Old Polo Thread

sorry i cant make it, have fun and i hope to see you guys soon!

lame

overslept a bit, be with y'all asap

Thursday 6:30pm

1. Emyr
   

Thursday 6:30pm

1. Emyr
   
2. Drew
   

Thursday 6:30pm

1. Emyr
   
2. Drew
   
3. Ste
   

Thursday 6:30pm

1. Emyr
   
2. Drew
   
3. Ste
   
4. Rob
   

Thursday 6:30pm

1. Emyr
   
2. Drew
   
3. Ste
   
4. Rob
   
5. Mirek
   
   

Could we finish a bit early on Thursday to talk about where we're going with the new interest in the website and flyers for recruitment? A few of us had no idea which is cool but it's nice all of us know what's going on.

Could we finish a bit early on Thursday to talk about where we're going with the new interest in the website and flyers for recruitment? A few of us had no idea which is cool but it's nice all of us know what's going on.

yeh thats cool, basically Emyr has the technical skills so I asked if he could get the website sorted so that we can all then log in and update stuff ourselves like a blog,

Flyers were only just brought up on sunday, I was going to update times etc on the ones Adam made last time and distribute them to bike shops, critical mass etc, see if we get any interest

yeh thats cool, basically Emyr has the technical skills so I asked if he could get the website sorted so that we can all then log in and update stuff ourselves like a blog,

do you mean the website Neil set up that has a working forum? It's about time we started using that IMO

no i ment http://www.manchesterbikepolo.com/

if people dont want that then say now and we will scrap it before any more work is done

I will be totally honest, It seems like everyone is happy to let the months/years roll by without mentioning or contributing to our online presence, yet as soon as someone does there is an instant feeling animosity/conflicting ideas etc. I really dont want that to happen and am only trying to help, figured new year new start etc see what interest we can drum up

do we all need to do sexy internetz photos?

I've said before where I stand on things. I think it looks great Ste, but i'm in favour of Neil's site, and his general outlook/plan for the future of mcr polo. Sadly not everyone agrees with me. Perhaps the feelings of animosity stems from the fact that nothing has been done with that site for over a year after you saying you'd get it up and running.

Why not just use the one that is fully up to date and running with it's own forum rather than spending anymore time on this one? That's my opinion anyway

Feel free to ignore this it's just a relative beginners view.

Neil's site has a good amount of information that's right there.
The forum there would probably be better than here, as the community/relation to ss&fg may put some people off.
I do prefer the look of Ste's though.

Both need updating and if Emyr comes up with amazing stuff then it could all be up in the air.

ok, at the moment when you google "manchester bike polo" the first hit you get is www.manchesterbikepolo.com

because of this i figured it made most sense to use the manchesterbikepolo.com URL what is shown on that website is up to all of us, regular players will receive a username and password to update the site as they choose with photos/ new equipment reviews/ news whatever we want like a blog, similar to:

http://edinburghbikepolo.com/
http://cosmicbikepolo.wordpress.com/
http://www.springbreakbikepolo.com/
http://birminghambikepolo.com/

I will be totally honest, It seems like everyone is happy to let the months/years roll by without mentioning or contributing to our online presence, yet as soon as someone does there is an instant feeling animosity/conflicting ideas etc. I really dont want that to happen and am only trying to help, figured new year new start etc see what interest we can drum up

This is why I'm calling a meeting Ste, so that we all work together on it and the scene. I'm happy for Emyr to have a bash at the website but i'd like to see it get done this time.
I'll hold my hands up to taking a back seat in the past, I've been here the longest and contributed the least, so I want to make sure we all come together without any animosity, just forget the failed attempts, move on and get mcr polo buzzing again.

^ who are you? What have you done with Mirek? haha

So far all I have is a prototype site running on my home PC with a rough design and a few pages. I'll want a lot of static content before it goes live anywhere and I'm still working on pulling the @mcrbikepolo Tweets into a sidebar.

The design I've done is mostly white. Both the South-MBP site and manchesterbikepolo.com are very black as if they're trying very hard to look cool.

There's no point having a web presence if it's scattered across different sites, hard to find, barely updated or doesn't actually represent a properly organised group of people. I'm willing to make an effort with the website so long as everyone makes the effort to turn up when we say we play.

Scene the light

I'm willing to make an effort with the website so long as everyone makes the effort to turn up when we say we play.

this is a fair point. I can't play when i'm working nights and working weekends (which will be more often this year) but can commit when I'm not working

I’ve said this many times before but, for the newer folks… Manchester polo needs a robust and achievable 2012 plan built on contributions from all the current regular players - that plan needs executing by a smaller group of enthusiastic, reliable and committed people that utilise the strengths and abilities of others as and when necessary.

