Zach Gordon - President (WALL OF TEXT)

[Gordonovski]

Goin' out with a bang.

Hey everyone, I'll be a senior this next year (or more) and am intending on running for president of the club.

A little bit more about me:
-English major/creative writing minor
-Drive a tornado red mk4 VR6 Jetta
-Learned that I loved pickles for the first time after trying them at Jack Brown's about 6 months ago

If you want to know more, PM or email me and I'd be happy to talk. I just don't think an extended bio is what the people want in a pres thread.

First off, I'd like to say that I'm slightly disappointed in myself for not have being as active as I have been in the club the last semester and a half, but due to an opening in my time commitments, I've been able to devote much more time to this club that I have a ton of fun in and a lot of respect for.

I can tell from the responses of alumni, current members, and even non-members who were at the car show that there needs to be some work done on the club. Not that I am disappointed with anything we've done these last few years, but there was certainly a golden era or glory days back before '11 came around that I want to regain within this next year.

I think this needs to start with organization and communication. There needs to be a bit of restructuring, I'd like to set guidelines for each office and its responsibilities and duties, for I felt that there was a bit of an overlap this year. This is good to a point, but you've gotta remember that too many cooks isn't always necessarily a good thing. In my opinion, the club should adopt what is pretty much the standard model for exec boards of a lot of other clubs and organizations in that:

-The president is responsible for running meetings and external communications. Right now, the meetings that take place could be done over email and I think there needs to be some benefit to coming to a meeting besides pizza. I'd like for members to be much more included in the decision making process, which would hopefully happen at these meetings. Along with becoming more democratic, I think that by doing so would show that we have faith in the current members and their decision making process, but also allow them to become more involved in the club (along with hopefully having most people remember when events are happening, because they made that decision.) I also think it is absolutely necessary for the president to be able to go out to JMU administration, members of the community, and alumni to put on a face for the club and present us well. The simple fact of the matter as to why we haven't had vans to go to VIR or as many sponsors as we wanted for the car show lies solely upon the club not going out and talking to these people and giving them a reason WHY they should support us.

-The vice president would hopefully be able to stand in for the president in his/her absence. The VP should also be responsible for the clubs inner-workings, as external communication would rely mostly on the president. This would come about as any conflicts between members or between members in the club. I would also hope to see the VP responsible for the organization of meetings and have it as his/her responsibility to establish a meeting place and time.

-As for treasurer and secretary, this will be more short and to the point, but the treasurer should be solely responsible for collecting dues and having a budget secure at the beginning of each semester to show how much money the club has and what our plans to spend that money on would be. For secretary, they should be able to keep an accurate account of current members and means of contact, as well as alumni. I would also appreciate it if the secretary would keep a record of what happens during meetings and share those with alumni, hopefully through the forum.

So that's what I believe to be important for the organization of exec. Secondly, communication. Currently, I feel as if I have no idea what the current exec is doing (though this doesn't mean they aren't doing it well). If I were elected, I would hope to open up to current students and alumni what we would be planning and what kind of processes we were going through to get those things done. It's as simple as keeping everyone updated and I think a big piece of keeping people active. You don't want to give money to something and feel as if nothing is getting done with it.

I also think that a huge part of keeping this club going is promotion, which I don't see a lot of happening on campus and feel is vital to our health. Exposure is what keeps us going. I also heard some grumblings that this past car show didn't have a benefit a charity and only was a source of income for the club. A possible remedy to both of these problems is a fall car show. It provides us a second opportunity to raise money for a charity as well as get early promotion out at the start of the school year. With the current car show happening so late in the year, it's my belief that some people come out and then forget about it once summer comes around and they don't come back to school for three months. A fall car show would attract a lot of freshmen and hopefully allow more people to become aware of the club. Planning on this would have to get started almost immediately, but I believe it can be easily accomplished if everyone does their part.

