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+--- Thread: Matt Wolford- PR/Secretary (/showthread.php?tid=11169)
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Matt Wolford- PR/Secretary - droflow - 04-07-2016
Introduction
Hey everyone, for those of you who I have not yet met, I am Matt Wolford and I am currently a Sophomore as a Kinesiology Major (I'm really a junior in terms of credits, life is confusing). I am a first year transfer student from Radford, and I am really finding my place here at JMU in my second semester. I felt my first semester was very overwhelming, and i did not have much time to enjoy the finer things in life as my adjustment to a new place took some getting used to. Now that i have found time for social experiences, I have been more involved with MM my second semester here, and I feel that these last two months of school have been my absolute happiest. These past two MM events (Karting and the MM Car show+Autocross) have opened my eyes as to what I was missing first semester. All of the guys in MM have made me feel like just another one of the guys, and I can't thank them enough for welcoming me into the MM family with open arms. I am running for the position of Public Relations/Secretary, and I feel that this role really does fit me perfectly. I am a very outgoing, organized, passionate person, and get along with almost everyone I meet. When i find something I enjoy, I am very passionate about it and put my whole heart into it.
What My Goals as Public Relations Officer Would be
As the PR/secretary Officer, I know I will be in charge of all the email, note taking, and things of that sort. I am very organized and feel that this position fits my personality well. I plan to get the Madison Motorsports name out there and be a positive representation of what MM stands for. I have set a goal to increase the size of MM, because i believe that students need to realize what they're missing out on. This club is a huge opportunity for fun and meaningful social experiences, as well as a means to learn more about automobiles and motorsports. Along with the increase in member size, I want to increase the amount of attendance to MM events, whether it is a car show or weekly meetings. I want bi-weekly MM car meets to be a thing. I think letting off some steam and talking to cool guys/girls about cars, life, relationships, whatever it may be, it is a good way to relieve stress. As well as building the bonds between MM members, i want to teach the new members the goal of MM. Everyone thinks of car guys as a bunch rapscallions recklessly speeding around town, and I want people to know that we teach safe driving here at MM. I want people to know who we are, and I want to encourage students to join the greatest group of guys (and gals) on campus, regardless of whether they have a cool car or not. I also plan to talk to companies in order to develop relationships, and hopefully be able to get some sort of sponsorships for the club. I believe that a PR Officer needs to develop relationships with those who are not apart of JMU, and I want to increase the amount of support we have from organizations outside of JMU.
How I Plan to Increase Member Size
I absolutely love film and photo, and I plan to bring my video and photo skills to use and make Advertisements, Commercials, Promotional Videos, and more, in order to get students to recognize who we are. I think a big part of this club living on is engaging new students, and encouraging them to join MM, in order to make their experience at JMU more enjoyable. The more people we can get to join the club, the more opportunities we will have to do fun things. I know some people were talking about possibly doing 2 karting trips next year, and if we can somehow encourage more students (increase member #'s by 10-15, even 20) to join, then we can find the means to make fun events happen more often. I also believe that an increase in member size is based on the happiness of MM's current members. If members are happy with how MM is operating, then they will be more likely to encourage people to join our awesome group of gear heads. We already have multiple forms of social media, but i want to be very involved with them in order to gain a big following. I want schools from other states to know who we are, and wish they had a club like ours.
My Role as Public Relations Officer
I believe that 2016-2017 will be a big year for MM, but only if we want it to be. The goals for '16-'17 are not going to be achieved single handedly by myself. I am going to have to work hand in hand with all the Officers, as well as MM members, in order to help this club succeed to new heights. I want to be a positive influence on this club, and encourage all members to shoot me ideas any time. If a member wants to try out a new event of some sort, I want to help them make their ideas become a reality. Members are just as important as the Officers who run the club. In order to keep students coming back, we want to make sure everybody is enjoying their experience to the highest level. As PR Officer I also want to be active on social media and the internet in order to keep our name out there. The Internet is the most useful resource for success in today's electronic era. I want to make E-Flyers, send out emails, and post on different forms of social media in order to engage people with MM. I also believe that JMU faculty need to be involved with MM somehow, but in a different way. I think we need to show to the JMU administration that we are a very responsible group, and our choices that we make are all in an effort to give students a safe and meaningful experience. This group is not a means to be reckless and teach you that doing clutch dumps through Harrisonburg is cool. This group is to give students the opportunity to let out the lead foot when it is LEGAL (at the track), as well as to build bonds with awesome people and teach them about cars.
