WorldWide T-Day Venting

From the other thread in case people miss it:

 

Why would we all meet in one place? We don't all need to get together. This isn't about us. This is about spreading the information to others who aren't us. If you want to get together with everyone, there are plenty of events like ArachnoCon with which to do that. If you want to organize then by all means get with a group and organize. But don't shut down the idea that other people should be able to get with other groups and also organize. By keeping this movement contained you will only keep it small.

 

Neh...we might as well drop all pretenses. She's complaining about me starting another post after the other two were temporarily buried, and my reasoning is explained in the post below.

If you don't want to read the whole thing and you want the cliffnotes version:

We don't need 300 people planning 300 different things at this stage. We need 300 people planning one thing, then another, then another and after those vital first steps are taken, we can have one person (I vote Bell) help co-ordinate and communicate details of all these projects to the public.

We don't need to be talking about writing representitaves and making T-shirts just yet...we need to focus on this one step at a time. A mission statement is a good place to start before we start making plans. The ideas in the other thread can, should and will come later...but first we need to properly represent ourselves through one source...and this should be Bell's website.

Before we can do the website, we need a single statement to sum up our goals. From there, we can start the ball rolling. This is just like starting a business.

I have been talking with Bell and I believe she is the best leader for the job because she's in charge of the website (from everything I read).

First, we need a mission statement. Even though this seems superficial, this is an integral part of any organization.

After that, we need representation and a leader. Bell and her website are perfect for this.

When we have a central source to represent us, this is where we can start to plan.

Bell can put the local shows on her website organized by state and have material written by hobbiests about the hobby posted.

Having one central voice to represent us will make things a whole lot less complex...and by listing individual events we can quickly communicate with each other and see what everyone else is doing.

If we do things in the wrong order, it all tends to get jumbled about and when the big day comes...everyone comes of as unorganized and incoherent.

If we do this correctly, we have a source where nationwide media (as opposed to everyone's local media) can contact us if interested as well as a single place people can come to for information.

Notice how I am not trying to inject myself as the leader and also not trying to claim any responsibility for anything...only tossing my coins into the ring and trying to get some sort of organization behind the planning.

I have built similar things up from scratch before (but admittedly on a much, much smaller scale) and I have some experience planning and executing these types of things. I know what does and doesn't work.

 

http://forums.eighteight.org/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=16&p=47#p47

 

well, this is interesting???? is this local state societies all coming together for one event and if so who's representing who or whos being represented and where did the election happen for someone to be in charge???

or is this just a bunch of hobbyists doing this as a more general awareness day...its getting kind of confusing seeing 1 date shared by a few for an event and not knowing if they are all separate or the same....

wayne

 

It's pretty much a bunch of hobbyists coming together... to, well, try to start a worldwide tarantula day on August 8th.

 

It's a bunch of hobbiests getting together to promote the hobby any way they can.

I will be doing educational presentations...but I can't speak for anyone else.

 

I'd rather keep it just to Tarantula's... go splurge off into a scorpion day if you want... but originally.. it was for tarantulas.

 

I agree. Including all arachnids is too broad.

 

I haven't read the other treads, but I have an idea about this one. You've set the date, now let the local communities and organizations decide what they will do. Trying to organize a "World Wide" event is more than is way more than I could deal with, but I might be able to do somthing in my classroom. People might post multiple websites. People might sell more than one type of t-shirt. People might want to include other arachnids. We should let the individual hobbiest or groups decide how they will participate. Isn't that what grassroots is about.

 

Is their a committee or something out their that's going to approve or disapprove our ideas. I mean, come on, that's ridiculous. If people are making plans about what they are going to do, good for them. If they want to share those plans, great. What's the problem?

PS if anyone is planning something in Northern AZ, I’d be happy to help.

John

 

The link in my sig.

 

Maybe you should have read it. Cheshire has made some excellent points, and I'd be more than willing to follow his directions in organizing this thing.

Look dude, I don't mean to criticize you, it's great that you're trying to organize this thing, but have you ever tried to organize anything ever? You can't go around griping the way you are. I know you may be trying to say somethign completely different, but your attitude says "this is my parade, we're doing things my way". People don't respond well to that, as you can see from people's reactions to this thread.

If you want to lead the organization of this event, you need patience. You need to be willing to listen to other people's ideas. You need to not just say "we need organization", but rather provide means for organization, and politely point people in that direction. You need to understand and accept that if you truly are leading this thing, you are going to be pissed off the whole time because nothing is going to go exactly as you want it to, and you won't get the appreciation you deserve, yet if you do everything right, it will still be a success.

 

Yeah T-day!!!

I am going to state one fact. And that is that arguing doesn't get anything accomplished. And now, of course, someone is going to argue that were not arguing, but that is the great downfall of forums. And in bear in mind, I have little experience, but it seems that the very nature of the beast, is to argue. But hey...I think 08/08/08 is an awesome idea. And I think it is definitely a day to celebrate this hobby that we all love, whether new or old to it. So, yeah... let's keep this ball rolling, with more ideas and less critiques.

 

dude or dudette (hairymetalspider)
just freakin chill out man
noone is trying to say that they started nor trying to take credit for the idea
just chill dude