Going off of that, I'd like to see many people doing a part. Right now, the planning is almost restricted to exec, but I think that by giving non-exec students responsibilities it would promote their worth in the club and also keep them having some vested interest in staying around. This could be as simple as having Student X ride over to Blue Ridge Tire and ask them if they would like to participate in the car show, or have Student Y reach out to his friends in another club and have the two clubs participate in something together. This shows that the exec trusts and respects the members and also builds future leaders of the club.

Besides these things, I'd like to see much more participation in car events throughout VA and the surrounding regions.

-I was very disappointed by the turnout for VIR and am hoping that this past weekend encourages students to go down to more trackdays and experience the fun that that is. I'm already planning on going down for Hyperfest in May and the NASA event in July and hope that others will plan accordingly to make it down there. Once school is back in session, if I am elected, I plan to march to JMU transportation and get us a van for transportation down there and will make the strongest argument they've seen for us to acquire one of those again. A simple "x happened 6+ years ago with the club" is unacceptable to me and a ludicrous reason to not at least try to get one of those vans.

-Verona autox. Holy shit I had no idea what I'd been missing. These events are so close and so cheap that it is a crime that we haven't had more people going down there. Even if you aren't driving, it's still a great way to experience autox and learn about how they tick, so that hopefully in the future students won't be so...afraid to track their cars down there.

-Campus events: these are simple - hang out in TDU, get dhall/ehall, simple hangouts to get members around each other in an accessible location for freshmen to promote the friendship aspect and getting to know each other personally. Also, campus events like the classic Kline's meet shouldn't be restricted to the beginning of the semester. This is something so simple and easy to organize (and cheap), to a point that I think we could have something like this every month. All these take are simply putting the time aside to get a group of people able to say "YES, I can make this event," setting a time, and meeting people there. There isn't any reason for more of this stuff to happen.

I would also like to see even more communication between alumni and exec/the rest of the club. Most of what we see right now is limited to the forum, but I would whole-heartedly support an open channel between exec and alumni through means of group chats/Google hangouts/group calls/etc. I think talking is much more personal and more able to perpetuate the creation of ideas. Realistically, it would be easiest for the pres/exec to handle this communication then relay it back to the rest of the club. Again, keep that communication open.

I'm going to bring this to a close now. I hope my ideas have been clear and concise enough to not feel like a bombardment, but sorry if it has been. I recognize that I haven't been as active in the past as I wished I could've been, but I've changed that this past semester. I also know my activity on the forum isn't much, but I do lurk the shit out this place and read most posts.

I won't be disappointed if someone else gets elected president, it is totally the club's decision. I just wanted to allow my ideas to get out there and hopefully considered for the future. I might/plan to add some to this thread, so expect more contributions. If I do get elected though, I will work my butt off to try to have the best year for the club and hopefully set us up so that trend can continue.

-Zach

email: <!-- e --><a href="mailto:gordonzj@dukes.jmu.edu">gordonzj@dukes.jmu.edu</a><!-- e -->
PM or email me if you want my cell number to communicate that way.

[Sully]

Why do people think we can't get a van? That seems to be like a common point everyone is making. If you want a van, fill out the form and get one. There is no restriction on mm having a van at the present time. No need to argue for one. Just ask.


Edit to some other points (doing this on a phone so bare with me):

Fall car show would be tough as well. Consider everything going on in the fall when we come back. You have a rapid fire of events the first couple months. Student org night, the first meeting, the first social meet/bbq or something, apparel orders, the college autocross, a date needs to be set for karting if you want it to happen and various other little social events sprinkled throughout. I'm not saying it can't be done. I'm just saying be realistic. I can see some other event like karting getting pushed aside for a car show. I'm also on the side of who cares about giving to charity in this instance. Charity is great but it's not like MM is a huge corporation raking in hundreds of thousands each year. It is usually pretty close to being in the red. The car show should be a fund raiser to the club, not to something else that probably makes more in donations in a year than MM has made in the last 5 years. Maybe pick something to raise awareness about or give them a super small percent but I'm pretty sure the charity thing was mainly started as a crowd draw anyways, but I don't think the local charity thing really draws anymore of a crowd.


