I'll be social...from 6pm.

I am going, but I can't remember what time I picked, and the email they sent helpfully doesn't tell me

Already booked for the best & fairest a few weeks ago, so no social for me. Let us know what it involves (sheilas, eating the cock).

B====D .........?


kindest regards tommi

Thumbs up to Tony De Bolfo, though.

Just got back. Can sum it up pretty easily: waste of time.

I thought I signed up for a discussion about the club's use of social media. It was all set up for a meeting like that but went down without the discussion taking place. A much better set up would have been fewer people and a robust, broad focus group that questions the users and market as to what they like/dislike/suggest.

I think the club want to be seen to be doing the right thing, and the easiest way to do that? Be seen trying to do the right thing. There is no doubt the multimedia and social networking department of the club has done a great job getting settling into these new media outlets. The development and evolution has been commendable given the timeframe and will only grow and improve with more time, but for people who have the money and therefore the means to really go out and exploit it they could be doing a lot better.

I can't stress this enough. The most costly aspect of all this has been taken care of. The platforms (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube) are all FREE and maintained/upgraded FREE OF ANY COST to the user. The money the club saves not having to set any of this up should be spent on content. Even adding $5 to the cost of a 2012 membership would net the club $200,000+ to be spent on this part of the club... surely thats a good enough budget to employ enough qualified/creative/able people to initiate and execute quality content.

I mentioned the following idea to Ian Coutts, who disappointingly didn't give me his full attention when I was suggesting it, instead looking around and at one point talking to someone else as they walked by: Every Thursday afternoon the club post to YouTube (distributed via Twitter, Facebook & the official club site) a segment detailing selection for that week. Make it the first place to see the news, make it exclusive, and explain the ins/outs any injuries of note, comebacks etc. The strength of this segment would be delivering the news to the people that want it most FIRST. The traffic, hits and interest it would generate could see it sponsored... it could be presented by any member of the match committee. What we went is content that is interesting. It doesn't always have to be groundbreaking, but it always has to be interesting.

It always staggers me that nights like this could happen the way they do. Supposedly they're being chaired or recommended by qualified people with advice from other qualified people. Deloitte Digital have done some work with the club, so they said. Wouldn't someone, anyone, thought "we've got all these people here, why not engage them and really pick their brains?"... sure all the ideas, even mine, mightn't be any good, but you might get some very helpful and qualified feedback. Sometimes the general public, the user, the market can be very perceptive. They do use the product, after all.

Thumbs up to Tony De Bolfo, though.

I've probably got some more thoughts/suggestions but I've just heard the oven bell go off, which means my apple pie is ready.