Yes, it’s true. As AONE President Tom Lesko indicated last month, if you read this column on a piece of paper earlier, that issue was the last one you’ll receive in a printed format.

I confess to being the guy who instigated this change. A decade into the 21st Century, given the ubiquity and acceptance of the internet, the idea of printing and mailing a regularly scheduled newsletter has become almost an anachronism. I mean, our events don’t get scheduled and take place on a regular monthly basis — why should our coverage of them?

By switching completely to the internet as the way that our club communicates, we’ll be able to announce events as soon as they’re conceived, and report on them shortly after they happen. No waiting for the next monthly issue to roll around!

There are many other reasons that this change makes sense, not the least of which is cost. A large part of our club’s budget goes to printing and mailing the newsletter — so much so that, starting January 1st, when you renew your AROC membership, it will cost you $5 less!

And there are so many more reasons for getting your AONE information online, many of which we’ve touted in the past, such as:

• Our Alfas are very colorful and deserve to be presented in color; the internet is in full living color, whereas cost has always prohibited us from printing a newsletter in color.

• There are an unlimited number of "pages" on our web site, meaning that, when we have a lot of events to report on, we can; conversely, when there’s not much going on (e.g. in the dead of winter), there’s no struggle to fill newsletter pages.

• Late-breaking news, changes, corrections, and updates are added instantaneously — no waiting until the following issue.

• The contents of our club’s web site are searchable, going back ten years!

• Classified ads are updated continuously.

• We’re saving money for the club and trees for the planet!

Needless to say, not printing and mailing a newsletter will save me a good deal of effort, most of which was duplicated on the web site. I plan to use much of the time I had put in on the printed newsletter to enhance velocissima.com — to make it as friendly, useful, informational, and easy to navigate as possible. Your suggestions in this regard will be most appreciated!

Seats

In conjunction with the above, our Directors have elected to establish club Seats (others might call them Chairmanships) to oversee the various activities that we pursue. I used to try to do a lot of these things, but not nearly as well as they’re going to get done in the future! Dividing up the tasks among several people means that each of them can receive much more attention.

Tom Lesko listed the new club Seats last month, and I’ll add some brief descriptions of what the various responsibilities entail. In nearly all cases, these guys can use your help! If you’d like to pitch in, contact the appropriate Seat (and, in the case of the Social Seat, volunteer to fill it!). Keep in mind that, the more members we have involved in each area, the less work each of us has to do!

Events Seat [Brian Shorey (978-973-0879, bshorey@yahoo.com) Assistants: Tom Ducibella (978-921-0125, tom@nanduce.com), Andy Kress (508-655-8079, aokress@comcast.net)] Maintain the overall club events calendar and provide it for the web site. See that announcements of new events get written and provided for the web site. Make sure that reports on events get written and photos gathered shortly after each one and provide them for the web site. Each event should have its own organizer, on whom the Events Seat can call to supply pre- and post-event write-ups. (The Events Seat is the biggie — lots of help can be used here.)

Membership Seat [Gene Durso (978-314-1224, gdurso@emdurso.com)] Maintain contact with AROC National. Forward new memberships we receive to National and get them into our database. Chase down members whose memberships have slipped and get them to renew. Make sure that the membership email address list is always up-to-date for club announcements. Handle any membership-related queries and issues as they arise. Devise strategies for enhancing our membership numbers.

Merchandise Seat [Kevin Redden (978-387-2416, kredden@alfamilano.com)] Propose items that the Club Store should carry, get pricing, and place orders. Maintain the physical inventory and shipping materials. Ship orders to customers as they are received. Bring merchandise to club events and set up a sales presence. Calculate profit & loss.

Advertising Seat [Myron Barnett (617-641-0976, myron.ics@gmail.com) Assistants: Tom Ducibella (978-921-0125, tom@nanduce.com), Jim Miga (781-729-7567, j_miga@comcast.net)] Maintain good relations with our current advertisers, and solicit new ones. Work with them to obtain ad artwork for the web site and keep it up-to-date. Send out annual invoices and follow up with reminder notices as required. Perhaps visit the advertisers over time and write up "Vendor Profiles" for the web site, which would give them additional exposure.

Social Seat [Volunteer needed — step right up!] Oversee all arrangements for the Holiday Party and Pot Luck party. Perhaps institute a regular mid-summer party. Take steps to entice our Significant Others so that they WANT to participate in a lot of our events.

Concours Seat [Frank Maldari (978-475-2846, fmaldari@msn.com)] Mainly organize AONE’s presence at Tutto Italiano. Keep the club’s canopies, bring them, and set them up. Coordinate with the Museum and Tutto staff. Arrange for tables, work with Merchandise Seat to stock them. Schedule members to man our "booth" so that we’re represented at all times. Work with Membership Seat to solicit new members, etc. Get info to Events Seat before and after the concours. Could also develop other concours venues. (This is an area that could also use a lot of help, although mostly in the weeks leading up to Tutto Italiano.)

Competition Seat [Lou Shames (508-242-9944, fatdogvap@aol.com) Assistants: Kevin Redden (978-387-2416, kredden@alfamilano.com), Stephan de Pénasse (603-594-4204, stewen@myfairpoint.net)] Organize track & autocross events, perhaps in conjunction with other clubs. Make sure all the bases are covered (equipment, promotion, insurance, etc.).

AROC Liaison Seat [Brian Shorey (978-973-0879, bshorey@yahoo.com)] Send notifications of our more significant events well before they occur to Alfa Owner for their calendar, and reports afterward. Handle insurance requests. Coordinate any convention-related activity.

Finally...

I’d like to say that it’s been my privilege and pleasure to have acted as your newsletter editor these past ten-plus years, and I look forward to helping AONE’s Officers, Directors, and Seats in their efforts to make our club even more active, dynamic, and fun than it’s ever been.

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