^Probably the longest post I have ever seen.


Let Ashley do his thing on the Website, if we have problems or anything else we can change them later on.

What info do you need to get started Ashley?

 

^Yeah, I have a tendency to write essays when I'm actually serious about something.

That's the quickest way to tell "serious Ashley" from "goofball Ashley" is simply length of post...


....you may have noticed many of my posts are very short


As far as "info" I would need, that would be login credentials for the site's FTP, contact info for whoever is/has been in charge of the site (webmaster/admin/whatever)
And I need to know who I need to run stuff by for approval before changing it.

 

lol i dont think anyone is in charge of the site it hasnt been updated in centuries

 

I guess Dan is the one that has all that info, maybe Woady can give him a call?

 

I spoke with Ian and he said he has the credentials also. So ill speak with him on getting them.

 

People who havent voted need to! Including Chad,woady,etc etc

 

I've reviewed this thread several times over thinking of what to say and how to respond to this.

I'm in agreement with reorganizing the FGC club. It is way overdue. It is nice to see allot of people step forth who want to make this happen. It is surprising to me to see this.

This organization needs to be run by active people/leaders in the community. By no means do I consider myself active on the forum, but I try my best to attend the local meets. I will continue to attend and support this club when I can and if everyone would still want me to remain as treasurer/secretary that is fine. Please keep in mind I do have crazy work schedule (AT&T eCommerce) so I can't be the errand guy I once was when the FGC first started.

Regardless, I don't think anyone is going to kick me out or eject me. I'm tied to too many things in the club and I've been part of it since its inception

Everyone has put forth some great ideas so far in this thread. Some I agree with, some I find amusing.

Here is my opinion:

I'm in agreement that the first order of business should be to sort out the website. It's too old and needs to be updated. The requirements that it would need to fill is: club info, how to join, upcoming event list/calendar, picture gallery that can be easily updated with photos, link to forum/forums.

We really need only look at our friends' website for inspiration:

http://www.zclubofflorida.net

The domain that the website resides at is www.floridag35club.com. I own the domain names for www.floridagclub.net and www.floridagclub.org through GoDaddy and have it point to the first url I mentioned. Should we decide to migrate the site to other two url's I mentioned, we'll need to find a new webhost. I lost the the www.floridagclub.com domain name as it was sniped from us when our domain registration expired. I tried to buy it back but the new "owner" wanted $600 for it. I declined.

Ashley, I can provide you ftp credentials if you wish. I will pm you. Also if Ashley does make something to fulfill the requirements listed and is something that is looked at fondly by everyone, it's only right that we pay him something for his services. If you really want to do pro bono work for us, then I commend you and owe you many a drink.

I'm not a fan of having multiple FGC forums. I'm a believer in keeping things simple. Plus i'm in agreement with Lyndon. For a club you would want an established centralized location where everyone can discuss, plan, ask questions........and even vent and bull**** (i'm not a fan of these two but this is the internet and people love doing it so i'm fine with that). I've felt g35driver is that forum and i've grown used to this forum. So here is where I come. There are other forums that have fgc sub forums but this one is the most watched. That being said I'm not opposed to having a web forum found only from a fgc website, but is it needed? If its merits are greater than this forum here than I'm not opposed to trying it. I just don' think it would be a good idea to have fragmentation. We'd want to limit that. I liked Ashley's idea of having links to each forum for easier navigation.

If everyone wants a new logo for the club, then I won't oppose it. I just don't think it's needed. The logo of our club was made by forum member, nameless. We payed him to make it. He made the SFL G club's logo and some of the other regional clubs logos found on this forum. We still have club tshirts with the latest logo. I already have the files for logo in vector graphics for tshirt production. I think the logo is still attractive looking and represents this club well. Why spend more time in building a new one and more funds re branding shirts with a new logo when it could be used elsewhere. Again, if the majority of the group wants a new logo, I won't oppose it. I just don't think its needed.

I'm in agreement with revamping membership cards. I like what Rick posted, I think is neat but way too flashy. Lets keep it simple and easy to mass produce (drop the picture, it would use too much ink to print). Perhaps we could consider having electronic membership card that could be easily stored/opened by phone (it wouldn't be hard making one into a pdf file?) for viewing.

As far as keeping this organized, we should rely on something like google docs. We could create a new fgc gmail account specifically for directors (or I could open mine to use = demonteverde@gmail.com) and use google doc's online calender that we could add members' email addresses to so it would send/add appointments to member's calendars that they could view via phone or computer. For creating a master membership list google doc's also has an online spreadsheet creator that can be viewed and edited by directors. It would be saved online/cloud so it could be viewable again by pc or phone and permissions can be set on who can view/edit it. I had a membership list made using my demonteverde@gmail.com account in which I started a membership list (outdated) with Veronica. I just never got to finish it.

