Question and answer thread: Sunrider CO

[hofmann (Matt Hofmann)]

Nominees:
Tigerantilles (Gregor Sink)
Miana (Rachel Williams)

Please use this thread to ask either candidate questions regarding their potential role as CO of Sunrider Base.

Question period will end September 29th at 11:59 PM.
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[HazardThree (Jon Paulson)]

1. Since "Detachment Sub-units" seem to be the "hot" topic right now. How will you deal with it in the future? (yeah, I know, it's the questions no one wants to ask, but tough)

2. Given some of the recent "anti-reb" mentality of SOME the local 501st (not all), do you have any specific plans to strengthen the bonds between the groups and get us back to a better footing?

3. Same question re: other local SW fan groups.

4. Do you have any ideas on how to increase the number of ACTIVE participants in the Base?

5. Do you both intend to keep Chris as VP of Partying-Down?

6. What will you be doing to get more (not just different costumes for the same people) pilot costumes in the Base?

7. How do you feel about a Base "Open House" where we could invite local SW fans to come and find out about costuming. We could post on local fan boards and in comic/game shops.

8. Any thoughts on fundraising since begging our members everytime we need something never really seems to work. How about hosting a Base-wide SW Garage Sale? Basically pooling our extra or unwanted SW paraphenalia, costumes, props, etc., notifying local SW fan/costuming groups and then putting all or some of the funds toward sprucing up our "local brand identity" table. Other groups could set up to, but would have to donate a small percentage of their take to the Base. Let's face it, the 501st table presence always buries ours. We need a makeover and new tableclothes, standee banners, banner stands, prop stands, etc. would go a long way towards that.

9. How will you balance the FUN and the POLITICS, while keeping the needle more towards the FUN?

10. Will you be a presence on the Sunrider Boards (all of them) to promote involvement by new members?

11. What are your thoughts regarding our Base logo? Specifically the fact that it is almost a dead ringer for the Southern Pacific Logo as well as eerily similar to the Arizona State Flag, a State that's not even part of our Base. Would you be willing to entertain discussion on the possibility of changing it during your tenure?

Okay, that's enough for now. Start typing while other members chime in.
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Jon Paulson • Cmdr. Tag "HazardThree" Greenly
SXO Hazard Squadron • DCO RLSC (Pilot Detachment)
Legion Costume Judge - Pilots

[Tigerantilles (Gregor Sink)]

1. Since "Detachment Sub-units" seem to be the "hot" topic right now. How will you deal with it in the future? (yeah, I know, it's the questions no one wants to ask, but tough)
I believe that the discussion of deatchments is best met by the group having a civil discussion to the question: "Do we need a 'detachment sub-unit'?'. If the majority of people believe it would be beneficial, then I think we could move forward. If the majority believe it would be unhelpful, then we would stop until a time comes when it is needed and/or beneficial.

2. Given some of the recent "anti-reb" mentality of SOME the local 501st (not all), do you have any specific plans to strengthen the bonds between the groups and get us back to a better footing?
Now some of the SCG 501st just flat out refuse to play with the rebels. I believe the best way to deal with those people is to set up Rebel Legion events and invite the 501st, so those that wish to play along, can.
I've also seen that the anti-rebel sentiment comes from a small minority of those in the SCG. As a SCG member, I try to defend the Rebel Legion in a civil manner when it is attacked.
If we continue to be civil, professional, and open to sharing events; over time we will take away the arguments of those against us.

3. Same question re: other local SW fan groups.
I think as a group, we can invite other groups to participate in events we have, and they in turn will eventually do the same. This past year we've done a fair amount of cross group events, and I think we will continue this trend.

4. Do you have any ideas on how to increase the number of ACTIVE participants in the Base?
I think all we can do is invite people, and do what we can to make events an enjoyable experiance. People wont come to events if they're not invited, people wont go to events if the events are a burden.

