Taylor Johnson - Vice President

Senor_Taylor · 04-14-2015, 01:39 PM

Hey everyone! I'm going to be a Junior this upcoming year and I want to run for VP.

I feel as though I have a lot of good ideas for this club going into the next year. I am very punctual and getting things done early is very key to me. I know practically everyone in MM right now and stay in contact with all of the members more than anyone else.

I am really passionate about MM. It is honestly the coolest thing I've ever been apart of. I'm very proud to tell people about MM and all of the great things we do. I love having such a connection to alumni and hearing all of the great stories. I love learning by their mistakes and hearing their advice (even if I don't take it.) I want MM to thrive and grow and I want others to feel the same way about it as I do.

Next year I plan to have:

More get-togethers. We had a lot at my house this year but I want even more. The one Top Gear night was a success.

Retaining more members. We did very well this year with getting Freshmen. We've had 6 extremely active ones and they're definitely a part of the family now, but we started out with like 50 people at the first meeting and I haven't seen 15 of them since. We can do better.

I want to get JMU vans more. I'll drive, and that way, we can get more people to the track and karting and all over.

I also want way more people at Auto-crosses and Track days. Hopefully I'll have a Miata by then, so I'll be there. I'll drag the new guys along.

I don't necessarily want to do MORE things, I just want to do everything better and communicate often and clearly to all members. That's where the problem lies. Everyone needs to know what's happening.

***Jake*** · 04-14-2015, 02:28 PM

Senor_Taylor Wrote:I don't necessarily want to do MORE things, I just want to do everything better and communicate often and clearly to all members. That's where the problem lies. Everyone needs to know what's happening.

What is your take on the "MM Facebook group chat" that's allegedly existed all year?

I am a strong opponent of it, and think that it only serves to further separate students from alumni. Not good when the student-to-alumni connection has been a historic strong point of this club versus others on JMU's campus.

Any ideas to get more MMers on the forums? Clearly it's not a "this is too hard" issue as we do have some n00bs show up and post with consistency.

You seem to work a lot (which should be commended) - will that hinder your abilities to lead? How will you encourage attendance at an event if you can't get the time off but still want others to attend?

Senor_Taylor · 04-14-2015, 02:41 PM

The group chat has brought us all closer than ever. We chit chat about everything on there all day long. It's definitely a plus and we should keep it. I don't think that is the disconnect between us and alumni. There is a disconnect, yes, but it is not the FB Group chat.

I have no clue about the forums. I preach about the forums at every meeting. Every time I post an event thread, I post it for the current students to come to. Honestly, it comes down to getting the freshmen's feet in the door. It took me at least a year before I felt very comfortable talking on here. I feel like I had to push my way in. I'll look into it.

Honestly, I don't know yet on the work thing. I'm in COB 300 next semester, but I've always made time for MM. The track days are really the only thing I don't want to take the time off for. I like all of you alumni, but not enough to throw away $300 of Miata money/rent/bills to sit at the track. This will be different when I get a car. I'll have a reason to be there, so I'll be sure to get the people that don't work on the weekends to come out. My work is extremely flexible with hours and I can get literally any day and any amount of days off from work as long as I have prior notice of about 2 weeks.

Riice Cooker · 04-14-2015, 02:51 PM

Senor_Taylor Wrote:The group chat has brought us all closer than ever. We chit chat about everything on there all day long. It's definitely a plus and we should keep it. I don't think that is the disconnect between us and alumni. There is a disconnect, yes, but it is not the FB Group chat.

May I ask where you think the disconnect is? I know you mentioned communication in the aspect of keeping people up to date. Is that the disconnect or did you think it is something else?

Also one point is years back we had the van incident at the track. Idk if jmu kept record of that but if they did, might be tough to rent vans.

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D_Eclipse9916 · 04-14-2015, 03:05 PM

FB Group chat? Is this meant to keep alumni out? First I have heard of this. I am not so concerned alumni are out of it, but more concerned, is it open and easy to find/told about to current students and potential MM students? If it is just private to those invited, I hope you are being diligent in keeping up with any students that want to be involved or it might seem like "you aren't part of our pack".

JPolen01 · 04-14-2015, 03:11 PM

I don't see a problem with the group chat. Honestly I don't want to see every little conversation about who is going where, eating what, has what tool, etc on the forum. That would just clog shit up. Dj - (I assume) It's a FB chat with x amount of people. No one can find it from outside of the message.

Senor_Taylor · 04-14-2015, 03:17 PM

The FB chat is very diligently updated. I wish y'all could see the effort I put into keeping people involved. I personally texted every single freshmen before every meeting, event, dinner, cruise, etc. I've stayed on top of the chat too. It doesn't subtract anything at all, it only adds to our communication. There are 35 people still in the chat. Some left it because of how often we talked in it.

I talked to Goodspeed who thought the ban on the vans was only a year. No one knows because everyone has said "It'll be too much trouble because of the incident" and they haven't tried.

The disconnect is how I don't see current students introducing themselves to alumni at events and vice versa. Not saying no one does it, but some keep to themselves.

***SlimKlim*** · 04-14-2015, 03:19 PM

Senor_Taylor Wrote:It took me at least a year before I felt very comfortable talking on here. I feel like I had to push my way in.