What would be our club benefits/sponsors? Why would I pay dues when I can already attend a G/Z meet for free? This has been a tough question to answer. We would need to regather some type of sponsors who would offer us some type of discount on something. We could start by soliciting local shops like auto detailers and tint shops in each director's region that members could go to. That way the Tampa people have a reputable place they could go to while Orlando and Jax people would have the same. I don't think we could ask for a big discount on items, but 5 or 10% wouldn't be out of the question in exchange for advertising/word of mouth promotion from our club. The same could be applied to restaurants as well. We would need have a big meet again gathering all regions in which we should have catered and have a raffle with the higher priced items for members only while the smaller trinkets could be open to everyone. I have always felt these raffles encouraged people to join and I had much success with them when I would organize the Lokey Infiniti meets. Unfortunately I'm not in college anymore and I don't have the free time I once had to put these together. This is where the new blood would come in.

I believe I am the only one who has access to the club's funds and bank account ( we still have around 2k in the bank). I am the only one with club checks and club debit card. Once things get off the ground, I would vote to disperse funds to directors via prepaid debit cards to used in their meets. It would be nice of directors could buy something small like appetizers for those attending the meets in their region. Its something to give back to the members/attendees who actually make the club. Again keeping track of this would have to be maintained via online spread sheet (google doc) and prepaid debit card website. This is something to think about more on later.

These were just some thoughts in my head in regards to what i've read. Sorr for the novel.

So lets begin with the website. Ashley, i'll pm you.

 

I basically agree with everything Ian said.

I don't think we need to redesign the logo. To me, it seems like the last redesign is pretty fresh, or rather, hasn't been really used.

If I remember correctly, the logo was redesigned largely because of the whole engine displacement of the 2nd gen G's. We need a name and logo that includes both 35's and 37's. And we have that. We probably have lots of stickers and shirts in our possession with the "new" logo. So why make *another* new logo? Afterall, it's probably new to 99% of the potential members out there.

Redesigning the website, and having the membership list updated and maintained would probably be the first step as Ian and Lyndon has mentioned. Logically, that seems like the place to start, to me.

 

Oh, and regarding membership cards, here's my take on it. (not talking about business cards)

First, I like having members be able to print their own. What will ensure authenticity and guard against fraud? All FGC members have to have a Florida driver's license, right? I mean who would be part of a car club and not be able to drive their own car? (suspended license, etc would have to be an exception!)

Well vendors seeking to verify membership simply need to log on to our website and match up the name. Barcodes and QR codes are neat, but possibly more hassle than what's needed. Afterall, who's going to want to develop all this stuff for a not-for-profit club?

 

Oh, I forgot to mention that obviously, the vendor will need to verify membership by first verifying the ID (FL Driver's License), and then match name to website list of paying members.

 

Well I didnt know that logo was finished, I remember JB showing us some pics and that was it. I had no idea you guys even had stickers with the new logo or shirts. Because when some new members paid for membership no one was there to help or give them their stuff. In the end they wanted a refund and were dissappointed.


See this is stuff we need to know because we dont know what you guys have, only you do. Please place pics of Finished logo and shirt designs since I have yet to see the finished product.

 

I dont see the barcodes being a problem, if they dont get used o well. Its not like its costing anyone here besides Ashley any harm in adding them.

 

Well Harvey... looks like my post is no longer the longest one in this thread


Well worded Ian, I can get behind a lot of what you mentioned.
You mentioned you have the original vector art for the logo? Can you forward that to me?
My address is my name "at" nfspmotorsports.com
I'll need good crisp files to use in a site re-design, and I have plenty of software for converting vector files.

As far as compensation goes, you guys wouldn't want to see my normal rate, but I'm willing to do the work in my spare time for the benefit of the club.
After all, no car-club has ever existed without people willing to put some time into it with no gain.

I'll leave it to the rest of the club to decide what I'm compensated, if anything at all, knowing that I really expect nothing in return. And only after everyone has had a chance to see what I have to offer.

I would like to setup a simple forum on the site that is invisible to the public, and only accessible to a certain few members (Ian, Lyndon, regional directors...) just for them to poke/prod/play with/ and test... kinda take it on a test drive and get the feel for and decide if it's unneeded junk, or something that might benefit the site. If it's invisible to everyone except us, it's not going to hurt anything... Thoughts?

Ian, an "electronic membership card" wouldn't be hard at all.

Also, if anyone reading this has any high-quality, professional looking pics of FGC member's rides, could you email them to me? I have a couple ideas on site designs that entail the use of some nice pics of members' rides.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not opposed to the whole barcode thing. But I'm just thinking that someone has to put all of this together. And as you can imagine, there will be little to no compensation. But if someone is willing to make membership cards with QR codes pro bono, then let's see it!

 

Harvey is right, the bar/qr codes are very very easily generated online for free.
Really doesn't cost anyone anything once it's designed.
And if a vendor doesn't use them, who cares?

Also, bar codes don't actually have to be black and white with a number underneath like we're used to seeing at the grocery store... it can be red/black running sideways along the edge and still easily read by a phone, or even a conventional bar code scanner for that matter, but still be a kinda cool design element accenting the edge of the card.