| | Progressive Guild Management | |
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+4Aellerian Emeny Kirotei Stumpalina 8 posters | Author | Message |
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Stumpalina Host
Posts : 664 Join date : 2009-04-08 Age : 47 Location : Arlington, TX
| Subject: Progressive Guild Management 4/29/2009, 1:07 am | |
| One thing I have taken note of... IdentityLeading edge guilds tend to utilize various social networking tools on the internet for speaking to their guild, and gathering a wider audience. Many guilds also treat their community as a brand and develop a consistent image and feel throughout the various avenues of communication. Bloodhoof Clan is a great example of this. The GL, Sangwynn aka. Zombie300 has a great online presence and all of his postings, videos, signatures are branded and screaming consistency and ass-kickery. ResourcesA large number of guilds also utilize their guild forums, not just as a means for communication, but also for serving up external resources. WoW Walkers and Vendetta are examples of how guilds are dishing out news and feeding it to its guild membership. This holds true for raiding strategies, podcasts, news, blue posts, theorycrafting, and lots more I am sure. Making your guild website a one-stop shop for your guild will keep them active and communicating. I would like to string together a show to talk about how social networking is enhancing the audience for guilds, influencing recruiting, how to get your guild members involved, etc. Any other ideas about what I have dubbed... Progressive Guild Management through Social Networking? | |
| | | Kirotei Listener
Posts : 22 Join date : 2009-04-28 Age : 34 Location : La Jolla, California
| Subject: Re: Progressive Guild Management 4/29/2009, 1:36 am | |
| Another idea in that would fit under the resources category is an official "guild podcast", which I've really yet to see (though this may just be a lack of good looking skills on my part, maybe there are some! =P). How cool would it be to get a weekly recap of the goings-on of bleeding-edge guilds like Ensidia or Vodka, or some brain pickings from top arena teams? | |
| | | Emeny Blog Contributor
Posts : 62 Join date : 2009-04-14 Age : 43 Location : UK
| Subject: Re: Progressive Guild Management 4/29/2009, 2:23 am | |
| Sounds like a great topic. I tried to get our guild to adopt a blog but it fell flat on its face with a distinct lack of interest shown. Perhaps I could do more to make it worth visiting but I'm not convinced our guild cares too much for this sort of thing which is a shame imo. I guess a lot of this comes down to how technical you are when it comes to knocking up a decent blog site to relay this news (which I'm really not at all techy!) and how outgoing you are as a personality. Once you set a ball rolling it's easy to see it pick up pace if you've got the talent to back it up. I also tried my hand on a guild podcast back when I was with AHS. I did a couple of episodes that celebrated our progress in Zul'Gurub and picked out some hot topics from the forums to discuss on the air. I was also hoping to pull in guild members to interview and have them share their insight into the game, a great way for guild members to get to know one another. Again though this didn't really take off though it is tempting to try this again one day with the guild I'm now running... Not sure this post contribued a lot to the discussion here stomp but I look forward to seeing where you go with this Emeny. | |
| | | Aellerian Blog Contributor
Posts : 130 Join date : 2009-04-12 Age : 40 Location : Rochestah, New Hampshah
| Subject: Re: Progressive Guild Management 4/29/2009, 8:35 am | |
| yea thats a big problem for us too is lack of interest. MAAN does world defense channel love watching the movies but... well crap I think I just answered the problem there. Instead of linking to You Tube for the Videos, link them to a forums! thanks stompalina! | |
| | | Daewin Wizard of the Website
Posts : 36 Join date : 2009-04-22 Age : 49 Location : Gonzales, La
| Subject: Re: Progressive Guild Management 4/29/2009, 11:12 am | |
| Ventrillo is a good driving force in a guild as well. It lets members communicate much quicker than with just typing messages. As anyone knows you are usually so busy with your macros and rotations that responding to messages alot of times doesn't work very well!
The guild I am in has alot of info on our site for the members. We also have RL meet ups every year around Mardi Gras. That seems to work very well. Solace on the Zul'jin server is the Random Acts guild from EQ, EQ2, LOTR Online, Vanguard and the name changed to Solace on the Alliance Side and Solace Lost on the Horde Side of WoW.
