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
Tuesday 15 April 2014 at 1305
at the BPA Office, 5 Wharf Way, Glen Parva, Leicester LE2 9TF
Present: Adrian Bond - Chair
Paul Applegate
Alex Busby-Hicks
Brian Cumming
Craig Poxon
In attendance: Tony Butler - Chief Operating Officer
Zoë Francis-Cox - Publishing Director, Archant Dialogue
Jeff Montgomery - Safety & Technical Officer
Estelle Scott - Media Sales, Archant Dialogue
Martin Shuttleworth - Secretary-General (Secretary)
Mike Waters - Production Editor, Archant Dialogue
Apologies for absence: Liz Ashley - Editor, Skydive the Mag
Ian Rosenvinge
Observer: Jason Kelleher
Item Minute
16/14 Declarations of interest
No personal, material or financial interests were declared in relation to any items on the agenda of this meeting.
17/14 Minutes
The Committee noted that the minutes (circulated) of the meeting held on Tuesday 18 February 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/
18/14 Matters arising
18.1 Online renewals (minute 5.1)
A paper had been circulated to this afternoon’s meeting of the Development Committee, see Development Committee minute 21. Craig Poxon said he would arrange an e-mail to remind eligible members who had not yet renewed about the online renewal facility.
Action: Craig Poxon
18.2 Reason for the increase in advertising in the February issue of the Mag (minute 6)
Estelle Scott (Media Sales, Archant Dialogue) reported that this had been due to (i) one-off advertising inserts, and (ii) a mis-allocation, now corrected, of some advertising income for the April issue.
18.3 Electronic notification of BPA company documents to members (minute 6)
Zoë Francis-Cox (Archant Dialogue) reported that this could be achieved, by de-duplicating the ‘opt out’ list from the BPA e-Newsletter.
Noted with thanks
18.4 Can BPA member account password and username be used for e-Mag access? (minute 6)
Zoë Francis-Cox (Archant Dialogue) reported that unfortunately this could not be done, because the online Mag used PageSuite software that had no interface with the BPA website. However, she said she would arrange further investigation to see whether there might be any suitable bridging software available.
Action: Archant Dialogue
18.5 Starter Mag 2014 printing (minute 7)
The Starter Mag 2014 was now being printed. Archant Dialogue could now offer an interactive App for the Starter Mag, see minute 22.8.
18.6 New or lost advertisers (minute 8)
Estelle Scott (Media Sales, Archant Dialogue) reported that an AFF school was a new advertiser for the Starter Mag. There had been no new or lost advertisers to Skydive the Mag for April.
18.7 Press release on BPA Mag app (minute 8)
This had been completed.
18.8 Brand management of BPA websites (minute 9.2)
Zoë Francis-Cox (Archant Dialogue) reported that Archant Dialogue had drafted a new design that she would present later in the meeting (see minute 22.9). A budget was needed. She believed it was a good idea to merge the BPA and Mag websites. Any new website would be optimised for display on mobile devices.
18.9 Request from the Canadian Sport Parachuting Association to reproduce certain BPA training material (minute 10)
The arrangements had been agreed and accepted by BPA and CSPA.
18.10 Availability of new web domains (minute 14)
Craig Poxon reported that the bpa.co.uk domain was already in use by a pipeline association. Our registering the new ‘.uk’ suffix for the Mag website remained a possibility, but whether this was worth doing would depend on the future of the Mag website, on which the Committee had yet to decide (minute 22.9).
Noted
19/14 Report from Archant Dialogue including Editor’s Report
This had been circulated in advance. Mike Waters (Archant Dialogue) highlighted key points, including another 67 sales of the Mag app bringing the total to 370, an increase of 20%.
Non-member Magazine subscribers did not have access to the online Mag through the Mag website because they were not advised of the password and username. The Committee reflected that this was unfair, as non-member subscribers were subscribing to the content and so should be able to access it online as well as in hard copy. Archant Dialogue would therefore arrange to supply the access details to non-member subscribers going forward.
