The Orchid Source - Orchid Forum

I don't have a degree of any kind but I know that if I saw an orchid magazine on a magazine rack, it would be coming home with me.

For the record, I am an AOS member and while the cost is a bit high with the exchange, I am happy generally with the membership.

Well, I must say - this post has been extremely informative to those not privy to the workings of the AOS. To be honest, I have never heard many positive things about the AOS on the tundra.

But - I agree. There are so few good orchid books in the orchid section, that putting an orchid mag out with other periodicals would certainly catch my attention. And, right, G - rose magazines just fly off the rack here. People here do love their roses, all kinds, in spite of the nasty winters. My Pops was one of them and always had rose books - although he sure could have written one of his own.

I don't know much about the AOS, but I remember the old AOS magazines. They were passed around at some of the orchid club meetings I attended. They just aren't the same now. The old magazines had some great photos, and articles from veteran growers on culture techniques based on years of experience, new techniques, promising strains of orchid hybrids, or newly discovered orchid species from far corners of the world, etc.

I've followed this thread, and tried to pick up on the vibes of the posters. I don't know about the infighting/friction that has only been hinted at, and how that may be affecting the AOS; but what I do know is that if the focus of the articles has changed, I know that I would be totally turned off by continually getting articles about how great a time they were having there at the AOS HQ, partially at my expense (if I was a member) via the dues costs; almost like rubbing my nose in it, and that little attention (if any) was paid to other areas. Rather than continually stroking the egos of the South Florida orchid-society world high 'muckaty-mucks' at the expense of the 'hoi-polloi' in the geographical outer darkness (while continually raking in their dues dollars), perhaps it would make the non-S. Floridians feel more a part (rather than apart) of the organization if there would be articles on major orchid shows from other areas - Japan, Australia, Honolulu, UK, Thailand, Brazil, etc. Has this been thought of recently?

I know that enough wealthy 'society-types' (the ones that have the $$$ for large donations) are in many cases insecure and need to have articles and pictures about them and their doings, coddling and favoring them, so that they can smugly feel they are 'better' than everyone else. Sounds like the AOS was once something that everyone could feel a part of, but now a class structure, and a power structure seems to have grown, and the bulk of the members feel alienated since everything is focused on one 'elite' group or area. You lose members (and $$$) when they feel less and less a real part of an organization. On the other hand, the elites also tend to lose interest when the commoners are no longer fawning and worshipping at their feet (or the feet of their plants). You have to decide what is more important to you - orchids and ordinary members, or kissing up to the 'big-doners' (and maybe lining your own pockets, or gaining some personal benefit in the process?).

It's been a long time since I've seen an article in Orchids about the headquarters building. There were a few at first, but that's entirely reasonable considering all the effort that went into building it...were they supposed to act like it didn't exist? The building and grounds were built with donations, not with any membership monies. The last article I recall was a few years ago when people were concerned how much damage occurred from the hurricanes.

The current magazines contain articles from breeders and "explorers" and hobbyists just like you. There are articles on other large orchid shows around the world, and the science articles formerly published in Lindleyana are now included.

The May 2009 issue of Orchids includes: A fairly in-depth financial report on the status of the AOS, the Quito Ecuador Orchid Expo, the genus Rossioglossom, an orchid buying guide, various species articles, a New Orleans hobbyist article, Cypripediums of China, Orchids Grown for Foliage, and North American native orchids, along with the usual schedule of orchid events and lots of orchid advertisements. Sixty-five pages, and I counted 91 color photographs not counting the adds.

It sounds more like a magazine that has something for everyone, doesn't it?

The detractors need to recognize this one thing: There is no one at the AOS responsible for writing these articles. It's all volunteer.

All of these articles are written by people who step up to the plate and write the article themselves, round up the photographs, and offer the article for publication. Its not a paying job, its a work of love. If you have something to say, you should write it down and send it in. I'm pretty sure the AOS would publish just about anything well written and will work with you if its not. If you are disatisfied with the quality of the articles in Orchids, I can only suggest that you write one yourself. Seriously. The process of writing an article is a good learning experience, you learn all kinds of new stuff, and I'm sure if you can improve on what has been done already, most people will appreciate it. (Or not.)

Thanks for your comments Shari. The Publications Committee has previously discussed the feasibilty of selling ORCHIDS magazine at newstand racks and concluded that, as you said, a bad idea. One point of note: Patrick was given two weeks notice with the option of staying or not staying for that time period.

