Loyalists 1.7 (Year One Month 7) Beta

[montgjules]

This thread is for keeping it positive! :dancing:

In talking to people the last few days, this is what I've gathered. People love the Loyalists ("people" being defined as people who don't consider this forum to be "over there") but are frustrated that the Loyalists are a little "stagnant" right now. People would like to volunteer their help but don't know how to start. People have great ideas but don't feel like their ideas are acknowledged or addressed by Loyalists leadership. People are frustrated by the relationship between the Loyalists and the Rogue Cavaliers Brigade.

As Glenn once said I think, "Every silver lining has a cloud." That's the cloud. Here's the silver lining. People have been thinking about the Loyalists and what can be done to make a good thing better. People want to get out there and contribute their skills, energy and time to something they love. Not only that, but they want to show the stadium what a supporter's group can really do! People are motivated and excited like never before!

I talked to Glenn about newsletter stuff and upcoming meetings and this is what I gathered. The Loyalists are all about people volunteering and doing their part to make things better. If people want to do something, they should volunteer to do it. He doesn't want an organization of committees to mean simply more meetings, more emails and more talk. I think that's understandable.

A lot of us here want to see more formal organization so we can have clear channels of communication and authority to act in the name of the Loyalists, or to know WHEN people ARE speaking on behalf of the Loyalists. So here's what we're going to do.

Post here ideas on what committees might be helpful and useful. What would the responsibilities be? If you are interested in volunteering to head up a committee or simply be a part of it, post that here or email me jhmont [at] gmail.com and I will take all the suggestions, boil them down into something understandable (ie the anti-forum version) and present a plan to Glenn. Then it can be discussed briefly at our next meeting(s) on July 19th/20th.

Now one last thing: people have complained about the way things are. But I've only gotten ONE email about agenda items for a meeting. People say they care, but they don't care enough to actually email me. If you want to see change, DO SOMETHING NOW. If you have a suggestion, email it to me or post it in THIS thread. Make this a priority. Don't complain about how bad things are. Think creatively about solutions.

I reiterate: this thread is about KEEPING IT POSITIVE. If you have a complaint, choose one of the other similar threads to post in. THANKS.

🕺

[Stucki]

I am willing to do pretty much anything, but I don't have anything specific other than hold meetings more often to aid in communication.

[montgjules]

Originally Posted by Stucki

I am willing to do pretty much anything, but I don't have anything specific other than hold meetings more often to aid in communication.

Okay, stucki's on tailgate committee.
You report to Jason Cox.

😉

[Stucki]

Originally Posted by montgjules

Okay, stucki's on tailgate committee.
You report to Jason Cox.

😉

That's fine, I have already been helping out with that. We need Remus on that committee also.

[DadOf8]

As George Harrison once said, "I'll sing if you want me to sing, and I wont sing if you don't want me to sing."

Just let me know what you want me to do and I'll do it.

[Aerick]

I haven't emailed you yet Jules because I actually had "work" happen this afternoon. It was a weird feeling...

However, I'm going to put everything together and either post it here or email you. I'm guessing that this means that tomorrows meeting is off, right?

[montgjules]

From other threads:

Aerick suggested somebody in charge of welcoming new members. Or maybe two or three people. I'll chime in another idea to go along with that. How about a "new members" packet of information to be sent via email or snail mail to new members to help them get involved quickly. This could be a responsibility of the new member people.

I think it was Glenn who originally suggested a booth at Carnival Real. Luvmyboys has volunteered to "man" the booth ("woman" would be more appropriate) and she would do an excellent job at that. I think dysko is supposed to be talking to the FO about this possibility?

I suggested a "Join the Loyalists" day. Glenn said August 6th might be a good time for this because of the ESPN stuff that I forgot nobody really knows that much about and needs to go in the newsletter... next week I guess...

Snarf suggested we should recruit people a little more, get the crowd more involved.

Dysko said he liked the idea of committees for farming out responsibility and told us to keep our meetings more focused. (Whatever!)

Stucki suggested something similar to Aerick, a "sunshine committee" of sorts to help people feel more welcome in the group.

Snarf said people should volunteer for positions rather than simply being appointed them. Glenn said this too. (So start volunteering, people. Don't be shy.) He also mentioned Aerick's "HI My Name is..." name badge. Let's do that more often.

Bordelais7 wins "Post of the Day" honors for his suggestions on how to seem less elitist: notify everyone of an upcoming meeting, ask for agenda items for the meeting and send those items out via email before the meeting. He also suggested that when people sign up for the Loyalists, they be given a "hierarchy" or leadership and the organization of committees. Then tell people to get involved and sign up for one or more committees to get stuff done.

Snarf suggested sub-forums for each of the committees perhaps where they could discuss stuff.

I asked for ideas and agenda items to be emailed to me for the next official meeting.

[montgjules]

Originally Posted by Aerick

I haven't emailed you yet Jules because I actually had "work" happen this afternoon. It was a weird feeling...

However, I'm going to put everything together and either post it here or email you. I'm guessing that this means that tomorrows meeting is off, right?

Tomorrow's meeting is just an informal discussion of ideas to get the creative juices flowing.

[Aerick]

Here's my ideas on betterment:

1- Some one or more than one person to try and get the rest of the crowd involved more.
2- A hymn or anthem.

And here are my committee ideas. These are above and beyond what already exists:

1- Chant/Songs Secretary (and assistant): To manage all things chanting and singing, including the responsibility to lead the group in the chants and songs during the games. They would need to coordinate (perhaps through official liasons) with the other supporters groups in our area during the games.
2- Secretary of Evangelizing (and assistant): Recruiting and working on getting the rest of the crowd involved more at the games.
3- Secretary of History (and assistant): Responsible for chronicling the events of the Loyalists including pictures, etc.
4- New Member Secretary (and assistant): Responsible for fellowshipping new Loyalist members. Introductions into the culture, and intros to other Loyalists, forums, organizational structure, game day activities and procedures, etc.
5- Secretary of Information Disemination (and assistant): Responsible for getting timely, important or interesting information into the hands of Loyalists - probably via email. Something like the Newsletter, but to include practices, etc. So perhaps Jules is already doing most of this, but perhaps it needs to happen more frequently, and/or contain more information - especially for those that don't use the forum.
6- Secretary of Game Day Activities (and assistant(s)): Would include the tailgate. Also included things that allow the Loyalists to "show well" at the games, such as face painting, flags, streamers, etc. It's kind of a dumb name, but I couldn't think of anything better.
7- Secretary of Electronic Services (and assistant): Responsible for anything dealing with the electronic medium that the Loyalists use such as Website, email groups, forum(s) conduct, etc.

This isn't an all inclusive list, just the ideas I've had and have seen up to this point. Perhaps some of these could be combined or separated further, and likely there are areas that I've missed. Anyway, there's mine.

[montgjules]

Megarep to Aerick.

Wonderful ideas. I'll add my two cents:

Split the game day activities into smaller groups. Tailgating alone is a huge responsibility. I still like my idea of a "color" committee to do face painting, flags, streamers, confetti, whatever else for getting the right look out there.

Also I was just thinking:

* Get MOTM recognition to the players. A t-shirt was one suggestion, or even a copy of the writeup. Something so they know they got voted MOTM.

* Birthday cards to players.