Inspiring The Next Generation Of Aviators

By Tom Woodward

I took a pre-show, early stroll into EAA’s Blue Barn on Sunday afternoon. The Blue Barn is a relatively new innovation at Oshkosh designed to aid local EAA chapters with assistance, information, and guidance on how to promote and run an efficient local EAA chapter.

During the week, EAA will be running Forums in the Blue Barn to help you improve your chapter.

Forums such as ‘10 Ways To Improve Your Chapter Today’, ‘How to Host A Successful EAA Young Eagle Rally’, ‘Perfecting Your Chapters Web Presence’ and ‘Creating a Great Chapter Newsletter’ are there, which is why I stopped by in the first place.

Our local Chapter once had a Newsletter, but it has only been published sporadically for the last five or six years. Newsletters are important in order to entice new members as well as to inform and engage current chapter members, and alert them of what projects members are building and upcoming events, such as the newest $100 hamburger location.

I spoke with EAA National volunteer Rick Fraser, who is the Newsletter editor for his local EAA Chapter. Rick also keeps a Facebook page for his chapter current as well. I was looking for a 'Newsletter for Dummies' type of simple mask, so to speak, that local EAA luddites could use to paste their own information into with little effort. Rick spent over 40 hours educating himself on Word and Power Point until he was happy he had a product his members would read and respond to.

Not every person wants, or has, that kind of time to devote such resources to this. I wondered if National had, or could, develop something that those who are not as computer literate could quickly edit for their own chapters. Rick said, 'That's a great idea and one that should be brought up in one of our forums'. In fact the 'Creating a Great Chapter Newsletter' Forum is being held on Tuesday the 24th at 1430 in the Blue Barn and that's the place to bring it up.

Every day from 0830 (Monday's and Saturday's forums begin at 1000) until to mid-afternoon there will be informative forums that will give you ideas on how to help your chapter become a better chapter.

If that's not enough incentive alone, there will be a daily Chapter Tool Giveaway where you can begin to stock your chapter's toolbox if you are the winner. Screw drivers and wrench sets, creepers and angle grinders, sanders and bench vices, among other neat tools, will be given away. At the end of the week, on Saturday, there will be grand prize winner announced at the Chapter Leader's Breakfast consisting of a tool chest and cabinet, a floor drill press, and air Compressor and a Lincoln TIG Welder. Get on down to the Blue Barn and win yourself some knowledge and tools.

FMI: https://www.eaa.org/eaa/place/-blue%20barn?id=BABFFD0AC803468E92AF838E186D7249