The alumni communication thing is a fine idea but the reason they/we prefer the forum is because we can check it periodically and most can check it at work. Most alumni don't have the time to get on the phone for a conference call or video chat during the week or wouldn't want to cause they do it all day at work.

[Gordonovski]

Why do people think we can't get a van? That seems to be like a common point everyone is making. If you want a van, fill out the form and get one. There is no restriction on mm having a van at the present time. No need to argue for one. Just ask.

Exactly, this is a common thing going on right now. People just expect things to happen and blame the past or a various magnitude of other reasons for things not going according to plan. We just have to go out and do things and quit expecting everything to fall into place. I've seen clubs die from lack of motivation from members and don't want that to happen.

[JPolen01]

Why do people think we can't get a van? That seems to be like a common point everyone is making. If you want a van, fill out the form and get one. There is no restriction on mm having a van at the present time. No need to argue for one. Just ask.

I came here to post this. Dan and I looked into getting a van to take to VIR. It wasn't that we couldn't one it, it was that it isn't free which I feel is another misconception with all of the current students right now. You don't walk in, grab the keys, and hit the road. You have to pay for gas (obviously) as well as per mile. We couldn't convince students to chip in at the time for this because frankly not a lot were going to VIR with us. If you get a solid group together willing to contribute for the van, it would make for a hell of a trip there and back.

[Senor_Taylor]

Sully. People don't think we can because they've been too lazy to even take the first step. It's easier to say you can't than to try

Zach, do you feel like you know the process for all of the duties involved in being an officer? It's kind of a large jump straight to president. Have you been an officer before? Do you plan on being on the forums more? Do you honestly believe you can acheive all of these claims.

Also, how practical do you think a google hangout or a group call with alumni would be? There are hundreds of alumni and they are all over the place. Not all of them know each other. They're not like a board of director. What would you do to encourage new members to meet the alumni?

[Jake]

Also, how practical do you think a google hangout or a group call with alumni would be? There are hundreds of alumni and they are all over the place. Not all of them know each other. They're not like a board of director. What would you do to encourage new members to meet the alumni?

There's like 25 active alumni :wink:

We've actually done Google Hangouts before and they worked really well.

[Senor_Taylor]

So kind of like our FB group chat

[Jake]

Some good points in here, Zach. I'm on a conference call but let me see how much I can process and nitpick

Van Rental
As Matt said, we are absolutely 100% allowed to rent vans. But, there is a cost involved. When I rented one for VIR, we had six of us in the van and I believe each person contributed $20. That was cheaper than people driving separately, and we were all working, not driving, so no need for our own ballersauce cars.

Fall Car Show
We've batted this idea around before and the last time a fall show went on was sometime when DJ was in school (maybe his sophomore year?). I would rather see more effort put in to making the spring show as absolutely kickass as it can be (go look at the last show that Goodspeed & co put on for an example) and use the fall to get members out to every track event and autocross that you can.

Student/Alumni Connections
A lot of us are really out there already. I like the idea of a Google Hangout but as Matt said, keep in mind that some of us spend most of our workdays on calls/Webex meetings and may not want to go home and have one more.

I'd recommend focusing on getting students onto the forums, as we can check those at our leisure throughout the day, on the Metro, etc. and keep in touch. I'm happy to chat with whoever on Gchat, Facebook chat, or email as well.

This is also where the "group Facebook chat" idea could come up, but I know I can't have Facebook open all day for chatting. Forums look a lot less like I'm goofing off, but everyone knows what that blue Facebook header bar looks like from a distance.

Track Weekends
What are your ideas for getting more students out to VIR and Summit with us? HPDE is an expensive hurdle at $350-400.

Autocross
What are your ideas for getting more students out to participate in autocross? Do you think you could get students to autocross somewhere that was a longer drive compared to Verona? I'm thinking no more than an hour away, but the number of venues/events to choose from opens up dramatically if you can take a bit of a drive.

[SlimKlim]

I also think the forums are the best way to keep the alumni in the loop, we all work different schedules and have commutes of varying lengths so getting all of us on a google hangout would be tough, however that doesn't mean you can't set up a laptop at the back of the room during meetings for those that want to dial in.

