04-15-2015, 11:10 AM
Hey everyone!
I'm a super senior Geology major this year at jmu and this will be my final year. I transferred in to jmu after my freshman year elsewhere and I have loved it here ever since. Especially in the spring, nothing beats quad chillin' in the spring after winter. Of course, when I came to jmu I joined MM and it was quite possibly the best decision I've made in a long time. MM is very near and dear to me and I have learned alot in the last 3 years of being a member. I think I'm ready to throw my hand at MM leadership and carry on the MM tradition that has left such a positive impression on me and set a precedent for future years to come.
Although I am running for the office of Public Relations I intend to help out and improve MM on all aspects. I'm going to break down the post into the following sections: Organization, Events + Student involvement, Fundraising, Forum and Where Will I Stand In All This?
Organization
To preface all that I am about to write I don't believe any members should be tied to specific responsibilities for the year, so all things done by the execs should be a collaborative and cohesive effort with clear communication among all members with decisions being agreed upon by all members. We should also take it upon ourselves to present the club members with full and detailed plans that are open for discussion and adjustment as necessary by the group as a whole. I have learned from the past that having too many brains brainstorming at the same time = a wreck. So I would love to have a plan ready for action that we can receive feedback on. The most important factor I think that will really help us to have a successful year is timeliness. We can achieve this by laying out a tentative year plan with as many solid dates for the fall as possible. This can be planned over summer and would be shared in the first 2 weeks of the fall semester. This applies for the spring semester as well. I think these will help the club to flow more efficiently behind the scenes and allow everyone to feel more secure in the work being put in for us.
Events &Student Involvement
All of our other typical big events have been pretty successful recently so I won't beat the bush on those. I say we carry on with Klines meet, deck meets, cruises, top gear nights, car shows etc and we can plan to the same/higher caliber. Feel free to ask specific questions here in the comments if there is anything extra you would like to know. The biggest improvements with events that need to be accomplished are freshman involvement. It's clear that most freshman feel left out without a car and feel discouraged to join in on things such as cruises. Or getting off campus can be a little inconvenient via buses. I think this may also be because they aren't comfortable with MM just yet. So I say we off campus living folk make our way on campus for some virtual fun
There are large conference rooms in the basement of festival that are open for reservation by clubs/orgs, we can rent one of these rooms which have tv's, someone can bring along their ps4's/xbox's and we load up forza or whatever game of our choice and just hang out. Pizza can also be provided. We could also just combine this with a meeting. It would be a great way to get everyone involved. The other idea I had, after observing one of the meetings this year, was to have one of our regular meetings off campus. Such as someones apartment, I'll gladly open mine to this. Not every meeting but once in a while. Normally when we have meetings a good bit of us just mill about the classroom and clearly we want to hangout and chill for a bit longer, however a Wednesday afternoon on campus doesn't really facilitate that. So we could hold it on a Saturday at one of the officers apartments, share our updates and let the evening take itself away 
It's a good casual way to attract everyone out and keep them out.
I made it out to almost every track event last year and had a blast. I think I missed 3 and all were due to school. Otherwise I would have been there. I will be there for Hyperfest and will be at all events for the rest of the year. You can typically find me working on grid. I believe on two events last year, maybe three - excluding hyperfest - we were able to get a bunch of new students out to the track. Sometimes people left a little early, however, I think the initial effort is what counts! :thumbup: It was a great time and I enjoyed having everyone come out and experience. I was glad when a few of the members also decided that working events was a good fit for them after spending a weekend. This is something I plan to continue and I would love to the be students liaison for info on track events and even for communication with alumni since I've had the chance to get to know so many better this last year. I think there will be a positive increase in student participation at these events.
This may be a more far fetched idea but I'm gonna throw it out there. We all want to enjoy a nice cars and coffee, however, nova and rva can be a little out of reach during the semester, so I say we start our own here in town. The Madison Motorsports Cars and Coffee. There aren't a TON of exotics in the 'burg but there are a few in the area and with good advertisement we may get a surprise visit. On top of that this gives us a chance to interact with the community. We could possibly have all the officers rotate each mornings as well so that at least one of us will be present. Just an idea. If elected I would develop this idea more completely.
Fundraising
I agree with everything Chip has said in his post for raising funds. I'm still brainstorming on more ideas than just this one so you are all welcome to ask questions and pick my brain. If I recall correctly we have a solid amount of MM stickers left over from last year, so I think it would be a good idea for everyone to buy a new color and allow new members next year to buy from the current batch so that we can finish selling what we have. However, over summer, if elected, i would look into running a "special edition" sticker. This one will have a different design and have the option to be more personalized. So far I've thought about including the year an alumni graduated on the sticker and if it is a current student we can put the students current year. Possibly initials, your cars emblem? Maybe even for our esteemed members we can put what your official position was along with the dates you were said position, as we have them listed on the forum. These would be ordered in small numbers and cost more but I think would be well worth it if I can find a feasible printing option for us. More development to be done here as well, if elected.