I agree with Ed, there is no problem with the content of Orchids these days in my opinion. There have been many articles regarding offshore shows so that definitely isn't a problem. Unfortunately the expense of producing such a publicaton has increased while advertising revenues are diminishing. The internet and it's ease for purchasing orchids has impacted the revenue stream.
I do have a problem with the show dates being excluded from the magazine. Many readers count on that to plant their show attendence and my guess is that many won't take the time to go to the web site to find the information.
It is easy to be critical of such things, all in all they do a great job!

I agree with Ed and Guillermo. The articles on Orchids are written by volunteers and any of us can submit an article on any orchid related theme.

I like the articles on hobby and commercial growers where we can learn different ways of cultivating orchids. One very interesting article ( although very short ) was on Wendy's setup. It reminded me of the Pomeranian Review which used to make Kennel Visits to Pom breeders ( I don't know if they still do them, no longer a member ). But I DO like to see how other people grow their orchids, whether hobbyists or commercial. We can learn something from all.

The only thing I miss are the themed commercial ads, which used to offer plants featured in the articles at good prices. This has to be coordinated with the editors, sending the vendors the themes for the mag issues.

I only hope all this mess with the economy passes quickly so we can stop worrying about how to keep hanging on!

I haven't bothered to look at an AOS publication in the last 5 years. We only pass around the 'old' ones (usually 10 yrs old or more). If what Ed says is true, that sounds like it may be worth reading again. So....
why are folks dissatisfied, because that seems to be the gist of this thread? If my only experience with AOS was this thread, I would not even consider joining. So, what gives?

The thread started with MrCym discussing the changes at AOS headquarters. The AOS, along with many of the rest of us, is cutting their costs and trying to survive our present economic troubles.
Many similar organizations, governments and businesses have the same problem.

The rest of the fallout is bickering over priorities and solutions, and just simple complaining.

What Ed says sounds very interesting. Reading it, I feel like I'd like to join! So, maybe it's time I gave it another chance.

However, since my loss of interest was created a number of years ago, and I've not once been contacted by the AOS and asked to rejoin, maybe the problem is that the AOS has fixed a lot of what griped us; but, they have not done a good job at marketing their improved brand to new AND old members.

Very good comments, Ed M. Thanks.

The only problem I see with some of this is that everyone, including AOS, seems to be assuming that this current economy will improve soon and we need to just hold on. I'm not so sure. The bubble burst and this might be the new normal. The good old days may just be memories.

I think it was Rhonda that suggested this is a poor time to sell Florida real estate and that the zoning for the headquarters site is restrictive. Seems to me that FL, CA, and NV real estate has just returned to a normal value so it's not depressed. It's just not exaggerated. Is the zoning any more restrictive than it was when AOS purchased it?

The reason I bring this up is that costs have been cut pretty much to the bone now. I guess the magazine could be reduced to 6 issues, but I guarantee that would reduce membership since the mag is all most of us get for $60. However, the real gorilla in the room is the building that consumes expense money. It's a capital asset that could be converted to cash while also lowering expenses now required for upkeep and operation.

Gregg makes the point that AOS must reside somewhere. Actually the American Hemerocallis Society with a peak membership of about 12000 and a current of 8000 resides virtually no where. It has a registrar (since it's the ICRA) who is a paid employee working from home in North Carolina. The President works from his home in Washington,DC. Board meetings are held in hotels around the country. The magazine (quarterly) was published by member/editors from their homes, but now is farmed out to a person who has a business publishing small volume magazines. It is every bit as good as the AOS magazine. The American Hosta Society is organized in a similar manner and has the best horticulture society magazine that I have every picked up (a quarterly).

I doubt the AOS would ever have to go that far. Surely some botanical garden (Atlanta, Longwood, Missouri or any number of others) would be happy to house a small AOS staff in return for the library and orchid exhibits that AOS brings to the table. Even if some rent was involved, I bet it would be less than the current expenses associated with the headquarters.

I'm not saying that I favor moving from the headquarters, but there seems to be fewer alternatives as things decline. Members are not going to be flocking back in this economy. Donations are not going to flow when stock values are low and likely to stay that way for years.

It seems that we need a disaster plan that might be only months from necessary implementation. Unlike Mrcym I do not blame people who wanted the best for AOS and found a way to get it. But I think we might be looking at a new economy that is not too good for horticultural interests. Failure to at least plan for the worst might be suicide.