5. Do you both intend to keep Chris as VP of Partying-Down?
He's actually the Secretary of Partying Down, and I will never get rid of him.
NEVER

6. What will you be doing to get more (not just different costumes for the same people) pilot costumes in the Base?
I think the phrase "Hi. Welcome aboard, have you ever considered doing a pilot costume?" has not been used enough.
I think more pilot workshops are good, and will needed in the future.

7. How do you feel about a Base "Open House" where we could invite local SW fans to come and find out about costuming. We could post on local fan boards and in comic/game shops.
I know we do some panels at conventions, but I think it's a good idea.

8. Any thoughts on fundraising since begging our members everytime we need something never really seems to work. How about hosting a Base-wide SW Garage Sale? Basically pooling our extra or unwanted SW paraphenalia, costumes, props, etc., notifying local SW fan/costuming groups and then putting all or some of the funds toward sprucing up our "local brand identity" table. Other groups could set up to, but would have to donate a small percentage of their take to the Base. Let's face it, the 501st table presence always buries ours. We need a makeover and new tableclothes, standee banners, banner stands, prop stands, etc. would go a long way towards that.
With the benefit of a budget comes the problem of a accountant. I know we've had some trouble with people and the questioning of funds in the past, and we've generally avoided the funding idea as a way of not having to hold people accountable. I'm open to the idea of begging members for redoing tables and identities.

9. How will you balance the FUN and the POLITICS, while keeping the needle more towards the FUN?
Churros & snowcones.

I've tried to deal with political matters in a reasonable and swift manner.
I've made a point of being available, and hearing people out when legitimate problems rear their heads.
10. Will you be a presence on the Sunrider Boards (all of them) to promote involvement by new members?
I do read everything on the Sunrider boards (even the senatorial forums). I post where necessary. I only have so many sarcastic comments to throw around ya know.
11. What are your thoughts regarding our Base logo? Specifically the fact that it is almost a dead ringer for the Southern Pacific Logo as well as eerily similar to the Arizona State Flag, a State that's not even part of our Base. Would you be willing to entertain discussion on the possibility of changing it during your tenure?
I lurve it when people make emblems, icons, or photoshop pictures. If someone wants to change the symbol, I'd take it to a vote of the base.
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[Miana (Rachel Williams)]

1. Since "Detachment Sub-units" seem to be the "hot" topic right now. How will you deal with it in the future? (yeah, I know, it's the questions no one wants to ask, but tough)

I'd open up the discussion firstly without insulting members of the 501st or Fan Force groups.

Detachment Units IMO should be decided upon by the people in that actual detachment. So I would open up a discussion for RAID members to see if they want one, open one for Jedi, similarly as I did recently for the Galactic Senate. If there is enough interest from the detachment, put it to a vote to see if the majority wants it. If there is, we go from there.

2. Given some of the recent "anti-reb" mentality of SOME the local 501st (not all), do you have any specific plans to strengthen the bonds between the groups and get us back to a better footing?

Cake and punch. Seriously though, it's a quid-pro-quo relationship. We get some anti-reb feelings from some people because right back at it, some of our members are pretty negative toward the 501st (don't deny it). I'd hope to keep the dissing comments in check while trying to do more events with the 501st. And I don't just mean costumed events; fun things like a baseball game or bring back the softball matches.

Equally, I find talking with said anti-reb people actually helps. I like to hear what it is that they do not like and then discuss it with them to perhaps give them a better understanding. Everyone is of course entitled to their opinion, and I can't make everyone love the Rebels, but I can try to at least get some of them to see that we're not so bad after all, and we're no different than them.

3. Same question re: other local SW fan groups.

Same thing, really. Just because we're a costume group doesn't mean we can only do costuming events. I'm sorry to say the Multi-Club picnic fell through this year due to lack of planning on my behalf, but really, we're all in one huge family, so we should try and do what we can to remain on good terms with the other groups, especially since a good majority of our members are also members of other groups.

