NEXT Event! (Camp/Retreat)

First topic message reminder :

I think the next event we should organize would be a camp or a retreat for the club members and anyone else who might be interested to join. We could maybe like have a holiday together and organize activities like games and other stuff. Maybe we could do it over the coming semester holidays since everyone should be free for a while after the exams.

I think it will be a good chance for us to get to know each other and chat about our favorite anime, manga and also drama's!

Hmm, although you may have a point there, yieweiyuki... I don't I agree with you [].

Note: This is a healthy discussion yeah? Not argument lol Hehe.

Meetings are essential for members to come together and voice out their own opinion. After all, what does democracy mean, ne? ^^ If exco members end up deciding everything for each and all of us, there isn't really a point of us calling ourselves members.

1. Where's the participation?
2. Where is the discussion among members?
3. What happens if we don't agree with the discussion that exco members have made?
4. Do we go up to them and tell them that we don't agree and that we have a better idea?
5. Wouldn't that be doing the job twice?

Reasons why we aren't able to come to a conclusion/decision in almost each meeting:

1. Too little people [say 10? or perhaps less?] leading to a dead end...
2. Not much interaction between our members. When we were asked for our ideas and opinions... Kaichou only got silence ^^|| That's not very good isn't it? It's like there's no one there. Hence, difficulty in generating brilliant ideas.
3. Best part of all, when we are asked to vote for something! 10 people in the meeting... Majority vote? I only see the minority part of the club... That's a no no.

I know the exco members are trying really hard to get everyone involved in the club but clearly it's not working at all. ^^|| [No, I am not one of the exco members so I am not sucking up to them lol]

Boring meetings? I thought that's when we are supposed to discuss on how we are supposed to hold FUN activities, isn't it? O.o Unless I have a total different understanding of meetings. Meetings ending early? What is there to talk about when there's almost nobody there?

Well, whether or not a person gets influenced by the lack of club member involvement, I don't know... but what I do know is that there isn't very much of a difference between:

a.) A person walked into a meeting to find out that either it has ended or there's very little people and
b.) Rare meetings.

Either way, they are going to be turned away and never turn up anymore.

When we were asked for our ideas and opinions Kaichou only got silence ^^|| That's not very good isn't it? It's like there's no one there..

Then what for we have meeting??.. if you said "Meetings are essential for members to come together and voice out their own opinion. After all, what does democracy mean, ne? ^^"

That why we have democratic and autocratic leaders.. it depend how the members participate..since nobody wan to make participate in decision making when it open to everyone...

why needs to waste time and efforts asking everyone about it, since we already know, we won't get a reply..lol...make sense right??..this is healty discussion like you say.. sorry, no offence ya... ok, kind of out of topic to post in here.. back to the event topic..

about this trip, kaichou could discuss among the exco members and make a finalise decision where to go.. instead of waiting everyone for opinion, where all excuses come in.. I can't go on this date, why not next week.. Can't la, this week need to company gf/bf, this and that la..

somemore.. this on school holiday.. ppl "balik kampung", internship, holiday... if no decision had been made and this keep on dragging.. do you think the trip can be successful??.. no offence le..

somemore.. planning a trip not easy lo.. need to collect money from everyone, book hotel (if you plan to stay overnight), transportation and so on la.. and school holiday that time, it quite hard to reach everyone at that time...don't you think so??..I'm sure last minute someone will ffk..lol.. usually happen..

what I am trying to say in here.. kaicho and exco members could discuss or plan the trip first (like where to go) before announce it to everyone, if the ppl don't like the recommendation.. then only ask them for suggestion lo...one more thing, about having a trip.. should plan it earlier, not at this time... see how mbc doing their trip... u know what I mean..

