Sandpiper Editor

Number of people: 1 or 2

Budget:negotiate depending on printing costs, etc.

The Sandpiper is the Conference newspaper. It is no more than two sheets front and back. It can be published on all days, or alternate days (total of 3 rather than 6 editions for the week). An alternative suggestion is to publish three main editions, and on one or two alternate days, publish a half-pager. Your main job is to coordinate the efforts of your reporters. This is a large task that should not be done by a single individual.

The Sandpiper editor should bring a small portable computer to the Island to draft the paper. If you do not own one, check to see if others on the Sandpiper editorial board have one. 2009 marks the opening of the Business Center, which will be located in an out of the way location and have a small number of computers wireless access, a printer, and a copy machine. It may be less expensive to do the copies the old way – sending the original to the mainland to be copied.

Talk to Conference Services when you arrive on-Island to arrange a schedule to drop off the original and pickup of the copies. The Pels go to the Mainland to copy it (about 150). The best way to distribute The Sandpiper is to leave 4-5 copies on each table in the dining room just before the breakfast/lunch bell.

The layout or format for The Sandpiper can be with or without columns. The heading can be a sketch of The Sandpiper or the conference logo (if there is one), the date and the by-lines of the staff. In the past, The Sandpiper has featured long reports, but numerous short articles or poems are probably better. If you have the equipment you might want to encourage drawings as well.

Contact your staff while still on the mainland. Arrange with them to meet either Saturday around 4:15 or Sunday morning after Chapel to brainstorm and volunteer story ideas for the week. You may have to prepare Monday's edition before you get to Star, or develop some articles at home, in order to meet your first deadline.

You should advertise for contributions, such as "See your ideas in print; the box for sandpiper droppings is located on the lobby desk". Announce the location of The Sandpiper dropping box at Orientation to encourage submissions. Tell the Chairs if you wish to do this. Suggest one edition of Sandpiper be given out at the Banquet.

Some thoughts on content from past Sandpipers:

• New shoaler bios

• Announcements

• Encourage secret scholar messages

• Stories about how things used to be in the “old” days

• Sketches

• Poems

• The best of Dictionary

• Word puzzles

• Star Island Trivia

• Notes from the children’s groups

• The schedule

• Reports (sometimes editorials), people might like to read about something they didn't attend:

• Talks on the Rocks and Experts Night

• Boat excursions

• Sports columns (softball, volleyball, quad teams, etc...)

• Tournaments

• Speakers lecture

• Interviews with Pelicans

• Chanticleer words (for those of us covering our heads with blankets and pillows when they drop by)

• etc...

Materials: ream of paper, scissors, clear tape, Sharpie markers (black), laptop printer, scanner would be nice or digital camera - program to manipulate photos, printer, extra ink-jet cartridge