ENewsletters

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E-Newsletters

• A New Paradigm in School Communications

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Why Electronic Newsletters

• School newsletters generally remain the preferred
  communication forms for parents and others in the
  community
• People want to hear directly from schools and
  their leaders on key school issues
• Twenty years ago, the introduction of desktop
  publishing offered new options that reduced
  production costs and time
• Today digital publishing offers schools more of
  these options

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Advantages of E-Publications

• The e-newsletter can be distributed quickly and
  inexpensively to parents, churches, and
  constituents
• The e-newsletter can be quickly forwarded by
  recipients to other interested persons with whom
  they would like to share your news
• The e-newsletter can include links to more
  detailed information such as the school or
  teacher web site.
• The e-newsletter can help schools measure their
  communication program and help them collect
  feedback from readers easily and efficiently

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Concerns

• Will our parents have access to computers to
  receive our newsletters?
• Do enough people in our community have high-speed
  internet access, making easy access to our
  newsletters available?
• Do enough people in our community have the
  computer skills necessary to be comfortable using
  the e-newsletters?
• Can we make our material unique enough to stand
  out from the avalanche of junk mail and other
  unwanted e-mail that clutters many e-mail boxes?

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Computer Usage in the U.S.
Household Income Less than 30,000 55 30,000 -
49,000 82 50,0000-74,000 92 75,000 93

• Gender
• Male 73
• Female 72

• Age
• Ages 18 - 27 85
• Ages 28 - 39 87
• Ages 40 49 84
• Ages 50 - 58 76
• Ages 59 - 68 57
• Ages 69 24

• Education
• Less than high school 39
• High School graduate 67
• Some college courses 84
• College graduate/post 91

Source Pew Internet American Life Project
Tracking Survey March 1, 2004
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Advantages

• Parents are more likely to read e-publications
  than some traditional print publications
• Many in the community would access e-publications
  while at work where they have ready access to
  high-speed internet
• Traditional print publications are often seen as
  products that parents use in their homes where
  e-newsletters are more likely to be viewed as
  resources
• Easier to contact a broader range of reader and
  to transmit news about the school

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Types of E-Newsletters

• Text
• PDF
• HTML

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Text E-Newsletter

• Advantages
• Easy almost anyone can utilize this
• Uses word processor
• Everybody can read it
• Since it is just text it is more likely to pass
  through spam filters
• Easy and quick to prepare
• Speedier downloading
• Dis-Advantages
• Plain vanilla
• Limited

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Sample of Simple Text
From Loma Vista Adventist Elementary School To
Mary Smith Date Friday, May 5, 2006 SPRING
CLEANING on Sunday, May 14, we will have our
annual Spring Cleaning Day. Everyone is
invited to bring their work clothes, dust rags,
brooms, hammers, etc. and assist us in sprucing
up our school before graduation. Contact the
school office [phone] for more
information NO SCHOOL - There will be no school
on Monday, May 8. The school staff will be
involved in a conference-wide training program on
brain-learning. School will resume on Tuesday.
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PDF Newsletter

• It is the most commonly used format today in
  distributing e-newsletters.
• You can produce it in many different formats and
  word processors and still be read by any computer
• Allows you to use more colors and graphics for a
  more sophisticated look and feel.

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(No Transcript)
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HTML Newsletter

• HTML (hypertext markup language) e-newsletter is
  more like a web page
• Advantages
• It can include graphics, sounds, color, columns,
  links, and even video.
• This is a richer, more interactive experience for
  the reader
• Links in HTML newsletters can be customized so
  that click- throughs by your recipients
  can be tracked so that you will know what is
  being read and what is not.
• Disadvantages
• Because it is more complicated can present
  technical issues that can be tough for schools
  without adequate technical support
• May appear as garbled nonsense to recipients who
  are set up to receive text-only email (however,
  it is estimated by online marketers that 90 of
  users today are able to utilize html newsletters)
• Can fall prey to spam filters

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HTML Contd

• Summary
• HTML is clearly the trend of the future with
  newer technology making it easier to both send
  and receive.
• Suggested software that may be used to create
  HTML newsletters include the popular
  Dreamweaver and Front Page programs.

