Preparing your report - during the trip
- Make notes or use a diary – don’t rely on memory
- List the participants, their vehicles and camping rigs. Identify Trip Leaders. Ensure the Participants list on the website matches your notes.
- What is the route that you are going to take, and where is the destination. Can you provide a map or a track file, or a list of Route directions?
- What is the aim of the trip – eg testing driving skills and vehicle, sightseeing, social etc.
Writing your report
- Please do not use formatting other than left justified and new paragraphs.
- Aim for about 500 to 1000 words (1 to 2 pages with photos) for a short trip. More for longer trips.
- The standard for the magazine is Times New Roman, 11point.
- Include author's name, name of trip, date of trip and list of participants.
- Avoid a running commentary, or blow-by-blow description.
- References to time and weather should be used sparingly.
- Pick out the trip highlights eg
- fabulous views
- driving challenges
- incidents eg where members learn about their vehicles or their capabilities
- interesting stops, camp sites
- variations to plan eg because of weather or track conditions
- humorous or scary bits.
Avoid “in” jokes or overly personal references that in hindsight may offend. Keep the tone of the report "friendly and light" not "official" and avoid jargon and abbreviations as much as possible. Avoid the "passive voice" as much as you can and write in the "active voice". Use headings to break up the text.
Photos
The preferred size and resolution for the magazine is at least 800x600 pixels, the higher the better. For the website, this should be reduced to about 500 pixels.
Choose 3 or 4 good quality photos for a short trip, 6 to 8 for a long trip.
For interesting photos try to place the vehicles, the action or people in a wider scene. As a general rule try to avoid photos that could be anywhere eg a group of people sitting around a fire, or a vehicle on a track. But group photos can add interest to trip reports and serve as a record of those that participated - especially on a long trip.
If photography is not your strong point ask others in the group to contribute photos. Keep photos as separate JPG files – please do not embed in the text.
Finalising your Report
Before submitting you may wish to send it to the trip leader for their comment. Send photos via email, or if you have a large selection bring them to a General Meeting either on CD/DVD or thumb drive. Encourage other trip participants to contribute their photos if they wish, but remind them that all photos cannot be used in a Southern Trails trip report or published on the Club website. By all means use Flickr or Picasa to publish large albums.
Sending your Report
Articles may be emailed to publications@st4wdc.org or given to the Publications Coordinator at a General Meeting on either a CD/DVD or a thumb drive.
Please title and date your report including the tag eg “2010-039 New Member's Picnic 3/8/2010 Trip Report for Southern Trails” so that it can be identified easily.
Please attach the text file and separate JPG files if sending photos. The closing date for trip reports is usually the Friday following the Monthly General Meeting and is shown in the Full Calendar