Indi, IN VP Candidates Keynote addresses............

I'm sure you all are eagerly anticipating this fine thread so I will give it a send off.

The July meeting marked the two year anniversary of the first IK meeting I attended at Jedimama's place. What a ride we have had since then. The group has grown from meeting at member's homes to a very nice room thanks to Ricky and his boss. Our ranks include members from all walks of life, and each brings to the group a vital part of what makes our group go.

As Vice president I would like to keep up with communication with those members who have not been to any meetings or functions in recent months. Find out what we can do to get them coming again. We knew going into Celebration that there would be people who just came on for the ride, but the attendance the first coupe of meetings following C2 indicated that perhaps more were in it for the long haul. I think we need those folks back.

With the events at the Speedway, Rathskellar, Gencon, and others to follow, we need the bodys so to speak. While the current core group of people we have are excellent, maybe we are asking them to stretch themsleves too much. We will always come up with the numbers we need, but it would be nice to not come down to the wire as often.

The next VP will possibly be President during Celebration 3. And while we have no confirmation that C3 will return to Indianapolis, we will need to be ready if it does. Even as VP at that point Brad or myself, will need to be there for the President during that time. And should it happen that C3 is not here, we will most asuredly have some presence where ever it is held. I feel that my experience with the scheduling and meetings to help C2 get going as well as Brad's involvement with Marni and the Kid's room would elend us both in doing a great job for the group.

It is true that oft times the VP is more of a figure head than an actual functioning office. But I think that Dawn and Jay have shown that this doesn't have to be the case. All I can give you is the best of my abilities come August 6th.

And as good ole Bartles and James would say,"Thanks for your support"

 

What no mud slinging?

No really a very nice post Xizor. I think it does good to post positive things about the other candidate.

 

So who else was nominated?

My concerns for leaders are that they:

--Have a vision
--Organization, including willingness to delegate with reliable people if for whatever reason they cannot do the job themselves
--Responsibility
--Reliability
--Punctuality
--Communication
--Hold people accountable for their actions

and most importantly that they . . .

--Get results


How do you plan to address these qualities as a Vice President of the Indy Knights?

 

Jedi_Dad-1138

 

Jon,

I think that there was enough mud slung last year to build a small house and still have enough left over to make some really tasty pies. Besides, this isn't politics, it's Star Wars, if you are in it for the politics I know of a web site you should work for

and on to Laura's concerns.........

Not to beat a dead horse but I think all of the officers can use C2 as a proving ground for the characteristics you have listed. What results we couldn't get were normally out of our control. For my part in that I take you back to huge task of scheduling the volunteers....

Vision- Though it usually didn't end up matching Wizards vision, my vision of how things should work would have help the chaos that we saw.

Organization- Putting together the 70 or so volunteers we had made it a must to be organized.

Responsibility- Again the entire scheduling process. And a current project I have in the works that will be seen at the August meeting.

Reliability/ Punctuality- I haven't missed a meeting in two years (July 2001 at Dawn's place was my first meeting)and been at all events at designated times that I have volunteered for.

Accountability for actions- I have not been in the position to do that in the group, but in my nineteen years of retail experience I have had to be accountable for my own as well as those in my charge up to and including termination.

Results- What better way to get results that to be having fun with a group of Star Wars fans. We have seen what we can accomplish in just two years. Just thing what the next two can bring to us.

How do you plan to address these qualities as a Vice President of the Indy Knights?--

I will address these qualities as I stated before, only with the abilities and knowledge that I have to give the group the best possible results. No one can ask more that one can give.

I hope that answers your questions.

 

Thanks, Xizor

 

Naboo Queen said:

have vision

As Stevie Wonder withdraws his name from consideration.....

 

I was just tryin to be funny. I wasn't tryin to stir crap up. Sorry it was taken the wrong way Deron.

 

I couldnt have put it better myself Deron, and probably didnt.

