The Association of
Public Relations Officers
and Bulletin Editors
of the
Society for the Preservation and
Encouragement of Barber shop Quartet
Singing in America, Inc.

ADVISORY BOARD

Herb Bayles W.Grant Carson Dick Girvin Mike Jones Brian Lynch Waldo Redekop

Escondido, Calif. Dallas, Texas Hemet, Calif. Louisville, Ky. Kenosha, Wis. Hillsburgh, Ont.

Deadlines for 1999 issues, first Monday of each quarter: Jan.4: Jan-Mar
April 5: Apr-Jun
July 5: Jul-Sep
Oct. 4: Oct-Dec

Want to learn how to improve yourself? It is not as hard to do as most of the things that people tell you to do. All it takes is giving up a weekend of your life.

Yes, I am writing about attending COTS classes. Many of you attended and are now doing your job in the chapter a little better.

Many of you did not attend for various reasons and now may be wondering how you could make your task in the chapter a little easier. I am not only writing about the bulletin editor's classes, but also about the public relations and marketing classes. All districts had the latter. However, some districts did not have classes for the former.

Why is that?

One reason may be that the marketing and public relations classes are classes that the COTS committee has decided should be in every COTS class in each district, similar to the president's or secretary's classes. Whereas the classes for bulletin editors are not so designated.

Those classes that the committee deems as required in each district's COTS are all taught by instructors certified by the committee. Each class has a standard course outline that each instructor teaches. Each instructor is recertified periodically.

The classes for bulletin editors that are given are classes that the district adds, depending on a number of things. Does the district feel that there is a need for them? Does that district have space for the BE class? Is there a qualified instructor available? Is there any demand for the classes? These are just some of the questions that need to be answered.

As I stated in my last article, if you want a COTS class for bulletin editors, you had better ask your district to offer one and then attend. It is too late for this year, but you can always start now for next year.

Why should you? Why can't the BE classes be one of the compulsory courses at COTS?

Is the bulletin editor, who is one of the most important people in the chapter for keeping internal communications open, informing the members of the executive's [board's] plans, allowing for a method for the members to voice their concerns and offer suggestions to the executive, less important than the president, treasurer, secretary PR/Marketing or any other person for whom there are committee-run classes?

I would hope not. I would guess that the COTS committee has never been approached with a plan for standardizing a courses outline and certifying bulletin editor instructors for the COTS classes. Does anyone know if this is correct? If it is, what should be done about it?

Perhaps setting a standard course outline would be a start. A few years ago, Herb Bayles and I exchanged our course outlines and found that we were covering almost the same topics. Since then I have seen a few other course outlines and all instructors seem to generally agree on what the editor requires to do the job. So, this should not be a big problem.

Getting the instructors certified also should not be a big problem.

Maybe the biggest problem to overcome is the answer to the question, "Do you really want a COTS BE class in your district's COTS?"

Do you? ?