what kendoka n yieweiyuki said is both true, but here's my opinion:

yes, it is true that ther are NATO people in the club, that is what i was very angry about (don't worry, i'm not shooting anybody xD). people like to give suggestions but refuse to help, and the point of having a meeting is to receive suggestions from people, discuss, vote, and also giving work to people to do (which clearly didn't happen since not many people attended the meeting) and this is why it should be held after class hours ^^

take the matsuri event for example. lots of suggestion, not many people to do the work because no one wants to take on the jobs. if the exco members are the only ones to discuss in the meeting, exco members have to do EVERYTHING (which is kinda impossible for a huge event) and as kendoka said, we're bound to have people objecting (and so, we need to have a meeting where ALL the members are there to discuss, and finalize the things once and for all during that meeting itself, and tell people to after things are finalized, means no more changes)

a few friends of mine were chanting 'quit the club, quit the club..' everyday, espcially before the event. why? because i spend too much of my time in the club and i don't have any social time (therefore a HUGE thanks to all the people that helped me, or else i would've died from overwork)

if everyone could at least offer to do a little something, the event would've been a big blast. exco members aren't the only members in the club. all the members are. so hopefully from here on, more people would try to at least VOLUNTEER to help a little (just a little is fine for each person)

and one thing to add: because i kept skipping meals to cope with the club event (because not many people helped) and uni work, i got sick (vomitted and lost my appetite for a few days >_<) so, if you guys have a heart, please try not to kill us exco members xD

one comment for the event: if anyone read the maoubod blog, it clearly states that i'm only in charge on money and money only, but since not many people helped with the event, i end up doing much much more than what i should be doing. for those who didn't read here wat it exactly states:

h) The duties of a Treasurer shall be:
(i) to collect fees
(ii) to construct and keep record of financial budget for every event

not to say that we shouldn't do what we're not specified to do, just that if everyone could help just a little bit, i wouldn't mind helpng out here and there too, instead of doing so many things (and almost died because of it xD)

back to the topic xD (since it's off a little): i was thinking february would be a good time for the holiday, since most people would be back from their hometown, part-time job etc, and it's the off-peak season, but since there are people going off to australia, mayb you can tell us when u're free being leaving? and others too, so that we can decide on the day

and a note: this trip wasn't suggested by the exco members, just so that you know ^^ and we're trying to suit everyone's needs, making ourselves all stressed and trying to actually schedule for it, since it's a 'democracy' club xD

Wow, long posts all over the place haha.

Haaaai Haaai, we shall now stop XD We are indirectly sabotaging the thread. Everyone subjected to our own view *nodnod* Now you guys can go back to the original topic.

*bows* lol

Well ppl i've had years of exp from managing clubs and societies and my exp tells me tat no matter wat there's still gonna b some ppl tat will hv some amount of objections, there's really no way 2 please everyone 100%. Also from my exp no event will really get 100% member participation, unless we are really lucky to get it a few times.Anyway there's no club tat can really meet 100% of what the members want, just in varying degrees, this is not heaven u noe. But the question is wat r u goin 2 do bout it? R u gonna sit n complain n dun at least make some suggestions or r u gonna step up n make the necessary improvements. Tat's all i hv 2 say 4 now and let's end this unrelated to the post talk. Make a new topic if u wanna continue this and i shall move all of these posts 2 the new topic. Let me noe 1st though.

Erm, sorry but i think i really need to comment on this before you close of move this topic away....

I think why sometimes these issues that are raise by kendoka happens and its really important that we actually address them.

1. Too little people [say 10? or perhaps less?] leading to a dead end...

I think this could be caused by the perception that the club is boring and that why you see the no of club members dropping each week. The ones that are coming now are probably your core members that are very committed to the club, others are just there to see if the club is interesting or not.

I think the way to solve this problem would be very difficult now, but we could actually try to rectify it when we start over next semester.

How to change perceptions?
Plan(during the holidays) and carry out many activities during the 1st few weeks because people are most free then and when expectations are high. I think that this ones should be decided exclusively by the EXCO members only due to practical reasons(members are likely to be unavailable during holidays and too many people makes deciding things difficult). Activities could be simple ones such as simple ice breakers, or other games to let the members to get to know each other.

2.
Not much interaction between our members. When we were asked for our
ideas and opinions... Kaichou only got silence ^^|| That's not very
good isn't it? It's like there's no one there. Hence, difficulty in
generating brilliant ideas.

I think the issue here, is that we have the Malaysian culture where people don't really feel like talking for various reasons. For example, shy, think others might think that their ideas are stupid, etc... The environment also makes you feel weird when you are talking too much(from my perspective).

I feel one of the best way to improve interaction, is like suggested above by playing ice breaker games for the first 2-3 weeks maybe with a Japanese theme. It's really important that we have these kinda of activities to allow people to be more relaxed and familiarize themselves with each other. Once people are more familiar with each other the open up easier and share freely. This is what i observed from many youth camps which i have attended.