First I would like to thank my wife Kim aka Jedi_Mom for nominating for the VP position. I would also like to thank Sebulba-X and Will for seconding my nomination. I am very happy to have the opportunity to run for this office and feel that I can bring many positive things to the group. No matter what the outcome may be I want to know that a clean and fair race will be run. Like I said at the last meeting we are all adults here and I do not have anything bad to say about Deron nor would I even if I did. Most of this post was written on 07-03-03 but was not finished until 07-07-03. I am happy to say that I have had a chance to review the posts so far and it looks like we will all get exactly what we wanted, a fair race, no mud slinging and a candidate that we can all be proud of in office no matter what the outcome.

Thanks in advance to any and all who vote for me. I will do my very best to represent you the member and all of the IK as a whole. I would like to start off by listing a few things that I would like to do, see happen, change followed next by a list of items that I currently have in the works.

If elected here are a few items that I would like to achieve while in office.
? Membership has dropped off since CII. Not that we aren?t still gaining new members. It?s just not at a pace that we had been. I would like to look into ways to maintain our current members and increase the number of new members for the IK.
? Give the members a voice. Many times it seems that ideas are brought up and made real before the members have a chance to voice their opinions on the matter. I feel more issues should be brought up to a group vote first. That way the officials can really find out what the members do or don?t want to do. Also by bringing issues and ideas up first you may have members who want to add their own spin or ideas to the mix. This can also give a good idea on who is able or willing to volunteer before plans are made.
? I promise that I will attend at least 1 meeting if not more of each SIG. I feel that it?s important that you make yourself available to all of the members especially if you are a person who holds an office.
? I promise that I will always make myself available to anyone who has questions, concerns or complaints. If you contact me you will be contacted back as soon as possible and I will help in any way I can.

I am going to stop after having read the posts. I will leave it to the members to ask any questions that they have regarding the election or ideas that Deron or myself have in mind.

Thanks again for your consideration. I know that no matter what choice you make the IK will have a great VP.

Brad Grider
Jedi-Dad_1138

 

So who else was nominated?

Jedi-Dad_1138.

My concerns for leaders are that they:

--Have a vision

I do in fact have a vision. Some of them were noted on my Keynote address. As far as some of the other ideas, plans or visions that I would like to mention here is one in particular that I would like to mention. I would like to add that this is in the works at this time. No matter what the outcome of the election I would like to continue to work on this project. I was trying to keep this as a bit of a secret until I had more info but I guess it?s time to let the cat out of the bag. It?s regarding the 500 Festival Parade. I have been talking to a few people and am waiting for the application to arrive. This would be for 2004 parade and we would be a Specialty Unit. Much like the Shriner?s Clowns or a marching band. I would like for the IK to head this up but to also include as many 501st and Rebel Legion units as possible. The parade is now a nationally televised event through ESPN. Depending on the amount of excitement that we are able to generate and I feel that it would be a considerable amount. We will then try for a float sponsor for the 2005 parade. I can think of NO better way to bring in the final Star Wars movie and CIII than this. If this goes over as well as I feel that it will it may even help to bring CIII back to Indy where it belongs.

--Organization, including willingness to delegate with reliable people if for whatever reason they cannot do the job themselves.

This is one attribute that I think both Deron and I have in abundance. I believe that Deron did a fantastic job with all of the CII scheduling. I think that we all know how bad things could have gone had it not been for Deron's work. My job during the day is a Multi Line Commercial Claims Adjuster. Organization, Responsibility, Punctuality, Communication and People Skills are a must day in and day out. I believe that I also showed what the IK are made of when working with Marni in the kids room at CII. Then there were the pre-CII plans that Amanda and I worked on for the IK booth. Amanda and I never missed a meeting and I feel that we did a lot of good work and accomplished the goals that we had at hand. As far as delegation. I think we have a lot of talented people in the IK. Each with something different and creative to bring to the table. I would like to take a census for lack of a better word of our current members. This way we will know what each person?s skills are and what they are best suited to help with. Not that this is all that they can do or be assigned to but it?s a great start.

--Responsibility

I could go into a long list of responsibilities that I have but I won?t. I will touch on a few that include, Father, Husband and Friend. My son Logan is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I feel that I am good Dad and it?s a job that I highly recommend. If nothing else being a parent will test the limits of your responsibility. I have been a husband for going on 13 years now. Once again showing responsibility and long term commitment. Many IK members consider me a friend and I wouldn?t change that for anything. Those that know me as a close friend know that there is nothing that I wouldn?t do for them. They know they can count on me at any time. The only place that I draw the line is when it comes to my family. I am sure that you would all agree that there is nothing more important. I will do anything that I can for the members and all of the IK but my family has to come first. Not that I don?t believe that the IK deserves my attention but you have to know where your priorities are.

