04-18-2012, 03:36 PM
Dearest MMerÔÇÖs,
My name is Tyler McAvoy, IÔÇÖm a senior English major, and I will be staying in school another year to get a double minor in political science and philosophy. IÔÇÖve been working in the Madison Communications office for the past 3 years as an editorial intern, and IÔÇÖve established many connections through this. JMU has a lot of red-tape to cut through, but IÔÇÖve dealt with enough of it to know how to properly work the system.
IÔÇÖm going to cut to the chase; IÔÇÖm running for Secretary for ÔÇÖ12-ÔÇÖ13.
Over this past year, MM has floundered. We havenÔÇÖt been recruiting extensively. We havenÔÇÖt been friendly. We havenÔÇÖt offered any (good) go-fast events. Heck, few of us have even seen a sexy exotic this year, and that, in a car club with as many connections as we have, is a tragedy.
So, I have slew of ideas to change this around, first and foremost: recruitment.
Recruitment has been pitiful this year. Not only did we disregard Student Org night, but we didnÔÇÖt do anything to make up for it. So many nice cars are driving around campus without an MM window sticker and it makes me sad: WeÔÇÖre wasting a huge opportunity. Car culture is so multi-faceted, itÔÇÖd be a disservice to not get everyone from drifters to those guys with jacked up pick up trucks involved in MM.
Next year, recruitment will be much more widespread. Sure, weÔÇÖll do Student Org night, but beyond that I plan to also make MM more visible throughout the year. First: signage. Not exactly flyer bombing, but we need to make MMÔÇÖs name more consistent on campus. Hand out flyers on the Commons. Throw up some chalk around campus. Get a mass-email or two sent out around the big events, and coverage of said events by The Breeze. Participate in the Relay for Life, work concession stands, have a ÔÇ£Wear your MM stuffÔÇØ day, and invite people via Facebook and Twitter to learn more about what we do. I also want to tailor some events for those of us who are motorcycle enthusiasts, too. ItÔÇÖs basic stuff, and thereÔÇÖs a plethora of other things that I havenÔÇÖt thought about, but my philosophy: the bigger the club the better. The more people we have, the more money we can get from dues, the more connections weÔÇÖll have when setting up cool events, and, in general, the brighter the future for the club.
Second: cohesion. WeÔÇÖve been split and separated lately for various reasons that have been discussed before. We need to bring everyone together, especially alums that have become disenchanted with the club after this past year. So itÔÇÖs time to bring them more into the equation. Dan, Jon and I plan to hold video-chatting sessions over the summer once a week, and allow any alumni (and student for that matter) to join and offer input on how to turn things around next year. I also plan to have a webcam set up during every MM meeting for the same reason; so those of you alums who want to see how the meetings are going can watch from the comfort of your sofa at home. For those of you who canÔÇÖt figure out a webcam and canÔÇÖt make a viewing, IÔÇÖll also take minutes for each meeting, and plan to have an event overview before AND after a major event, and post these to the forums.
For students, there will be more social stuff to do, too. Here are some of my ideas: Bringing back MM lunch once a week on campus, would be a good start. Having MM parties, cookouts, wrench days (which were essentially non-existent this past year), and 33 cruises would be further good baselines. Not everything we do has to be extravagant or particularly auto-centric; as long as weÔÇÖre establishing friendships, we can really get this club going in the right direction.
Lastly: communication. Without current students and alum knowing whatÔÇÖs going on, how can we say we have any cohesion at all? There has been a lot of confusion lately about what we were doing and when, and with the adoption of an accurate calendar, this problem can be solved. We need to plan nearly all of our major events from day 1, and set up sub committees with an officer as the head to plan the event. I propose also that we have more solidified dates for the biggest events such as the car show, which would allow us to reserve the lots needed, and talk to our sponsors well in advance of the date, and would be recurring, annually.
Besides that, and I know Jon and Dan will talk about this more in depth, there will be a much bigger focus on getting the finer details ironed out. A lot can go wrong when the small things are disregarded, and we can definitely solve this through much better communication.
Though the forums are a great tool for keeping in touch and posting details about events, many students seem to shy away from it or donÔÇÖt check it regularly. Thus, we should bring back the MM mass texting that we had in previous years, and utilize our Facebook page more than we currently are. Though the forums will still be the focus of most of what we do, social networks offer more connectivity. I also plan to set-up an old school phone tree too, to help further this communication, and get numbers circulating around. The more avenues we have to get in touch with each other, the better.
IÔÇÖve written a lot, but these are only a few of my ideas. I really love this club, and I want to get it back to its former glory. IÔÇÖm a huge proponent for efficiency and making things easy, and IÔÇÖm more than ready to do the work required to get this done. IÔÇÖm open to any and all suggestions, and I really look forward to working as an executive chair this upcoming year.
IÔÇÖll collect any and all questions you have for me and answer them all at once on this forum. If any of you would like to talk to me personally, PM me, friend me on Facebook (Tyler Lincoln) or send me your number and we can chat. Looking forward to all questions/comments and concerns, and meeting those I havenÔÇÖt yet.
