All people who are interested in the community of Santa Claus and the Spirit of Christmas should have a central location that lists all of the local, regional, and national societies. There should be a common portal where Santa's Yellow Pages list all of the known resources for clothing, accessories, marketing materials, seminars, and training sessions. Even if some societies are disagreeing on issues, there should be a common community that builds on the positive aspects of the Santa Claus industry. To support the greater Santa community, there are 2 sites that work together: Santa's Society: A Portal for Santa Connections; and Santa's Gazette: Jingle Press Online.

Virtual Community Center for Santa

The paradigm that comes to mind is that Santa's Society is the virtual community center with scheduled activities, online seminars, entertainment, calendar, bulletin board, the water cooler down the hall, conference and meeting rooms that can be scheduled for specific times, with everything but the kitchen sink, so to speak. Perhaps it will grow to resemble a large university's Student Union where clubs, groups, societies, and interest groups have a place and support. Free and low-cost support services and mutual sharing of ideas, skills, and viewpoints should abound.

Santa's Society is open for everyone in the Santa community with Forum, Chat, Yellow Pages, Services, Media, etc; however, the articles will be published by the leadership of the National and Regional Santa Societies. Those are more likely to be big-picture policy articles that will help shape the diverse Santa community down through the years. And if there is some overlap and redundancy, so be it. Since it has been online for just a few days, the richness to be offered by the wide-spread and diverse input is just in its infancy.

Santa's Village Gazette: Jingle Press Online

Jingle Press Online (JPO) is the newsletter or magazine that reports on happenings, tips, techniques, how-to's, with book reviews, movie reviews, Robert's Rules of Order tips for meetings, and a rich Upon Reflection section to support the softer side of Santa. It reports on Santa Happenings from the angle of who was there, what was going on, what kind of fun things happened, etc. JPO is the electronic document that supports the activities in Santa's Society.

It is the place to archive all of the Santa Lore from our most experienced Santas so it does not get lost. Opinions are welcome, including opposing views. It is also the place to eulogize those Santas who have 'taken the last sleigh ride'. JPO is open to all authors who want to publish; all regional and national Santa's Societies are welcome to treat it like their own journal. Like the neighborhood newspaper has different sections, it is easy to set up a section with local news from around the country as well as regular features from the regional, local and national leadership.

Coming soon to Jingle Press Online will be a sign-up area for sending out the 4 official 'issues' per year (the 15th of February, May, August, and November). Of course, all Author's works are immediately published as they are submitted. The idea of 4 issues is to have a way to cut off with a deadline. (Please note: the next issue cutoff is in 9 days!) In only 10 weeks Jingle Press Online has grown to an astonishing array of over 100 articles submitted by over 40 authors.

Tandem Duo: Jingle Press Online and Santa's Society

In order to start using the tandem duo of Jingle Press Online and Santa's Society, all that is needed are Authors. For JPO it is simple; register then ask Santa Walter, the publisher, for an upgrade to AUTHOR. Once given Author permission, articles may be uploaded into SECTION:CATEGORY. (The AUTHOR picks a SECTION first, then from within that section picks a CATEGORY. (See the FAQ for existing SECTION and CATEGORY areas.) If your organizations want their own SECTION with CATEGORIES underneath, it will set it up right away. It is easy to adjust and add on the fly once you ask!

On the other hand, you may get much more publicity by inserting articles into every section and category imaginable, and mentioning your organizations all over the place. This is a place each organization could create their own publicity, if desired. To maximize search engine access, please read the FAQ on meta description and meta words.

Publishing articles into Santa's Society pages is reserved at present for the leadership of the local, regional, and national organizations. Please discuss who the AUTHORs should be from your organization with Santa Chris Martens and Santa Paul Raines. Since these articles possibly take on the weight of policy and will shape the Santa community for years to come, who has publishing rights is a bit more sensitive.

Santa's Society: A Portal for the Santa Community

Initially, Santa Chris Martens, Santa Paul Raines and Santa Walter Roach saw a vacuum or a hole in the ozone layer forming within the Santa community. Starting another National Santa organization did not seem to be the answer; Santa Chris suggested a loose confederation of local, regional, and national groups. (As the USA discovered in 1776, a confederation has no central power; all authority lies with the smaller groups.) The central unifying thought is that the Spirit of Christmas should drive the sleigh, rather than discord and strife. And in the same way that there is a wide variety among Santas, there needs to be a plethora of Santa Claus groups, organizations, chapters, lodges, wreaths, and societies. Yet within that welcome diversity, there should be a neutral zone where Santas are helping and supporting other Santas.

Santa Walter Roach

Publisher, Jingle Press Online

Information Technology Coordinator, Santa's Society