There is alot of info on the site and most of the members have been LONG time members. I'm one of the new guys there. | |
| | | Stumpalina Host
Posts : 664 Join date : 2009-04-08 Age : 47 Location : Arlington, TX
| Subject: Re: Progressive Guild Management 5/1/2009, 3:15 pm | |
| Here is an interesting article about how social networking is becoming the newest advertising medium. | |
| | | zombie3000 Listener
Posts : 38 Join date : 2009-04-13
| Subject: Re: Progressive Guild Management 5/1/2009, 5:57 pm | |
| - Stompalina wrote:
- One thing I have taken note of...
Identity Leading edge guilds tend to utilize various social networking tools on the internet for speaking to their guild, and gathering a wider audience. Many guilds also treat their community as a brand and develop a consistent image and feel throughout the various avenues of communication. Bloodhoof Clan is a great example of this. The GL, Sangwynn aka. Zombie300 has a great online presence and all of his postings, videos, signatures are branded and screaming consistency and ass-kickery. Awee... /feels special | |
| | | zombie3000 Listener
Posts : 38 Join date : 2009-04-13
| Subject: Re: Progressive Guild Management 5/1/2009, 5:59 pm | |
| - Kirotei wrote:
- Another idea in that would fit under the resources category is an official "guild podcast", which I've really yet to see (though this may just be a lack of good looking skills on my part, maybe there are some! =P). How cool would it be to get a weekly recap of the goings-on of bleeding-edge guilds like Ensidia or Vodka, or some brain pickings from top arena teams?
I have acully thought about doing this... but unsure what i would disscuss... and would have to find a way to make it free... cuse im not about to pay for something that i know not many members will use (at 1st anyways) | |
| | | Stumpalina Host
Posts : 664 Join date : 2009-04-08 Age : 47 Location : Arlington, TX
| Subject: Re: Progressive Guild Management 5/2/2009, 12:21 am | |
| I will be bringing up this topic on this week's show. So, if you have any other thoughts that you would like for me to discuss, please let me know. hugesack@rawrcast.comor here... | |
| | | Stumpalina Host
Posts : 664 Join date : 2009-04-08 Age : 47 Location : Arlington, TX
| Subject: Re: Progressive Guild Management 5/4/2009, 3:01 pm | |
| Here is another great article about Progressive Guild Recruiting and Management by BigHitBox.com. Creative Guild Recruitment: Free Gear! By Stoneybaby on May 4, 2009 In my last post I addressed the issue facing many progression guilds right now: recruitment. My two take-aways were 1) word of mouth is the single greatest resource for recruitment, 2) a realm forum post is absolutely required for recruiting. When I looked at the the problems facing our recruitment efforts in unison with those two lessons I realized I needed to come up with ways to solve the recruitment problem taking those into account. What I came up with are four new ideas all designed with the sole purpose of generating word of mouth buzz for Unorthodox’ recruitment efforts. I presented the ideas to my GM and fellow officers and we decided to execute one of them for starters. In today’s post I’ll cover the one we chose to execute and the results of that campaign. Feel free to outright steal this idea, including the realm post, to aid your guild in its guild’s recruitment effort. Heroic Naxx: Free Gearing Run The idea was to tap into potential recruits that are interested in joining an end-game raiding guild but might not otherwise apply because they may be lacking gear or end-game experience. It gave us the opportunity to both gear these people up as well as see them in action; both of which proved invaluable. We filled the raid with 19 guild members (on either mains or alts) and then offered the remaining 6 slots to potential applicants. We had enough interest that I could have taken 10 non-guildies but the key here was to ensure we could still clear the instance even if all the non-guildies turned out to be total duds. There is no magic number here; I estimated 18 would be a bare minimum number of Unorthodox, and 20 would be the max. We ended up with a 19/6 split and it was perfect. Originally I wanted to only bring guild mains but at the urging of fellow officers I opened it up to alts—and they were right to suggest it. We were able to generate more interest in the raid internally by allowing raiders to gear up their alts. Because they already knew the fights there was very little explaining required and things still went smoothly. The loot rules were simple and straightforward with no reserved items: * Round 1: If you