ok *cracks knuckles* Let me jump in here and put what ever my voicalization is worth.
Let me see if I can get this whole thing in one ball of wax.


Community or Club
For us as a Community: Yes, we need to have a bit more input organization and set up for events. That is what Scionetics is set up for. BUT, I do thing we need to have couple of people to help setting that up where it can be updated, amended, edited etc. Since putting that on one persons shoulders would overload and burn that person out. I would not call it a committee more of a volunteer type option that has ablity to access those areas needed to update Community information/activites etc.
As a community we do need to get one mind set going for who we are.
A poll or thread on what we should call ourselves here in our area.
That way when someone does ask.. We do have one set name.

Those from other areas comming in here to recruit thier club/groups back off this is not the time or the place for you in this thread..


Now for setting it up as a organized club, Naw.. I have done the car club thing now for 20+ years. Yes, its strict, yes rules have to be inforced , Yes attendance does get manditory, yes dues (depends on the club) have to be collected.
I don't think 90% of this community would want to put up with that.
It would make what is happening now Un-fun and more of a task.
When Joey got her xA we did a couple meets, I had a riot it was like the very old days of when all my now car club family used to hang out. It was a very BIG fresh breath of air. Now that I can activitily be part of it since I have my box its even better.
As for the Click's... yea they are there.. but its just normal instances of who hangs out more. Easiest way to get sucked in to all this.. Jump in head first and have fun with it. Only way to meet and get to know everyone out there is walk up to them and talk at them.. Make that person feel uncomfortable for a minute or two BUT it works.. makes them go WOW.. they spoke to me, I must be important.
If they don't come up to you.. Walk up yourself. OR come get some of the more active boardies that is why we are out there .. to meet and make new friends!

Ask Joey, first time she went to a National truck show with me she flipped out on how many people I knew that came up to me to shake hands/bs etc.
Ask Jay he has been in the same circle of Truck shows, he has seen the 2 day camping trucking events with thousssaaands of people in attendance.




I know this has been floating out there for a long while now and I guess its time(and by the views) it has been needed.


hmmm. hope that covers it all.. I know I am going to amend and edit this a couple more times.. but awell.. *hits submit*

 

GAH.. see I knew I forgot something .. thanks Chad

One of those volunteers on Scionetics when they do post up about a show when they are putting up that information at that time frame they could call/email and see what is all offered at that show for classes and fee's. That way its fresh on thier mind when they post. Also usally there is a map that person can also go.. Ok.. show is there.. umm.. central spot for us to meet up at is *picks spot* and that is posted at the same time.. Another good idea is whom you talk to at that point in time.. post up that name.. So we all know who that information was recieved from
That and if information down the road needs to be updated feedback can be left (IE HiN where the event location has changed)

 

If you are talking about event coordinating in terms of "shows" for all that show their vehicles, ya, that would make perfect sense.

I was going to go and just put my box in last saturday, but I didn't have any warning. I was out all day running errands and didn't get a chance to hit the boards all day.

when you speak of the others events, such as random meets and bbq's and such, we still need to have things concrete as in keeping the same plans and not changing them a couple of hours prior. I just think we need more ideas to bring everyone back out here.

 

im all for a representative to arrange and organize the shows.

i want no part of a club.

been there, done it. i was part of the first scion club in the world. my wife was even the VP for a time. clubs can be awesome, but my last club ended up loosing about half of its members to another club that popped up. so then the people who we were friends with just a few weeks earlier now viewed us as enemies. thats not cool. i would hate to see that happen in arizona. and what about club dues? once money becomes invloved, people get wierd, and its understandable. i'm sure that if i gave $50 per year to a club, i'd want to know why all i got was a sticker. go ahead and flame me if you want. i'm just speaking from my own experience.

 

there you go Randy.. done and out of the way.
I hear ya bro, gotta love that age old drama.

 

agreed

 

its ok randy i have already been falmed so i wont do it to u....

 

Well put Randy.
I too have been part of 3 different mini truck clubs in the past and money and club switching seemed to be the things that broke everyone apart.
The club idea is ok to a point but when you start making a rule book and ask for dues, its time to go on to better things.
I still like the sound of "The scion community" instead of "the scion club", sounds more relaxed and fun being know as a community.

 

who "falmed" you? sounds painfull. does rj know?

 

I too agree where this seems to be headed. I am one that has met or talked to several of the members of the community here but have yet to make it to a formal meet! Everyone has been extremely helpful to me and made me feel welcome even though some of us have never met face to face.

I like the "organized community" with someone to contact as a "leader" but the group is responsible for the decisions. I am also a sucker for getting shirts and stickers printed up as it makes everyone feel part, no matter how smal your contribution might be.

I'm voting yes for the event committee and will continue to try to be a bigger part of this great community that is already established. I think that when you become a "club", the bigger problem is you get competative and nothing but bad can come of that in the long run.

Just my two cents,

JonnyD
PS - Malina, contact me, I lost your phone number for the radar detector.

 

I like the direction of all this thinking.