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Questions to Ask

• What technology can we use to best create our
  e-publication, store it, and distribute it?
• Designing and creating your e-newsletter is only
  the beginning
• You need both a method and a system for designing
  your publication and one for distributing them
• How will we compile a distribution list?
• Some lists will be easy parents
• Other lists such as interested people in the
  commuity will need to be compiled
• How will we manage our distribution lists?
• How will people be able to get on or off your
  lists?
• How will people be able to update or change their
  e-mail address?
• Who will manage them?
• Do we have adequate resources and expertise to do
  this all in-house or should we seek outside help?

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Links

• www.ascd.org
• www.nspra.org
• www.charactercounts.org
• www.Bartleby.com

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Where to Find Content That People Will Read

• Classrooms
• Boardroom
• School Administration
• Events
• School
• Church
• Community
• Budgets
• People
• Issues
• www.ascd.org/news issues/education
  issues/lexicon of learning

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Writing Tips

• Why does this matter?
• Limit passive voice
• Pick strong verbs
• Clarity
• Bloat
• Tone
• Transitions

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Why Does This Matter?

• Does your publication make a difference?
• What is your objective?
• Should the copy simply inform the reader of a
  certain set of facts or
• Should the copy encourage the reader to
  acknowledge or agree with your perspective or
• Should the copy prompt the reader to take a
  specific action?

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Limit Passive Verbs

• Passive voice verbs can be used to add emphasis
  and variety to your article but passive voice is
  frequently overused.
• Using Passive voice create dull and dreary copy
  with resulting longer sentences
• Before The Outstanding Teacher of the Year
  Award was presented to Billy Bob Smith yesterday.
• After Billy Bob won the Outstanding Teacher of
  the Year Award yesterday
• Note the passive sentence takes 13 words to make
  its point and the activity in the sentence
  centers on the thing (the Award)
• The Active voice uses only 11 words (a
  significant 15 cut). Also the Active puts the
  action on the person

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Pick Strong Verbs

• Verbs can lose impact when the writer, often
  unknowingly, coverts them to nouns. For example
• Original
• The superintendent made a suggestion that we
  vote.
• Better
• The superintendent suggested that we vote.
• Feeble words are another sign of weak copy
• Short, punchy verbs communicate a clear specific
  action

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Clarity

• Use words your readers are comfortable with.
  Create specific calls to action in ways that make
  the readers action easy and immediate
• Before
• Parents make it a priority to read the new
  testing report which can be found on the school
  web site.
• Better
• Parents can read highlights from this important
  new testing report by clicking here. The full
  report is available by clicking here.
• Lack of clarity causes copy to lose ability to
  create clear, inspiring copy. The result is
  dense and fuzzy copy.

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Bloat

• Bloat are unnecessary words in phrases in
  sentences.
• Look for phrases like There is or There are
  and delete them. For Example
• Original
• There are 40 students who won scholarships. (7
  words)
• Better
• Forty students won scholarships. (4 words)
• Dump redundancies that are multi-word
  combinations that simply repeat what one word can
  do. Like
• Cancel rather than cancel out, innovation not new
  intervention

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Tone

• Use positive statements to convey information and
  details.
• Negatives often create a distrustful tone not
  conducive to prompting action.
• Original
• The main office closes at 430 p.m.
• Better
• The main office is open until 430 p.m.

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Closing

• Know your objectives
• Have a clear defined objective
• Have a clear defined audience
• Pace yourself
• Know your limits
• Start small then grow as you grow
• In skills
• In vision
• In audience

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Questions
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Thanks For Coming

• Presented at NAD Teacher Convention 2006
• Susan Vlach Richard Carey
• Southeastern California Conference
• RichardCarey1_at_cs.com