Loyalist Meeting(s) July 19th/20th

[Aerick]

Originally Posted by montgjules

The most interesting thing to report is that somebody handed out mini-Snickers bars up at the FO. Other than that, there isn't anything ground-breaking. I'm waiting to hear back from Glenn to cut through the different opinions and decide what is actually going to be done. Different things were suggested the two nights and I'm not sure which way Glenn wants to go. I'll tyr to post more later.

Officially pee'ed my pants.

Thanks alot!! :P

[montgjules]

Loyalists Meeting Report
July 19th/20th, 2005

I hope I covered most of the basic issues. If I left anything out, please let me know. If you have any questions, please let me know. If you have any feedback whatsoever, you know what to do. jhmont [at] gmail.com

-Juliana

1. Supporters Initiative—August 6th game

a. As part of a supporter’s celebration, the Loyalists will be offering half-price tickets to the August 6th game. This is part of a contest by ESPN2 and the league. The winners will have footage from the game used during next year’s ESPN2 MLS ads.
b. To reserve tickets, email Dave Hale: dk_hale [at] hotmail.com or go to theLoaylists.com to pay via PayPal. Tickets are available as will-call or you can make arrangements to pick them up before the game.
c. More information available soon on the Loyalists website, in the newsletter, and on the forum.

2. Booth

a. Looks unlikely that we’ll have our own booth for the upcoming games. Dave Hale is looking into final possibilities. Our options are (a) Share a booth with Cars-Mart, but this idea was unappealing to some who say it didn’t work well last time they tried it; (b) Setting up tables and working in the sun (We don’t have shade at the tailgate!) or (c) forgetting it altogether.
b. Assuming we have some kind of Carnival Real presence, we will hand out some flyers announcing the Supporters Contest (August 6th game), some information about the Loyalists and what they do, and possibly have some game-day stuff like streamers, confetti, etc. to hand out to the crowd. A cash box and forms will be needed to collect funds and information from anybody who would like to join the Loyalists on the spot. We will try to have flyers in both English and Spanish.
c. Other cool stuff that could be done at the booth: hand out “diving scorecards” (9.5, 10.0, etc.), yellow cards, glow sticks for during the fireworks, streamers, tattoes, chant cards, t-shirts, etc. Also maybe have some face-painting available.

3. Contacting Loyalists that aren’t getting contacted

a. We need to contact the Loyalists who have signed up but haven’t been involved in the past. We have some phone numbers but mostly addresses, so we need somebody to volunteer to get out postcards to Loyalists to solicit a current email address, etc. This will be the job of the membership committee once it is more established.

4. Road trip

a. Leaving around 10 p.m. (meeting around 9 p.m.) on September 30th at the FO building. Cars can be left there for the two nights.
b. Driving all night to arrive in Denver Saturday morning. Hang out doing… something… until about game time.
c. Game tickets will be in the southeast corner of the stadium, by where the team enters/exits the field. It will be opposite the team bench in a good location for the TV cameras. Trey will instruct KSL to make sure the Loyalists are a visible presence on the broadcast.
d. After the game, burn down Denver then head to the hotel (Embassy Suites) to stay the night.
e. In the morning, the hotel will provide a nice breakfast buffet and the return journey will commence.
f. Cost will be $120/person for Loyalists and spouses. Others who want to come are welcome but will have to pay an extra $15 fee. (Congratulations, you’re now a Loyalist.)
g. No children on the bus, please. If you want to drive out separately and join the Loyalists in Denver, the cost should be about $60/person for hotel (double occupancy) and game ticket.
h. If you do not want double-occupancy hotel rate, you will need to arrange that with our road trip coordinator (who is…. Hiba for now) separately.

5. Charity work

a. Jamie Barton is collecting a list of names of people interested in helping out with charity work coordinated by team players, etc.

6. More players coming soon (Trey)

a. Trey said we can expect more new faces this fall, apart from those we already know about. Naturally he couldn’t give us details.

7. Passback

a. Bring new or gently used merchandise to the next game to contribute to the Passback program, to provide equipment for those who cannot afford it.

8. Committees

a. Committees are being formed to divide up responsibilities and to help people get more involved. While the exact committees are not completely decided, it may look something like this:
b. Electronic Services (Stuff) Committee: responsible for the Loyalists website and mailing lists (supervised and reporting to Glenn)
c. Merchandise/Gear/Branding Committee: For creating unique and cool “stuff” for the Loyalists. This could include scarves (in process already), hats, other t-shirts, pencils, etc. (supervised and reporting to Dave)
d. Tailgate: self-explanatory (supervised and reporting to Steve)
e. Public relations: Information dissemination, newsletter, Man of the Match, etc. (supervised and reporting to Glenn)
f. Membership: recruiting, welcoming, and tracking Loyalists. Also includes the Carnival Real booth, if that ever materializes. (supervised and reporting to Steve)
g. Other committees suggested but still undecided: color and chant committees. Some said these seemed artificial or unneeded. I’m not sure if a decision was made. I think a lot of opinions were expressed without any final consensus being made. We’ll need further instruction from Glenn on this matter. If there isn’t a specific chant committee, we still want to move forward on the chant ideas suggested by Merrill Shantell where possible. Perhaps somebody else can fill in details on this? One idea was to use the jumbotron for getting our chants started, but the FO has been instructed not to use the Jumbotron so often, so they are cutting back on that. This will need a little further investigation and discussion.

