Calling all leaders

well it is the end of August. I know a lot of you have made huge improvements from the recruiting fever that took place within the past few weeks. Definately proud of you all, keep it up. Now that most of us are on the same page, lets keep our focus and work on the next few steps together. Sit back for a second and look at your guild from a members point of view. Where do you think you lack atm? Do you have guild meetings every week/month? Are all of your officers social with one another and amongst the guild?

About a month or two ago I took the time to survey the entire AoL guild to see where our interests were. I spoke to each and every active member and had my officers lend a hand. Collectively, we asked everybody what sorts of things they usually spend their time on, what they are working on, what they want to do/yet to do...that sort of thing. Try it out; survey your guild. Keep your guildies happy and satisfy their interests, it'll go a long way.

If you have that down pact, the next thing that each of you should focus on is keeping your more elite members (all-stars) up to par. Create a list of your guilds top notch and what they can do on a moments notice. DoA, Urgoz, VSF, 600/smite or DTSC, etc. on down the line. We'll then have them teach it to your up and coming members.

Post your latest findings

TVOL is still working on recruiting... slow process. Doing daily vanquishes. Overall doing well I guess and in time we'll just keep growing and becoming more active.

-Moi

we're working on that with BOOM.
we're still growing, and our new officer Dont Click On This has been recruiting members and it's pretty good.
I know that GvG is of interest, and though a lot of our members are online on a regular basis, the majority are more quiet than anything. Can't really force someone to talk...like "hey, you! say words!" but I think BOOM right now has a good general group, I haven't really encountered any problems. And our more active members, I'm sure you all have seen them at least once or twice because, as they tell me, they do more with members from other guilds within the alliance than they do with members of BOOM.
So for those that are branching out, i know they have suggestions, and I'm sure they're giving BOOM a good name. =^_^=

-Tom

I've noticed a trend lately, and Tom just echoed it with his guild. New members are reluctant to speak. You can't force them to say anything, you can only encourage them over and over to get involved somehow.

We just held our in-house lotto, and had about 18 members donate items to get in the draw. We do a single winner-takes-all pot, and this month the winner took home 16.943K, and 35 item slots of stuff including 60+ dyes.

Other problem I have is keeping members and keeping them active... all of my officers and I are regularly messaging members to see what they need help with or what they want to do and offer to help, but doesn't seem to be enough. We also have a daily vanquish schedule and it seems like a core group of people show up for those, but not any of the newer/less active members.

Any thoughts on how to keep members and how to keep people active?

We are currently purging the deadwood from the Guild and are looking to make a few more officer posts available to our chosen few, hopefully they'll all accept as we feel they have the right stuff. Our number are staying steady even with the weeding process going on but we too have a lot of quiet members who just seem to keep themselves to themselves. We can only keep encouraging them to join in and in fairness there have been a lot more of them joining in on AC which is nice to see and bodes well I think. I think one of our biggest problems is that we have always been an international guild and so there never seems a time when loads of us are on at the same time which can make getting guild groups together (other than the usual crew) quite a challenge but as numbers grow maybe that will get easier.

Yeah I experience the same problem I am trying to get my guild to party up more often though. But yeah we are also going though a weeding process. With about 20 ppl at 4 weeks the guild does not look too appealing to the new gw players, who of course want to get those titles and sick weps as soon as they can and as fast as they can... So basically I think a good number of the alliance is still going though a rebuilding step. I have however promoted a few of more active members(That really stood out) to officers. So RAiD should soon be a bright and shiny star in the alliance soon.

I got out the pruning shears yesterday and cut 20 members who had been gone a month or longer. I agree with Dam, dead wood on your roster doesn't look good to new recruits.

so im the newest of the leaders.im currently working on getting a good officer base.but like i always say its so hard to find good officers Black Love Vampire is a very good officer for recruiting...thats all he enjoys doin....ive been trying to encourage him to have a lil fun but he said his place is recruiting that it is a sport for him...so i dont argue.!i dont know what the plans are for phoenix and rin at this time for they wont speak to me but im sure she will either leave or come around to the fact im just doing whats best for the guild. anyways nice to meet you all.


yours truly,
dervish wonder

Hrmm, we're missing a leader.

AoL - ...stop living under a rock
DPW - Dervish
TOA - Pendragon
RAiD - Dam
iE - Carseus
tvol - Moiraine
BOOM - Tom

Nubz - Rynnk...