--Reliability

I can?t promise to be at every single meeting. I will try too, but it goes back to the last question. If my family needs me then they will have me. As long as there isn?t any kind of family emergency I will be at all of the meetings and will make myself available to anyone who needs me.

--Punctuality

At this point I am always on time if not early for every meeting. I will continue this trend. There could be o

 

Bah!

Boring!

I vote for Binks!

"Let the drama soar in 2004!"

 

This question is for both Xizor and Jedi Dad:

How do you plan on getting more members to volunteer for charity and fund raising events?

As most of you know per our agreement with the Rathskeller we have to volunteer at 4 events a year to keep getting our room for free. Most of the time it is the same members doing each event. How do you plan on getting people to help out?

 

Great question Ron! I wish I had a great answer. Unfortunately I don?t. Here goes my attempt anyway. I guess to answer your question in a round about way we first need to look at why our members are not volunteering. To do that we need to speak with all of our members about this subject. Is it that most functions happen during times that members are with their families, while they?re at work, away on vacations or at another IK meeting or event? Is it because the type of volunteer work isn?t what they want to be involved in, are they not motivated enough? If these are the case then there is some hope. If it?s due to families and holidays maybe we could make more volunteer opportunities away from the holidays. Are we looking for volunteers during the work week or work hours? If so that could make it tough for some members. Not everyone has a job that lets them take off at the drop of a hat. If this is the case maybe by setting up things out side of work hours would help. If it happens to be that we are trying to get volunteers for events that they don?t care about or don?t want to support then we need to know. Again if this is the case by finding out what types of events the members want to volunteer for we can develop bigger turn outs. Maybe Ricky could see what other events are available besides holidays or maybe a few days before a holiday. I know that this is a tough one for me personally. Many times we are out of town on holidays visiting family. This makes it tough to be around to volunteer. The requests for volunteers during my work hours is another tough one for me and I?m sure many others. Once we find out what the members want we can tailor this to allow for more diversity. I know that we can?t be all things to all people but we can try and add some flavor to what we have to do. First we need to get feed back from each member. They should know that their response will be anonymous and that no one will be looked at as a complainer. I think this is the best way to find out what the members really want. Once this has been done we can look at the results and what some of the causes are and go from there. I know this hasn?t answered your question with a solution. I do feel that this can lead to a solution but we need to find out what the question or problem is first. If elected this is one problem that I would love to tackle.

Thanks
Brad

 

I say we break out the whips and chains, at least we know we would have TK and THrak for every evnt

But seriously.........

A large portion of the current regularly attending members we have picked up since near or after C2. Many don't recall the days of putting 20 or 25 people in someone's appartment. Noyt that that was a bad thing mind you, but it is not condusive to conduction business. Remember not long ago we had to meeting in one of the smaller rooms? I heard many comments that the folks all the way in the back couldn't hear or weren't paying attention. Think about that as a regular meeting.

Now.....

You can count on the activities at the Rathskellar to be centered around holidays. Those are the times that they can people out and in to drink. That's what they do. St. Patrick's Day, Memorial Day, the 4th, I would guess possibly Labor day, Octoberfest and Christmas. Last year they had a 9/11 rememrance as well. That's not to say that there aren;t other events we might help them with, but these would be the most visible and require the most help for them.

I don't think we have that much of a problem with "short notice" volunteer events. We knew about Celebration a year beforehand. We kew about the 500 month a month before. And we have known about the Brickyard and F1 race since then. And can plan on tem from now on if we want the was the folks at the track talked at training. We have known about Gencon being in Indy for nearly a year and have known that we might somehow be involved. I think there has been plenty of time to plan.

