Debbie Beck Luncheon

Ms. Debbie Beck, Associate Director of Communications and Managing Editor Shipmate Magazine, Speaks to Chapter at October 2004 Luncheon

Debbie Beck joined the U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association in February 2004 as Associate Director, Communications, and Managing Editor of Shipmate. Debbie traveled to Atlanta to inform our Chapter members on her efforts to update and revamp Shipmate magazine.

The July-August ’04 issue of Shipmate was the first issue to include many of the new design features and improvements that Debbie is implementing. With a couple of new issues to review before she arrived, mostly all comments about the new look were favorable!

Debbie said that Alumni were polled to help them decide how to proceed with changes. The primary results of that poll were:

The “most read” sections of Shipmate are Class News and Chapter News. This came as no surprise.
Alumni overwhelmingly want to receive their Shipmate as a hard copy magazine mailed to their doorsteps, as opposed to any type of online format.
Ease of reading is very important to most.
Most alumni want to see more, and better, feature articles.
Alumni want to receive a minimum of 10 issues a year, no less.

One big challenge facing the Shipmate staff is producing ten issues per year with an eight issue per year budget! One way they are trying to do that is by reducing page count in each issue to reduce printing costs. Reducing page count without reducing content is the goal there. This means getting efficient with space and word count in all areas of the magazine. Since Chapter and Class news take up a large percentage of the total page count, Shipmate staff members are working with class and chapter Secretaries to eliminate the unnecessary and get word smart. In another efficiency effort, all of the in-house USNAAA products and services that used to be scattered throughout the magazine are now located in the same place near the back.

A nearly universal “suggestion” from those alumni present at the luncheon was to get more money allocated to the Shipmate budget! Shipmate is one of the most important ways for alumni to stay in contact with each other and with the Naval Academy. As such, those present said, Shipmate should be very high on the priority list when the budget is made.

Other changes that affect Shipmate indirectly are:

The online web-based version of Shipmate will be undergoing some updates and changes to coordinate somewhat with the hardcopy.
A new “History and Traditions” section is being added to the online Shipmate area on the USNAAA web site. This section will contain a variety of information, much of which is simply too large to be included in Shipmate. From time to time, there will be references included in Shipmate that will refer readers to specific information in this online section.
Leadership updates from USNAAA President and CEO George Watt ’73, will continue to be delivered via e-mail.

Many thanks to Debbie for taking time to visit us in Atlanta and take our input and suggestions back to Annapolis with her.

For more information on Debbie, click on Debbie Beck Bio.

Click on a thumbnail image to view a full sized picture.

Debbie fields questions from Chapter alumni after her presentation.

Chapter President Bill Rentz '55, presents Debbie with her personalized Atlanta Chapter apron.