Guillermo...you are missing my point. While the operating costs of running the AOS have choked off any hope of surviving in this PRESENT economy, the accounting procedures require CUTTING COSTS, not adding to it. As a rule, publishers have to guarantee sales to the distributers and retailers of magazines, which means that any unsold magazines are returnable to the publisher. Distributers and retailers won't touch a magazine unless the publisher PROMISES TO REFUND any monies for unsold magazines. Let's face the facts. the AOS is NOT in the publishing business and it's in a very desperate financial situation. Are you kidding. These retailers and distributers wouldn't even talk to the AOS about selling their magazine. This is about $$ and cents. Not who likes or cares about orchids.

Thanks, Greg...most people are not familiar with how the publishing industry operates thus they wouldn't understand how catastrophic it is to take a hit with a failed attempt at getting a magazine on the newstands.
I think we should be more circumspect about the job losses, like Jim and Patrick and the ladies. In this economy, they are the biggest loosers, not us. Patrick has been a fixture at the AOS for sooo long!
I'm very upset and hope some of us could figure out how he could get along without his paycheck instead of arguing about playing the blame game.

Shari,

I won't quibble with your knowledge of the publishing world since you obviously understand that much better than I do. I understand that the economy is putting a priority on survival and cutting costs as low as possible, but look at this as a lost opportunity. Perhaps, I'm naive about the success or failure of such an approach but expansion of subscriptions is important while the revenue is diminishing.
Perhaps desperate times call for desperate measures, such as begging like many of the blogs do including this one to keep their viability. I worry about stretching dedicated people like Ron McHatton , Pam Giust and Teri Rivera too far while cutting salaries. If we lose the core of such people it will be difficult indeed.

Guillermo....Yes, expansion of magazine subscriptions have to occur from the AOS membership base.It's the membership that needs to respond to these dire circumstances. We need to rally around and be supportive.

It would be nice to see a pie chart of the AOS expenses. I'm guessing the magazine is the largest cost?

With the pool of people who subscribe to magazines rapidly shrinking...and the pool of people who read articles online rapidly expanding...it's surprising that nobody has suggested discontinuing the printed format and converting to a web based based format.

1. The AOS is broke and the magazine is costly to print
2. The next generation of orchid hobbyists look to Google for their orchid information

Just like with their garden...they don't necessarily need to discontinue their printed format...just threaten to go to a web based format. If enough people donate enough money to ride out the current recession then they can continue their print format. If not then they can switch over to a web based format.

Actually, just in terms of the AOS's mission...they should transition to a web based format anyways as that would help educate the most amount of people at the least amount of cost.

On a side note, it's not very helpful how in some of the older articles many of the authors have neglected to include the specific distributution and elevation range of the orchids. Not sure if that's still the case but hopefully the current editor can keep a look out and correct such egregious omissions.

Did anybody purchase a pin? Are you supposed to impale mealy bugs with them? I think my grandma was the last person I remember seeing wearing a pin. My recommendation to help support the AOS is for people to digitize their favorite out-of-print article and e-mail it to the AOS so they can post it on their website. That content will be quickly indexed by Google and will help capture searches by youthful orchid hobbyists who will come to recognize and appreciate the AOS as a sharing is caring type of orchid organization.

Good ideas, Carlos.

The problem I see is that there are still many long term members that prefer the printed magazine and a sizeable portion of them could care less about web pages. How do you satisfy such a diversity of ages and interests while maintaining membership?

The present approach is trying a combined method of both a printed magazine and an expanded web site.

If the magazine is dropped, a good chunk of the membership will disappear instantly.

It will disappear...indeed! If you go to Orchid Societies meetings and shows you can count with one hand the people under 50 y/o there! Most of them do NOT care for reading on the Internet for hours on end ( if they use it at all ). Also, you cannot take your PC to your bed ( or bathroom! ). I have old issues of the AOS Bulletin all through the house to read as I so choose. I can't do that with the PC. It is very nice and soothing to read printed material once in a while. We should not be getting so "tecnologyzed" that we refuse to read a beautifully printed magazine in our leisure time. It beats the hell out of squinting at a PC screen up to the wee hours of the morning, especially for us old folks!

If we take a step back and reread this entire thread, there are some interesting things to be learned - about ourselves, if nothing else.