Means of Revenue and Fundraising
I hope to start some sort of fundraisers in order to provide more money for events that we may hold. I know this might be the role of other officers, but i believe that officers need help with some things as they cannot do everything themselves. I know restaurants such as Chipotle and Buffalo Wild Wings work with JMU organizations and will give a percentage of profits for fundraisers. I think that the best way for this club to succeed is to have every members helping hand in any way they can. If we have fundraisers, we need to get the word out by posting flyers, sending emails, and telling people in our classes about them. We can also try selling new products to members, or even students. I think apparel is a great way to raise money, as well as some sort of personalized item. I think we can all agree that something with our name on it feels more special. We could sell jackets with our last name embroidered, or maybe mechanics shirts with our name and MM logo. I think these items are practicals items that make sense, and will be something that someone would want to wear and keep forever.
Summary/TLDR
Overall, I hope to bring fresh ideas to MM, as well as a positive attitude and image to the club. I want to bring a new influx of students to MM, as we are losing many seniors that are near and dear to everybody. I think that this year's upcoming senior class is just as special, and I want to give them a year of MM that they will always remember. I think I can help bring more revenue and members to MM, as well as engage members to make more events happen. I hope to create many videos, take many photos, and develop a great number of connections as the PR/Secretary Officer. 2016-2017 will a be a big year for MM, and I want to have a helping hand in any way possible. I believe that my enthusiasm and drive (no pun intended) will help MM succeed, and I hope that i get to meet as many new people this upcoming year as i did in the past few months. I've really only been apart of MM for a short period of time, but I truly feel that MM is already a part of me and I want to help this club reach it's maximum potential.
I know this page is really long, but i really did have a lot of ideas that i don't think could all be expressed in one simple page. If anybody has any questions as to how I will meet my goals, please feel free to ask.
Thanks for reading-
Matt Wolford
Re: Matt Wolford- PR/Secretary - rherold9 - 04-07-2016
Needs a TL;DR :lol:
For real though. Seems like you are passionate about MM. I like that and I like that you attributed your personality/skills to fit in with your position. We definitely need some fundraisers or sponsors if you can get that done I'll be very impressed. Glad to see you are running for office. Trust me start using this more to make the alumni happy, including the other officers.
You have a lot to juggle with and have some big ideas. What does your school schedule/other activities allow with time wise? You say you are organized and such just wondering how busy you usually are compared to how much you will be able to put time into your ideas?
Re: Matt Wolford- PR/Secretary - droflow - 04-07-2016
Yeah needs a TLDR for sure LOL. And my only real other commitement is to hockey but that's one practice a week, and one game on Friday nights. I think I'll be able to juggle it all pretty well. I'm never really extremely busy, I just didn't have a lot of time my first semester to be around as I had a lot of settling in to do, I also broke my shoulder so I couldn't even drive haha. But I really want to be dedicated to MM, and make some sponsorships happen.
Re: Matt Wolford- PR/Secretary - *insertusernamehere* - 04-07-2016
Interesting ideas, good luck!!
Re: Matt Wolford- PR/Secretary - Senor_Taylor - 04-07-2016
I really like a lot of these ideas and I like how much thought you've put into this. It is true that I never really saw you around much until Karting,but you definitely picked up near the end of the semester. I know we talked in private about how much time and commitment being an officer is this club requires and the expectations for next year, but I just want to ask why you suspect we haven't done a lot of the things you suggest and how you would plan to change that?