Action: Archant Dialogue
Brian Cumming passed around the table a copy of Drop Zone, a magazine about skydiving produced in London for the Dubai market. It had reproduced material from the BPA Magazine without permission and had sent BPA an apology and £450 as a retrospective agreement fee. Zoë Francis-Cox would co-ordinate arrangements to pay over the fee to BPA.
Action: Archant Dialogue
Zoë Francis-Cox reported that Archant Dialogue had entered Skydive the Mag for the Memcom membership communications awards - www.memcom.info It had been shortlisted in the sport and recreation category. The awards presentation was to be held on 30 April.
Noted
20/14 Mag title and brand
This item was held by the Committee in camera with BPA and Archant Dialogue staff. The observer left the room.
A confidential paper by the Chair had been circulated in advance to full Council, for whose meeting tonight this was also an agenda item. The paper set out specialist independent advice on possible solutions to reported confusion by some contributors to BPA’s Skydive the Mag between it and the website of its former Editor Lesley Gale skydivemag.com (which had been the URL of the BPA Mag when she had been its Editor - the BPA Mag was now at skydivethemag.com).
The Committee noted that when it had agreed to Lesley Gale’s suggestion that content republished on her website that had originally appeared in the BPA Mag should include a reference to its first publication, during her time as its Editor, on her own website - subject to inclusion of the acknowledgement ‘First published in the Journal of the British Parachute Association, [month, year]’ - (minute 52/13 of the meeting on 8 October 2013), it had taken as read that any such republication would be once she had also secured the agreement of the originators of the content concerned.
One option to help to resolve the confusion was for the BPA Magazine to rebrand, for which the paper cited a number of positive reasons. However, neither Liz Ashley, Editor of BPA’s Skydive the Mag - who was currently outside the UK and had made her input to the meeting by an e-mail dated 13 April (previously circulated) - nor Archant Dialogue, were in favour of a rebrand. Archant Dialogue had advised BPA to expand and build BPA’s established ‘Skydive’ brand. After discussion, the Committee agreed.
No rebrand
The Committee then considered the potential for development of BPA’s successful ‘Skydive’ brand to strengthen it and broaden the reach of the Mag. A number of developments were identified, and the Committee agreed that appropriate measures to safeguard the BPA’s intellectual property, including registration and trade mark protection, and registration of relevant of web domains, should be secured.
Action: Chair
The paper had included advice from an intellectual property specialist that had revealed an issue about registration of a trademark related to the BPA Mag that had apparently not been registered in BPA’s name. The Committee recommended to Council that this needed to be rectified.
Recommend to Council
The meeting then resumed in open session.
21/14 Communications Action Plan : 1 July 2013 to 30 June 2014
As recorded at minute 11 of the meeting on Tuesday 18 February 2014, this had been completed.
22/14 Communications Action Plan : 1 July 2014 to 30 June 2015
A paper from Brian Cumming and a paper from the Secretary had been circulated in advance for this item.
1. The ideas in Brian Cumming’s paper (1 to 6 in this list) were considered. The first was to introduce a strapline for the BPA. In discussion, the Committee considered it challenging to encapsulate the BPA or the sport into a single strapline, which might even suggest one strapline for use within the membership and another for outside - but that would be more complicated. The Secretary noted that sometimes the BPA logo appeared (as on the old car stickers) with only the initials BPA, leaving the name of the Association to guess for those who did not know (or could not work out from the logo)! The Chair said any ideas for a BPA strapline would be welcome for consideration.
Ideas invited
2. A BPA Council opinion column in the Mag about what Council does, and how it spends members’ subscriptions to give value for money. Brian Cumming had included some examples from the USPA Mag with his paper. Such a column might fall to the Chair of Council and sometimes Committee chairs to contribute, so the meeting advised Brian Cumming to discuss his idea with Martin Soulsby and the Committee chairs.
Action: Brian Cumming
3. Revamp and energise (i) the membership renewal letter and (ii) the letter sent to members on achieving a new licence. Enclose with the letter a car sticker etc, and calendar for new full members. The Secretary tabled a copy of the current letters. Brian Cumming noted that the renewal letter did not include warm greeting such as ‘Welcome back for another year’ nor use the words ‘thank you’. The Chief Operating Officer said the wording could certainly be reviewed for the future, but did not believe this needed to be formally categorised as an Action Plan target. The Committee agreed.
