Some things at the Press Club of Southwest Florida (PC) have changed, beginning with the name. The board also held several meetings where we discussed other changes, which I’ll describe later in this update.
We formed a Communications team, and as chair I “recruited” seven club members to look at the future of the PC. Here are some of the things on our wish list:
- Make SCOOP a weekly electronic newsletter.
- Increase our presence on social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc).
- Increase our membership by reaching out to the “working press” in Ft. Myers and Cape Coral.
- Video tape, or livestream, the monthly programs.
- Find more ways to engage our members.
I’m sure there’s a lot more we can do, but this is enough to start.
Let me introduce the members of the Communications team. You probably know all of them: Julie Pedretti, Bob Orr, David Silverberg, Karla Wheeler, Jill Jaffe, Joel Banow, Marqueeta Curtis-Haynes, and myself.
What we’ve done so far before COVID-19 happened, forcing all of us to shelter at home:
- SCOOP became a weekly (or for now, an as-needed) newsletter.
- We are posting more articles to the PC Facebook page. Articles about the news industry, by the news industry.
- We’ve held early evening meet-ups near Ft. Myers and had some nice turnouts of “working press.”
What’s next on the list? You, our members, are next.
- Would you “introduce” yourselves to the rest of the PC? A short bio on what you did, are you still working, why you settled in Naples. Any information you would find interesting about anyone else, you should include about yourself.
- Do you have a blog or website? Send us the links. We’re considering an article letting the other members know of those links, and maybe you’ll get a new reader or two. In addition, we will consider posting excerpts of the articles, with backlinks to the original.
- Comments: What do you like, don’t like about the PC. If you were the PC president, what would you do differently?
The idea of videotaping and/or livestreaming programs is on the shelf for now. Is this something you think we should be doing?
One last thing: if any of you are interested in working on any of our committees, contact Julie, Karla, David or myself.
Committees (these are just some of them):
- Programs: Meeting with David to formulate ideas, set up programs, etc.
- Social Media: Assisting Marqueeta in keeping sites current
- Public Relations/Marketing: Helping spread the word
- Communications: Working with Joel and myself on the future of broadcasting our club programs and other PC events
- Fundraising: Helping to raise dollars to fund our journalism scholarship program
- Writing/Editing: Lending your time and talents to help create our weekly SCOOP.
Our Facebook Page
Let me know your thoughts on this and any other items concerning the PC. You can reach me at:
- Cell: 954-790-9889
- Email: Mark.Young@Bellsouth.net
Stay safe,
Mark