 

 

I like this idea. I do have a phone list that I started back about a month or so ago, anyone that gave me thier phone number was e-mailed a phone list ( I think thier was about 17 to 20 people on it).
If we are going to make this work we need input from all. We do not need to have someone not say anything and then have hurt feelings a month or two later. Just as long as we stay an un-club!!!!!
BTW Thanks Jason for the kind words

 

Quote
I've been a part of many automotive enthusiasts groups over the years, and I've never seen such a "cliquey" group than you guys. I can count on one hand the amount of people who are outgoing and talkative, as well as who make it comfortable for a new person to come to an event. It's for this reason that I haven't been going lately (not that anyone would notice). I feel way out of place enough having an xA,
************************************************************

You know I kind of thought the same thing when my wife and I went to our first meeting at the chick filet in avondale earlier this year. When we got there we pulled
in and didn't park by everyone else -- well because we were stock and everyone
there wasn't. Did we feel out if place -- yes -- And we just kind of walked around
looking at everyone's car's feeling really out of place, but later on someone came
up to us and introduced himself and made us feel welcome and at the next meet we went to at the arizona mills shopping center I did what rj recommended -
I walked up to the group and just started talking and the next thing you know were
shaking hand's and introducing our self's -- it's been different ever since then ==
so please don't stop coming out because were all not "outgoing". And yes we need more XA's!!

now that said == sorry chad didn't mean to go off topic == YES we need more
organization -- but who is willing to take the extra time out of their daily routine
to do this. We all work and have family as well and there is never enough time in
the day to get thing's done -- there are very capable people in our group -- I won't
name name's -- but there are 3 that come to mind . I vote more organization -- no
to a club. -- I am a proponate for better orginization -- we could surely use it

 

I agree, we need one person(s) to communicate with the bigger events and provide accurate, actionable information posted in a timely manner. Monitor the event schedules making necessary changes and notifications to the event calendar and threads.

This would also apply to the weekly events, not to make the decision of the location, this should be spontaneous as a group. After a decision/date has been made this contact person can be consulted/available to answer any questions on posting, if needed.

Last minute changes being made are difficult at best as most do not have access to or plan on checking the thread before leaving the house. My suggestion to Mark is to have a TXT message hot line. The event change if last minute would be changed online, emailed and TXT message to all on the hot list. That is being brain stormed now. The big SCION logo shinned in the sky (batman) was immediately ruled out.

As to the club, let’s stay “un-club” and support what some clubs and states all wish they had sitting in there back yard. Scionetics, you’re all local, you have a say so, go see Mark, pick up the phone or send him an email.

 

I dont know if i've talked to you in person yet. If I havent, I am sorry. I am kinda quiet around new people, but after a few minutes I am loud and crazy. Please dont feel out of place because you have an xA. xA's are quite rare out here, and they have a ton of potential. If your car is stock, dont sweat it. It just takes time. We were all stock at one point. It took me 2+ years of working on my car to get it o where it is now. I hope to see you at future events.

 

Gosh Randy. That was so SWEET of you to say!

 

I'm with you all the way. I havent experienced it personally, but I have seen many friends get into these retarded fights because one guy wanted to spend time with his girlfriend or something instead of go to the show so he got kicked out of the club and crap like that. Its stupid.

 

I think that we have all decided that we DO NOT want to be a Formal Club which has been the consensus for a long time around here in the AZ area.

But it looks like we agree that we need more structure when it comes to organizing events. So lets move this to the next phase and decide how we are going to do that. The hard part with a group this big is making decisions and not dragging our feet. So I am going to start a new thread about this topic only. Please take the time to post in there so everyone feels that they have a say and arent feeling left out.

 

I feel I need to chime in and voice my opion. You can count me in for one more of keeping the scion community an informal club. I personally think its best kept that way. I also think ones you get so many Rules and regulations that it takes away from the fun of just hanging out at a group. I mean thats what this is all about right?? is to have fun and enjoy everyones company so to speak. If we can't have fun with it then why even bother with it.

I have been involved in a couple of Model clubs one being for R/C Airplanes and one for Plastic models. I'm just going to share on the one for the plastic models that I was in. this club had the typical president, Vice President, Secretary. along with dues and etc... but they had some rules that in my opinion were sorta stupid. They would fine you if you missed two meetings in a row. Things like that don't make it fun to be part of. Anyway I went away to college (Moved to a different city that was 3 hours away) and for the first few months I'd come home on the weekends of the club meetings which were once a month well as I got busier with college I didn't have the time to always make it home for the meetings. well at one point I believe they wanted to kick me out cause I couldn't always make it. Well I got fed up with that and just said forget it, It wasn't worth my time. Granted I did have fun in the club but with things like that It wasn't fun anymore..

I do support the idea of having a spokes person so to speak for big shows. I think it is a good idea to have someone as the point of contact to get the information thats needed for shows and that way we can roll into places as a group. I also agree that our group just needs a little better organization. It is also hard to always make it out to every meet. Everyone one has lives outside of this group, alot have families, some have school. the list can go on.

I believe that we have a great group and its fun. I hate for anyone to feel if the group is cliquey. but it does take everyone to step out of their comfort zone and introduce themselves to new people that show up to make them feel welcome but also if you are a new person don't be shy, go up to people and introduce yourself. Everyone in the group is pretty friendly and easy to talk to.