September meeting - 12/9/15

Hi guys. My input, in absentia:

1. Apologies. At a wedding in Thurso. Delighted for my mate, but furious at the same time.

3. Kev and Phil been doing great groundwork. Promotional things to consider would be the branding of the event; entry (whether it be ticketed or at the door); whether we tie it in with the DONS award; what we offer as incentives to attend and sign up on the day. I'll post more in the fanzone event thread.

5. I say we place less emphasis on communicating with the club and more on communicating with fans, building up a greater rapport with the view of having more weight in our discussions with the club.

6a) Chris and I have been having some typed words on this. We have thought about fan matchday blogging. We ask the guys from the Stats and Skirts, By the Min AFC and Red Point of View to provide matchday blog with experiences before, during and after the game. If it works it could be rolled out as an invitation to all fans (members only) to contribute, in the hope we have input from a wider demographic. I also thought we could supplement it with a matchday survey where all who attended a match can express their views on the experience as a travelling fan. Between the blog and survey we're generating web content, getting in-depth and statistical feedback to use, and empowering fans to have a greater say. We could create a buzz around its launch too by circulating to press etc.

6b) and d). This is absolutely massive in my opinion. I discovered recently that the online process is broken so I created an online form embedded on the site in its place, removing the current signup and login panes. I haven't promoted it on social media as I'm not sure my form(https://donssupporterstogether.typeform.com/to/HSY9iT) is the right way to go - I don't know what data we need on someone for them to count as a member. The current sign up asks for a username and password to be created even though there is currently no member-exclusive content. This is a barrier. We need to think about the 'journey' of signing up and make it as easy (and worthwhile as possible). Do we know how many members we have exactly? I know we have the mailing list for the newsletter - is that the whole database?

8. I think emails are incredibly messy as a means of communicating as it's very difficult to separate discussion on individual topics - meetings, fanzone event etc. I totally agree with Chris that a forum would ease this considerably. It's why I've created this one. It's mobile-friendly, easier to navigate and more responsive. Email notifications can be set up for new posts should one desire that. Skype is certainly worth considering although it can be quite awkward with a group chat. It might be unfamiliar but in my opinion it'll be worthwhile becoming familiar with!

Cheers

Chris