Puyallup Library Needs Help

[Squeek]

Have a request from the Puyallup Library staff looking for assistance regarding Zombie Apocalypse training for teenage clients. Anyone in the Puyallup area wanting to help them out? PM me for contact information

[Cpt_Rabbit]

Alright so I went down to the Library today to talk to Bonnie, about what they needed and what info I could get. And it all goes as follows:

-It is for their Summer Reading program for teens
-Their classes will run about 2 hours
- She wants to go over bug out bags, water purification, places to avoid, food stuffs and a little basic first aid as well as the 3 most likely out break causes ect..

She said it would likely be the last week of June - August and gave me the dates of June 27th and July 11/25th. The classes would be on Wednesdays 3-5. But she said if that doesn't work then she can switch times up.

She asked about fees for the ZS's time and I told her I didn't know and to get in contact with one of the chapter leaders here. She also asked about doing some advertisements for it and again I told her I didn't know the procedure on that And she said she would get in contact with them. She will get in contact with me if she has any more question and I will relay them here.

That is the basic rundown of the info that I got today.

[MEANTREE]

I feel like this is something that we can do as a chapter. Do we know how many bodies she is look for? Or how many attendees each class will have?

[DropZedFred]

Nice - looks right up our ally...

[Cpt_Rabbit]

Not sure how many people she is looking for to do the classes and I am not sure how many kids would be in attendance but I can toss her an email and tried to find out.

[StarDoc]

I might be able to help out with the first aid part.

[Cpt_Rabbit]

Alright I sent an email to Bonnie asking about the head count and how many people she would like to teach the class and this is her response.

"I don’t really have a preference on the number of speakers. Whatever your group feels comfortable with works for me. If someone is an edible plants expert and someone else is a knot-tying pro, both are free to speak. We’ve had presentations with just one person leading the entire thing and others where it’s a team of four or five, and lots in-between.



The summer programs can run between 20 – 40 teens. I try to not do sign-ups ahead of time because we rarely get the same number of teens who actually sign up. Many don’t show and others who didn’t realize there was registration will come. However, if Zombie Squad feels most comfortable with getting a headcount, I can put out a sign-up sheet. If they would need permission forms (we did for parkour and fencing, for example), then I would definitely do a sign-up ahead of time."

[Seanwins]

Alright I sent an email to Bonnie asking about the head count and how many people she would like to teach the class and this is her response.

"I don’t really have a preference on the number of speakers. Whatever your group feels comfortable with works for me. If someone is an edible plants expert and someone else is a knot-tying pro, both are free to speak. We’ve had presentations with just one person leading the entire thing and others where it’s a team of four or five, and lots in-between.



The summer programs can run between 20 – 40 teens. I try to not do sign-ups ahead of time because we rarely get the same number of teens who actually sign up. Many don’t show and others who didn’t realize there was registration will come. However, if Zombie Squad feels most comfortable with getting a headcount, I can put out a sign-up sheet. If they would need permission forms (we did for parkour and fencing, for example), then I would definitely do a sign-up ahead of time."

So you joined the forum today, and are sending emails out and meeting people on behalf of the chapter? Or am I crazy?

I appreciate the initiative and the enthusiasm. I seriously do, but we don't make these types of commitments lightly. We encourage our chapter members to plan events without looking for approval from us officer types, but when it comes to meeting with the public we recognize that our reputation is on the line,we are careful about what we commit to, and who we send to represent us. There is certainly nothing wrong with going out and doing whatever you want in your own name but, no offense, you could be totally insane. Nobody should be making commitments on behalf of the chapter unless you're an officer, or have cleared it with the officers.

Once again, you're probably a very normal, competent, nice guy. I don't want to chase you away or make you feel unwelcome, but I hope you can understand our position.

Edit: If this event doesn't have the chapter's name attached to it, then it's none of the chapter leadership's business, but make sure you clear it with HQ. They have the same rules.

[Cpt_Rabbit]

she said you already emailed people on here about this I just wanted to get info so maybe some officers could go from there because there was interest on the facebook page but no one had gotten any info in regards to it or made contact with her. Also anything that had to deal with any sort of official things I told her to contact the officers of the ZS, I didn't speak for the ZS I just got the info that people where looking for and interested in, when someone asked how many people she wanted and how many kids there would be I got that. I am not speaking for an officer or a chapter leader I am merely getting the information so maybe we can help. I didn't realize I would catch heat for trying to help out other people that were interested, If I had known I wouldn't have done anything and would have just sit idly by why no one got in touch with her. Also I wasn't meeting her on behalf of the ZS I was meeting her as a member looking to help.

[Seanwins]

she said you already emailed people on here about this I just wanted to get info so maybe some officers could go from there because there was interest on the facebook page but no one had gotten any info in regards to it or made contact with her. Also anything that had to deal with any sort of official things I told her to contact the officers of the ZS, I didn't speak for the ZS I just got the info that people where looking for and interested in, when someone asked how many people she wanted and how many kids there would be I got that. I am not speaking for an officer or a chapter leader I am merely getting the information so maybe we can help. I didn't realize I would catch heat for trying to help out other people that were interested, If I had known I wouldn't have done anything and would have just sit idly by why no one got in touch with her. Also I wasn't meeting her on behalf of the ZS I was meeting her as a member looking to help.