4. Do you have any ideas on how to increase the number of ACTIVE participants in the Base?

Darth Real Life is something we have no control over. However, if people are inactive due to the distance of events (i.e. San Diego people), help try to plan events that are closer to them that they can attend as well. As for making people more active on the board, we need more fun topics or more discussions not related to events. Something to keep people interested.

5. Do you both intend to keep Chris as VP of Partying-Down?

Gregor already corrected that it's Secretary of Partying-Down, and if the tight-pants fit...

6. What will you be doing to get more (not just different costumes for the same people) pilot costumes in the Base? Evil or Very Mad

The same thing I would be doing for every other costume. If someone says "I've always wanted to do a rebel costume," reply with "Really, which?" If they suggest something other than pilot, I will of course encourage them to do it and offer what help we can. If they say "I'm not sure," I will of course include pilot in a list of costumes. I like my orange, but I still think we need more pretty pretty dresses.

7. How do you feel about a Base "Open House" where we could invite local SW fans to come and find out about costuming. We could post on local fan boards and in comic/game shops.

Great idea. You volunteering to run it, Jon?

8. Any thoughts on fundraising since begging our members everytime we need something never really seems to work. How about hosting a Base-wide SW Garage Sale? Basically pooling our extra or unwanted SW paraphenalia, costumes, props, etc., notifying local SW fan/costuming groups and then putting all or some of the funds toward sprucing up our "local brand identity" table. Other groups could set up to, but would have to donate a small percentage of their take to the Base. Let's face it, the 501st table presence always buries ours. We need a makeover and new tableclothes, standee banners, banner stands, prop stands, etc. would go a long way towards that.

Another great idea. As for Comic Con, if we cannot come up with a cool design for our table, then I'm sure Damien would also be happy to help us out as well with making us look shiney.

9. How will you balance the FUN and the POLITICS, while keeping the needle more towards the FUN?

When politics are needed, you display them so that everyone can understand them and the reasoning. Politics sometimes gets dirty and heated; when that happens, you take people aside and reason with them or find out what it is exactly that they are upset about and try to work it out. You can't make everyone happy, but you can at least try to keep the peace. And peace leads to fun. If someone is preventing that fun or doing something that is hindering the fun of others, they need to be dealt with and talked to. And if someone needs a time out, so be it. I won't let one person ruin the fun of the rest.

10. Will you be a presence on the Sunrider Boards (all of them) to promote involvement by new members?

Of course. For the next few months, I will be nothing but a presence until I'm back in So Cal. We need more traffic on these boards (main rebel legion) so that any new person doesn't come over here and think that we're an inactive or lazy bunch.

11. What are your thoughts regarding our Base logo? Specifically the fact that it is almost a dead ringer for the Southern Pacific Logo as well as eerily similar to the Arizona State Flag, a State that's not even part of our Base. Would you be willing to entertain discussion on the possibility of changing it during your tenure?

I personally really really love our logo, but I understand the reasoning behind changing it. I believe a discussion should be brought to the base and reasoning for and against changing it laid out. Put it to a vote after if the base wishes to change it or not. Whatever the majority of the base wants, I will go with. We're a democracy here, not the empire.
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"Everytime you're not canon, a fairy dies." - Mike

[Bryanakin (Bryan Nguyen)]

What is your policy for resolving competing/conflicting participants for a face character at an event?
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Anakin Skywalker EP 2, CW, and EP3
www.myspace.com/bryanakin

[Tigerantilles (Gregor Sink)]

I think every event would have to be handled differently. But I think you'd have to take into consideration:
-Who called dibs first
-If someone has another costume they can wear/if the face character is the only way they can come & play
-The frequency that person gets to wear that specific character
-The requirements of the event itself
-What the event coordinator thinks

I can't remember having to make an executive decision on this in the last year. Either we didn't come across it, or everyone going took care of it among themselves.
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[Miana (Rachel Williams)]

What is your policy for resolving competing/conflicting participants for a face character at an event?

