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Post by Admin on Mar 1, 2015 8:42:29 GMT
This thread is for Stephen Webb, Candidate for Commander. Stephen, feel free to post an introduction to yourself and your goals as a potential officer.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2015 3:27:32 GMT
Hello, My name is Stephen Webb. I have been married to my best friend and companion for 17 years and am the proud father of an amazing 6 year old little boy named Cooper and 3 furchildren kitties name Nolan and Paige who are almost 14 and Murphy who is 5. I've been a stay-at-home dad since my son was born and spend time volunteering at his school. I am also the Public Relations Officer and Publicity Coordinator for MISTI-Con as well as a co-host of the Doctor Who podcast Geeklectic on Gallifrey. I am very lucky to have an above average amount of time to focus on the things that I am most passionate about and beyond my family and closest friends, Doctor Who and the Cosplay community is at the top of that list. I've been cosplaying for a couple of years now though I typically do it with friends from out of town when we go to cons together. I've just recently become involved with the Cosplay Community here in the Skaro Sector and particularly in the DFW area. I cosplay as the 6th & 10th Doctors as well as 80s Who producer John Nathan Turner. My primary goals as Commander would be as follows:- To establish a community where we not only find seasoned cosplayers, but also help inexperienced cosplayers find their place within the community and help them get comfortable and settled the way the more seasoned cosplayers did for me when I first started out.
- To build the Skaro Sector beyond just the DFW members that we have currently. I have already begun talking to people I have met at various cons who cosplay in San Antonio and Houston about the Order and bringing them to truly create a presence state wide.
- To provide quick communication and work not just for, but with everyone in the group to help grow the Order of Gallifrey: Skaro Sector into a striving and respected group within the organization.
I look forward to working with all of you and I ask that you'll consider me for Commander of Skaro. (That's a sentence that I honestly never thought I'd type out.) Stephen Webb |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 4, 2015 0:08:33 GMT
Fair warning to any one out there who is a fan of Polonius. While brevity is the soul of wit it is my goal in life to prove that one can live without the other.
The TL:DR of my answers are: Vote for Stephen! 
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?
In order to keep the Order of Gallifrey growing I think we need to continue to stay on the cutting edge with social media. Maintain our strong presence on Facebook as well as Twitter, Instagram, YouTube etc.
Continuing to build on our online presence will go a long way towards establishing ourselves as not only a Doctor Who cosplay community, but the Doctor Who cosplay community.
As for a ground game I think having a visual presence at conventions across the country not just at a table, but also on the con floor and with Order sponsored events such as Time Lines, Scripted and Non-Scripted parodies and skits, etc will eventually put us in the forefront of the growing Who fandom. I’d like to add quick interviews and take pictures of cosplayers on the floor of cons that we could either put up via YouTube or on an Official Order of Gallifrey podcast as well just to pass our name around. People are far more likely to check something out if they are going to be in it.
Gallifrey One was a perfect example of what a strong numbers game can do even without a table as the order gained many new active members including myself and many other strong candidates from other sectors.
In order to encourage current members to stay engaged I'd like to see us implement more perks for membership and make being a full fledged member of the Order of Gallifrey with endorsement be more prestigious – at least superficially.
Here are a few ideas to help all members (endorsed or not) stay active within the community:
- Potentially some sort of "Achievement" or "Points System”
Collectors and Gamers love meaningless achievements, custom titles, points etc. Whether it be custom titles, different colors for user names etc (providing the the message board software can accommodate it), I’d like to see us have some element in place that will motivate people to log in at least a couple of times a week. The easiest way something like this could be quantified is via post count on the forums, but other methods for obtaining the perks could be attending live or online events, getting a certain number of costumes endorsed, writing a certain number of approved standards etc.
- Message Board Gaming Forum
I would like to implement a game forum that would contain a series of classic style message board games that typically allow members to vote either every 12 hours or once a day. These could include Snooker type games, (+/-), Say Something Nice About the Person Above You, Either Or etc. This may encourage people to come to the forums daily to see their favorite Doctors/Companions get the proper votes. Once people are here for other reasons it is a lot easier to ask them be active and check out the official Order of Gallifrey related information.
Superficial Perks for Endorsed Members
- Order of Gallifrey Podcast
We could do a short 10-15 minute podcast bi weekly podcast where we feature an Endorsed Order member and discuss their cosplay inspirations, thoughts and favorite things about Doctor Who.
- Larger Avatars for members who are Endorsed.
Obviously this is something that would be limited to capabilities of our message board software, but just a small little something “extra” for going to the trouble of endorsement.
Q2. What are the next two things you think the charter will need?
1) Clarification on the purpose of and terminology used in regards to standards and endorsements.
2) Detailed descriptions of all offices both Nationally and Regionally with contact information for every elected officer or a link to where that can be obtained.
Q3. What types of new events would you like to see us involved in locally? How would you work toward making those happen?
Firstly, I love Coleen's Mall Invasion idea. I think that would be a blast and if we had enough people it would generate enough buzz similarly to the way a flash mob does.
Other ideas that I had were:
- Group Sewing lessons/Prop Making. For those of us who aren't skilled at making our own stuff I think it'd be fun to take a class as a group at either at a Jo-Ann/Hancock type store or possibly from one of our more skilled members in the area who might be willing to teach.
- Group Sponsored Game Nights
- Photo Shoots. We could try and get some professional photography shots done from someone building a portfolio in exchange for advertising on our website.
- Group sponsored Doctor Who Movie Night at a local theatre where we could attend in costume and watch episodes as voted on by our member base.
Ultimately, I'd like to work with the Bronze Usher and help suggest locations and work with them in anyway I can help them do their job in terms of planning these events out. I'd like all of our roles to work very closely together and have at least one meeting am month on Skype if we can't get together in person to work together and see what is being done.
Q4. How would you grow our local membership while keeping the group fun and laid-back for all?
Much of this has been answered in previous questions. I’d like to put an emphasis on building relationships and an identity online, do quick interviews of cosplayers on con floors as a way of promoting our group and above all else provide things both online and in person to do that appeal to a wide range of peoples. Beyond just the meet up at a pub, I’d like to focus on things like the sewing group, a mall invasion or a Doctor Who Movie night.
All that being said I think that quality of membership is equally as important as quantity. A group is only as active as innovative as it's member base. We can be welcoming and laid back to people who want to be a part of something, but we should always be on the look out for those people with a special sparkle who can help us grow and reach out to them.
Q5. Do you hold a position in another costuming organization? If so, how would you handle potential conflicts of interest?
Officially, I am unsure.
I am a member of DFW Cosplay Gallifrey. When I joined them I offered to help out in areas if they needed it. I was told by the President and Vice President that I would be helping out the person who handles event planning as she was being promoted to a higher position. I was given access to an “Admin” forum to be able to see discussions about potential events, but I have not been asked or sourced to do anything at this time. A couple of weeks ago I talked to the President and made my intentions of running for an office here very clear and he requested that stay in the role there for the time being, but there seems to be no official role, title or position in place.
As far as conflicts of interest, there would be none. I plan to remain a member of DFW Cosplay Gallifrey, but my loyalty in a legislative sense is 100% with the Order. If I’m elected I will make a clear and decisive statement that I’d like to remain a participating member of DFW Cosplay only and be removed from any position beyond that (official or non).
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