The key with setting up a newsletter is flexibility -- you are covering people, specifically, YFC.

When The Word started, Manny Doctor (shorter brother, left) decided what stories to write and assigned them to people, usually leaders. He used MS Word's newsletter format, went to Kinko's and made the copies himself, and went to a General Assembly to distribute his work. He wrote the stories, edited the ones given to him, and designed the whole thing himself. He was also the one who chose the name that until now is known as YFC-Illinois' official newsletter. The Word was revived in 2000 in time for the Seattle Victory Conference, and was distributed to Illinois delegates as well as other YFC delegates until the 100 copies ran out.

The Word original issue The issue immediately after Seattle conference.

Before setting sail for Seattle, we announced over email that we were going to revive the newsletter and that we were looking for stories. Aimee del Mundo (left) and Jeyne Ladaga (below) approached the editor at a meeting almost immediately after the email was sent out and offered to write The Word's first sharings in three years.

That convinced the editor that at least one summer issue of The Word would be worth all the work. Aside from the two sharings, she wrote two other articles and published two more sharings that were sent over email. July 21, 2000's issue came out, one 8 x 11 page, back to back.

Soon The Word print edition became BANG the newsletter, an 8 x 14 legal size, back to back newsletter distributed to all of Illinois and the rest of the U.S. 

THE COMMUNICATIONS TEAM SHOULD:

1. Formulate a vision for your newsletter. To an extent, vision is some sort of understanding what you are. We've grappled with this concept and learned we won't really learn it in one sitting or one weekend. Since we were all starters in this thing, we decided to dig deep and strip: We changed our vision from:

The Word, 2000-2001: This is the noise we make (Borrowed from the song, "The Noise We Make" popularized by Passion Worship Band.)

to

The Word, 2002: See a new creation (No two creations of God are exactly the same. And you will see those new creations by reading about them!)

to

The Word is YFC-Illinois' newsletter.

It's significantly less flowery and maybe less inspiring than the first two concepts, but it works for now. It is simple, clear and straight to the point -- a stark contrast to many of the topics we write about.

Saying we're a newsletter already implies that we are a communications tool, that people who belong to the newsletter express themselves by writing, drawing or taking pictures, and expect that people will read and react to what we say.

Your visions must suit the whole team for it to work, and this unadorned description is, we think, just what The Word needs. [ more ]

2. Formulate a mission for your newsletter. A mission is a specific task which you devote yourself to until it is completed. A mission is usually one you assign yourself to do or something someone else has asked you to do. What duties you'd like for your newsletter to do? Who's it for? What do you want it to accomplish in the end?

We slightly changed missions for this year's newsletter.

From:
The Word Mission, 2000-2002, old: We at the YFC-Illinois Newsletter want to point to Jesus Christ in all of our words, in all of our expressions, in all of our drawings, and in all of our thoughts. We believe that some things we learn about God and ourselves could best be expressed through the written or spoken word or the painted, sprayed, drawed, manipulated (graphic) or captured (photo) image.

to:

The Word Mission, 2000-2002, new: We want to provide youth who are writers, taggers, designers, and artists an area to show their talents. We believe that some things we learn about God and ourselves could best be expressed through the written or spoken word or the painted, sprayed, drawed, manipulated (graphic) or captured (photo) image. [ more ] 

In college, our Shakespere professor made us read and study Hamlet first. Only the hardy remained at the end of those first few sessions. It was then we learned that we've passed the hardest part of the course: Hamlet is The Bard's longest play, and since reading it is already challenging, we assumed we could coast throughout the rest of the course from now on. Like Hamlet, if you've succeeded in writing a vision and mission for your newsletter, you've accomplished the hardest task of starting a newsletter. Or so some say: Maintaining the newsletter is another thing altogether. But one at a time: On to the next step. ...

3. Formulate a timetable, and be realistic, but do not limit yourself. List every topic you want to cover, every feature you want to do, and see what you can accomplish more immediately. Do you want your newsletter to come out quarterly? yearly? updated online quarterly? daily? as needed?

4. Announce your intentions for a newsletter. Make sure the announcement goes to as many in-state people as possible, and make sure the announcement sticks to people's minds. For some reason, people forget all your announcements if you make it during a meeting. Announce it again on email, and again during the next meeting. (If you are big enough and relate with the nearest area in your region well enough, you can also create one for your region, like East Coast YFC or West Coast YFC newsletter.)

5. Ask people to write for you. Be ready with story ideas when they ask, "What am I going to write about?" Be ready to be convincing when they refuse. But normally, they won't mind being asked to answer some questions. [ See stafflist ]

YFC Loyola University Chicago mascot: Patrick the shy dog

BDC and YFC Maryland | Virginia's mascot: The outgoing deer.

YFC Dallas mascot: Jozel Villamayor

6. Don't limit yourself when you come up with story ideas. Make sure your story ideas click with the times -- you just had a camp, school has started, finals has ended. You can be as close to home or as far away from it as you can imagine -- you can ask them to give their opinions on Sept. 11 or even on the day President Bush choked on a pretzel. But also be ready to have some of your ideas changed. [ See storylist by theme ]

7. And of course -- be prepared to write articles yourself. More often than not, you yourself will be writing the articles you thought up. We learned that people like to write sharings more than articles, but we have been blessed with writers who actually complete story assignments.

One really enjoyable experience we have everytime we put out an issue is that we always learn something new about almost every aspect of life: New design or writing techniques, pictures, insights and life lessons. We learned patience and how to say "How did you do that?" and "I'm sorry" more often than ever.

But again: The key with setting up a newsletter is flexibility -- you are writing about people, specifically, YFC. Be ready for anything.

SET UP: Know what you're doing. ... |
FODDER: So now you have your stories. ... |
GIVE 'EM AWAY: Distribution and Circulation |