My name is Tyler McAvoy, IÔÇÖm a senior English major, and I will be staying in school another year to get a double minor in political science and philosophy. IÔÇÖve been working in the Madison Communications office for the past 3 years as an editorial intern, and IÔÇÖve established many connections through this. JMU has a lot of red-tape to cut through, but IÔÇÖve dealt with enough of it to know how to properly work the system.
IÔÇÖm going to cut to the chase; IÔÇÖm running for Secretary for ÔÇÖ12-ÔÇÖ13.
Over this past year, MM has floundered. We havenÔÇÖt been recruiting extensively. We havenÔÇÖt been friendly. We havenÔÇÖt offered any (good) go-fast events. Heck, few of us have even seen a sexy exotic this year, and that, in a car club with as many connections as we have, is a tragedy.
So, I have slew of ideas to change this around, first and foremost: recruitment.
Recruitment has been pitiful this year. Not only did we disregard Student Org night, but we didnÔÇÖt do anything to make up for it. So many nice cars are driving around campus without an MM window sticker and it makes me sad: WeÔÇÖre wasting a huge opportunity. Car culture is so multi-faceted, itÔÇÖd be a disservice to not get everyone from drifters to those guys with jacked up pick up trucks involved in MM.
Next year, recruitment will be much more widespread. Sure, weÔÇÖll do Student Org night, but beyond that I plan to also make MM more visible throughout the year. First: signage. Not exactly flyer bombing, but we need to make MMÔÇÖs name more consistent on campus. Hand out flyers on the Commons. Throw up some chalk around campus. Get a mass-email or two sent out around the big events, and coverage of said events by The Breeze. Participate in the Relay for Life, work concession stands, have a ÔÇ£Wear your MM stuffÔÇØ day, and invite people via Facebook and Twitter to learn more about what we do. I also want to tailor some events for those of us who are motorcycle enthusiasts, too. ItÔÇÖs basic stuff, and thereÔÇÖs a plethora of other things that I havenÔÇÖt thought about, but my philosophy: the bigger the club the better. The more people we have, the more money we can get from dues, the more connections weÔÇÖll have when setting up cool events, and, in general, the brighter the future for the club.
Second: cohesion. WeÔÇÖve been split and separated lately for various reasons that have been discussed before. We need to bring everyone together, especially alums that have become disenchanted with the club after this past year. So itÔÇÖs time to bring them more into the equation. Dan, Jon and I plan to hold video-chatting sessions over the summer once a week, and allow any alumni (and student for that matter) to join and offer input on how to turn things around next year. I also plan to have a webcam set up during every MM meeting for the same reason; so those of you alums who want to see how the meetings are going can watch from the comfort of your sofa at home. For those of you who canÔÇÖt figure out a webcam and canÔÇÖt make a viewing, IÔÇÖll also take minutes for each meeting, and plan to have an event overview before AND after a major event, and post these to the forums.
For students, there will be more social stuff to do, too. Here are some of my ideas: Bringing back MM lunch once a week on campus, would be a good start. Having MM parties, cookouts, wrench days (which were essentially non-existent this past year), and 33 cruises would be further good baselines. Not everything we do has to be extravagant or particularly auto-centric; as long as weÔÇÖre establishing friendships, we can really get this club going in the right direction.
Lastly: communication. Without current students and alum knowing whatÔÇÖs going on, how can we say we have any cohesion at all? There has been a lot of confusion lately about what we were doing and when, and with the adoption of an accurate calendar, this problem can be solved. We need to plan nearly all of our major events from day 1, and set up sub committees with an officer as the head to plan the event. I propose also that we have more solidified dates for the biggest events such as the car show, which would allow us to reserve the lots needed, and talk to our sponsors well in advance of the date, and would be recurring, annually.
Besides that, and I know Jon and Dan will talk about this more in depth, there will be a much bigger focus on getting the finer details ironed out. A lot can go wrong when the small things are disregarded, and we can definitely solve this through much better communication.
Though the forums are a great tool for keeping in touch and posting details about events, many students seem to shy away from it or donÔÇÖt check it regularly. Thus, we should bring back the MM mass texting that we had in previous years, and utilize our Facebook page more than we currently are. Though the forums will still be the focus of most of what we do, social networks offer more connectivity. I also plan to set-up an old school phone tree too, to help further this communication, and get numbers circulating around. The more avenues we have to get in touch with each other, the better.
IÔÇÖve written a lot, but these are only a few of my ideas. I really love this club, and I want to get it back to its former glory. IÔÇÖm a huge proponent for efficiency and making things easy, and IÔÇÖm more than ready to do the work required to get this done. IÔÇÖm open to any and all suggestions, and I really look forward to working as an executive chair this upcoming year.
IÔÇÖll collect any and all questions you have for me and answer them all at once on this forum. If any of you would like to talk to me personally, PM me, friend me on Facebook (Tyler Lincoln) or send me your number and we can chat. Looking forward to all questions/comments and concerns, and meeting those I havenÔÇÖt yet.
2008 4Runner
1974 CB360
2015 FJ09
1974 CB360
2015 FJ09