When a request comes to the chapter, and somebody responds to that request, that person is representing the chapter and the larger organization whether they like it or not. That's a little much for someone's first day ever. I wish we could rapidly respond to all of the requests that come in for this type of stuff, but it takes a while for the officers to put their heads together and talk about it since we're scattered all over the state and communicate mainly via PM. When it comes to our ability to support these presentation requests, we need to identify if there is someone trustworthy, competent, and willing to do it at the requested date/time/location. That can take time, and very often we aren't able to help. In my opinion, and I think I can safely speak for the rest of the officers, that's preferable to throwing the reputation of the chapter and the larger organization on the line by sending someone we don't know well enough to be sure they are going to do a good job.

I don't expect people to know everything about the chapter on their first day on the boards, but we are actually quasi-organized and things happen the way they do for a reason. I'm not trying to yell at you, I'm just trying to explain why things are the way they are.

[Cpt_Rabbit]

So should I just tell her that the ZS has no interest in helping? Or just blow her off completely? Either way there is going to be a bad rep. I also never mentioned to her that I was part of ZS, I told her I heard about it and she mentioned ZS not me. And those aren't threats they are questions

[DrGonzo]

So should I just tell her that the ZS has no interest in helping? Or just blow her off completely? Either way there is going to be a bad rep. I also never mentioned to her that I was part of ZS, I told her I heard about it and she mentioned ZS not me. And those aren't threats they are questions

No one is blowing anything off. We just need to collaborate and see we can work out the details to get this done. It's going to take a commitment from a few members, so we need to see who is willing and able to put a presentation together. That's what these discussion threads are for.

Let's chalk this up to miscommunication and first-time eagerness, no harm done.

[Cpt_Rabbit]

well have any officers contacted bonnie about this? if you haven't her email address is here BSvitavsky@ci.puyallup.wa.us

[Firehound]

This stemmed from a thread on the chapter Facebook page, Capt. Rabbit didn't completely come out of left field on this...

[Squeek]

OK, let me clear something up here. I received a request from ZS National to have contact made with the Puyallup Library. The library contacted ZS who refereed her to our chapter email. The library emailed our chapter requesting assistance in arranging for training for their teen program, NO ONE responded to her inquiry. She recontacted ZS HQ, who contacted ME as I had just received clearance for training for the GS Council. I posted the inquiry on facebook, received contact from a chapter officer, then re-posted the information on the forum... Capt. Rabbit made the contact with the library to find out what they actually wanted, and was redirected by a chapter officer to post the information on the forum.

Personally, I find Seanwins response to Capt. Rabbit was inappropriate. I believe Seanwins responded before he checked with his colleagues, or perused the facebook page to find out what was actually going on. I think that Seanwins needs to buy Capt. Rabbit, a beer at the next chapter meeting at the Winchester.

[DrGonzo]

Ok, we all need to stop the bickering here, it's not productive. I think the root of the issue is that we all didn't communicate on the boards in a timely fashion like we should have. The second the email was received, a thread should have been made so coordination could have begun. Our Facebook is a good backup for discussion and to send out event reminders, but the primary method of discussing and making decisions on these types of issues needs to start on the forums. We are thrilled to have more people take an active role in planning events, but it would be nice to have a discussion FIRST before people start obligating the chapter the chapter as a whole to outside events. We have to make sure there is enough interest by the membership, that people's schedules are compatible, that we have a presentation in order (which we don't as of now), along with equipment to demonstrate and literature to distribute. None of this can be accomplished by a single person, so we need to work together to make this happen.

Cpt_Rabbit, thank you for your interest. It is truly appreciated. Please understand that we have a particular way of doing things in the chapter, so there was some confusion. We're working on making these procedures a bit more obvious to all chapter members. So in the future, please post any ideas or plans you have on the forums first. Then a chapter officer or appointed representative can speak for the chapter when making these types of commitments. We'd also like to meet in person at a meeting or an event sometime. I'm sure you would like to get to know what we're about as people as much as we'd like to know you. For all you know, we could all be a bunch of raving lunatics (Pasha's a bit weird, but we still love him).

I will buy all of you a beer at the next meeting if we can stop this sniping and bickering right friggin' now.

So back on topic:

We need a presentation. We've been talking about this for the last couple of years. I think ZSC:001 has one, maybe we can borrow/adapt that one. Do we have any PowerPoint wizards here?

If you want to attend or help out, chime in now so that we can start making a roster.

[pasha]

(Pasha's a bit weird, but we still love him).

Hey I resemble that remark. Now back on topic.

[Seanwins]

Started a new thread to discuss both this presentation request and the Girl Scout Presentation here: viewtopic.php?f=73&t=91138

I'm locking these two threads in an effort to get the discussion back on track and move forward with what needs to be done. Any events that involve interaction with the public should be coordinated by chapter officers or their designee. We encourage members to plan events at will as long as they are for the chapter membership, or in other words if only ZS members and their friends/family are invited, feel free to plan events without talking to chapter officers. In fact, we welcome it! But when we are out interacting with the community we need to have a bit tighter control on how this type of thing is coordinated in order to make sure that we are representing the chapter and the larger organization appropriately.