Re: Matt Wolford- PR/Secretary - droflow - 04-07-2016
Taylor I'll be upfront with you about what I thought was lacking. My first semester nobody really tried to engage me in MM or encourage me to come to things. I showed up to a couple meets but that was it. After I stopped going nobody really thought of me or hit me up to come to more stuff. I think that we need to try to engage NEW students more by trying to get them to come to as many events as possible to see how great MM is. i also think that lack of interest by older members may be a reason, as they have done everything so many times that it may be time to switch something up and try new things.
Re: Matt Wolford- PR/Secretary - Senor_Taylor - 04-07-2016
I agree completely with that. Great idea. I will add that it is extremely tiring trying to keep up with the people who stop coming. People who come for the first meeting and disappear, like you did, are numerous. If you want to keep up with that many people, you'll be texting/messaging 30 people every week, and you never know if they'll come back like you did. It's not impossible, and I'd love to have your help in doing that next year.
Re: Matt Wolford- PR/Secretary - Jake - 04-07-2016
Really nice to see someone who's got SMAD-esque experience throwing their hat in the ring. We've not had that in years and things tend to be more successful when we do.
How do you think MM could be better promoted to both students and local businesses as a club and brand? As others have said, awareness is the first problem when it comes to attracting and retaining new folks.
Re: Matt Wolford- PR/Secretary - droflow - 04-07-2016
I really would like to carry around some sort of handout or card and when I see a cool car, leave them something on their windshield that tells them who we are and how they can join us. I also would like to do some sort of fundraiser with local businesses, like a pizza shop or something. They give us food, we bring in business! I also have a lot of friends with nice cars but didn't even know we existed. To me, word of mouth is a huge key in spreading awareness. If we want this club to grow, we have to be active as members and let people know what's up!
Re: Matt Wolford- PR/Secretary - *insertusernamehere* - 04-07-2016
Just as a heads up, the more people we keep attracting the harder it is to keep up with everyone and give them that personal attention to get them in. (And to do that around actual lives and school and work). Then after that the club sort of just dwindles back down to a steady size.
I'm definitely not saying you can't achieve what it is you're going after but just keep in mind this isn't a new issue for MM recently and even then we've still grown in size.
Just out of curiosity did you get an officers phone number at the start of the year? Cause I think we tried to ensure everyone had at least one officers number so they would have someone to contact. You can try that again next year and remind people if they want to be involved to hit up any officer next year.
Like I said, its hard enough to reach and keep in contact with everyone as is so just be wary of trying to go bigger.
I'd love to see an officer spend more time on getting people who are here now together for hangouts, not parties, wrench days, dinner etc. Especially an officer with more time on their hands. When i had the blue m3 that's what I tried to do and people came out to help tear stuff up. Also somehow encourage members to just go hangout with each other. Everything doesn't need to be big and planned ya know? I've gotten to know Alex Perry, Matt Craig, Simon, Zach + Paul (track baes), last year got to know salar, Joaquin and Eric. Theres a lot of MMers as is, we (or you all) just have to engage them. Quality over quantity. Just things to consider.
Re: Matt Wolford- PR/Secretary - droflow - 04-07-2016
I agree with you Matthew, more is not always better in a sense. But if we can get more PAYING and involved members who are intrigued with this club, we could potentially hold more events. And yeah I got Taylor's number at the beginning of 1st semester, which was nice to be able to text him for info. I definitely think every new member should have someone they can talk to, maybe even set up a "big little" type of thing. No I don't want this to be a fraternity, but if we can give someone to make connections with it might help them stay more involved. Also that "big" might be able to involve freshman in things by providing transportation, which might be a reason a lot of them don't show up.
Re: Matt Wolford- PR/Secretary - Senor_Taylor - 04-07-2016
I suggested the big little system this year and it did not work at all. My little left MM and rushed ATO.