Forum
I've read the concerns regarding the forums and this is a tricky one. Here are the factors the way I see it:
Some people simply aren't into forums. Not many people get off on the idea of talking to internet strangers who are a close knit group of friends, with inside jokes and who all know each others names etc. It's not a matter of the forum being old outdated tech, just... an awkward way of communication for someone who has never done it before. Alot of you guys sit infront of computers all day so this is a no brainer but we don't, most of us are on the fly and don't have time for this. To put it in perspective, would you rather get on your phone on tapatalk and respond to a stranger about what ferrari is gonna do next or text your friend to meet you at festi and have real life instant engagement?
SO WHAT DO WE DO? Fix that disconnect of students not knowing alumni. Put some faces to names so it can feel more personal and give them a reason to care to respond and read. I think it would be amazing if as many as alumni could make it to our initial Deck-Klines meet as possible and talk with students. Jake surprised us last year and it was a good move, people remembered you. From here we should all include our names and a relevant photo (our cars) on our profiles here (i know some of us have already done this). Unfortunately I will have to let Pumba go. Hopefully this will make it easier for forum n00bs to feel like they have an idea of whats going on and who is saying what. Along with having every event linked here and such I think this could help increase student participation on the forum. If the Klines-Deck meet isn't enough of an event (which i completely understand its a 2 hour drive) for it to be worth for alumni to make it in town, I figured since football is early in the year, this will be a great time for alumni to come down and tailgate and watch the game with us and allow some stronger student-alumni personal communication. The main goal here, whatever the event, is to push for personal student-alumni interaction early on the school year!
Where Will I Stand In All This
So I can tell you now that I won't be at every single event or happening, that's unrealistic. I will be assisting with summer planning, working on creating good relationships with jmu faculty for future years, ensuring timeliness execution of all updates, I'd be glad to watch over the FB page and email communication, strong forum communication, any community or organizational communication that would need to be handled (i think these fall more directly under my PR title) building relationships with members and making sure everyone feels at home and getting people to the track. I'll be willing to go the extra mile for MM as I have done in the past. In general, pretty much all my goals could be summed up as striving to foster a stronger sense of community and increasing student participation.
This was a long one but I wanted to cover all my thoughts. If you guys have any questions feel free to ask! Thanks for the consideration, ladies and gents!
EDIT:The little globe under my avatar actually links to my FB.
I'm a super senior Geology major this year at jmu and this will be my final year. I transferred in to jmu after my freshman year elsewhere and I have loved it here ever since. Especially in the spring, nothing beats quad chillin' in the spring after winter. Of course, when I came to jmu I joined MM and it was quite possibly the best decision I've made in a long time. MM is very near and dear to me and I have learned alot in the last 3 years of being a member. I think I'm ready to throw my hand at MM leadership and carry on the MM tradition that has left such a positive impression on me and set a precedent for future years to come.
Although I am running for the office of Public Relations I intend to help out and improve MM on all aspects. I'm going to break down the post into the following sections: Organization, Events + Student involvement, Fundraising, Forum and Where Will I Stand In All This?
Organization
To preface all that I am about to write I don't believe any members should be tied to specific responsibilities for the year, so all things done by the execs should be a collaborative and cohesive effort with clear communication among all members with decisions being agreed upon by all members. We should also take it upon ourselves to present the club members with full and detailed plans that are open for discussion and adjustment as necessary by the group as a whole. I have learned from the past that having too many brains brainstorming at the same time = a wreck. So I would love to have a plan ready for action that we can receive feedback on. The most important factor I think that will really help us to have a successful year is timeliness. We can achieve this by laying out a tentative year plan with as many solid dates for the fall as possible. This can be planned over summer and would be shared in the first 2 weeks of the fall semester. This applies for the spring semester as well. I think these will help the club to flow more efficiently behind the scenes and allow everyone to feel more secure in the work being put in for us.
Events &Student Involvement
All of our other typical big events have been pretty successful recently so I won't beat the bush on those. I say we carry on with Klines meet, deck meets, cruises, top gear nights, car shows etc and we can plan to the same/higher caliber. Feel free to ask specific questions here in the comments if there is anything extra you would like to know. The biggest improvements with events that need to be accomplished are freshman involvement. It's clear that most freshman feel left out without a car and feel discouraged to join in on things such as cruises. Or getting off campus can be a little inconvenient via buses. I think this may also be because they aren't comfortable with MM just yet. So I say we off campus living folk make our way on campus for some virtual fun
There are large conference rooms in the basement of festival that are open for reservation by clubs/orgs, we can rent one of these rooms which have tv's, someone can bring along their ps4's/xbox's and we load up forza or whatever game of our choice and just hang out. Pizza can also be provided. We could also just combine this with a meeting. It would be a great way to get everyone involved. The other idea I had, after observing one of the meetings this year, was to have one of our regular meetings off campus. Such as someones apartment, I'll gladly open mine to this. Not every meeting but once in a while. Normally when we have meetings a good bit of us just mill about the classroom and clearly we want to hangout and chill for a bit longer, however a Wednesday afternoon on campus doesn't really facilitate that. So we could hold it on a Saturday at one of the officers apartments, share our updates and let the evening take itself away It's a good casual way to attract everyone out and keep them out. I made it out to almost every track event last year and had a blast. I think I missed 3 and all were due to school. Otherwise I would have been there. I will be there for Hyperfest and will be at all events for the rest of the year. You can typically find me working on grid. I believe on two events last year, maybe three - excluding hyperfest - we were able to get a bunch of new students out to the track. Sometimes people left a little early, however, I think the initial effort is what counts! :thumbup: It was a great time and I enjoyed having everyone come out and experience. I was glad when a few of the members also decided that working events was a good fit for them after spending a weekend. This is something I plan to continue and I would love to the be students liaison for info on track events and even for communication with alumni since I've had the chance to get to know so many better this last year. I think there will be a positive increase in student participation at these events.