I'm curious as to what made you feel that way? Are we intimidating?

So I took a look at the Campus Events forum section. From 2009-2011 about 25 campus event threads were posted. We also used facebook at that time to reach out to members and let them know, but we usually just dropped the link in there and sent them back to the forums to get the finer details. From 2011 to 2015 about the same number of threads were posted in that section. So my question, to no one in particular, is the forum drying up because it's old clunky technology the current students don't like, or have we just had four years of officers who don't like it, and therefore aren't encouraging the current students to use the forum by using it themselves?

Look, y'all got a bunch of bored, nerdy, rich alumni checking this forum a dozen times a day. In some cases probably trembling in their office chairs in the hope that someone will break a Honda or BMW and ask for help figuring it out. We want to be involved with you guys. We want to get to know you and your cars. If you own a car, chances are one of us has owned it already, already broken the shit you just broke, remembers exactly how to fix it, and probably even has the weird tool you need to borrow for the job.

However, 99% of us are very far from Harrisonburg and we're going to see you at most two or three times during the year. We don't get an opportunity to put a face to the name if they aren't using the forum. If students are engaged on the forum, making project threads, and getting to know us, then events like Turducken won't look like a middle school dance where Alumni and Current Students are the boys & girls.

EDIT: I don't think the Chat is something that needs to be gotten rid of, I just think it shouldn't be used in place of the forums when planning or discussing an event. I'm not saying that it even has been, I wouldn't know.

***Jake*** · 04-14-2015, 03:23 PM

Riice Cooker Wrote:Also one point is years back we had the van incident at the track. Idk if jmu kept record of that but if they did, might be tough to rent vans.

The "van ban" was lifted my senior year, and we rented a Grand Caravan to get to VIR sometime that year. Six of us went and worked, the van was returned in good shape, and we are still allowed to rent vehicles.

It had a slipping trans with only 7k on the odometer, but I blame that on 2010-era Chrysler quality above anything else.

95SVTCobra · 04-14-2015, 04:05 PM

The facebook chat was for us to easily communicate between members of MM. It has served us well this year, and in no way did we mean to exclude the alumni from this conversation. It was more a way of discussing cars, seeing if anyone needed help, anyone want to get something to eat? kind of conversation. It has also provided people in MM who aren't on the forum (which I agree we need more participation) a way to stay connected and active with us on campus. It also kept us in touch with the officers, and we could make suggestions and help with events or meetings in any way possible. It was a great tool being a freshman and being able to feel a part of the club and have input. We didn't mean to exclude you guys :thumbup:.

Jake Wrote:Any ideas to get more MMers on the forums? Clearly it's not a "this is too hard" issue as we do have some n00bs show up and post with consistency.

Guilty :lol: I love the forums

D_Eclipse9916 · 04-14-2015, 04:15 PM

95SVTCobra Wrote:The facebook chat was for us to easily communicate between members of MM. It has served us well this year, and in no way did we mean to exclude the alumni from this conversation. It was more a way of discussing cars, seeing if anyone needed help, anyone want to get something to eat? kind of conversation. It has also provided people in MM who aren't on the forum (which I agree we need more participation) a way to stay connected and active with us on campus. It also kept us in touch with the officers, and we could make suggestions and help with events or meetings in any way possible. We didn't mean to exclude you guys :thumbup:.

Sounds good to me, my only concern was that it was going out to all the students that would possibly be interested. Facebook/social media chats/boards seem to be replacing many forums nowadays, it may just be changing.

95SVTCobra · 04-14-2015, 04:18 PM

D_Eclipse9916 Wrote:
95SVTCobra Wrote:The facebook chat was for us to easily communicate between members of MM. It has served us well this year, and in no way did we mean to exclude the alumni from this conversation. It was more a way of discussing cars, seeing if anyone needed help, anyone want to get something to eat? kind of conversation. It has also provided people in MM who aren't on the forum (which I agree we need more participation) a way to stay connected and active with us on campus. It also kept us in touch with the officers, and we could make suggestions and help with events or meetings in any way possible. We didn't mean to exclude you guys :thumbup:.

Sounds good to me, my only concern was that it was going out to all the students that would possibly be interested. Facebook/social media chats/boards seem to be replacing many forums nowadays, it may just be changing.

I totally understand your concern. Well, I for one love the forums and is a great place to interact with you alumni and learn from your experiences and gain knowledge. Next year we need to push more and more people to get on the forums and connect with alumni, which, as Jake said, has historically been a very key part to this club's success.

Senor_Taylor · 04-14-2015, 05:34 PM

The officers have continually gone on about using thr forum. Chip can attest to it. You can't think that I wouldn't advocate it. I have more posts on here than most and I'm a sophomore. I love the forum.

Edit: I'm back from work if y'all want to ask any more questions. I wasn't intimidated by the forums. There's just a lot of inside jokes and a way of talking that takes a while to catch on to. Also, when you're new, you don't know anyone and it's hard to connect with these people behind the usernames. That all passes once you've been on here for a while. I know I'm always raving about the forum and I personally tell every new member to make a build thread. I just need the rest of the officers to harp like I do as well.

Senor_Taylor · 04-29-2015, 09:27 PM

Thanks everyone who showed up to vote. I'm honored to be VP. This will be a great year.

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