I also agree that a fall show would be tough... but that doesn't mean it's not worth exploring. If you're elected you'll want to build out the fall schedule early this summer so you can find a weekend to slot it into, and then make sure all your planning and coordination with the school and show sponsors are taken care of during the summer. That way when the semester gets started you aren't bogged down trying to plan the show and coordinate all of the smaller fall events. IF you're willing to put in the work, then I do think a fall show could get more current students interested in the club and an extra fundraising opportunity is always a good thing. If you're not, the show will suck and other events are going to suffer.

EDIT: If you were gonna go for it the college auto-x weekend might be a good weekend for a fall show. Show on saturday, auto-x on sunday. :dunno:

[JPolen01]

Student/Alumni Connections
A lot of us are really out there already. I like the idea of a Google Hangout but as Matt said, keep in mind that some of us spend most of our workdays on calls/Webex meetings and may not want to go home and have one more.

I'd recommend focusing on getting students onto the forums, as we can check those at our leisure throughout the day, on the Metro, etc. and keep in touch. I'm happy to chat with whoever on Gchat, Facebook chat, or email as well.

This is also where the "group Facebook chat" idea could come up, but I know I can't have Facebook open all day for chatting. Forums look a lot less like I'm goofing off, but everyone knows what that blue Facebook header bar looks like from a distance.

To echo this:

Dan and I did the google hangouts once every couple weeks with current students and alumni over the summer after we were elected. Of course there was a lot of goofing off, but it was fun to get everyone together (even on suspect internet connections) to shoot the shit. We did get a lot of ideas and a lot of planning accomplished.

[Senor_Taylor]

My main question for you , Zach, is do you think you can be an effective President after not really being an active member before this? I haven't really ever seen you outside of last weekend. That is what worries me.

[D_Eclipse9916]

-I was very disappointed by the turnout for VIR and am hoping that this past weekend encourages students to go down to more trackdays and experience the fun that that is. I'm already planning on going down for Hyperfest in May and the NASA event in July and hope that others will plan accordingly to make it down there. Once school is back in session, if I am elected, I plan to march to JMU transportation and get us a van for transportation down there and will make the strongest argument they've seen for us to acquire one of those again. A simple "x happened 6+ years ago with the club" is unacceptable to me and a ludicrous reason to not at least try to get one of those vans.

-Verona autox. Holy shit I had no idea what I'd been missing. These events are so close and so cheap that it is a crime that we haven't had more people going down there. Even if you aren't driving, it's still a great way to experience autox and learn about how they tick, so that hopefully in the future students won't be so...afraid to track their cars down there.

This is a motorsports club. However, I do agree that the track is fun and should definitely encourage students to go down. I do know it is like a taste of "what you can't do" at the time so it's not very accessible right now. I don't think there is any way around this. How about encouraging students to do the VIR Kart Enduro with alumni?

I honestly think based on this past weekend, emphasis on Verona Autocrosses should be pushed hard and maybe trips a little further out to autocrosses in different areas? Capital Driving Club does one in Winchester, about an hour from JMU. Its accessible, anyone can do it, and it's honestly how I got started. Get em started on that "gateway drug" and itll blossom from there. People who are excited and participate only garner more excitement to friends.

Basically what I am saying, I know we have been beating the track drum but maybe emphasize more accessible motorsports for current students. (not saying abandon track stuff), but to push karting/autox a bit more heavily. I have noticed this past year many students coming and just sitting in a chair checking their phone at the track. Yes they have some fun, but they don't actively get to do stuff. Karting at the track, or autocross might get them to come more.

[Gordonovski]

Zach, do you feel like you know the process for all of the duties involved in being an officer? It's kind of a large jump straight to president. Have you been an officer before? Do you plan on being on the forums more? Do you honestly believe you can acheive all of these claims.

Also, how practical do you think a google hangout or a group call with alumni would be? There are hundreds of alumni and they are all over the place. Not all of them know each other. They're not like a board of director. What would you do to encourage new members to meet the alumni?