For the most part, the base does a great job of resolving this themselves, like Gregor said.

However, I'll just echo some of what Greg said.

Dibbs - big part of it.
Multiple costumes is great - if two people want to do one thing, then have someone wear a different costume, and they get dibbs the next time.

A great example of this was the Egyptian Theater gig. They wanted a CW Obi-Wan, and we have two amazing ones. Dan, on top of his CW Obi-Wan, he also has a clonetrooper. So he agreed to wear that and let Chris wear Obi-Wan so they both could go and have a great time.

Another factor is the event organizer. If it's a pretty big profile event, two people want to do the same character, and neither has another costume they'd be willing to wear, send in photos of both to the organizer and said "pick one."
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"Everytime you're not canon, a fairy dies." - Mike

[defyitall (Christian Evans)]

What's your policy on...uh...lunch?
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[Tigerantilles (Gregor Sink)]

I'm a pizza kinda guy, but I'm willing to hear other options.
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[Miana (Rachel Williams)]

Lunch is probably the 2nd most important meal of the day. I encourage everyone to participate in its wonders.

I'm a sandwich or panini girl with usually a piece of fruit on the side. Nice and balanced.
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"Everytime you're not canon, a fairy dies." - Mike

[defyitall (Christian Evans)]

I would have also accepted:

"I wanna put the stew back in costume."
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[BrieKalan (lesley farquhar)]

The Legion PR team, and the Newsletter team, and Webteam, have created a whole new look for the Legion this year. We've changed and updated our look, gotten new promotional materials, and expanded awareness of our group and goals.

Now that we've done all that footwork at the Legion level, how do you plan to take that momentum and get the ball rolling at the local level?
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Lesley Farquhar
BrieKalan, AKA Jedi Master Depa Billaba, Sunrider Base PR Officer
Retired Merch Officer 2007-2009
Retired Commanding Officer, SoCal Garrison
Current San Diego Squad Leader, SCG
501st Legion Droid Hunt Coordinator

[Miana (Rachel Williams)]

I hope we can get some new PR material for ourselves as well. Business cards, stickers/decals plus maybe having PR packets for organizations that we work with or wish to work with, explaining who we are and what we bring to the table. Jon brought up a bunch of good ideas, from the Meet-N-Great the Legion thing at the local area, the giant yard sale as well, and even making our table at Comic Con looking more awesome.

Also, try to be more on top of sending articles or even photos to the Newsletter team.
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"Everytime you're not canon, a fairy dies." - Mike

[Tigerantilles (Gregor Sink)]

My initial response it to "continue redefining awesome".

In this past year we've been lucky enough to have some great events come our way. I believe that as we continue doing events we continue to "get our name out there". I know Jon has been extremely useful in getting our name out there with the CHLA.

I believe that in regards to Children's hospitals, there is a barrier to overcome. The majority of hospitals would be wary of someone coming and saying "Hi, we dress up like jedi's and want to run around your hospital for a day". The best way to get around this is to slowly build our reputation with other hospitals. Having another children's hospital to say "Oh we know them. They're crazy, but the good kind of crazy" goes a long way to being taken "seriously".

Having nice shiny pamphlets & such are a great way to get one's foot in the door. I know Donna was nice enough to get me a set of business cards (which I actually used quite often, thank you Donna), and they came in handy when talking to people, because it gave people a way to follow up with us.

I would like to see a small brochure-type thing we could hand out to people to help explain who we are, and what we do. I think that would help. Oh and kicking people into gear to take more/better pictures and write up mission reports.
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[LizardJedi (Liz Hyde)]

While each organization, no matter the nature, has a "leader", the definition of "leader" can vary from one organization to the next.

In your opinion, and without quoting anything from any Charter, what do you think the CO's duties are, within Sunrider base?
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The opposite of War isn't Peace, its Creation