Q&A for Clay Dockery, Candidate For Commander

[Admin]

This thread is for Clay Dockery, candidate for the position of Commander. Clay, feel free to post an introduction to yourself and your goals as a potential officer.

[smartpenguin78]

Hello!
I am a new member of the Order of Gallifrey, but I have been very active in many aspects of Doctor Who fandom for several years. I attend as many conventions as possible, including as a speaker presenting programs (in a different fandom) at New York Comic Con. I also co-host a Doctor Who podcast, attend and speak at Various Who specific cons. I also co-organize a Harry Potter convention in New Hampshire. In my non-fan life, I am the education and program director for a national nonprofit organization.

I have many ideas about expansion of our ranks and connections in the area to use to work with the Bronze Usher to promote and expand the reach of the Demon's Run sector, and the order in general.

My goals involve working with the national group leaders to clarify and simplify all of our systems, to create easily accessed and accessible systems to ensure that we can send people out for events, and to make all of our members feel connected and a part of a thriving group.

I want each member of the Demon's Run sector to feel a valued and valuable part of a group that reaches out to the community, both to bring in more people and also to allow our existing members to have many opportunities to display their costumes and reach out to help the commit unity in other ways.

[mrclever]

Clay you will do an amazing job in this position.

[smartpenguin78]

Here are my answers to the Commander questions from other groups that I posted.

Q1. This club started a year ago with less than 20 members on the Facebook group. Now we are well over 300! How would you keep the Order growing while encouraging current members to stay engaged?


I believe that maintaining and enhancing relationships is key to both growth and engagement. I have several ideas for how to keep us working in this direction:

• Reaching out to existing Doctor Who and costuming groups and inviting people personally to join. Essential to this is maintaining a friendly and active public and online presence and attending as many events as possible.
• Once people have "joined the order" there need to be ample opportunities to engage with the other members. I would encourage everyone to share their own cosplays (including works in progress) and for everyone to really concentrate on making assisting and building up of members a priority. Of course this also means showing off finished cosplays and "con adventures" - I would like to emphasize everyone on a rotating basis, with both pictures and stories.
• I also think it is essential for people to be able to give feedback to leadership.This would include regular meetings/talkback sessions to keep abreast of the needs of the members and also times to review and offer edits on policies and procedures.
• Another of my goals would be to ensure our presence at conventions and events includes not only a table, but also (as Stephen noted in his answer) skits, events, and podcasts.

Q2. What are the next two things you think the charter will need?

I think that finishing the charter and ensuring it is upheld is a definite priority, and essential. The next two things to me are:

1. Clarifying details of how the national and regional officers interact, a division of powers in certain areas being paramount.
2. A clearly defined system of arbitration for grievances which ensures that no one person has ultimate deciding power on issues that could be politically motivated.

Q3. What types of new events would you like to see us involved in locally? How would you work toward making those happen?

• I would like for us to develop and submit panel ideas to all relevant local conventions. (Even big cons like NYCC take new ideas from time to time!)
• Setting up photo shoots and excursions. These could basically be "group only" mini-con type experiences with group members (and guests) and professional photographers.
• I would like to add many more ideas from other members of the group! I am sure that everyone has had that "I wish this were possible" thought, I think it is my goal to figure out how to make those ideas become reality. (Within reason.)

Q4. How would you grow our local membership while keeping the group fun and laid-back for all?

I think that the group is fun by its very nature. These ideas and proposals can only, in my opinion, add to the fun to be had by being a part of the group.


Q5. Do you hold a position in another costuming organization? If so, how would you handle potential conflicts of interest?

I have several positions within groups that have a strong cosplay element, but they are not costuming organizations and I do not anticipate there would be any conflict of interest at any time.