have not received loot and the item is for your main spec /roll. * Round 2: If no interest in Round 1 then if you have received loot and it’s for your main spec /roll. * Round 3: If not interest in Round2 then all off-specs may /roll. I made it clear in the realm forum post (lesson #2 in action) that it was a recruitment run, but that people who were not interested in joining were welcome to sign up. I wanted to send people to our guild forums to sign up for the raid but we have intermittent phpBB technical difficulties with people signing up but not being able to post, so I made it just send me an in-game mail. The in-game mail system worked out well, both as communication with interested players and organization for me. Results In the end it proved to be the most impactful recruitment drive yet. We received three applications as a direct result of the run and were able to evaluate two interested players that (based on the run) would not have made it through the Unorthodox initiate process. In other words, I was able to save us from having to bring players into the guild that we would have to turn down after a few weeks. That evaluation was being made with gear scaling in mind. In fact I wasn’t looking so much at pure numbers as I was looking for attentiveness, ability, and then numbers scaled down to gear level expectations. In the end, we did a 4 1/4 hour full clear (a long one by our books but it seemed to go fast). Everyone got loot, there was no drama, and we all had fun. It was a great run and I will be definitely be doing it again when we need more recruits. But after that run our cup overfloweth with recruits and I think I can safely scale back our recruitment drives. Note, I said back off… not stop entirely. A raiding guild can never stop recruiting! Up Next I realize this particular recruitment drive will work for progression guilds with the resources to clear Naxx in one night, while carrying a little dead weight to boot! But what if you’re not a progression guild? You still need to recruit, you still need members. What to do? In the next post I’ll share the three (maybe four) ideas we didn’t execute but that could be done to help guilds of all levels. May all your hits be crits and all your recruits rock! | |
| | | zombie3000 Listener
Posts : 38 Join date : 2009-04-13
| Subject: Re: Progressive Guild Management 5/4/2009, 7:58 pm | |
| 1st off i want to say that i am not a proffesional guildmaster, but i can share my thoughts and ideas on "Guild Management" and what i have learned so far.
Be Prepared: Before you even think of starting a guild you need to realize that being a Gm takes more than purchasing a charter, paying 10 people 1g to sign, and making up a tabbard. Guild management is a "Job" that you dont get paid for (well cash anyways).
Attitude: One of the more important jobs of a Gm is to maintain a comfortable atomosphere for your guildies, it falls upon the GMs shoulders to be consistantly "Positive" Even when your raid group has wiped over and over on a boss in a raid.
Problem Members: This issue can destroy a guild, and i experienced this 1st hand just before WotLK release, i had a main tank (his name will be left out) who was badass! this guy was always on his game, always on time, BUT had a shitty elitist attitude, he would complain when his loot wouldnt drop, he would yell and scream and people when they messed up, all around not a good fit in our guild. I approached it the wrong way and our guild split down the middle, crippling us on the brink of expansion release.
It is very very very important to identify problem people early and deal with them swiftly and properly, unfortunatly i cannot tell you how to do this, its situational. But the most improtant thing is to deal with them early! so they do not establish themselves in the guild, and take people with them when they leave!
ALWAYS REMEBER, problem people need to be let go, even if it cripples your raid make up, get rid of them ASAP before they have a chance to do more damage!
What Makes a Good Guild, A Good Guild: I have found the only way to make a good guild that people enjoy being in, is to invite people who are good, helpful people to be around. When it comes to promoting officers, only promote people you know you can trust with the GBank, and have a smart head on there shoulders.. Officer rank is not a perk, but a responsiblity. I get whispers from my guildmates all the time saying, "you have doen such a good job with this guild, and i love being here" and my reply is "Its not just me that makes this guild what it is, its every single member in the guild, that makes the guild what it is."
