Cincin, OH What do you want out of our Fanforce?

It's a new year, and things are a little slow...the hype from AOTC is past, the next movie is three years away, all there is new in Star Wars now till then is new action figures and new games, including Galaxies.

What do you want out of the Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky fanforce? What kinds of activities would you like to see us do? How many meetings a month would you like/do you think is enough or too much? What and where do you think will be best for meetings in the cheap or free bracket? Do you think we need other officers to head up certain things to make things run smoother, or are we still to small for that?

Please give me some feedback on these and other related topics...

 

It would help me oh so much if I actually -knew- what went on at meetings. I have yet to come to one (I just 'joined' last month) so I have no idea how it works. When I know, then I can give suggestions.

OK, a few things come to mind, non-meeting wise. I've been reading back a little bit in the forums here so this will awaken a dead issue or two:


Possible name change? I agree with...uh, PersonWhoPostedAwhileBack that "Queen City FanForce" is kindof dull.

Website? Jedi-Central.Net is still available for the Fanforce's use (it'll be something like http://www.jedi-central.net/fanforce or something like that). FTP access is a problem though, my hosting service won't let anyone but me upload to my site, so...

Advertising? I know we can probably drop off a few flyers in the Cincinnati Area Public Libraries, bookstores, etc. We could get some people into it, I know they're out there (I saw a guy with a little 501st sticker on his car at Don Pablo's one night a few months ago. )

 

I think that this group needs to do something other than meet at barnes and noble and argue about bad language and star trek...I suggest we all meet at a Karaoke bar and get ****faced together, then I think we would all get to know each other on a whole other level and nothing would be funnier than watching a bunch of drunk star wars fans karaokeing! There is a great karaoke bar right by my house where I am a regular at. What do you think guys?

 

There are several people in the fanforce who are in highschool. Besides that there are other people, myself and my wife and myself included who do not drink or go to bars. If you would like to arange an unofficial meeting of such an event, feel free

 

I want free action figures and lap dancing. Yeah! Thats it, free action figures and lap dancing! Hmmmmmm, but where do we get the lap dancers. But if we do get lap dancers I strongly suggest that we listen to my suggestions for the following lap dancing Star Wars chicks.


Gurdella the Hutt

The quadruple breatsted fat chick in Jabba's Palace (my personal favorite, forgot her name)

Sy Snootles

These are three outstanding that stand out as sexy Star Wars sirens. Please feel free to add any other women (Star Wars of course) to this list. BTW, if the quadruple breasted woman has 4 breasts then I wonder if she has...hmmmmmm, oh Jedimike, behave!

 

karaoke... it does sound fun!

 

Yeah, let's get plastered!!! Maybe JediMike can do a little lap dance for us!!!

 

Well, getting drunk together, and singing karoke does sound like fun, i'm only 18 yrs. old and other members are the same age or younger. so if the older members want to thats a great idea.

We really do need to find something that we can all enjoy and get to know each other more than we do now.

 

Agreed, anything else than just siting around a table and falling asleep at B&N !!!

 

How bout bowling? It's fun for all and it's a place where those who want to drink can, in moderation. I'm a terrible bowler but I love playing.

 

Possible all-age activities:

Bowling
Paintball
LazerTag
Movie Openings
Picnics
Sporting events (hockey, baseball, basketball)
camping, hiking trips
Costuming workshops

Hm... I'll see if I can think of any more.

~H~

 

I just signed up, so I am not to familiar with how these meetings are run. Could someone tell me how they are set-up, how many people usually attend, and what time and day of the week the meetings take place? I work Monday to Friday and I am in grad school Saturday mornings. I would just like to know if my schedule leaves me in the loop for anything, or if I am SOL for the meetings.

 

Heh, paintball/lasertag...do an Imperial vs. Rebel stint?

I have yet to attend one as well, Auditor. So I'm not exactly sure either.

Some more ideas:

Possible RPG
CCG/TCG tournaments
Chess (lol, I had to ask)
Freeform RPG (no rules baby)
Any kind of friendly competition
Trivia (as said before)

I tried to make things a little more interactive, rather than just going and watching an event (sports, etc.)

 

All that stuffed has already been proposed and talked about in the past, but nothing happened yet. I am costuming, playing and enjoying SW pretty much on my own right now... meetings have been very boring for the past few month...

 

Just as Ludo brought up, all these things have been mentioned, without much interest... Meetings are what the members want to make of them, if no one is interested in doing a specific activity then meetings will continue to be "boring," In November we had a EPII DVD release night, we met for food at perkins and went to Walmart at midnight for the DVD release. At this meeting there was myself, my wife, jedimike, someone who was not a member at the time who joined shortly there after, another person who had never been to a meeting, and yet another person who was friends with the other two.

There was also a meeting in December that consisted of myself and one other person, there would have been a third but my wife had to work. To be technical, by official fanforce standards to be an official meeting there has to be three people....

This fanforce is what all of you make of it...I can plan and post meetings, but if there is no interest or participation from everyone else, that is out of my control.

 

Well, AJ, I'm not trying to be an a**, but last time we tried to bring up ideas, the only reply I got from you was either "no" or "I already mentioned that". Also, as mich as it is true that the FF will be what we make of it, I think that as a City Rep/ President you should take some initiatives and try to introduce new things to the group. I am not showing up to meetings anymore because they are boring and that I have better to do with the little free time I have, and that I feel that every time I try to say something, you don't really pay attention to it (not that everything I say is right of course). This FF was up to a good start last year, but since then, nothing, just boards and talks.

 

i have to agree with ludo on this issue. i have noticed that many people have posted ideas but the only ones that palpatine oops i mean aj lets happens are his own. i think that this fan force would be more successful with a 3 or 5 person council rather than the current dictatorship we are under. i move for a vote of no confidence in aj. don't take his personal aj, i just think a council would be better.