I know a lot of what it takes to be an officer, but in my opinion, it's part of the duties of the leaving exec board to be sort of mentors to the next exec board so that the transition is smooth and the next exec doesn't have to struggle for a semester figuring out what they have to do. Of course I don't know what Sam does every waking minute for the club, but I can't right now until I go talk to him about it. I've held positions in organizations before, but never necessarily been on exec. If you want my resume I'll send it to you. I think it's definitely possible to get all of this done because I've seen other organizations achieve much more, but if not all of it happens then I hope I'm able to set up a system so that in the coming semester it can.

I didn't expect a hangout or whatever to be all of the alumni, but just a few who want to be extra involved and communicate in that way as well. Having a short phone call after dinner one night a week is definitely feasible in my eyes, but most other organizations don't have a forum like this, so I can see if people didn't want to do that. And I would keep encouraging that the alumni are the brain and the braun of this organization, they've done just about everything we've done before. I know it's hard for a lot of them to get down to Harrisonburg very often, but I think it would be great to have a good number of them at one of the first meetings so that there isn't this looming "oh, you've gotta meet the alumni" thing going around late in the first or second semester someone joins. I think the earlier students are able to meet alumni face to face and get to know them, the better that connection will be. Of course this all depends on their individual work schedules and when our fall events happen.

And yes, I'll be on the forums more.

[Gordonovski]

Some good points in here, Zach. I'm on a conference call but let me see how much I can process and nitpick

Van Rental
As Matt said, we are absolutely 100% allowed to rent vans. But, there is a cost involved. When I rented one for VIR, we had six of us in the van and I believe each person contributed $20. That was cheaper than people driving separately, and we were all working, not driving, so no need for our own ballersauce cars.

Fall Car Show
We've batted this idea around before and the last time a fall show went on was sometime when DJ was in school (maybe his sophomore year?). I would rather see more effort put in to making the spring show as absolutely kickass as it can be (go look at the last show that Goodspeed & co put on for an example) and use the fall to get members out to every track event and autocross that you can.

Student/Alumni Connections
A lot of us are really out there already. I like the idea of a Google Hangout but as Matt said, keep in mind that some of us spend most of our workdays on calls/Webex meetings and may not want to go home and have one more.

I'd recommend focusing on getting students onto the forums, as we can check those at our leisure throughout the day, on the Metro, etc. and keep in touch. I'm happy to chat with whoever on Gchat, Facebook chat, or email as well.

This is also where the "group Facebook chat" idea could come up, but I know I can't have Facebook open all day for chatting. Forums look a lot less like I'm goofing off, but everyone knows what that blue Facebook header bar looks like from a distance.

Track Weekends
What are your ideas for getting more students out to VIR and Summit with us? HPDE is an expensive hurdle at $350-400.

Autocross
What are your ideas for getting more students out to participate in autocross? Do you think you could get students to autocross somewhere that was a longer drive compared to Verona? I'm thinking no more than an hour away, but the number of venues/events to choose from opens up dramatically if you can take a bit of a drive.

As for the vans: especially if someone isn't HPDEing or tracking their car, I think it's just an easy and cheap way to get a bunch of people down there. I'd be more than willing to put down $20 or more, plus it would probably give a few people a place to sleep.

The fall car show thing is something I thought would be a possibility because I heard grumblings about this past one and all I've heard about doing one in the fall is that it's not possible because it takes a lot of work. I just thought it would be a good way to attract some attention early in the year and hopefully get out name out. I really want the show next year to be kickass. This year felt like a big community get together, but I know a good amount of people around Harrisonburg that would probably be more than willing to help us out.

The Gchat thing was more of just a once a week/bi-weekly thing, certainly not all day or everyday, but a periodical checkup. I think the hard part about getting people on the forum is just getting them to find something they can post in. Also, would it be possible to take off the part of registration where you have to be accepted? I know Paul was/is stuck in that part for a while.

I don't think anyone should have to feel like they need to HPDE to come to a track weekend. When Paul and Kate came for their first time, they had no idea what it was going to be like, didn't get to drive, but had a blast anyway. It's just a fun weekend to ride in some fast cars and have fun with other car people. I think when people get out to an autox, that's when they decide they want to drop the $300+ to drive HPDE (as evidenced by this weekend).

