A good night. Very informal. Chatted in small groups prior to sitting around in a circle which felt a bit like an AA meeting, but it worked well. Board members present were Zac Fried and Ryan Trainor. Carlton Staff present were CFO; Jason Reddick. Brand & Sponsorship Manager; Jay Allen, GM – Consumer Business & Digital Marketing; Clinton Bown, Membership Operations Manager; Nicole Rowlings, Membership Relations Officer; Daniel Fraser, Social Media Co-ordinator; Luca Gonano and Multimedia Co-ordinator; Alison Smirnoff. All very positive, all good to talk to. Probably only about a dozen supporters present though.

I spent most of my time one on one talking with Zac and Clinton. I made Nicole aware of the Gold Coast deal. She seemed receptive to the idea of a cooler. The comments and ideas thrown around were many and varied but centered mainly on a unified message, more transparent and consistent communication and the clubs foray into increasing its involvement in digital space.

* Less 'Blueprint' than last season. Looking at once a month rather than once a week.
* Increase in podcast content with a view to having consistency throughout the week.
* A number of people in the room requested greater Northern Blues News.
* Would consider digital content as part of membership packages next year. Interstate members currently getting raw deal would benefit in particular.
* Alternate jumper looks great. White version, but with more navy blue on bottom, top and wider blue stripe on sides.
* 2014 slogan will be 'We Are The Navy Blues'. @#$%&! the rest?
* Ruffy did forums+video off own volition. No involvement from Comms Dept.
* Need 60,000 members to be able to show AFL they are too big for Etihad. Stadium negotiations begin this year. Our contract at Etihad expires at the end of the 2014 season.

There is clearly a breath of fresh air flowing through the place now that Ian Coutts is gone....(well, final day is Friday). This is a smart group of people who understand how to grow the brand at Carlton. Not being afraid to leverage outside ideas from supporters is a fantastic initiative. I would encourage those of you who had doubts to get along next time Luca sends out an invite. Thanks to Ryan and Zac and staff for their time (they all peruse this site often), the beer, finger food, books, Mars Bars and the cooler.

...nah - just joking. There was no cooler. But there might be next time!

Should also mention that they are introducing tours of the facilities next year.

Doc, that was about the only thing that worked for the Red Sox this season...

Not a Red Sox fan, but this is true. Their Comms team is pretty good though. Should ave also mentioned that Clinton Bown and Nicole Rowlings are off to Disneyland on a study tour to learn more about customer service and hopefully get some ideas about how they can incorporate those into Carlton. Disney do customer service better than most.

I'm doing this because I want to do it better.
–Walt Disney

Ok let's see.

We need better... people getting frog marched out of training by security cos noone has bothered to update the site .
Hope it's not the frog marching we will be better at....

I'm doing this because I want to do it better.
–Walt Disney

Ok let's see.

We need better... people getting frog marched out of training by security cos noone has bothered to update the site .
Hope it's not the frog marching we will be better at....

That was mentioned too. There will undoubtedly be closed sessions, but in all likelihood there will be fewer of them. Ratts got a bit paranoid toward the end. There'll be regular and more consistent updates regarding training times.

Ratts wasnt in charge of the site too was he???

They actually are a bit in a bubble and are trying to get out of it. And I think they are serious this time. I've got an invite for a coffee from the GM Membership to elaborate on some points I raised. I think they are trying now.

Should also mention that they are introducing tours of the facilities next year.