This may be a more far fetched idea but I'm gonna throw it out there. We all want to enjoy a nice cars and coffee, however, nova and rva can be a little out of reach during the semester, so I say we start our own here in town. The Madison Motorsports Cars and Coffee. There aren't a TON of exotics in the 'burg but there are a few in the area and with good advertisement we may get a surprise visit. On top of that this gives us a chance to interact with the community. We could possibly have all the officers rotate each mornings as well so that at least one of us will be present. Just an idea. If elected I would develop this idea more completely.
Fundraising
I agree with everything Chip has said in his post for raising funds. I'm still brainstorming on more ideas than just this one so you are all welcome to ask questions and pick my brain. If I recall correctly we have a solid amount of MM stickers left over from last year, so I think it would be a good idea for everyone to buy a new color and allow new members next year to buy from the current batch so that we can finish selling what we have. However, over summer, if elected, i would look into running a "special edition" sticker. This one will have a different design and have the option to be more personalized. So far I've thought about including the year an alumni graduated on the sticker and if it is a current student we can put the students current year. Possibly initials, your cars emblem? Maybe even for our esteemed members we can put what your official position was along with the dates you were said position, as we have them listed on the forum. These would be ordered in small numbers and cost more but I think would be well worth it if I can find a feasible printing option for us. More development to be done here as well, if elected.
Forum
I've read the concerns regarding the forums and this is a tricky one. Here are the factors the way I see it:
Some people simply aren't into forums. Not many people get off on the idea of talking to internet strangers who are a close knit group of friends, with inside jokes and who all know each others names etc. It's not a matter of the forum being old outdated tech, just... an awkward way of communication for someone who has never done it before. Alot of you guys sit infront of computers all day so this is a no brainer but we don't, most of us are on the fly and don't have time for this. To put it in perspective, would you rather get on your phone on tapatalk and respond to a stranger about what ferrari is gonna do next or text your friend to meet you at festi and have real life instant engagement?
SO WHAT DO WE DO? Fix that disconnect of students not knowing alumni. Put some faces to names so it can feel more personal and give them a reason to care to respond and read. I think it would be amazing if as many as alumni could make it to our initial Deck-Klines meet as possible and talk with students. Jake surprised us last year and it was a good move, people remembered you. From here we should all include our names and a relevant photo (our cars) on our profiles here (i know some of us have already done this). Unfortunately I will have to let Pumba go. Hopefully this will make it easier for forum n00bs to feel like they have an idea of whats going on and who is saying what. Along with having every event linked here and such I think this could help increase student participation on the forum. If the Klines-Deck meet isn't enough of an event (which i completely understand its a 2 hour drive) for it to be worth for alumni to make it in town, I figured since football is early in the year, this will be a great time for alumni to come down and tailgate and watch the game with us and allow some stronger student-alumni personal communication. The main goal here, whatever the event, is to push for personal student-alumni interaction early on the school year!
Where Will I Stand In All This
So I can tell you now that I won't be at every single event or happening, that's unrealistic. I will be assisting with summer planning, working on creating good relationships with jmu faculty for future years, ensuring timeliness execution of all updates, I'd be glad to watch over the FB page and email communication, strong forum communication, any community or organizational communication that would need to be handled (i think these fall more directly under my PR title) building relationships with members and making sure everyone feels at home and getting people to the track. I'll be willing to go the extra mile for MM as I have done in the past. In general, pretty much all my goals could be summed up as striving to foster a stronger sense of community and increasing student participation.
This was a long one but I wanted to cover all my thoughts. If you guys have any questions feel free to ask! Thanks for the consideration, ladies and gents!
EDIT:The little globe under my avatar actually links to my FB.
2013 Honda Fit, 1991 Mazda Miata, Princess Blanca, Mystery, 1993 Volvo 940 - sold, 2003 Mazda Protoge5 - carmax'd, 1996 BMW 328is - sold, 1996 Honda Accord - sold
