British Parachute Association bpa.org.uk
Wharf Way, Glen Parva, Leicester LE2 9TF
Tel: 0116 278 5271, Fax: 0116 247 7662, e-mail:
Communications Committee
Minutes of the meeting held on
Saturday 6 December 2014 at 10:00
at Blaby Civic Centre, 22-24 Leicester Road, Blaby, Leicester LE8 4GQ
Present (quorum is 2): Adrian Bond - Chair
Paul Applegate
Brian Cumming
Craig Poxon - Vice Chair & Development Chair
Ian Rosenvinge
Martin Soulsby - Chair of Council
In attendance: Liz Ashley - Editor, Skydive the Mag
Tony Butler - Chief Operating Officer (COO)
Debbie Carter - Treasurer
Alex Crawley - Commercial Account Manager,
Archant Dialogue
Jeff Montgomery - Safety & Technical Officer (STO)
Martin Shuttleworth - Secretary-General (Secretary)
Apologies for absence: Zoë Francis-Cox - Publishing Director,
Archant Dialogue
John Hitchen - Vice President, IPC Alt Delegate
& STC Chair
Mike Waters - Production Editor,
Archant Dialogue
Brian Vacher - ref item 66.2
Observers: Gordon Blamire - Council 2015 candidate
Jack Bradford - Council 2015 candidate
Jason Kelleher (from item 64) - Council 2015 candidate
Mike Lewis - Council 2015 candidate
Yassi M olazadeh (from item 62.2) - Council 2015 candidate
Item Minute
58/14 Welcome
The Chair welcomed those candidates for Council 2015 who were observing.
59/14 Declarations of interest
Declarations of interest are recorded where they arise.
60/14 Minutes
The Committee noted that the minutes (circulated) of the meeting held on Tuesday 7 October 2014 had been approved by the Committee and ratified by Council electronically and published on the BPA website at bpa.org.uk/member/agendas-and-minutes/
61/14 Matters arising
61.1 BPA strapline (minute 52.1)
Brian Cumming was planning a virtual meeting with 5 or 6 members to discuss options. He would report to the Communications Committee meeting in February.
Action: Brian Cumming
61.2 Council opinion column in the Mag (minute 52.2)
The Chair of Council and the Communications Chair had featured in the first two columns, in the October and December 2014 issues respectively of Skydive the Mag. Next up would be the Development Chair in the February 2015 issue.
Action: Development Chair
61.3 Poster for freeflyers: who can jump with whom? (minute 52.4)
The meeting decided that a poster was not in fact the best way to convey detailed information of this kind in today’s digitally interactive app-driven world of communications. More appropriate communication channels would be considered in future, such as in next year’s Communications Action Plan, but the idea of a poster would not be progressed.
Poster not to be progressed
61.4 Poster including QR code to promote BPA Skydive Starter Mag Tablet App - Archant Dialogue (minute 53)
See minute 66.3.
61.5 Definition of tablet and smartphone and ‘lite’ version of the Starter Mag for iPhone and Android smartphones (minute 53)
A BPA App survey by Archant Dialogue had been circulated in advance. The survey showed that 60% of access to the PageSuite version was by Smartphones. There was an increasingly blurred line between smartphones and tablets as their technologies converged.
Noted
62/14 Report from Archant Dialogue including Editor’s Report
62.1 December 2014 issue of BPA Skydive the Mag
This had been circulated in advance. The BPA Skydive Calendar 2015 and the BPA Skydive the Expo 2015 Showguide had been circulated as inserts to the December 2014 issue of BPA Skydive the Mag. The content had included a new feature, Canopy Corner.
The Chair noted that the front of the calendar read ‘Calendar 2014’ with a strapline in smaller characters ‘since 1964’ which he thought came across oddly. The ‘since 1964’ was the Mag strapline but it did not seem to work in the way it had been used on the calendar. Paul Applegate asked whether the calendar had been circulated to the Committee in draft. The Chair said it was not necessary.
The Editor report noted that cartoonist Baz and crossword-compiler Paul Boorer were both standing down, at least for the time being. Craig Poxon suggested, and the Committee agreed, that BPA award a Certificate of Merit to each of them.
