Quality of publications

[NigeCh]

The RYA is totally out of touch with Joe Punter and this is well demonstrated by your useless magazine. Meanwhile your booklets are second to none. Why can't you apply the quality of your booklets to both the magazine and the membership in general?

You're perfectly entitled to your own views on RYA Magazine and our training booklets. So is Joe Punter, who may or may not agree with you. What both of you are looking at are different parts of a whole range of initiatives that go to make up the RYA's total communications mix. That's everything from the Magazine to the website, newsletters to committee papers, press releases to media briefings, training courses to publications, coaching programmes to technical and legal advice - and so on.

Ironically, both the Magazine and our booklets are produced by the same department, with the same team and resources. Your view of the Magazine suggests you have expectations of it that are actually catered for better by other RYA communications. I'll concede that may be our fault.

The Magazine's main purpose is to serve as a general communications channel, so we try to ensure there's some information in it of relevance to all our members. We may or may not succeed. But we're not complacent, and nothing is set in stone. If you have specific ideas to make the Magazine more relevant to you as well as Joe Punter, let's please have them. Generalised comments of the "it's ****" variety help no-one to improve anything.

Two caveats. One is that we're not ever going to try to set the Magazine up to compete with Yachting Monthly, PBO, Sailing Today or any of the specialised monthly titles. The other is that we're not going to pay too much attention to members who put down aspects of our communications while admitting they never actually look at them. Effective communications is a two-way process, and needs a bit of effort on both sides.




<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by kimhollamby on 14/01/2003 16:47 (server time).</FONT></P>

[zefender]

"we're not ever going to try to set the Magazine up to compete with Yachting Monthly, PBO, Sailing Today or any of the specialised monthly titles"

Why not? If the publication doesn't have competitive ambition, surely it will never raise its game? It already has several times the readership of any of the titles and presumably takes quite a bit of advertising revenue from them already?

We don't think it's part of the RYA's core purpose to be taking on the consumer marine press who, by and large, seem to do a pretty good job in reflecting and catering for the diveristy of different interests in the UK boating community. That's not to say we won't challenge the views they express if we think that's the right thing to do on behalf of our members.

[mike_kolling]

"we're not ever going to try to set the Magazine up to compete with Yachting Monthly, PBO, Sailing Today or any of the specialised monthly titles. "

This speaks volumes....no motorboat titles in here, the RYA, even the name Royal YACHTING Association - whats in it for a motorboater like me?

We always seem to come last as an afterthought.

[bigmart]

If you check out the post about RYA & PR problem you will see that the majority of cruising activities organised by the RYA cruising section are aimed at motor boaters. So I am now an agrieved Raggie.

Martin

"we're not ever going to try to set the Magazine up to compete with Yachting Monthly, PBO, Sailing Today or any of the specialised monthly titles. "

For any of the named examples, please read any of your own favourite magazines. There's no conspiracy afoot to do down motoboating.