Boulder Media Women

 
What is Boulder Media Women?
Boulder Media Women is an informal networking group of close to 200 women who are media professionals. The group includes writers, editors, publishers, photographers, movie scriptwriters, TV producers, book designers, web page experts, copy editors, literary agents, and creative literary women in their own style. We get together for monthly potlucks and also for coffee on Friday mornings at Bookends Cafe. We also periodically sponsor other events, such as literary afternoons at the Boulder Bookstore.

Boulder Media Women has no membership requirements (other than being a female media professional), no dues, and no officers. The organizational basis of the group is a Yahoogroups listserve that is used to discuss work issues, send potluck invites, send notices of readings, request sources and do any other kind of networking in the media business.

If you'd like to join BMW, all you need to do is send an email to BoulderMediaWomen-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

To learn more about the group, read on....

(If you have additional questions, please contact Catherine Dold.)

 
How Did BMW Get Started? What Do You Do?
Boulder Media Women started in 1991 as a group of women writers who met for coffee on Friday mornings, originally in Pour La France, which used to be on the corner of Pearl and 10th and had cute little French-style chairs which weren't too comfortable. We moved to Bookends Café next to the bookstore where the chairs were much more relaxing, and where you could buy your coffee ahead of time and then sit down.

We used to meet at 8 a.m. but what with one thing and another, the time has now moved to 8:30 or later. Some Fridays no one shows up, some Fridays there are half a dozen of us, and some Fridays we take over so many tables that the other customers sipping coffee look shocked. Sometimes everyone arrives on time and leaves promptly an hour or so later. Other times you can drift in at 10 a.m. and find a few people still gabbing. Depends on the weather. We are a noisy bunch because we work on our own and this is our only chance to Talk to Other Writers, or Anyone, and not sit silently at home, except for frustrating conversations with our still-imperfect computers. Any suggestions, comments, ideas or jobs can be aired on our email listserve as long as they are of interest to Boulder women who work in media.

If you are new to the group, come on down to Bookends some Friday morning and introduce yourself. We're a friendly bunch.

Once a month, we have a Potluck at someone's house. The process is very simple; in December Evelyn Kaye passes around a list so people can sign up for the month they'd like to host the potluck between January and the next December. Hostesses used to send out snazzy invitations in the mail but now they send an email to the listserve giving the date, time, place, and how to get there, what's provided, and what we should bring.

Some hostesses like replies so they know how many people are coming, and what they are bringing. Some just like to wing it. We've had potlucks where everyone brought dessert and we had to order in pizza, some where six people arrived, some were forty-six showed up, special events for birthdays, Valentine's Day, Halloween, and some outdoors in the summer. In December, we hold an Office Party, which used to be at the bar in the Boulderado Hotel or a local restaurant so we could pretend we were like real employed people. In recent years, we've had delightful holiday celebrations at people's houses where everyone brings one small gift and we exchange presents.

So far we've had no president, no board, no by-laws, rules or regulations, no elections, no office, no staff, and no membership cards - though we did consider tee-shirts at one point. The longtime members pass on the basic way it works to new members. Catherine Dold is List Keeper. That's it.

 
How Does the Listserve Work?
To join the Boulder Media Women listserve at Yahoogroups, just send an email to BoulderMediaWomen-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. That's it.

To unsubscribe, send an email to BoulderMediaWomen-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Once you are on the list, you will start receiving emails from others on the list. Some days the list is quiet, other days there are lively discussions.

To participate in the discussions, start a new topic, or post an announcement, send an email to BoulderMediaWomen@yahoogroups.com.  (Remember, whatever you send to that address goes to everyone on the list.)

To change your email address, please unsubscribe as above (from your old address) and then resubscribe from your new address.


Listserve Behavior
There are no rules on what you can post to the list. While most posts should be media-related, most people don't have any problem with a few want ads, non-media event notices, and the like. To keep the listserve as useful as possible for everyone, though, please follow a few guidelines:

ˇ Use OT (off-topic) in your header if your message is not media-related.

ˇ  Use an informative subject line. That way, if some readers are not interested in a particular topic, they can easily delete or scroll past messages.

ˇ Send RSVPs, thank yous, etc, directly to the intended recipient, not the entire list.

ˇ Limit quotebacks to a line or two.

ˇ Try to minimize off-topic requests. Most people don't mind housing requests, things for sale, etc,. It's all part of being a community. Most do, however, balk at chain letters.

ˇ Do NOT reprint, repost, or use in any way the contents of someone's email to this list. It belongs to the person who sent it, period. (Brief quotebacks in responding email are fine.)


Getting Into The BMW Site At Yahoogroups
You can be a member of BMW and just use the email listserve. However, if you also learn how to use the BoulderMediaWomen site at Yahoogroups.com, you can read old messages, get email addresses for members, and change the delivery options for your email from the group.

Step 1. Go to www.yahoogroups.com. If you have not registered with them already (note that being on the BMW list does NOT mean you are registered with Yahoogroups -- it's a separate process) you will see a screen that says somewhere "welcome guest."

Step 2. Look for a line that says "Click here to register," or something similar. Click on it and register with yahoogroups.com. You'll need to choose a yahoo id and password. (This does not sign you up for the BMW list. Again, it's a separate process.)

Step 3. Exit Yahoogroups. That's it. You're registered.

Step 4. When you go back to www.yahoogroups.com, it will either recognize the cookie on your hard drive and sign you in automatically, or it will ask you to "sign in." To sign in, you enter the yahoo id and password that you selected in Step 2.

Step 5. Then you will see a screen that on the left side lists "my groups." Boulder Media Women will be listed there. Click on it and you will get to the BMW page. If you have trouble, one possible thing to do is look for the "membership wizard." It will 'find' your groups for you. Also, it can sometimes help to use a different browser.

VOILA!
On the BMW page you can:
-- change your email options (no mail, digest, etc) by clicking on Edit My Membership.
-- check out the potluck dates by looking at the Calendar.
-- download copies of the BMW Directory from the Files section.
-- find email addresses for members by clicking on Members.
-- read old messages by clicking on Messages.
-- and lots more.