CYGNETURE
May 1997 |
LOOK for
new SWAN Directory
SWAN
establishes Advisory Committee
SWAN
Website Moves
Upcoming
Meetings | Picnic
What
you Missed
SWAN Notes | Credits
| LOOK for new SWAN Directory A sparkling new SWAN Resource Book is now on press and will be available at the end of the month. Designed by Adrian Holmes and Wayne Pollack, with Lynn Canzani, the new directory lists 135 members and their specialties. It also includes e-mail addresses and indicates a member's SWAN website when applicable. Empire Graphics in Manhatan has agreed to print the 5,000 copies, and Starnet Design and Litho, Park Ridge, NJ, will provide the film. As usual, up to 3,500 copies will be distributed to buyers of creative services in New Jersey and the metropolitan area. SWAN establishes Advisory Committee Who knows more about how SWAN works and how it should work than former board members? Yet just as they become fully knowledgeable SWAN "executives," they burn out or move aside for other volunteers. No longer will that knowledge be lost. A resolution introduced by treasurer Peter Adler to establish the SWAN Advisory Committee was passed at the March board meeting. The new committee will meet twice in the fall and twice in the spring to review SWAN needs and make long-range planning recommendations. The committee will elect a chair, who will report to the SWAN board. If you are a past board member, you can help SWAN move into the 21st century. Interested? Call president Wayne Pollack. Thursday, May 22 - Build your network Need to develop your networking skills? Join Susan Schear on May 22 at the Bergen Museum at 7:30 p.m., as she discusses how to develop relationships with those who hire creative people. Topics include: business cards, developing selling relationships, and how to feel comfortable networking in a room of people. Schear is president of Artisan, which offers business development services for fine arts and crafts.She recently discussed these skills on CNBC, the cable network. Wednesday, June 25 - The Pricing Game Are you charging enough for your work? It's time for The Pricing Game—the most popular SWAN event of the year. Come to the June 25 meeting at the Bergen Museum at 7:30 pm. and discuss about 50 work samples submitted by members. You'll be told the size of the job, the time it required, and its use. You guess the fee that was paid, and then are told the actual fee. This year, there will also be a brief discussion of how this fee fits into the fee structure SWAN members expect to receive for their professional services. Submit your work For this meeting to work, SWAN needs work samples from members. Bring two or three samples to the May 22 SWAN meeting.Or mail art and graphic samples to Deb Hoeffner, 503 Cherry Tree Lane, Kinnelon, NJ 07405. Writing samples go to Susan Brierly-Wills, 12 Cross Way, Mendham, NJ 07945. Save Sunday, July 20th for SWAN's annual picnic for members and their families. It will be held at Van Saun Park, Paramus, from 1 to 5. The SWAN Website has been relocated from its original home at Creative Internet Ventures to a server hosted by A1 Terabit Systems.Since a domain name (www.swan-net.com) exists independently from its physical location, this change will not be apparent to most who access the site. However, SWAN will gain the benefit of lower domain-hosting fees, more file storage space, and faster access. The A1 Terabit Systems server also provides additional extensions and software resources that will make maintaining and updating the site easier than before. The switch has not been without a few hiccups. The old server was based on the UNIX operating system and the new server runs under Windows NT, resulting in a significant amount of re-coding for webmaster Stan Cohen. The priorities were to first get the site itself up and running, followed by the links to members portfolio pages. Restoring member listings was third, since they will need to be updated to match the 1997-1998 directory now being published. Please accept our apologies if you logged-on and received the dreaded error 404 message. The site should be up around the time you read this. Cohen reports that the domain switch will benefit all in the long run.—Carl Jablonski For a small business, the key is marketing You have no business if you can't sell it, said Ray Ruffley at the April meeting. He advised members to develop two marketing plans, one to define the goal of their business and one that addresses customer needs. Ruffley, from the Service Core of Retired Executives (SCORE), shared what he had learned from 43 years in the advertising and marketing business about starting and managing a small creative services business. Creative services are tougher to start and grow than manufacturing businesses, he said, because of three key differences: 1.) The product is not tangible. You can't hold it in your hand before you buy it. 2.) Creative people love their work, and spend more time developing creative skills than managing their business. 3.) Creative people believe, often correctly, that they are not paid adequately. The solution, Ruffley said, is to recognize that good businesses are built on a combination of a good product or service and business management acumen. He stressed the importance of researching the market SCORE is a volunteer organization sponsored by the US Small Business Administration. It provides small businesses with free technical and managerial counseling and training. Its members are retired executives who often stress the writing of an annual marketing plan that defines the goals of a business. Ruffley provided several case histories of business turnarounds that he was personally involved with. He invited SWAN members to avail themselves of the counselling services available by contacting SCORE at (201) 599-6090. If you have specific questions or problems, he said,they will arrange a counselling session with someone experienced in your business.—Carl Jablonski —The Creative Cafe, SWAN's networking meeting in March, was highly successful. Members showed their portfolios to other members and to business guests. The board has discussed expanding this meeting to include other trade associations who might buy from or sell to SWAN members. If you belong to such an association or would like to help expand the scope of The Creative Cafe, please contact program director Dave McCoy. —Carl Jablonski, a designer, will become the editor of Cygneture, beginning with the July issue. He succeeds Bob Parker, the editor for the past five years, who introduced the newsletter's current format of short news items published every other month. Jablonski will seek contributions from SWAN writers, artists, and photographers. He will succeed Parker as a member of the SWAN board. —Lori Anzalone's work was accepted for the Society of Illustrators Annual Awards Show, Advertising and Institutional '97, which ran in April. She has also drawn a set of four stamps for the United Nations; they depict endangered species, and will be on sale through March, 1998. —May 1st marks the inauguration of SWAN's 1997-98 Board of Directors: Led by President Wayne Pollack, they include: Lynn Canzani, vice president; Susan Brierly-Wills, 2nd vice president; Bill Cross, secretary; Janet McDonough, treasurer; David Val Schlink, membership director; Dave McCoy, program director; Irma Chazotte, public relations director; and Carl Jablonski, newsletter editor. All members are encouraged to report abuses they encounter in the course of business to SWAN's Standards & Practices Committee, chaired by Bruce Riccitelli. Such abuses may be caused by payment problems, contractual disputes, loss or alteration of your work, copyright infringement, etc. Available to members only is the Client/Vendor Evaluation Book, which lists clients and vendors that members have reported for unprofessional and unethical business practices. Copyright ©1997 Cygneture SWAN seeks news about members and their achievements. EDITOR: Bob Parker, Carl Jablonski STAFF WRITERS: Printed Newsletter Graphic Design: Carrie Oesmann Return to Newsletters. |
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