3. I also agree with yieweiyuki that some decision have to be autocratically made by the EXCO members. Only major event's should be discussed with the members. Otherwise it will be too difficult and too long to make decisions.

4. Btw, @Kendoka, i think that people are just making excuses that their classes are classhing and stuff but if we have our meetings around 5.30 when most of the classes have ended it may also be good since we can always have dinner after our meetings (good time to get to know each other).

5. This is just purely a suggestion, but i think that there should be a re-election maybe in the future when the club is more mature and this should be done at the end of the semester(so that activities can be planned during the holidays). We should open all posts for nomination(either self nomination or nominated by others) or naturally people also have to defend their post. Probably we should give each nominee a chance to make a speach too (short one, max of 5 min).

I think that's all for now, but i hope you guys really give this some thought. I think i won't be around for that long but i hope that this club will be a great club in the future.

mchenix, thanks for ur input. All suggestions will b taken into account
here. And I think tat should b all for this issue in this topic. Pls get back on topic. I any1 still wants 2 continue talking bout this issue, well
make a new topic.

(Off topic: Thanks for the good feedback. I'm still noobie for management and I thought democracy will solve the issue..well...it didnt, ne? Time for semi-autocracy mode!!XD)

For the field trip/retreat, I would suggest something related to beach/island. Like PD, Pangkor Island...

Frankly for the trip i think its not where you go but who you go with

Well yea....I might invite people from different club in other universities. hehe....collaboration between clubs is important!

But one thing, If anyone wants to go the retreat, we must collect the money first!! But it seems quite hard already

Collaboration with other clubs is fine. But now, the main thing is to improve the relationship between the club members...

Until now, I still don't know who is who..... How are we suppose to do anything if we don't know each other. Have u seen how the other clubs get to know each other?

We should have an introduction session at the beginning of next sem. Every members should be made compulsory to go and introduce themselves. Right now I think most members know only Kaichou and some of the exco members. But how many ppl do the exco members know about the others?

I seriously have no idea who is who in the club except for some of the exco members and some of the members who are my friends like yan desu and yieweiyuki.

So, whatever u wanna plan about the holiday and retreat, make sure the main purpose is to get the members to know each other.

It is hard to manage a holiday retreat at this moment. Collecting the money becomes a problem right now and I would think the participation rate is less. Although decision is made for Feb but there are a lot of consequences we havent solved yet, like transportation, place, hotel and specific date. And the exams are dragging us even slower.

We might change the plan a bit, maybe replace with a field trip to studios or something which is easier to manage in a smaller scale. Rushing into big things is no no already. I would suggest we do small scale projects first like fund-raising and gathering.

Well.... Going to CF would be considered as a field trip.

That's the closest event we can have. And since it would be in Sunway Convention Centre, it should be easier to manage. People staying around Sunway area can go. Only thing is, for those from outstation may need a place to bunk for the weekend.

Anyhow, planning for this event would definitely be much easier cos the only thing we all need is a entrance ticket. And we can easily gather for lunch or dinner during the event.

Yeah, agreed maybe we can make going to cf like a club activity or something, where we meet up and go together.

Yup sounds good. I think it'll be a lot of fun to go together for CF. Best of all, the trip is anime-related. ;D

Then more ppl come & buy the tickets lar. Then we can get it cheaper also.

I'm buying some tix for friends. But they havnt fully confirmed yet.
Even I myself is not confirm about going. It's most probably going only.

I think it would be nice to get a gang of people from the club since most of my other frens doesn't seem to interested in this kind of stuff.

If we club members go together, are we just gonna go for one or two days?

of Course two days la~cos two days got different events, as it claims la.

Yup yup every year both days have different events. Cosplay should be on the second day. I went last year's cosplay competition and it was quite a fun event. The emcees were great too! Got the crowd laughing atleast.

Im still deciding whether i should go or not. Need to make sure i don't have any other plans on that day...Btw, who is confirmed going to the event? If a lot of you are going, then i'll most probably try and come for at least one day. ^_^

I confirmed going already I think i wanna get a new camera, my old one keeps running out of battery Then i could take pictures with/of the cosplayers Hehe!

Oooh..... I think I might go..... If I can convince my bro to go(he's driving, I'm not) then I can go... Haha XD