From the Editor
Proposed Changes in Monthly Meeting Notices and Cintacs

A proposal has been made by Deanna Ashing, 1st Vice-Chair & Chair-Elect, to reformat the Monthly Meeting Notices for 1995-1996. Currently, Cintacs is published three (3) times per year: Fall, Winter and Spring. The Monthly Meeting Notices are published nine (9) times per year. The proposal would eliminate the three publications of Cintacs and replace the current format for the Monthly Meeting Notices with the Cintacs format. In essence, Cintacs would be published nine (9) times per year instead of only three (3). This change would bring the Monthly Meeting Notices of our local section in line with other large ACS local sections around the country. The goal of the proposal is to "provide meeting notices which provide more information to the local section in a timely manner" The expanded format for the Monthly Meeting Notice would allow more information to be sent out each month. Currently, there is very little room in the Meeting Notice for any information other than the specifics of the monthly meeting. There have been times when announcements or even paid advertisements had to be rejected based on the timing of the event and the publication schedule for Cintacs. For example, this issue of Cintacs is being published ahead of schedule to meet the deadline for the notification of proposed By-Law changes. We cannot, however, always make such accommodations. A monthly format could take care of many of these situations.

Several issues have been raised with regard to this proposal:

  1. How much more will it cost to publish Cintacs nine times per year?
  2. Will it require an inordinate amount of work to publish Cintacs monthly? {My favorite}
  3. How will advertising be handled?
  4. Will familiar columns such as "News for the Classroom" be continued?
  5. Will the deadlines change?
  6. Do I, as an ACS member, have a voice in the changes?
I will to outline my thoughts on these issues in the following paragraphs.

The first question that usually comes to mind is, "How much will it cost?" For an 8-page issue of Cintacs, the current cost is approximately $1,000 for printing, sorting, delivery to the Post Office and postage (under current postage rates). A 12-page issue (usually the Fall issue only) is about $1,500. For nine (9) issues of Cintacs per year the total cost would be about $9,500. Currently we run three (3) issues of Cintacs at a cost of $3,500. We also run nine (9) Monthly Meeting notices at a cost of about $5,100 ($567/notice). The total we currently spend is approximately $8,600.

One issue for all of us is time. Will a monthly publication of Cintacs require a great deal of time to prepare? The truth is: "not necessarily." If the format were structured with repeating items (i.e., items that run every month), then the work could be minimal. Preliminarily, I have assigned the 8 pages as follows: (I) current cover, (2) directory of officers and committees, (3) information of monthly meeting notice, (4) open, (5) bimonthly article from the local Chairperson/ other articles such as "News for the Classroom," (6) Advertising, (7)Advertising, (8) current back page (address page). With this format only 3 pages (or so) would change dramatically every month.

The advertising formats would change to meet the new format. Advertisers would have incentives to take out an advertisement for all 9 issues. The details of the changes have not been decided.

Submitted articles and news items will be encouraged. With a more timely publication of Cintacs, hopefully more of the members will submit articles or news items. It would be difficult for an article such as "News for the Classroom" to be published every month, so the frequency of these items would be up to the individual authors.

Will the deadlines change? I must answer this question as emphatically as I know how. YES!! Our deadline will have to be very firm. For the notice to reach the membership in time to respond to reservation deadlines, a predetermined deadline will be announced and strictly adhered to.

As always, I welcome any and all comments from the membership. This is your publication. No decision has been made at this time. Please send me any comments, questions, concerns, or preferences. My address and phone number are elsewhere in this issue.

Ed Burton
Editor

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