The future of ACC storytelling
The beginning of a new year is a great time to take stock, reassess assumptions, and be open to change. The ACC communications team is taking the opportunity to reimagine how we can improve our delivery of the club’s stories to our members.
So far, we’ve identified that one of our prominent storytelling channels, the ACC Gazette, could see some changes this year. The Gazette, which is currently published three times each year, has been a vital part of our club’s history, and is something that is dear to our hearts. AND, with print and shipping costs rising consistently over the past few years, printing the magazine has also become a significantly greater expense.
With this in mind, we hope to gather input about your reading habits and preferences in relation to the ACC Gazette. Your responses to the survey (linked below) will help shape how the ACC shares our members’ stories this year and into the future.
Go right to the survey by clicking the button below, or read on for some more background and a few little incentives we’re offering for those who take the survey. Thank you!
Take the survey and be entered to win your choice of one of these gifts.
ACC Gazette history
The Gazette has been our club’s member magazine since the early 1970s. What began as a photocopied newsletter mailed to some 1,500 members has grown into the three-times a year, 48-page magazine that we know today. The magazine features the great geography of our country (along with international stories), as well as the wide range of activities that motivate our members. Lots has changed over the years, but the purpose has always been the same: to keep our members informed about and inspired by the goings-on in their club. Stories and articles are contributed by our board, our sections and most of all, our members. It’s always been “by members, for members” magazine.
RISING COSTS
Costs are going up, big time. Since the 1970s, the cost of producing the Gazette has increased enormously. For our first issues, the total cost per membership was a few pages on a photocopier and a 5-cent stamp. Today, print runs and postage cost many thousands of dollars per issue. These costs have been increasing significantly over the past five years and it’s clear that they’re going to continue to go up.
The other thing that’s changed radically since the 70s is the breadth of options we now have to communicate news and share stories. Between the Canmore Clubhouse hostel, Shadow Lake Lodge, and all the other ACC activities, the club maintains six websites, three blogs, four email newsletters, and eight social media channels. The club also has 25 local sections, each of which operate websites, social channels, and newsletters of their own. With all this communication available to our club, it’s important that we know which of them our members value most, and how they interact with them.
The way forward
The options for telling the ACC’s stories are many, but here are some of the possibilities we’re considering and are requesting your feedback on in the survey:
1. Keep the Gazette in its current 3x per year print format and make up the costs of printing and mailing, but add a surcharge on membership. We’d also like to know what additional price you would be happy to pay in order to receive three annual issues.
2. Rather than printing, we could share those same member stories by publishing them on the Aspects blog (right here!). Readers would be directed to these stories, as they are now, through our newsletters and social channels, and/or by subscribing to the blog directly.
3. Morph the Gazette into some kind of all-new annual publication. This could look something like a yearbook, and would highlight the best writing and most awesome photos from the past year’s submissions to the Aspects blog, packaged in a handsome print volume. Again, we’d like to know, what if anything would you be willing to pay for such an annual book/journal?
4. There are many other options to consider. Feel free to let us know your ideas in the survey!
A Little Incentive
Three names will be drawn from those who complete the survey and each winner will receive their choice of one of these gifts:
