On 10/03/2015 at 13:47, Henrietta Lumbago said:

How many people attended training roughly?

Saty was looking a bit dishevelled, but the rest of us would have passed muster, I reckon.

  On 10/03/2015 at 21:49, Dr John Dee said:

I thought things were a little more ... err, hands-on in Biffo's world. I was thinking rather about marketing potential for scopophiliacs.

i take your point djd, but i think you sell biffo too short. think you'll find he has many eggs in his basket. he is not one to leave many stones unturned.

and that is enough corny metaphors for today

  On 11/03/2015 at 00:05, daisycutter said:

i take your point djd, but i think you sell biffo too short. think you'll find he has many eggs in his basket. he is not one to leave many stones unturned.

and that is enough corny metaphors for today

You can find a metaphor in anything if you look hard enough.

See?

  On 11/03/2015 at 00:59, Akum said:

You can find a metaphor in anything if you look hard enough.

Not if your glass is half empty.

  On 11/03/2015 at 00:59, Akum said:

You can find a metaphor in anything if you look hard enough.

See?

  On 11/03/2015 at 01:01, Redleg said:

Not if your glass is half empty.

Hey Redleg, what's the metaphor you?

  On 10/03/2015 at 03:38, Georgiou R.R. Martin said:

Excusable in 1930's maybe when the telegram might not have got through. But in this day and age it only takes an email or phone call.

Ms Watt and Mr Mahoney should be in frequent communication to make sure that the footy department are aware of consumer relations and vice versa.

Anyway, I certainly appreciate the open and honest apology. It's enough for me for now.

Yep, but if they were in the same building it would less likely that this kind of mistake happen. Surely someone would have noticed something on a whiteboard or overheard a conversation and realised they weren't on the same page.

I'm not excusing what happened, in fact I would say that by having the Admin & FD in different places it's even more crucial that the lines of communication are better.

What I dont quote get is there must have been a couple of meetings regarding this day. Surely the timing of things would have come up.

  On 10/03/2015 at 21:03, Moonshadow said:

Anyone who thinks we would have not covered $1000 on Monday through sales or that signage at the ground wouldn't create income for the club needs to take some viagra eye drops and have a good hard look at themselves.

I hope you have a good mirror at home, didn't think you would have the kahunas to debate

As for the $1000 take my word for it, that is the minimum cost

As for the training, this was just a normal Monday session for the squad, with a time change so the Demon Army could put a BBQ on to raise funds for themselves, a more hospitable time

  On 10/03/2015 at 20:50, Dr John Dee said:

Well, you were right Saty in predicting that this topic would generate pages and pages of pointless bickering. Maybe you should have predicted your part in that as well.

I am not bickering, I am trying to present facts, some just don't want to hear them, particularly those who weren't even there

  On 11/03/2015 at 03:00, The Devil Inside said:

I hope you have a good mirror at home, didn't think you would have the kahunas to debate

As for the $1000 take my word for it, that is the minimum cost

As for the training, this was just a normal Monday session for the squad, with a time change so the Demon Army could put a BBQ on to raise funds for themselves, a more hospitable time

I am not bickering, I am trying to present facts, some just don't want to hear them, particularly those who weren't even there

Your idea of facts is conducting a straw poll of the person standing next to you and their 4 year old kid. You don't know how many people left in disgust. You don't know how many memberships or how much merchandise could have been sold. And it wasn't a normal Monday session, because it was a public holiday, which lends to greater accessability for supporters to attend.

Just accept that you are a supporter like everyone else, and you are not privy to the inner workings of the club.

  On 11/03/2015 at 03:14, mo64 said:

Your idea of facts is conducting a straw poll of the person standing next to you and their 4 year old kid. You don't know how many people left in disgust. You don't know how many memberships or how much merchandise could have been sold. And it wasn't a normal Monday session, because it was a public holiday, which lends to greater accessability for supporters to attend.

Just accept that you are a supporter like everyone else, and you are not privy to the inner workings of the club.

But mo64 he is not and is

Crossed to the dark side old dee?

  On 10/03/2015 at 22:08, Tim said:

Saty was looking a bit dishevelled, but the rest of us would have passed muster, I reckon.

Gee that's a bit harsh, I had my cool designer hoodie on

  On 11/03/2015 at 03:14, mo64 said:

Your idea of facts is conducting a straw poll of the person standing next to you and their 4 year old kid. You don't know how many people left in disgust. You don't know how many memberships or how much merchandise could have been sold. And it wasn't a normal Monday session, because it was a public holiday, which lends to greater accessability for supporters to attend.

Just accept that you are a supporter like everyone else, and you are not privy to the inner workings of the club.

As others have said, you don't know who is behind the avatar

That is the point I have been trying to make to the naysayers who said it was an opportunity missed,, nobody has any idea of what sales may have been made or otherwise

And I spoke to a lot of other people besides one supporter, I am quite sociable, I come out from behind my keyboard now and again

And it was a normal training day, except this week has changed slightly, with today being the day off and open training again tomorrow

  On 11/03/2015 at 03:21, Moonshadow said:

Crossed to the dark side old dee?

No Just stating the facts

I think you have a fair point GRRM.

If you want to email someone at the club the template is: joe.blogs@melbournefc.com.au

With regards to the lack of social media use, I find the dormant YouTube account most frustrating!!!

For example when a player retires their highlights video should be uploaded to the YouTube account and then get directed through the likes of Facebook or Twitter, then a library can be built over time rather than old videos or highlight packages getting lost.

Secondly I found the recent membership drive video quite amateur and poor. Originally there was no working link to membership sign up page through Facebook (I contacted them to fix it) and if they used the likes of YouTube a hyperlink could have been incorporated within the video rather than the it being lost in translation through sharing within the description.