Agreed - Action: BPA Office
The Chair believed the December issue had missed an opportunity to promote BPA Skydive the Expo 2015 by not giving it dedicated space, as had originally been planned. The Editor said she had decided to instead to make a number of references to the Expo across the Mag. The Secretary said he had drafted ‘BPA Zone’ blind, in the expectation that there would be coverage elsewhere in the issue based on comprehensive copy he had submitted ahead of the October issue. He believed we had not got all our ducks in a row on this, and contrasted the coverage of the Expo unfavourably with the full-page paid ad for the PIA Symposium in March 2015.
62.2 Policy on including Affiliated DZs
In discussion of the DZ map and contact details page, the Committee decided on a policy that all Affiliated DZs that were available to members should be included on that page and on the corresponding page of the BPA website.
Policy decided
62.3 Possible increase in pagination
The Editor asked about increasing the pagination of future issues. Alex Crawley (Archant Dialogue) said present advertising revenue alone would be unlikely to sustain the cost of this as core advertising had shown a decrease of almost £3K year-on-year. The December issue had been one of the lowest-revenue issues, and had in effect been competing with its own calendar for advertising. The Chair reminded the Committee that the contractual basis with Archant Dialogue was that BPA paid a fixed fee, whilst Archant Dialogue retained the revenue from advertising. However, the Chair asked the Editor to present to a future meeting the costs of increasing pagination.
Action: Editor
The Committee noted the Editor’s Report with thanks.
63/14 Skydiving image for use on the BPA membership card 2015-6
The Editor had prepared a shortlist of selected images, from which Committee members would choose outside the meeting.
Action: Editor & rest of Committee
64/14 Safeguarding BPA intellectual property
The Chair asked that this item be held in camera. Observers therefore left the room. A report from Matt Worsnop of BHW Solicitors entitled ‘Skydive the Mag, Report in Respect of trade mark UK00002496199 registered in the name of Lesley Gale’ had been circulated with the agenda. Lesley Gale had agreed to speak with Matt Worsnop by ‘phone, but as she was currently or recently had been in Dubai, the call had yet to take place. The meeting noted the report with thanks.
Noted
The meeting then returned to open session.
65/14 BPA Facebook page
A paper by Jackie Harper had been circulated with the agenda. It suggested we should be making more of the BPA Facebook page, as not all relevant skydiving events in which members had been involved had been covered. The Chair of Council said that he and the Vice Chair were the main administrators of the BPA Facebook page. He agreed with what Jackie Harper had said in her paper. However, there were practical difficulties. The page administrators relied largely on feeds from members, teams and other organisations to get items, as few were sent to them direct. And sometimes images on other Facebook sites could not be used on ours.
With regard to promoting events, to keep within manageable bounds, only BPA events and events to which BPA was sending a delegation, were promoted on the BPA Facebook page. In discussion it was noted that to promote a BPA event it was really important that as many people as possible ‘like’ the event. Because of the way that Facebook's algorithms worked, the more likes, the more times the event was repeated on people’s timelines and the higher up the ranking it would appear.
It was suggested that Heads of Delegation, Competition Discipline Reps etc should have access to the BPA Facebook page to post direct about BPA events with which they were involved. Every BPA event should be listed on the events page of the BPA website - but this was too onerous a job for any one individual. In our case it was essential that page administrators were familiar with the sport and had lots of skydiving friends on Facebook so as to be at the nexus of social media in the sport, so that news and information came to them.
The Secretary said some membership bodies had an editorial department including a digital editorial assistant. He said BPA had been lucky that the Chair and Vice Chair were the main Facebook page administrators because this had avoided embarrassing editorial mistakes in content, be they technical or political, although he was concerned about the time commitment on them on top of all their other BPA responsibilities not to mention their pay-the-bills careers outside skydiving.
The conclusion was that to be effective, social media needed a collaborative, social, effort!
66/14 Communications Action Plan : 1 July 2014 to 30 June 2015
66.1 Target 1: Publish a communications strategy on inspiring and growing the skydiving community drawing on Archant’s corporate strategy of inspiring communities
The latest draft had been circulated in advance. The Committee approved it in principle, subject to final variations which the Secretary would co-ordinate.
Action: Secretary
66.2 Consider options to review and update the BPA website to give it a new look and feel
A paper by Brian Vacher had been circulated with the agenda. The Secretary noted that a meeting had taken place at Archant Dialogue to which he had not been party, which had made staff and himself in particular feel left out as he had worked for many years on content management of the BPA website. The Editor noted that she had yet to be consulted.