Hrmm k, that reminds me. Nubz has been the low man on the totem poll for a little while now. I allowed Nubz in under the same conditions as the rest of you. Stay active, stay on top of recruiting methods, etc. Now granted, Rynnk Wolfsblade has done recruiting and went from 30 to 50 members. Not an easy task since he is the only one doing it. I'm sure some of you can relate to that feeling..that is until you got your officers on board to help pull the load. Rynnk does not have officers and has gone back down to approx 30. Rynnk has been debating on selling the guild and stepping down.

I have been searching high and low, day and night for good suitable guilds that match our personalities. It has never been an easy task. I turn down a lot of guilds that are not worth spending time on. I tell even more guilds to prove to me that they are serious about being an active contribution (usually they have low numbers for members and I have them recruit a little prior to joining).

I have watched the posts from afar for too long, I have yet to respond to some of your problems and concerns that we can easily improve upon. I've had my hands full with college kicking my #@$%. Yet again, i NEVER complain about what we have. I am very grateful for our alliance, i mention it as often as i can. I want the best for you, and you should want the best for your guild. I do not want any of this to be a wasted effort. I hope that we have a huge following of friendships going into Guild Wars 2. That is my goal.

You all do a spectacular job and i'm prouder than words can describe. I've watched many of you grow up and continue to raise the bar. Having said that, lets see what we can figure out for what you've posted.

Moiraine, what is a current number for your roster? How many officers take part in recruiting? Everybody watched as tvol came in and blew the doors off of some guilds. I definately remember complimenting the huge effort. Everybody has their own rule of thumb for activity. What is yours? Daily? Weekly? how many are on per day and per week?

Tom, we see quite a few BOOM members on vent, which is good. I hope it spreads like wildfire amongst more guild members through the alliance.

Pendragon. Dear dear pendragon. TOA has been with us for an eternity. We've always tried to crack the thick exterior, hehe. Dont understand why it is that nobody talks/communicates. Dont let it discourage you though, every guild has that. TOA has been MUCH MUCH better, but apparently its still an issue. I believe that the lotto was a good idea, but we'll need to pull out the big guns. Try starting simple. Get the members and officers in the habit of saying "hi and bye" when they log. Whisper them individually when you hit town and see what they're up to. Reason why whispers works over guild and ally chat is because you cant turn them off. I know it sounds weird...but trust me i've found that a lot of ppl turn off the chats. Another common problem with chat is that ppl cant always focus on conversations when outside of town. Let me know how it works out.

Carseus, I know it has to be tough being the one international based guild in the alliance. I've thought about that countless times. I've invited a pair of other intl guilds a while back to help out (more ppl online around the clock). That has been the main focus for the 10th guild lately. It is tough for me to find another guild with similar time zones as you all. Perhaps you all can scout out in your spare time and have some ppl whisper me or even sign up for the website and pm if needbe. The idea behind having an intl guild in the alliance was so that if needbe, other can flock to the guilds that suit them best - with permission from both parties of course. Not to mention it was good for our early morning and late late night crew.

Dam. This will be similar to what i said up above about how everybody has their own rule of thumb towards "activity". I'll give you an example. AoL has been 100 members since '06. We usually dont have a revolving door effect of ppl coming and going. Just an occasion roster clean up, perhaps once a month tops. (results in kicking 3-5 ppl) We have met and come to know a lot of ppl very well over the years. So we really honestly can say that we know EVERYBODY on our roster and have played with them numerous times. Of course, ppl go away for a while, this that, etc. So whenever we kick somebody, it is somebody that we know or have been holding onto for a while. They usually come back and ask for a re-invite. I'm starting to rant, so i'll wrap it up. We have some ppl gone for 1-2 months and still have 80 ppl on per week. Simple answer to that problem; just keep recruiting and replacing. It'll always be a non-stop problem, but it'll fade over time.

Dervish, welcome to the ranks. I'm sure you'll do plenty fine. Like i said in game, dont hesitate to rub elbows, please mix in amongst the others. Once you get to know the other leaders, their key members and officers are not far behind. Black Love Vampire does not ring a bell to me, but i'll be sure to keep an eye for him. Its good for each guild to have a shining all-star, but dont rely too heavily upon him. What if he were to pack his bags? Talk with your other officers and just focus on good morale rather than the negative. Whenever you want ppl to do something, its always better to be nice than a mean grump.

I'm sure this post is too long...We should shoot for a guild leaders meeting once a month. Via vent, website, in game. And ffs, i still want a leaders only group! lol