Within that 2012 plan ought to be the key areas of activity:

• marketing (identity/flyers/campaigns/merchandise etc);
• communications (website/MMS/merchandise etc);
• 'membership' (recruitment etc); funding (sponsorship/subscriptions; what we do with that funding etc);
• events/calendar (day-in/day out/tournaments/new player sessions etc).

A workable steering group might consist of a chair person/figurehead to represent the whole of Manchester polo within the national and global communities; someone responsible for the delivery of the communications elements eg. Marketing/communications (see above); a recruitment/membership person (probably combined within the chair person role for year one); and a funding/financials person.

I reiterate that this steering group’s mandate is ONLY to deliver an agreed members plan - any arising opportunities or issues that they regard as being positive additions to the 2012 plan need to be run by the larger collective (in an open meeting) in order to be added to the main plan. Of course all the regular players have the right to bring new ideas to the table as we proceed through the year – it’s up to the steering group to rationalise those ideas, ensure full approval from the membership and then devise ways of making sure ‘shit gets done’.

My advice is that we find three volunteers who are capable and willing to run this steering group on our behalf and that we give that group a full twelve months to deliver against a basic plan that we’ve all contributed to in the first instance. If everyone doesn’t participate in the building of that plan then the mandate doesn’t exist and it will fail. There’s only 10 or so of us, so it shouldn’t be beyond us as a group to make a plan happen quickly – it’s usually basic stuff.

After that 12 month period those positions can be reviewed and made ‘democratic’ – so that the steering group can be refreshed and a new plan for 2013 be created and delivered. One thing that really shouldn’t occur before a plan is created is that people go off and do individual bits and pieces expecting it to hold together and to be roundly supported, however self effacing and generous those efforts may be.

I appreciate that this is all dull, establishment golf club stuff, but evidence suggests that it works and, more relevantly, what we’ve done in the past doesn’t. We've had sporadic and frustrated attempts at growing the scene and, like solo breakaway riders in the tour, they always get mown down by life’s peloton! If you want to succeed this time - make a simple plan and entrust its execution to a smaller steering group, leave them to get it done and support them when they ask for help and contributions/volunteer for key tasks eg. creating flyers and websites; looking for sponsors etc.

My position throughout 2011 was not, as is recorded in the recent new year thread, ‘being happy to let the months/years roll by’ – quite the opposite. I remained a passive supporter of Manchester polo because my understanding was that approaches other than those I’d brought to the table in 2010 were going to be optioned. This patently did not happen and we’re all the poorer for that. If Manchester polo wants me to be an active participant then I’ll gladly be involved – however, if there isn’t a recognisable plan with a healthy mandate then I’ll remain a Manchester polo supporter on the sidelines, as I’m not on any egocentric mission, nor do I seek confrontation anywhere else than on court! ;-)

I've posted my thoughts here:

http://www.lfgss.com/thread46066-4.html

• as there's still a lot of good stuff within that thread that could be utilised/reviewed IMHO.
  

A workable steering group might consist of a chair person/figurehead to represent the whole of Manchester polo within the national and global communities; someone responsible for the delivery of the communications elements eg. Marketing/communications (see above); a recruitment/membership person (probably combined within the chair person role for year one); and a funding/financials person.

Ok lets start to narrow this down then. All these concepts and ideas sound great to me, this is exactly what we need to do. I would like to put myself forward to be the figurehead for Manchester. I've good contact with the players on a worldwide basis, and good contact with supportive organisations via our Netto Sponsorships. I'm already the contact for Manchester for the wider uk polo organisation so it feels like the right thing to do.

I would say that it's pretty much imperative to the success of this that Neil is also in this 'steering group'.

As for the 3rd then whoever wants to I guess. What do you all think?

I was secretary of my uni's Live Music Society for two years and its webgeek for the year before that. Although Secretaries usually do a lot of comms, we had the President doing a lot of the "creative writing" to make sure newbies knew who to approach which let me chair and record meetings and generally make sure events got planned properly.

I'm also single, so don't have many demands on my time at the moment...

Ha, well lets get a short list of people and a list of roles that need filling. Or if its agreed, Neil should form the steering group, as lets face it he will be doing a lot of the behind the scenes work non of us have a clue about plus he'd have to work closely with the people of that group.
I'm sure there are plenty of opportunities too for people who don't make 'the group' to help towards the bigger picture and just look at London, you don't even have to be that good at polo to a massive part in it.

you don't even have to be that good at polo to a massive part in it.

my time to shine!

I'm happy to help out in whatever way I can, don't see myself as much of a "steerer" but will do stuff if asked, Chan and Neil get my vote, Em can have a vote too if he wants to do it and has some relevant experience, as long as anything majorish is democratic then it's all cool