Thats all i can think of atm, ill add more too it soon, but im at work and wanted to jot this stuff down while it was fresh in my head, anyways hope this helps, back to the daily grind of "Job Faction"
-Sang | |
| | | Emeny Blog Contributor
Posts : 62 Join date : 2009-04-14 Age : 43 Location : UK
| Subject: Re: Progressive Guild Management 5/5/2009, 7:20 am | |
| Good post Zom! I am an active Guild Leader and I agree it's a difficult job that involves more plates than any one man/woman should really be able to spin! I got into the role through the dramatic disintegration of my former guild so i wasn't strictly prepared for what i was about to undertake. I found my feet though and with the help of the right people our guild is now two years old and thriving! You're definitely right in saying you need to promote the right people. I also have the opinion that you need to promote very carefully, by that I mean if you have too many officers you split the guild up into 'them and us' and if you don't recognise the people that are helping you out then you risk upsetting those individuals. I tend to find people ask me for a rank and that's something I like and dislike at the same time. It's great if I can find a role for them to take on and fulfil but it's awkward if there's nothing for them to really sink their teeth into. I appreciate some people may get restless if they feel they're not contributing something when they think they should be... So, I say it's important to encourage people and remind everyone of the group effort. Make everyone feel part of the progress and you're on your way to a settled guild climate Consistency is also key.If you make a decision then stick to it even if that means you have to deal with someone in quite a harsh way. Be open to change of course but you must keep things fair, especially when it comes to loot! Nothing is more important than having very strict loot rules that everyone has agreed to before that first purple drops! I'll stop here though, I feel I've rambled off topic Emeny. | |
| | | Karazak Listener
Posts : 78 Join date : 2009-04-22 Age : 41 Location : Utah
| Subject: Re: Progressive Guild Management 5/6/2009, 5:21 pm | |
| I think that interaction outside of WoW is the defining level between a "good" guild and a "great" guild. I have never found a "great" guild. | |
| | | Stumpalina Host
Posts : 664 Join date : 2009-04-08 Age : 47 Location : Arlington, TX
| Subject: Re: Progressive Guild Management 6/4/2009, 3:46 pm | |
| This is still a topic I want to discuss on an upcoming show. Since I have been helping out with our guild recruitment, I have shown our GL how utilizing social networking tools can help the right people find the right guild for them. And, today we even took it a step further. I created an RSS feed of our guild website's main page, linked it to twitter via twitterfeed, along with our new guild facebook page. Our GL also put links to our various social networking sites on our guild website. The thing is, if guild forums are too distant to spark great communication among guild members, maybe going straight to their out-of-game social network will foster conversations! Running late for a raid? Tweet about it from your iPhone - and BAM - the entire guild knows about it! Trying to set up an off-night run? Tweet about it from your PC at work - and BAM - you have 9 other eager guild members ready to have a great time. It is just as much about conversing with your guild out-of-game as it is sharing information, news, strats, instantly! Do you think that encouraging social networking fosters healthy communication among guild members? | |
| | | Heavygear Listener
Posts : 3 Join date : 2009-06-18
| Subject: Re: Progressive Guild Management 6/18/2009, 9:24 am | |
| - zombie3000 wrote:
- Sangwynn B.E. Priest, GM of Bloodhoof Clan , Kilrogg Server, Horde Side. A weekend raiding guild,
I was just browsing the forums and saw that you're from Kilrogg. Of the large amounts of realms that exist, I always find it interesting to run into someone from the same realm. Grats on the U10 progress, nice work. If I had a horde alt I'd love to run with you guys, weekend raids nice. But, since Blizzard only lets us buy heirlooms for same faction, I won't even think of rolling a horde alt until they fix this. * btw, that's not an Missouri hat, is it? | |
| | | zombie3000 Listener
Posts : 38 Join date : 2009-04-13
| Subject: Re: Progressive Guild Management 6/18/2009, 5:37 pm | |
| - Heavygear wrote:
- zombie3000 wrote:
- Sangwynn B.E. Priest, GM of Bloodhoof Clan , Kilrogg Server, Horde Side. A weekend raiding guild,
I was just browsing the forums and saw that you're from Kilrogg. Of the large amounts of realms that exist, I always find it interesting to run into someone from the same realm. Grats on the U10 progress, nice work. If I had a horde alt I'd love to run with you guys, weekend raids nice. But, since Blizzard only lets us buy heirlooms for same faction, I won't even think of rolling a horde alt until they fix this.
* btw, that's not an Missouri hat, is it? lol, no its a michigan hat just off color | |
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