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Re: Matt Wolford- PR/Secretary - ScottyB - 04-12-2016
hey Matt, i'm enjoying your enthusiasm and i relate to your story...it was difficult for me to adjust to college for a while but once i found my "MM home" it made a difference in my college experience for the better. i've always enjoyed being an MM ambassador since, and i hope its the same experience for you. but enough about me, some questions from a crusty old ex-sec:
• tell us about your personal motorsport or car-event related aspirations for what you'd like to be personally involved in this year. what events do you plan to attend? its important that officers lead the charge for the other members...your position would be a platform for demonstrating the core values of the club, and one of MM's is that its heavily focused on motorsports and competition. personal involvement is key here for our club to maintain any bite behind the bark. you mentioned friday-night hockey - most of our track weekends go Friday-Sunday. do you think this will be a long-term conflict, and/or would you be willing to drive to events very early on a Saturday to keep these things from conflicting? being fairly young, i hope you have a long stay with the club and by planting yourself at these events early on you will quickly build a great network of track/event experience that can be invaluable later.
• i'm grateful to hear about your media experience and as a graphics guy myself, can tell you that much of the success of this club will be dependent on making it accessible and exciting to outsiders via videos, graphics, and posters. you mentioned social media - do you think MM could make a presence on Instagram, and do you think it would be worthwhile? more of a general question - are you intending to take on these multimedia projects by yourself or enlist outside help? we've had officers hit this wall in the past and it can be difficult to achieve a well rounded graphics/media presence without time or specific talent on-hand.
• your PR challenges to persuade JMU faculty about our safety are ambitious and i applaud it. i would caution though, that as soon as you bring attention to the club framed within the narrative of safety, they're going to be watching the club intently for the first member slip-up to proclaim in context that we aren't safe (if you weren't aware, the club has a loooong history of being on thin ice with JMU in general due to things officers can't always control). as such, would you consider leading a charge for the club to attend or sponsor a local SCCA Street Survival event to help the club promote actively participating in safety-geared events vs. just not crashing when we drive fast?
• lastly, given the opportunity to fight a dozen duck-sized Gary Busey's or a single Gary Busey sized duck, which would you choose? i'm looking forward to the answer given your recent shoulder injury.
droflow Wrote:I really would like to carry around some sort of handout or card and when I see a cool car, leave them something on their windshield that tells them who we are and how they can join us
good news - we have that! i got with the officers a couple years ago during Dan Kastner's presidency and we made these. they have our contact info and a quick manifesto message on the back. i can get you a huge pile of them for super cheap. great example of using the club's resources via alum or other connected professionals to delegate projects and achieve quick results. we want to help you guys!
![[Image: MM-Cards_zpsulzjctj5.jpg]](http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f270/scottyb226/MM-Cards_zpsulzjctj5.jpg)
Re: Matt Wolford- PR/Secretary - jbails39 - 04-12-2016
ScottyB Wrote:
That looks awesome, we need ASAP.
Re: Matt Wolford- PR/Secretary - rherold9 - 04-12-2016
We have those cards somewhere. At least did when I was an officer
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Re: Matt Wolford- PR/Secretary - jbails39 - 04-12-2016
rherold9 Wrote:We have those cards somewhere. At least did when I was an officer
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Need to be distributed out to the general population, I never saw those.
Re: Matt Wolford- PR/Secretary - JPolen01 - 04-12-2016
Dan and I used those all the time. We did not give them to the members because you are not supposed to flyer bomb cars on campus. To control this only the two of us carried them to place on cars we found around campus. There are a metric fuck ton of them when I left. I hope they are still around. If not they were really cheap as Scott mentioned.
Re: Matt Wolford- PR/Secretary - rherold9 - 04-12-2016
Yeah we can't leave them on people's cars. All we could do is just hand them to people on the commons
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Re: Matt Wolford- PR/Secretary - JPolen01 - 04-12-2016
You can put them on cars. Just don't be obnoxious about it and do it to every car. Gotta be covert about it.
Re: Matt Wolford- PR/Secretary - Senor_Taylor - 04-12-2016
Yeah they are with the stickers and such. We use them for student org night, so they are being used. I also have personal MM cards I made with my personal info on them.
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