(( posted with permission of author )) From: "Jonathan Rebhahn" Subject: [ne-region] Fighting lack of participation & appointing assistants Date sent: Tue, 1 May 2001 03:02:44 -0400 HOW DO I FIGHT A LACK OF PARTICIPATION? Call some people up, invite them over for pizza, movie night, go to a restaurant, or whatever. If you can't entertain at your place, then find someone who can. Do something fun and socialize. Chapter mailing lists are a really good way to keep in touch with people, and makes publicizing events easier. When you have a good number of your members pinned down at a meeting or socializing, that's when you pop the question..."What do you think we can do to increase member participation?" Best way I've seen to increase participation is to talk with people on a one to one basis, and really talk about ideas and problems. Get any problems out in the open and deal with them. If they have good ideas, then use them. Try new things. HOW DO WE GET MORE ACSTs? If the AST thing is a problem, then talk with the CST. Get your CST to really talk about who he sees as viable AST candidates. Then help your CST get the assistants he needs. Your CST may not have much experience at finding help or being a leader. That's where you can help. Besides, the CST should have taken his ordeals by now, though I don't see any listed as passed. I've had more success asking people to help me when I was CC and DC, than waiting for people to come to me offering their services. If your CST asks some friends to help him, then that's usually the best team to have for the game, and your CST will have help that he can trust. The same goes for CCs as well. In a chapter over 20 large you may want to have 2-3 assistants each (CC and CST). Here is a brief list of what assistants you could look for. ACCs 1) Education: Has taken all ordeals, knows the Tome like back of hand, helps new players with character creation, and educates them about being Camarilla members. Helps CC answer difficult questions. This is a good position for someone who used to be CC or DC before. 2) Communication: This is good for someone who knows how to create and maintain email lists. Tell this person something and they post important messages. This person should help facilitate communication at all levels. 3) Reservations: Must secure and maintain game sites as their job. Work with CST staff to get really cool locations to play games. May also assist the person in charge of social events. 4) Social Events: Pizza parties, movie nights, cookouts, hikes, beach parties, bike trips, fishing trips or whatever. Oh, and BEER, but don't call it a 'camarilla' event. *wink* 5) Prestige: Knows all the nifty prestige guidelines, and helps CC track down all those helpful members who miss out on prestige cause they don't report to the CC. Helps do audits for CC. 6) Finance: Must be dependable, trusted, loyal, thrifty, and an all around good person. Get a locked box with key or combination lock for the money. Organizes fund raising events, and collects site fees. Reports monthly financial statement to CC for his or her reports. ACSTs 1) Plots: Think up new plots, determine direction of existing plots, and calculate all NPC actions behind the scenes. Helps create NPCs for the game. Must work with all ACSTs to ensure proper flow of plot ideas and information. 2) Rules: Spends lots of time reading all those stupid posts on rules-circle, and knows the books and all current online supplements like back of hand. Must keep up to date on rulings from the rubberstamping website as well. 3) Setting: May work with ACC reservations to get cool game sites, but mostly just carries around all the chapter's props, costumes, and scenery. In charge of setting up and take down of all game sites. 4) Staffing: This person finds players to volunteer their playing time to be NPCs. Also may help the CST appoint his assistants. Must have strong communications skills. 5) Narration: In charge of running any plots given to them. These people should make them game fun for players, and it's important that they have a keen sense of fairness. Must work with the ACST Rules and ACST Plots closely to ensure a smooth game. 6) Player/NPC Records: Keeps all player and NPC records. Checks XP totals of PC and NPC to ensure fairness. Works with ACST Plots often. Also in charge of weaving PC background histories into the game, and makes sure that haunted flaw (or whatever badness) is used in game. Flaws and darkness follow PCs everywhere, this person makes sure the PC backgrounds come alive. Like it or not, a good CST will have to be just as much of a coordinator as the CC sometimes. That's why it's important that the chapter meetings you have are productive, and the CC and CST communicate frequently. Hope some of this helps. Jon Rebhahn ARC Prestige 9809-038