1/12/09 Meeting Summary

We had around 24 people on last night which made it a challenge to keep the meeting orderly, but we did discuss several points. After summarizing what was discussed I will open a thread on each main topic for discussion.

1. Guild Leadership and Council

I think everyone was in agreement that we needed more active guild leadership. The conversations about how to go about this were very passionate and several ideas were generated. I think we getting to a point that we wanted to avoid, which was too much complexity regarding the responsibilities of leadership. Several members made it very clear that they liked the casual atmosphere of the guild. This is what we need to maintain.

Leadership is to consist of a Guild Leader and a 4 member sub council. The reason for having 5 members is to provide as much of an opportunity as possible for a member to be able to contact someone if there is a problem of some sort.

Council Responsibilities:
A. Peacekeeping
B. Event Coordination - This doesn't mean that the council are the only ones setting up raids or events... members are fully encouraged to do so. If we hit a lull the council might fill in the gaps with raids, some PvP fun, more Raffles, etc....
C. Promotion of Officers - The whole recruiting issue still needs to be discussed, but all were in agreement that at least some modification needs to be made.
D. Guild Cleric / Housing (if it ever happens) Fund - Currently Pan is doing this and has done a great job. Should he ever not be able to do it it would fall to a council member.

I think nominations should be broken down to Guild Leader and Council. Unless someone thinks otherwise nominations will be accepted until Sunday 1/25 at 9PM EST. Anyone who is nominated has the right to decline.

Term limits (or lack thereof) for council members and guild leader still need to be ironed out.

Guild Charter

This will take a little longer to figure out, but one of the first goals for the new council will be to get this in place. This will be voted on by the members and all suggestions will be welcome. The Charter should not be restrictive, but provide information (especially for new members) as to what is expected as a member of Storm Shadow.

A few examples:

1. Raid Coordination. - Any member can coordinate a raid. Raids should be by first come first serve within the guild (either by reservation or in-game join). If there are not enough members to fill a raid then it may be filled with non-guild members who should be treated as you would treat each other. The coordinator of the raid either leads the raid of designates the leader. The leader is exactly that. Depending on how the leader wants it handled suggestions can be made in chat or via tell. We already have a raid loot policy, but it should be included here also...

2. Secondary Guilds - I personally do not see a problem with a member having an alt in another guild. Since we are casual I believe that it is important that new members should know this and if they happen to connect with another guild there should be no problem with them leaving. Active recruiting in either direction should not be done.

Anyway these are just two ideas for policy items. I will create a thread for this also.

The last major item that was discussed was how to get new members more involved with the entire guild. This isn't something any one of us can do. We need to a better job getting the word out when we have a new member. I know I am guilty of not being aggressive in grouping with new members... I mean to change that.

All in all the meeting was a success in my opinion since it got people together in one place. I was glad to see people passionate about the meeting becuase it means they care.

At the end of all this I hope to see Storm Shadow operate as it always has on a day to day basis, but with more events for members to enjoy together and a way fro them to solve issues should one arise.

If I missed anything important please post it here. Discussion on specific items listed above will be in the soon to be created threads...

Excellent work Morrek. Thanks for everything you do for the guild.

Love the work Morrek!!!

My only issue is members being active in other guilds. I see no reason for the membership to be active in other guilds...for all the reasons you state, but I would take exception to any officer, or member in a position to influence either other guild members or guild policy, being active in another guild. Members active in other guilds...in my view...forfeit any opportunity to become members of the council, leader, or officer with recruiting/expulsion authority.

Trayjan

Trayjan,

I think that is a good addition. Anyone who is in a leadership position should be dedicated to Stormshadow while they are in that position.

I can understand that, and that makes sense. What we don't need is a conflict of interest or a distraction amongst the guild leadership. Leadership should have the guild's best interests at heart.

I have updated to policies draft with the above suggestion. The question is will officers have full recruiting capability or will council have to approve a new recruit? Still a good discussion topic.