Noted
66.3 Develop an innovative Starter Mag app which was dynamic and interactive. Cost: £2.75k for development, plus £1k/year for maintenance/hosting
The tablet app had been released.
App for Tablets successfully released
Archant Dialogue had said they would reduce the normal cost of £1,400 to £800 for a ‘lite’ version to go on smartphones. The Editor asked to see a demonstration of what the ‘lite’ version would include, and asked that it should state that the full version was available via the app for Tablets. Craig Poxon said it was not clear to him whether producing a ‘lite’ version would be value for money, as many smartphone users appeared already to be accessing the Starter Mag digitally via the PageSuite software on the Mag website (minute 61.5).
Ian Rosenvinge proposed, and Craig Poxon seconded, a motion conditionally to agree to pay Archant Dialogue £800 for a smartphone app for the BPA Skydive Starter Mag, the condition being that the Editor and the rest of the Committee should first be satisfied as to what the content would be.
Carried unanimously
Action: Archant Dialogue
With regard to the draft poster including QR code to promote BPA Skydive Starter Mag Tablet App,the Committee approved the draft tabled by Alex Crawley (Archant Dialogue), subject to (i) its size being increased to A1, (ii) the two QR codes being better spaced further apart, such as one to the right and one to the left, to avoid interference, and (iii) the addition of a date of publication. Craig Poxon said there would need to be 4 QR codes to include the planned smartphone App were developed.
Action: Archant Dialogue
66.4 Embark on a regular PR campaign, ideally once a month
The next news release would be about BPA Skydive the Expo 2015. The Chair noted that we had done twice as much PR this year as last year.
Ongoing
66.5 Combine the support of media partners Archant Dialogue and event contractors
EventPro to relaunch, improve and enhance the exhibition on the day of the AGM on Saturday 24 January 2015
See minute 67 below.
67/14 BPA Skydive the Expo - Saturday 24 January 2015 at EMCC Nottingham
Alex Crawley (Archant Dialogue) reported on exhibition space sales and sponsorship of £7.6K including Jeep, who were bringing a new launch vehicle into the UK early. He was promoting the event to the action sports market including ski-ing brands. £11K was a steep target, especially with the PIA Symposium in the USA in March 2015, but he remained hopeful of achieving it by working flat-out. NZ Aerosports, who exhibited this year, had decided to exhibit every other year, because of the distance from New Zealand. The Secretary said it was reassuring to have an events sales professional in Alex Crawley on the team.
The following points were recorded:
· The Chair reported he was arranging three entertainment acts for the evening, The PeteBox, Ryan Mancey and Grounded.
· On Sunday 25 January, from 1100-1300, there would be a table-top sale of skydiving kit and accessories in the mezzanine foyer of the Orchard Hotel.
· Rooms at the Orchard were now almost sold out, but a range of other accommodation in Nottingham was of course available.
· The Expo Facebook page had only about 374 ‘likes’ and the Chair asked the Committee to ‘like’ it and get their skydiving friends to do the same. Jack Bradford (observer) suggested making the BPA Facebook page a host of the Expo Facebook page.
· After obtaining quotations from a number of different providers, the Chair had arranged for BPA member Blair Stent, who ran his own video production company, to record the seminars and upload them online. Blair Stent would also be compiling the video of ‘The skydiving year 2015’ to be shown at the AGM. He asked that Competitions Discipline Reps should help to procure relevant footage for Blair Stent.
Action: Competitions Committee
Craig Poxon noted that the Governance seminar would be held in the Hotel, not EMCC, and he would be covering this with his own camera. He noted that PIA had a camera roving its exhibition stands and asked whether this was something Blair Stent could also do, or whether it would be most appropriate for Skydive tv who were understood to have expressed an interest in covering the Expo. The Chair said this had yet to unfold.
68/14 Correspondence
A member had contacted the Secretary to offer a seminar at the Expo for a charity jump they with three colleague skydivers were organising for a good cause outside the UK. The Expo seminar programme was now complete. The meeting noted that charitable links with previous BPA AGM Days had been connected with registered charities and for the benefit of good causes in the UK. The meeting agreed to offer the member an exhibition space at the Expo half price, should the member want this, on production by the member of evidence that the fundraising activities were on behalf of a registered charity.