All that being said, I will say that I have a job, a wife and four kids. I realize that things are difficult to arrange work schedules, babysitting....etc... but it can be done. IF, someone wants it done. While I applaud Brad's thoughts at talking to everyone, one thing that I have learned in my years of retail. If you give someone a chance to "talk" about it, the more often they can come up with excuses not to do something. We should be proud to be involved. Look at the praise we recieved for the job we did at the Speedway in May. I hope everyone who worked is proud. We should be making excuses for why we didn't do this sooner, not why we couldn't work.

So what's the solution?

I don't see a clear cut solution at this point. Perhaps we need to look at the by laws and add in a volunteering clause to acompany the "active membership" status. Tie it to being able to vote or particpating in future events. Does that sound drastic? Maybe. But look at what we were going to do if someone a) Talked about some "confidential info about C2 on the net or b)Failed to show or finish a shift for C2. THAT was harsh.

At any rate, this is a topic we should not loose site of once the elections are done. I would even go as far as a membership committee made of all non officers. Definately a topic we haven't heard the last of.

 

So what's the solution?

I don't see a clear cut solution at this point. Perhaps we need to look at the by laws and add in a volunteering clause to acompany the "active membership" status. Tie it to being able to vote or particpating in future events. Does that sound drastic? Maybe. But look at what we were going to do if someone a) Talked about some "confidential info about C2 on the net or b)Failed to show or finish a shift for C2. THAT was harsh.



I think that this is the only solution. Because however we may chose to paint the picture (Families/work/Holidays) there is still a group of people inside the IK that feel they don't need to help with any thing. Like setting uo the tables and chairs before the meeting or giving $10 to go toward stuff we were doing at C2. I'm not an officer nor will I ever be, but I have helped out more then some officers past present and future and will continue to do so. But when I see me Ron, Amanda and Karen every time I start to get a little pissed. I'm a single father if I can work it out then so can some of you.


Sorry to go on a rant but I had to get that out.

 

I don't think it's unreasonable to require that a IK member volunteer once a year, minimum. That's only fair. However, like Brad said, when they are on family holidays, it's hard to get people to come. That's something we need to keep in mind. Or, we could have it that we have a group that would be our designated volunteers, and everyone else is required to make a cash donation to the Indy Knights instead.

As for set up and clean-up: Sorry, but the world is such that most people won't pitch in out of the goodness of their hearts. Maybe we could have a group of people whose job is to set up and tear down.
As for talking in the back and not paying attention: that didn't die with the Rathskeller!

We knew about us at Gen Con? Only a month ago! Not a year! Again, communication! I was able to block out two days in my schedule, but only just since I had made a long-term babysitting committment in April that included one of those dates. Maybe a little more of 'keep these dates free' and LETTING US KNOW if they fall through.

 

Yes we did know that Gencon would be in Indy a year ago, and we have talked the entire time that we would have "some kind" of presence there. Thankfully it is not the full on presence we had at C2 that was originally talked about.

As for having a set group to work or set up, we are basically at that point right now, and as I think we can read from Skyla's post, there may be some resentment buliding on that front.

I am ususally in that group that is there early enough to be in on the set up. I don't mind doing it, beats sitting on the floor Where we seem to be lacking is in the teardown dept.

As for the cash donation, I think Ricky could chime in here, but I don't think we really want to think about starting to pay for our room. And a cash donation wouldn't do anyone any good while working at the Speedway. There was brief talk sometime back about a membership fee. I think we didn't go that route because we want people to feel free ( no pun intended ) to be a part of the group, and I stil don't think that is an answer we should consider. $2 a month for "dues" is nothing in this day and age. Yes, I'm sure it is difficult for people to come up with sometimes, but think about what you would think if you had to cough up $10 or $15 per meeting. You might think twice about being in a group. Or better yet, how do you come up with a "fair" amount? Do you charge EVERY member on the books that doesn't volunteer? Do you only charge "active" members? Do you charge for not voluteering at Gencon even though there we only a limited number of volunteer slots? Too many chances to alienate people and if we are going to do that we might as well give up the room at the Rathskellar and go back to the home meetings. Not trying to be drastic, just realistic.

This is good, Let the discussoins flow.....

 

I think that this is the only solution.