Action: BPA Office
4. Simplify the process for renewing online. This was a matter for the Development Committee. The current online renewal process was the result of long development with Archant Dialogue who were working within the constraints of the existing BPA membership database. However, the Development Committee had commissioned the development of a tender specification for a new BPA membership database, and the Secretary would forward Brian Cumming’s suggestions for simplification to the author of the specification.
Action: Secretary
5. Issue car window stickers, preferably to mention both the BPA and the Mag, for distribution with renewal/new licence letters, and perhaps also as an insert to the Starter Mag. The BPA 50th anniversary car stickers, which were produced in 2011, cost 12p each for 6,000. BPA logo stickers had been issued a few years before that, but never been annually. The Committee agreed to consider this idea further in the light of a suggested design.
Action: Brian Cumming / Secretary
6. Work towards the BPA Operations Manual being certified by the Plain English Society. The Chair said this was a matter for STC. Alex Busby-Hicks, as a CCI and therefore a member of STC, said that some of the issues could be more to do with technical interpretation than language. The Chair suggested that Brian Cumming may wish to read through the Operations Manual and identify [to STC] any wording that he may consider might benefit from being expressed more clearly.
Action: Brian Cumming
7. The Committee then turned to the Secretary’s paper, which called attention to synergy between BPA communications and Archant Group’s corporate strategy of ‘inspiring communities’. It went on to suggest that BPA’s media partnership with Archant Dialogue could be captured in a BPA communications strategy of ‘Inspiring and growing the skydiving community’. The paper also cited an example communications strategy from another Sports National Governing Body, Bowls England, which could be viewed on the Sport & Recreation Alliance’s website. The Committee agreed that preparation and publication of a BPA communications strategy along such lines as an Action Plan target.
Agreed target
8. Zoë Francis-Cox (Archant Dialogue) next demonstrated the interactive ‘Skydive Starter App’ on a mobile device. It was a mock-up that enhanced the digital version of the Starter Mag with multi-media interactive features. The Committee was very impressed. The cost was about £1K a year for hosting and maintenance, plus a £2.5K one-off production cost. An Android version would be available at a small additional cost. Production time would be around 3 weeks. The Committee agreed this as an Action Plan target.
Agreed target
9. Zoë Francis-Cox then tabled a draft of a suggested new combined website for the BPA and the Mag, having briefed a designer on the basis of discussion at the last meeting. It brought together the two brands of ‘BPA’ and ‘Skydive the Mag’ and provided links with social media. The BPA Archive website would be left as it was, but linked to this new site. The Secretary said that his understanding of the Committee’s idea of combining the BPA and Mag websites had not been to combine the brands, but to run them through a single portal with the Mag brand as a communications brand, with the BPA retaining its own corporate identity as the sport’s National Governing Body.
The Chair asked that the electronic version of the draft design for a new website should be circulated to the Committee for review and discussed at the next meeting.
Action: Archant Dialogue & Secretary / Next meeting
The Committee confirmed review if the BPA and Mag websites, and their look and feel, to be an Action Plan target.
Agreed target
10. Finally, for public relations, the Chair suggested that we should aim to issue a monthly or at least bi-monthly news release on stories such as the new Mag app (already done, minute 18.7), any Memcom award (minute 19), BPA members’ success in the award of Royal Aero Club Trust ‘Flying for Youth’ Bursaries and other good news during the year. The Committee agreed.
Agreed target
23/14 BPA AGM Day
The Chair reported on a deal he had negotiated with the East Midlands Conference Centre to host the BPA AGM and Associated Events for the next 3 years, 2015-7. He reported on the costs, which were highly competitive. There was an option at the end of Year 2 to negotiate a further 3-year deal. He said the venue was keen to have BPA back, and had learned about the demands of our event from hosting our first visit there last January. The Committee recommended acceptance to Council.
Recommend to Council