I think by getting them to Verona just once then seeing how much fun/easy/cheap it is, that will convince people that the longer drive is worth it so that we can participate more. I would have no objection to driving up to an hour, I think the hard part is getting students to drive those without fear of seriously breaking their car.

[Gordonovski]

This is a motorsports club. However, I do agree that the track is fun and should definitely encourage students to go down. I do know it is like a taste of "what you can't do" at the time so it's not very accessible right now. I don't think there is any way around this. How about encouraging students to do the VIR Kart Enduro with alumni?

I honestly think based on this past weekend, emphasis on Verona Autocrosses should be pushed hard and maybe trips a little further out to autocrosses in different areas? Capital Driving Club does one in Winchester, about an hour from JMU. Its accessible, anyone can do it, and it's honestly how I got started. Get em started on that "gateway drug" and itll blossom from there. People who are excited and participate only garner more excitement to friends.

Basically what I am saying, I know we have been beating the track drum but maybe emphasize more accessible motorsports for current students. (not saying abandon track stuff), but to push karting/autox a bit more heavily. I have noticed this past year many students coming and just sitting in a chair checking their phone at the track. Yes they have some fun, but they don't actively get to do stuff. Karting at the track, or autocross might get them to come more.

I see what you're saying with VIR not being accessible right now, and I agree, but the group that went down in March still had a great time even though we weren't able to drive. I also think working is a great way to get involved at VIR - I stood at pit in the entire weekend but I felt more involved than I had before. I think it becomes more do-able for older members, I'm sure everyone saw the facebook posts after this weekend. I think the Kart Enduro would be a great time, but that looks like something we would have to start later in the year or next season.

I agree with what you say though, this past Sunday released a lot of endorphins in a lot of members, and I hope to see that continue.

[Gordonovski]

My main question for you , Zach, is do you think you can be an effective President after not really being an active member before this? I haven't really ever seen you outside of last weekend. That is what worries me.

I do, especially after being active these past few months. Until I graduate, the only things I've got on my plate are school, work, and MM, which means I have a lot of time able to be devoted to this - at least a lot more time than before.

[Jake]

Also, would it be possible to take off the part of registration where you have to be accepted? I know Paul was/is stuck in that part for a while.

We have to leave that in place, otherwise we get a TON of spam-bots registering and posting shit. The approval process is manual and usually one of us admins takes care of it same-day but it can be overlooked. I would encourage people who register to email me privately and I'll make sure they get approved quickly.

[Jake]

I think it would be great to have a good number of them at one of the first meetings so that there isn't this looming "oh, you've gotta meet the alumni" thing going around late in the first or second semester someone joins. I think the earlier students are able to meet alumni face to face and get to know them, the better that connection will be. Of course this all depends on their individual work schedules and when our fall events happen.

Plan your first "post-student org night" meeting a bit differently and I bet it could happen - i.e. do it on a Friday evening (or Saturday) following the what, Wednesday SON, and shoot out an invite to the alums.

I remember one year where we did the "welcome to MM" thing at Cabell's house downtown and had a few guys show up on bikes - Channing and someone else - was a very cool surprise. I've gone down once or twice and it's always fun to meet the new guys right away.

[Senor_Taylor]

Having stuff on Friday is difficult. Most people want to drink and dry hump on Friday nights. We *did* do that last year, I think on a Thursday or Friday, and it didn't work out too well. The only people that came were the freshmen I knew personally.

[Gordonovski]

Having stuff on Friday is difficult. Most people want to drink and dry hump on Friday nights. We *did* do that last year, I think on a Thursday or Friday, and it didn't work out too well. The only people that came were the freshmen I knew personally.

I think getting people out is a matter of them having some reason for coming out. Also, if we do something early enough on Friday, that would leave plenty of time for the dry humpers to have their party time afterwards and have and event or something else to do with alumni or older members who are tired of that kind of lifestyle.