There was a comment about the magazine articles about the various South Florida social functions speculating that the editors thinking "that they were keeping us all 'in the loop' and included; but, all it did was show us all what we were missing". I live near Philadelphia, and probably have an ice cube's chance in hell of ever getting to Delray Beach, but I sure would like to! Reading those articles does not make me feel like a second class member. I think it would be cool to go to the moon too, but I don't feel second class because my tax dollars don't automatically entitle me to a trip!

On the other hand, proximity DOES have an impact. I am fairly close to Longwood and even closer to that other botanical garden, Parkside, so maybe that makes it easier for me to tolerate the distance to Delray Beach.

Personally, I feel far more of a connection to the AOS than to the ODC. From my perspective, the ODC is a magazine publishing company, while the AOS is an organization intent on promoting orchids. (I will acknowledge a bit of a bias, as the Orchid Digest has totally bypassed firstrays.com in their Webwatch column, even though I offer more useful, informational material than many orchid-related sites.)

That does not, however, mean I won't support them both!

I think the keys to the future are a combination of Orchids magazine and its electronic availability. Irma is right, sometimes a magazine is just better, but to be able to search old issues online would be wonderful, too. I speculate that if we were able to easily do that, some of us would put together seemingly unrelated information and come up with a "Eureka" event leading to more insight and more articles to print, which might entice more members.

I also think the magazine is on the rebound: I got my July issue yesterday. it is full of a lot of interesting stuff, in my mind anyway. A couple of good articles about ghosts, TIOS and orchid growing in Taiwan, brassavolas, a trichocentrum, an article on a native isotria, plus an informative basic piece on viruses. Well worth the $5 it cost, if I were to mentally apply my dues only there.

As to positions being eliminated at the AOS. It's an unfortunate fact of life. Hell, I lost my job that way a few weeks ago! And my employer had more financial wherewithal than does a non-profit organization.

My view is that you cannot gripe if you don't vote. If you want to improve the AOS, don't stand on the sideline and bitch, participate in some way to make it better - even if it's just paying your dues. If you can do more - wonderful! If your personality creates a conflict (mine sometimes does), figure out how to temper it so you can be a productive contributor.

The sooner we realize - and act like - the AOS is "us" rather than "them", the better it will be, and get there sooner.

Well, that's an angle worth considering..... However, you don't have an option when it comes to paying your taxes. If paying taxes was completely voluntary...and you knew that you'd never get to go to the moon, would you still send in your money? Or, would you hold off making any payments until the government started offering more of what YOU wanted? Ultimately, what we're talking about is the ability of the AOS to inspire people and get people to send in their money and buy or renew a membership. It's a luxury and we live in a world cram packed with choices when it comes to spending our money on luxuries. So, the AOS has to somehow make itself stand out and be something that we want to pay for, above other luxuries that are also available. As a person without an endless supply of cash for everything that I want, if I'm let down or disappointed a little by the content of the ORCHIDS magazine, I'm just less likely to renew my membership when it's time and I'm less likely to trumpet the benefits of a membership in the AOS to my fellow orchid friends. It's not a case of developing a distinct dislike for the AOS or ORCHIDS magazine; it's a case of waning interest because of boring content in the magazine. However, as has been indicated, it seems that maybe they've improved the mag content and it's worth another look.

You make some excellent points Ray. The best one is the reminder that AOS is us, not them. Sorry about the job. That's a bummer that is happening too often these days. Like I said earlier, this is more and more being described as the new reality....not a pleasant thought.

I really think AOS is a much better organization than it's getting credit for being in some quarters. I guess you can't please anybody all the time or some people any time, but it looks like they are doing their best to be a good organization. The last few magazines have been very good IMHO. That's especially true in light of the cost reductions that were necessary.

I just sent them a few extra dollars. If every one of us does that (Ray excluded for now) maybe they could get some breathing room in cash. Think about it...

Sorry about the job, Ray. What a nightmare. AT LEAST it's in the summer, so you won't necessarily be stuck inside, looking at snow and ice.

Hah! Right-on, John. I think taxes should definitely be voluntary!

Right now contributions to the AOS should be unrestricted, so they can use them where it is most needed. Education and Research has enough money for now and they cannot touch it, so it is better to send the contributions without any strings attached.
OGD and the IPA receive contributions too, to help with the high costs of keeping those organizations alive.

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Irma, why don't you do an auction to raise some cash for the aos,hey i would give some of my goodies, just on the forum