 

As far as a council is concerned, I was in favor of that from the beginning. Ludo, I asked you when I first took over as CR if you wanted to be my VP, you declined if you remember correctly, you and Lady Lucas both agreed that we were too small to bother with several officers. I am perfectly fine with having several people involved. Jedimike has on several occasions asked about an "events coordinator" possition. If some sort of council is formed, he will be the first nominated for it. Ludo, as I have said in the past to you in PM, I am more than willing to look past whatever problems there have been between the two of us and would be willing to have you be some sort of VP. That would make a total of three.


Many of these issues brought up would have best been sorted out in PM. If you recall the fanfoce was really off to a good start untill people's dirty laundry was aired in public for all to see. That dwindled our numbers down to 4 or 5...which included two sets of husbands and wives. The arguing and backbighting and quick little stabs i fear have done much the same thing.

As far as ideas brought up that I have shot down, they have been for what I felt was the good of the group as a whole, and for it's growth. The Drunken Karaoke was shot down as an official meeting because it is not condoned by FanForce. Although I try my best to keep our group as self governed as possible, we are part of a much, much larger worldwide group, and as such I have to enforce certain rules and regulations.

 

I wasn'e talking about the karaoke, I didn't even go to tell you the truth. It's about the whole thing! If your idea of fun is sitting around a coffe table and talk about we could or should do, well, I'm not too interested, and I think it will be the case with other people! And my whole point is not talking about the problems between the 2 of us, because things have not been worked out and will probably remain the same. My point is trying to get something interesting going so other people and I have a chance to meet people with the same interests and do FUN stuff with them. I personnally am having a blast whenever I talk to Sean or go see a movie with him, and probably will too seeing old friends this week end.

 

I wasn't specifically talking about the kareoke either, that was just one thing.... I agree that sitting around drinking coffee is not the best meeting, however some people honestly did not have the extra money to do much else and I did not want to leave anyone out. There were also people who didn't feel comfortable meeting at someone's house, and when I did have a meeting here at my house, only one person showed up. The whole thing, as you put it, is about having fun, I know that, and I want that as well. What is "fun" in many cases costs money. In order to develope a larger fanforce, that in some cases requires sacrifices from it's members, sacrificing "fun" for a few meetings to draw in members was a necessary evil.

If I had any idea what it was that needed worked out between the two of us, trust me I would be more than happy to work it out, just PM me and let me know. If I need to apologize for something, let me know, if I wronged you personally, let me know, what ever it is I just need to know.

 

After reading all of the posts, i have to agree, just sitting around a coffee table isnt much fun. so i was thinking of ways to make meetings more fun, yet managable to people's budgets.

first we can still have some boring, talk only meetings. then maybe once a month or something, we can get together and meet at dave and busters, or gameworks so it will be a meeting and we can have fun playing games and what not. also at places like gameworks and d&b's you can decide how much money you want to spend. so if you want to blow away $50 you can and if you only want to spend $1 you can.

also it would be fun to meet and go watch a movie someplace, but if showcase or amc cost too much money, we can go to a super saver theater or a danbarry theater.

but if people dont want to do these things, so be it, and we can come up with other ideas.

and finally, i think it would be great if we have more than one person running the whole fanforce, if we can get somebody to be in charge of making meetings, or have somebody in charge of recruiting people for the fanforce it would defintely be worth the while.

 

I was also thinking a little about having one informational meeting a month...the sitdown boring one, and then having another 1 or two activity meetings, one a week with one off week. Not everyone would have to go to each meeting, but would be highly suggested to at least make the one informative and at least one of the fun.


I REALLY like the idea of having someone in charge of recruitment. That was a great idea darthskywalker! I may be wrong on this but I don't think any other fanforces have such a possition, but it would be very beneficial. However many officers we end up with it needs to be an odd number for voting sake.

Many other fanforces also have bilaws that everyone agrees upon and signs and follows. Given the number of issues that we are having currently I personally think that would be a good idea for us.

 

I think that it is everybody's responsibility to recruit/inform everyone about FanForce, not just one person, and I would think that if we were to have a 3 person council with certain roles then it would be the following:

City Representative

Asst City Rep/Events Coordinator

Secretary/Head Recruiter

or this may be even better we have the following:

City Rep

and 3 council members that actually vote just like a senate would and the city rep would guide them but not actually vote but if he/she didnt agree with something then he/she could veto it.

These are all just idea's but I think we need to actually get a physical meeting somewhere in the Eastgate/ Florence areas and discuss this openly and this will require a big turn out from all of us to get together and get this FanForce moving forward again.

We meet Feb 2nd at Applebee's in either Eastgate or Florence, get a big table and we just get it all out on the table and make progress. What does everyone else think?

 

I would suggest that a "hashing out" meeting would be better in a little less public area. I know we all would like to think we'd settle things real quiet like but I've been to one and sometimes they get pretty heated. Luckily everything worked out in that meeting and no one felt bad enough to leave the group. Of course if everyone is agreeing to what needs to be done there won't be much debate. Just a suggestion.

 

I agree that a meeting does need to take place to get this all straightend out. Feb. 2nd seems as good a time as any. That gives us all plenty of time to really think critically about what needs to go on at the meeting.


This is in fact why I started this thread in the first place, I wanted feedback about what everyone wants to see happen.

A council of three plus a CR is a good idea as well. I agree that everyone should help with the promotion of the group, but having one person head that area of it is a good idea, that person could be in charge of making and printing out flyers or passing them out or something...

What does everyone think about developing and voting on bylaws? I think that everyone should jot down some ideas of what rules need to be in place and that can all be discussed at the meeting on Feb 2nd....