Newsletters are both a core communication method with members and are referenced on the individual site pages.

1. Why Does SAPAA Need a Newsletter?
2. Newsletter in Context to Other Content
3. Newsletter Management Notes
4. General Structure
5. Writing Style
6. Building a Newsletter

Why Does SAPAA Need a Newsletter?

SAPAA’s newsletter does the following:

• Official Communications to its members. This is supplemented by emails, the PA Visits etc. (blog), SAPAA FaceBook, etc.
• Permanent Record for future references, for example on individual web pages.
• Organizational Credibility by producing a reasonable quality ‘journal’ that can be potentially referenced by other organizations or the government.
• Community and Updates for SAPAA members.

Newsletter in Context to Other Content

The newsletter presents more formal information and is closer to a journal than a chatty membership engagement tool. Other ways to content with (in order of importance) Members, Stewards, the government, peer organizations (non-members), and the public:

1. Posts and Blogs (via PA Visits): Focus on a particular event or topic in detail. For example, a site inspection, field trip, editorial, meeting notice, etc.
2. Connect & Read: links to key member resources as well as highlights of in/external activities not worthy of a Newsletter article or Post.
3. FaceBook: Communication to the public in the most immediate manner. Links are typically via a Newsletter article or Post.

Newsletter Management Notes

Current Technology and Key Guidelines

The newsletter uses the following over-arching structure and business rules. A writing style guide is discussed in the next section.

1. Technology. The current ‘container‘ for the SAPAA Newsletter is a WordPress Page. This page is linked to the parent Newsletters (1999 to Present) page.
2. Primary Device Assumption. In structuring the newsletter, it is assumed that it will be read, in order of priority, on the following types of devices: 1) smart phone, 2) desktop computer, and 3) tablet. Newsletter structure, writing style, etc. should consider this.
3. Courtesy Copy: The editorial team may choose to create a courtesy copy which is in a more traditional, printed format. The current technology for this courtesy copy is a Google Docs hosted on SAPAA’s GWS.
4. Newsletter Distribution is currently via an email sent by the president to current members and partner organizations.
5. Newsletter Workshop is on GWS Shared Drive: [CURRENT YEAR] > Newsletter > [Current newsletter, e.g. April 2098, #99].
6. Newsletter Updates, minor or otherwise, are done to the online version, the courtesy copy is generally never updated except for significant errors.

General Structure

The newsletter has the following components with the indicated current resource assignments.

Component	Purpose	Responsible
Web Page	The over arching ‘container’	Webmaster
GDrive Folder	The ‘workshop’ to hold photos, copy, etc.	Webmaster
Title	Identification of the newsletter: SAPAA Newsletter No. [99], [MONTH YEAR]	Webmaster
Hook & Excerpt	Short overview of the newsletter, < 300 characters.	Webmaster
Header Image	A 3:1 aspect ratio recent photo with a text overlay of the Newsletter title. Created as a Google Drawing and downloaded as a jpg.	Webmaster
Table of Contents	Hyperlinked via book marks to the key sections of the newsletter	Webmaster
Editorial	Written by a board member.	President
— Top —	Courtesy hyperlink jumps to the Table of Contents	Webmaster
Story Header	Heading style 1, title bold and author normal	Editor
Story Structure	Paragraphs broken up with with Heading style 2 if longer and leading bold words summarizing the paragraph in 1-5 words.	Editor
Images	Image supporting the text about every 2-3 paragraphs with a relevant caption.	Editor
Close	Editorial Team, Links and Resources at a Glance.	Webmaster

Writing Style

The newsletter uses the SAPAA Website Writing Style Guide and Image-Management.

The following is meant as a guide for those new to the blog format. More experience writers may deviate noting the above guidelines.

• Hook: 1-2 sentences basically providing the blog’s theme.
• Image: often a photo or a map, included to support the hook but also to support promotion of the blog itself.
• Story: 200-1,000 words, broken out be lots of headings, lists, etc. Scannable is the key attribute for a good blog.
• Images (optional): a slide show of 2-12 images at the bottom
• References and notes (optional): if a statistic is provided in the story, use square brackets [99] and then a numbered list at the bottom.

Building a Newsletter

At the start of the writing process, the webmaster will set up the relevant structures. The designated editor will upload content and unprocessed photos to the GDrive as well as initially populated the newsletter web page. The editorial team will finalize the web page and the webmaster will create the courtesy copy as a final step.

Detailed Steps are Contained in the [NEWSLETTER TEMPLATE]. Instructions are deleted as completed.