Executive Director’s Commentary
By Don Eversmann, F240000
May 2007
When you retrieved this month’s copy of Family Motor Coaching magazine from the mailbox, you most likely did a double take. While the magazine cover bears the familiar name, the style is completely different, and whereas a motorhome normally takes center stage, this month the focus is on people who enjoy the lifestyle that their home on wheels affords. Your magazine has undergone a visual transformation “” one that we hope readers will enjoy.
Look closely, however, and you’ll see that the familiar elements remain. The magazine still contains a mix of the components that make the motorhome lifestyle the enjoyable pursuit it is. Travel features help to fuel motorhome owners’ sense of adventure and provide them an ever-expanding list of places to explore. Technical material helps owners with the “care and feeding” of the grand machines that transport them as they enjoy their meanderings. Association news helps to keep FMCA members in touch with the people and activities that endear them to this like-minded community of travelers. Various articles on miscellaneous topics help to round out the motorhome experience.
The goal in this redesign was to capture the energy and excitement that are so much a part of the motorhome lifestyle. An attempt has been made to give the magazine a more contemporary feel, a lighter look that should be pleasing to readers. What has changed more than anything is the packaging. As time goes on the staff plans to continue to consider the content as well. The primary mission remains: enhancing the motorhome lifestyle. We encourage readers to share their interests and desires for the magazine with the staff. What topics would you like to see covered that aren’t being covered currently?
One new addition to the editorial mix has been made this month, and we need your help to ensure its success. We’re calling it “Rear View,” as it will occupy the last page of each issue of the magazine. This reader-driven column will pose a fun new question each month, with the intent being that motorhome owners will share answers and several will be chosen for publication in a future issue.
To jump-start the column, members of FMC’s Magazine Panel and Technical Advisory Committee were asked to help the staff out by supplying answers to the first couple of questions. Sampling different restaurants and cuisines as we travel can be a fun part of the RV lifestyle. So, the magazine staff decided to kick off the column by asking members of these two groups to tell us their favorite place to enjoy a good steak. They happily complied, and several of their responses appear on the final page of this month’s issue of the magazine. Since we only have room for a few in the magazine, look for additional responses to this question, and subsequent monthly questions, on the magazine channel on FMCA.com.
The first contribution readers in general are being asked to make as we approach the lazy, hazy days of summer is to share information about your favorite fishing hole. I know for some of you, that’s a closely guarded secret. I understand. But if you’re willing to divulge the information, check out the submission details that appear in this month’s inaugural “Rear View” column.
Some of you may be wondering what happened to the “Advertising Index” that previously occupied this final page. It still appears in the magazine. To help locate it each month, check the “Columns” section on the “Contents” page, or flip through the magazine and look for the Reader Service insert card. The “Advertising Index” will accompany this insert card each month, making it convenient for those of you who wish to request free product information from any of the advertisers in the magazine. We’d encourage you to use this free service. It helps the magazine when advertisers can tell with certainty that you have contacted them because of their relationship with FMC magazine.
Speaking of the “Contents” page, it has been expanded to two pages in length. This is something the staff had been hoping to do for quite some time, and it has been accomplished this month. This will allow staff to provide a bit more detail about the features and articles on the “Contents” page and to make this monthly magazine “menu,” if you will, more visually appealing for readers.
The staff was invigorated by the process of working with the professional magazine design firm and taking a look at Family Motor Coaching magazine through fresh sets of eyes. The process began by considering what appeared to be working with the magazine and where enhancements might be made. The motorhome lifestyle and FMC’s loyal readers remained at the center of discussions at all times. The magazine hadn’t had a face-lift in 11 years. So, the look had become somewhat “tired,” and the belief was that readers “” whether they realized it or not “” likely were experiencing some of these same feelings.
The motorhome lifestyle is exciting, energizing, tantalizing. A publication that endeavors to cover the lifestyle and those who enjoy it should be equally so. That has been the goal throughout this process. We hope readers will share in the excitement and be pleased with the final result.
As always, we welcome your comments. This is, after all, your magazine. Please feel free to contact us and share your thoughts. Comments can be mailed to the FMCA national office or sent via e-mail to magazine@fmca.com. Just as the motorhome lifestyle continues to evolve, undoubtedly this publication dedicated to enhancing that lifestyle will as well. And motorhome owners such as you will continue to help shape both the industry and this magazine. Exciting times lie ahead.