Jon there isn?t just one solution. At this point there is no solution. All we can do is look at the problem at hand and work to correct it. I think that you, Deron and I have all brought up some valid points. I guess another idea would be to have membership dues. Not just the couple of bucks here and there for the web site. I am talking about enough to cover any supplies that are needed to run this group and maybe to even cover the cost of our meeting place. Which brings up other questions like what would it cost for us to rent that room once a month? Would it be better if we paid for half of the room and then cut the volunteer time in half to match? Is there another place where we could meet that would not require any volunteer time at all and that would still not cost a cent? Another idea would be to split everyone up into groups. One group agrees to set up and break down the hall before and after every meeting. Another may agree to work all costumed events and so on and so forth. We will never know unless we ask these questions. We have all said it ?We don?t have a solution for Ron?s question?. That doesn?t mean there isn?t one out there. We just need to do our homework first. I am more than willing to listen to any ideas that anyone has about volunteering. Neither Deron nor I may come up with a solution. This is going to take a lot of thought and will require feed back from the members. You are asking them to make the commitment to volunteer after all.

Because however we may chose to paint the picture (Families/work/Holidays) there is still a group of people inside the IK that feel they don't need to help with any thing. Like setting up the tables and chairs before the meeting or giving $10 to go toward stuff we were doing at C2.

I hear you loud and clear on this issue. Is it that they are lazy? I doubt it. Don?t care? Maybe it is. Or could it be that they don?t feel that they have any direction? This could be another possibility. Maybe they just aren?t into certain types of volunteer work. We won?t know unless we ask.

I'm not an officer nor will I ever be, but I have helped out more then some officers past present and future and will continue to do so. But when I see me, Ron, Amanda and Karen every time I start to get a little pissed. I'm a single father if I can work it out then so can some of you.

Have you asked these people why they don?t volunteer? If you haven?t then you may be making assumptions about them that might not be true. I know that I have volunteered before. I have worked more than some but not nearly as much as some others. Like you, Ron, Karen and Amanda. Where do you see the line being drawn? Having a chance to get something off of your chest is great but what are some ideas that you have on this subject.

 

I wrote another long post but decided to delete it because I have said every thing I have needed to say.

Writting it into the Bylaws is the only way.
To either get people to help pitch in or weed them out.

Please keep in mind that I am not singling any one person out. There isn't just one person. If it was no one would ever notice or care for that matter. I have said my peace.

Later!

 

Oh and as far as I'm concerned volunteering at C2 or GenCon doesn't count because that's some thing your doing for yourself not for the club.

But no one has to see things the way I see them.

 

I think that you all need to change the focus here a little bit. The real question you have to answer first before you can answer Ron's question is, "Why does the club exist and what is the clubs mission, goal and/or purpose?"

Does the IK exist to do stuff, volunteer work and a general service organization? Or does the IK exist to be a social organization? Or something even bigger?

If the IK is a social club, then what level of participation should be expected? Will this effect participation in SIG's. If I don't volunteer does that mean I can't talk about a book or go to outback? How far do you want to take this and stay within the expectations warranted for the goals and purpose of the organization?

 

I've stayed out of this up to this point but feel I need to interject here. Skyla seems to have forgotten that the SW Widows were instrumental in running the FF booth at C2 & didn't get ANYTHING out of all their hard work on our behalf. There were VERY few knights that spent any time up there helping out & if it weren't for the Widows, there wouldn't have BEEN a booth!


I think we can all agree that this is a problem & we can work to solve it but let's keep a little perspective. I know people get tired of doing things for the group ALL the time & hit a burnout point & personally think this is part of the problem of getting volunteers to do other projects.

 

EG could or should the topic of volunteers be moved and made into its own thread? We obviously have a lot of work to be done regarding this issue and I personally would like to hear what others think. If everyone is ok with this can you take care of it?

Thanks
Brad

 

Hey Quag nice to hear from you again.

According to the IK By-Laws the IK mission statement is as follows.

The Indy Knights Mission Statement is simply to have fun and enjoy our common love of Star Wars with our fellow members. After all, if you can?t love a Star Wars fan, who can you love?

Next is?

