January/February, 2005 issue. The announcement was indeed printed: “President’s Letter: USMS Members to Receive New Publication in March” (J/F 2005 SWIM, page 7). • In addition to the magazine announcement, USMS made a concerted effort to inform the members about the new magazine. Information was broadcast in the fall issue of Streamlines from the National Office (November 1, 2004, www.usms.org/.../nycu.2004fall.pdf -- page 1). A letter from the President was posted on the home page of the USMS web site (posted on the web site November 11, 2004 -- www.usms.org/.../usmsswimmer.php). This letter was sent to the LMSC Chairs, Registrars, Newsletter Editors, and Webmasters, and was published in many LMSC newsletters and web sites. Another announcement was published in the winter issue of Streamlines from the National Office (February 5, 2005, www.usms.org/.../nycu2005winter.pdf -- pages 5-6). Originally posted by Frank Thompson “2004 USMS swimmers that are not registered yet got the magazine free and yet newly registered swimmers who paid for the 2005 year cannot get one.” • According to the National Office, all swimmers registered in 2004 and 2005 were included in the first mailing. The 2005 registrations included all registrations received in January, which were due to the National Office by February 1st, 2005. As a courtesy, the National Office extended the February 1st deadline for the LMSC registrars, and included as many new registrations as possible for an additional two weeks. That’s all for now, Bill

Hi Bill: Thanks for the explantation. Your absolutely right about the notices that went out to inform members of the new magazine. Some of the older swimmers were confused because they thought there would be more SWIM content in the new combined format from SPI and did not understand Swimming World and Swimming Technique because they never have read or seen them. They did not understand like you, others and I about the differences. In fact someone thought you were like a double agent working for both magazines because you were the Editor two months in a row for different magazines. I have explained the differences in publishers and that Scott Rablais and yourself were no longer editors for the new SPI Swimming World/SWIM magazine. Hopefully they will be able to enjoy both publications if they already subscribed. The newly registered swimmers for 2005 probably missed the cutoff in February or the new magazine has not arrived yet. Some swimmers registered in 2003, but not 2004 have inquired about getting a copy of the magazine. Because there is a price on the right hand corner of the magazine ($3.75) they believed it will be sold at a retail outlet in the future. I know you said that at this time there would be no newstand presence but that price has people asking if it will be available in the future like SWIM was at a retail outlet. I don't if that price on the corner is a requirement by law to distribute the magazine or if that is the planned price in the future for retail outlets to sell the magazine? Again thanks for your efforts during this publication transition.

Go to http://www.usmsswimmer.com, copy the cover jpeg to your computer, and print out a copy for your mailman. I'm going to go out on a limb, but I doubt there are any other magazines with a middle-aged male non-model in Speedos (or Tyrs, or whatever brand he is wearing).

But I still don't have my magazine! This morning, my mail delivery person said that he would go through the undeliverable Galesburg mail to see if there is anything that looks like it inthe bin. He then asked me to show him a copy of it so he would know what it looked like. :confused:

Originally posted by craiglll@yahoo.com But I still don't have my magazine! This morning, my mail delivery person said that he would go through the undeliverable Galesburg mail to see if there is anything that looks like it inthe bin. He then asked me to show him a copy of it so he would know what it looked like. :confused: Next time you will be at the McKinley Y in C-U, give me a holler and I will leave mine at the counter for you. I cannot believe you don't have it yet.