 This has been a year of significant change for Air Shows Magazine, the quarterly professional journal of the air show industry published by ICAS. And, as the year draws to a close, it appears that all of those changes have had the desired impact.
We began the year by nearly doubling the circulation of this important business publication. Previously, we limited distribution to only the prime contact at each ICAS member organization. But, beginning this year, we expanded that to include both prime contacts and individuals who had attended the previous ICAS Convention. This change has put useful information in the hands of many more air show professionals. And, as a result, Air Shows Magazine now has the largest paid circulation in the air show business.
But the larger number of magazines printed and distributed is just one of the changes we made to the magazine this year. Beginning with the first quarter issue this year, we’ve also narrowed the focus of our editorial content. All of our feature articles are now intended to pass along specific, practical information that ICAS members can use to improve their air show business operation.
Feature article topics this year included corporate sponsorship, air show marketing, sound systems, volunteer recruitment and management, performer fees, air show leadership succession, ground-based air show entertainment, air show sustainability, air show entertainment, website design, ticket prices, budget management, and the challenges of breaking into the air show business as a new performer. All of these feature articles are now written by professional freelance writers and that change has greatly increased the overall quality of the writing in our flagship publication.
We’re also now using a wider variety of tools to pass along all of this information. The magazine now includes several places for members to express their opinions about the issues and challenges facing our business. Every issue now includes results of a membership-wide survey on different topics. And a new section entitled, "Short Final: News from the Field" provides members with brief news items to keep them up on recent developments in the industry.
To reflect this change in editorial direction and because we rely principally on Fast Facts to pass along news of a time-sensitive nature, we changed the tagline of the magazine from “the quarterly news magazine of the International Council of Air Shows” to “the professional journal of the air show industry.”
Graphically, the magazine had not changed since 1997. So, along with these other changes, we freshened up the look of Air Shows. A new masthead, a simpler and cleaner internal design, and prominent use of member photos are changes intended to put even greater emphasis on the editorial content of each issue.
Arguably the single most significant change can't even be found in the pages of any individual issue. With the launch of our new www.airshows.aero website, we have made available more than twelve years of articles from back issues of Air Shows Magazine going all the way back to the summer of 1997. This is perhaps the largest information resource in our business. Indexed both chronologically and by subject matter, this new service provides nearly 5,000 pages of useful, practical information on virtually every issue facing air show professionals.
The changes have been very well received by ICAS members. We never received many complaints about the magazine or its content, but we’re now receiving quite a lot of unsolicited, positive comments about each issue. Interestingly, our members are not really aware that we made deliberate changes, but they are aware that each issue seems to be even more tightly focused on the challenges and concerns that they face as air show professionals.
Perhaps most encouragingly, our advertisers have used their checkbooks to express their support for all of these changess. Advertising revenue for the publication is at an all-time high and Air Shows now has the largest advertising base of any publication in the air show community.
Going forward, we will be conducting a series of focus group interviews at the ICAS Convention to further fine-tune the magazine to ensure that it continues to meet the needs and expectations of our members. You’ll likely see the results of those discussions in the pages of the magazine early next year.
In the meantime, of course, please feel free to write or call with your own observations, ideas and constructive criticism.
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