  On 11/03/2015 at 03:25, The Devil Inside said:

And it was a normal training day, except this week has changed slightly, with today being the day off and open training again tomorrow

All rest aside. this is plainly incorrect TDI. It wasnt a normal training day, anything but. It was on a public holiday. It was promoted heavily ( in conjuction with a current membership blitz ) There was some expectations beyond the norm for most who would have attended. The die hards are the die hards but there would have been a lot of people there that wouldnt normally get to do so.

Imho the club looked a gift horse in the mouth and fluffed it.

  On 11/03/2015 at 04:19, beelzebub said:

All rest aside. this is plainly incorrect TDI. It wasnt a normal training day, anything but. It was on a public holiday. It was promoted heavily ( in conjuction with a current membership blitz ) There was some expectations beyond the norm for most who would have attended. The die hards are the die hards but there would have been a lot of people there that wouldnt normally get to do so.

Imho the club looked a gift horse in the mouth and fluffed it.

I meant it was a normal training day for the squad, it would have normally been at 9.15am so it was changed to a more hospitable time, nobody is disagreeing there was a cockup in the communication, the main gist of the discussion seems to be around the lack of merch/membership, again, some believe they club dropped the ball, others, including myself have a bit of doubt about that, simple

  On 11/03/2015 at 04:25, The Devil Inside said:

I meant it was a normal training day for the squad, it would have normally been at 9.15am so it was changed to a more hospitable time, nobody is disagreeing there was a cockup in the communication, the main gist of the discussion seems to be around the lack of merch/membership, again, some believe they club dropped the ball, others, including myself have a bit of doubt about that, simple

so it was normal...but it wasnt.......

  On 11/03/2015 at 04:25, The Devil Inside said:

I meant it was a normal training day for the squad, it would have normally been at 9.15am so it was changed to a more hospitable time, nobody is disagreeing there was a cockup in the communication, the main gist of the discussion seems to be around the lack of merch/membership, again, some believe they club dropped the ball, others, including myself have a bit of doubt about that, simple

It was normal training day that started at an abnormal time (to allow people to come at watch it). So not a normal training day then.

  On 11/03/2015 at 04:28, beelzebub said:

so it was normal...but it wasnt.......

Exactly the same....but different

Pedantry as an art form, anything to whinge about

  On 11/03/2015 at 04:37, The Devil Inside said:

Pedantry as an art form, anything to whinge about

Helpful...and ironic!

  On 11/03/2015 at 04:25, The Devil Inside said:

I meant it was a normal training day for the squad, it would have normally been at 9.15am so it was changed to a more hospitable time, nobody is disagreeing there was a cockup in the communication, the main gist of the discussion seems to be around the lack of merch/membership, again, some believe they club dropped the ball, others, including myself, a bloke and his 4 year old kid have a bit of doubt about that, simple

EFA.

You have doubt about it because you can't fault the club. Ever.

The whole list could be done for growing marijauna plants in their backyard and you would excuse it because 'it raises funds for the club during the off season when they sell it instead of putting up membership tents.'

They dropped the ball. If they didn't drop the ball then they wouldn't need to apologise. Simple.

  On 11/03/2015 at 04:37, The Devil Inside said:

Pedantry as an art form, anything to whinge about

NO, its when some one plainly misrepresents facts in order to prop their position.

By your own admission , it was different.

Was a different time. There was a different purpose and this is borne out by the clubs advertising f the event and solicitation of attendance.

it was promoted, which most training sessions arent. There was indeed some attempt to sate those that attended with a bit to eat.

Its not a whinge... that might take form of suggesting there were not enough snags or the wrong kind or took too long. Any of which might also happen to be true but given the attempts of the volunteers ( if forgiving their lack of foresight ) then to harp on that aspect would be a tad unfair.. They did try.

Its all the other areas that the club seemingly couldnt be bothered thats the issue, not the least of all is getting person A to have sorted it out with person B and for all to be on the same page. Is that hard, its 2015 after all, theres no end of comms avail , but a simple thing is a bridge too far.

For those wanting to assign the 'pedant's' dismissal of this then the big picture is obviously being overlooked. A handful of half baked excuses are trotted out by an organisation that can put together a training camp i/s but cant get a little thing like a public relations training day to work !!

I rate Jackson but if the club really thinks it can box that clever it can alienate its potential for want of a effectively small amount of money then it, like you are very much misreading the mood of a lot of people.

Its not for nothing that the notion of "from little things big things grow"....... and there'd be a handful or so of Astronauts that might have a thing to say about not looking after the little things properly.

Even if it had worked out as a break even exercise it would have been work the effort.

Maybe the club needs to talk to event management people , gain a different insight.

  On 11/03/2015 at 04:14, ignition. said:

With regards to the lack of social media use, I find the dormant YouTube account most frustrating!!!

For example when a player retires their highlights video should be uploaded to the YouTube account and then get directed through the likes of Facebook or Twitter, then a library can be built over time rather than old videos or highlight packages getting lost.

While I definitely agree YouTube would be a more user-friendly option, the club gets far more from utilising the club website and video option. More views for sponsors, and the club gets added benefits from more clicks on the club site.

In terms of this whole issue in general - yes, it's incredibly frustrating that people had to stand around for an hour. There was clearly a miscommunication within the club (what that was, I don't know - but they would hardly intentionally keep people waiting if they didn't have to).

The fact is this was a public holiday - the club's full time staff are off. I understand that - due to the public holiday - more people were able to attend training, but having admin staff work on their day off costs the club money - far more than the supposed $1000 figure bandied around regarding the permits and marquee.

While I'm sure there may have been a couple of people at the training looking to purchase merchandise or membership, I don't believe any sales would have nearly covered the costs necessary.

The issue here was the miscommunication - and that will surely now be rectified within the club.