[Jose Luis Luviano]

Originally Posted by montgjules

Loyalists Meeting Report
July 19th/20th, 2005

2. Booth
[INDENT]a. Looks unlikely that we’ll have our own booth for the upcoming games. Dave Hale is looking into final possibilities. Our options are (a) Share a booth with Cars-Mart, but this idea was unappealing to some who say it didn’t work well last time they tried it; (b) Setting up tables and working in the sun (We don’t have shade at the tailgate!) or (c) forgetting it altogether..

So does that mean that the booth for this Saturday is cancelled?

I have one of those shades that is supposed to be easy to assemble. I had asked before if we needed it, and the answer had been "no".

I could bring it & my big table to the tailgate this Saturday, if some nice person could provide a parking pass.

Or, if someone has a truck/van/SUV and can pick up the table & shade from my place near 6200 South & 5600 West in WVC, send me a PM.

Originally Posted by montgjules

5. Charity work
[INDENT]a. Jamie Barton is collecting a list of names of people interested in helping out with charity work coordinated by team players, etc.

Yeah! If I volunteer at the golf tournament, I don't have to play in it and no one will know what a crappy golfer I am.

But I need to arrange to take the day off work.

Did we ever find out when golf is?

[Aerick]

Thanks Jules!

[taytay33]

Ok, so are we doing the booth or not? I'm so confused...

[montgjules]

Originally Posted by taytay33

Ok, so are we doing the booth or not? I'm so confused...

We don't know yet.

[Merrill]

Thank you very much for the report.

Originally Posted by montgjules

If there isn’t a specific chant committee, we still want to move forward on the chant ideas suggested by Merrill Shantell where possible.

:banghead::banghead::banghead:
This is no offense to you Jules, but everytime I see that it drives me crazy. My name is Merrill Page. My wife's name is Shantell. Somehow, on the writup for the first meeting it said not pictured but present was Merrill Shantell (probably because my email address includes both my wife's name and mine). I asked Prime to fix it, and it ended up saying not pictured but present was Merrill and Shantell Page. Well, that wasn't exactly true, but it was good enough for me, I let it lie. But here it is back to haunt me. Oh well.

Originally Posted by montgjules

g. Other committees suggested but still undecided: color and chant committees. Some said these seemed artificial or unneeded. I’m not sure if a decision was made. I think a lot of opinions were expressed without any final consensus being made.

Well, if the consensus hasn't been made, let me express my opinion. There are a few responsibilities that might make these committees needed (maybe we could combine them into one committee). The color folks would be the ones who bring and care for the Giant Flag. Also they could organize things like streamer throwing. I've mentioned a few times that we should work out a time in which every person in the section throws a streamer, making a cool effect, instead of just a few random streamers at goals. I thought kickoff, or even some time before kickoff would be a good time. The color committee could bring a whole bag of streamers, so everyone would have one. Any other materials that we would share between the whole club would be part of the Color Committee's responsibilities as well. For example some of the long banners I've seen in Euro games...also at the chivas game, where it's a long banner with poles on both ends that are held up by people. Their kind of cool too. Not sure if we need them, but it's an option. They wouldn't be needed to keep track of people's personal flags, but I've noticed many people who have made more than one flag. When they move on from their old flag to a new one, the color committee could take responsibility for the old one, and make sure someone gets to use it still instead of it getting stuck in someone's closet or garage to gather dust.

Also, the chant committee would also be useful, but again could be combined with another committee if we want to do that. If we were ever to have a "Capo" or chant leader as we've suggested several times in threads, he/she/they would presumably be from this committee. Chant committee would be responsible to get out the word on chants so more and more people can sing along with us. I think our mission statement says that our goal as a club is to provide Real Salt Lake with a homefield advantage by getting loud, chanting, and CREATING AN ATMOSPHERE. Why would we leave out the committees that are actually dedicated to our mission statement?

Also, some people are interested in the loyalists because of the party they appear to be having in the stadium. It may be the one and only thing they are interested in. I have to admit that my ideas don't fall in any of the other committees domains.

My two cents...or maybe it's more like thirty five cents or something.

Otherwise, I have nothing to add.

[SoccerPrime]

Wow thanks for writing that up Juliana. Did you guys have a good turn out to either meeting? Just curious.

Some good ideas there. Hopefully Glenn actually gets to read your notes and some final decisions are made. I hope it doesn't go by the way side, like say, my Loyalist t-shirt 🙁 ... (I know Steve is working on it).

Anyway, I think one good thing that ppl like Merrill (I almost called you Snarf, not your wife's name) can get from this is that Glenn and company want you to spread your chant love around. If you want to make up flyers for the coming home games I think this is a good time to do it.

And I wanted to add that $120 for a 2 day/2 night bus ride, MLS game, lodging and food is a great deal. Dang I wish I could go!!!
:D

[montgjules]

Sorry, Merrill. I read it under the photo and then on the email over and over, and never knew it was wrong.

I wish you were at the meeting to counter-balance other vocal voices in the other direction.

FYI, food is NOT included in the $120 road trip price. Only the breakfast provided by the hotel. You'll still need to bring money for food and cRapids souvenirs to burn.

[Aerick]

Good News!! A little bird just told me that we're approved for the booth at tomorrows game and at the game on the 6th. Probably want to wait for official word from "The Powers That Be" before making official arrangements, but you may want to continue to think and plan for it.