ARTICLE III. MEMBERSHIP

A. Active Membership
Active Membership means just that: BEING AN ACTIVE MEMBER! Regular attendance at meetings and group functions is required. This does not mean, however, that someone will be refused membership if they miss a meeting or two. Active Membership consists of posting in the forums on a semi-regular basis and attending meetings on a semi-regular basis. Individuals who cannot be Active Members should not consider running for any Indy Knights office. Beyond that, however, who wouldn?t want to be an Active Member? Special considerations will be given to members who are unable to attend meetings due to living outside of the Indianapolis area, but are active posters in the forum.

Another little bit of the By-Laws under the drinking section

? and?most importantly?remember the true purpose for our gatherings: to share and celebrate our love of Star Wars.?

To me and again this is just my take on what I have read. I would think that we are more or at least started off more as a social club. But have since moved on to take on a more community involvement approach. So based on this we have an answer to your question. The answer however depends on what spin you want to put on it. Do you stick with what the By-Laws say being strict and rigid? Or do you admit that we have become more than what we started out being?

Thanks
Brad

 

vol·un·teer ( P ) Pronunciation Key (vln-tîr)

n.
A person who performs or offers to perform a service voluntarily: an information booth staffed by volunteers; hospital volunteers.

Law.
A person who renders aid, performs a service, or assumes an obligation voluntarily.
A person who holds property under a deed made without consideration.

Botany.
A cultivated plant growing from self-sown or accidentally dropped seed.

adj.
Being, consisting of, or done by volunteers: volunteer firefighters; volunteer tutoring.
Botany. Growing from self-sown or accidentally dropped seed. Used of a cultivated plant or crop.

v. vol·un·teered, vol·un·teer·ing, vol·un·teers

v. tr.
To give or offer to give voluntarily: volunteered their services; volunteer to give blood.

v. intr.
To perform or offer to perform a service of one's own free will.
To do charitable or helpful work without pay: Many retirees volunteer in community service and day care centers.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Obsolete French voluntaire, from Old French, voluntary, from Latin voluntrius. See voluntary.]

Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.



volunteer

( P ) volunteer: log in for this definition of volunteer and other entries in Merriam-Webster Dictionary of Law, available only to Dictionary.com Premium members.


Source: Merriam-Webster Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.


volunteer

\Vol`un*teer"\, n. [F. volontaire. See Voluntary, a.] 1. One who enters into, or offers for, any service of his own free will.

2. (Mil.) One who enters into service voluntarily, but who, when in service, is subject to discipline and regulations like other soldiers; -- opposed to conscript; specifically, a voluntary member of the organized militia of a country as distinguished from the standing army.

3. (Law) A grantee in a voluntary conveyance; one to whom a conveyance is made without valuable consideration; a party, other than a wife or child of the grantor, to whom, or for whose benefit, a voluntary conveyance is made. --Burrill.


Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.


volunteer

\Vol`un*teer"\, a. Of or pertaining to a volunteer or volunteers; consisting of volunteers; voluntary; as, volunteer companies; volunteer advice.


Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.


volunteer

\Vol`un*teer"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Volunteered; p. pr. & vb. n. Volunteering.] To offer or bestow voluntarily, or without solicitation or compulsion; as, to volunteer one's services.


Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.


volunteer

\Vol`un*teer"\, v. i. To enter into, or offer for, any service of one's own free will, without solicitation or compulsion; as, he volunteered in that undertaking.


Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.


volunteer

adj : without payment; "the soup kitchen was prmarily by unpaid helpers"; "a volunteer fire department" [syn: unpaid, volunteer(a)] n 1: a person who freely enlist for military service [syn: military volunteer, voluntary] [ant: draftee] 2: a person who performs voluntary work [syn: unpaid worker] v 1: tell voluntarily; "He volunteered the information" 2: agree freely; "She volunteered to drive the old lady home"; "I offered to help with the dishes but the hostess would not hear of it" [syn: offer] 3: do volunteer work


Source: WordNet ® 1.6, © 1997 Princeton University
-------------------------------------------



Humm. Looks like if you are a VOLUNTEER, you do stuff for free! What a freaken concept.
Move the topic so the hijackers can cry somewhere else. This thread should be about the VP run.

Oh and keep the posts short and to the point. I don't need to read through a F&*king novel here