Update for Members from the October CMC meeting last night (14th Oct)

Hello everyone,

A few weeks ago I promised I would start to write a short update with the key points that come out of club management committee meetings.

Here are some of the highlights:

• O2 Touch Rugby: Nigel Webb attended to talk about the already popular Sunday touch rugby sessions.  He provided an update and explained the intention to enter spring/summer leagues next year.
   
• Chairman's Lunches: We are going to look into the idea of hosting lunches for visiting committee and life members to happen when oppositions visit us, called "Chairman's Lunches". Other clubs do this.
   
• Finances: Adrienne will start to produce a set-format management committee monthly report to help the rest of the committee be more aware of finances, so if you have any questions more of the committee will understand the numbers better.  Andrew (Comms Officer) will also work with Adrienne (Treasurer) to present the costs the club has in a way that is visual and people can understand.  This will go in the programme regularly and probably on the clubhouse wall somewhere.
   
• Training: Reported low numbers at some training sessions recently - discussion held as to how we get more people to turn up - we can all play a part in encouraging others to come to training. If there is a reason why numbers are low we need to know so we can do something about it asap (please tell someone on the committee or email me if you prefer).  It's not fair on the coaches who work hard to plan sessions for us.
   
• Recruitment of players: A longer discussion was held around what we can do to attract new players to the club. Neil Sweeney, Rugby Development Officer attended from the RFU.  A serious effort is now required at recruitment and everyone needs to be involved.  It was noted that Rugby Basics and Sunday Touch were already contributing new players.  Noting the need also to attract experienced players, we've agreed a brand new "player-get-player" incentive that we will announce shortly. Iwan will be getting some of you involved with making a promotional video to share on YouTube and Facebook.  Players will be involved in finding more players via drinks nights in City and Canary Wharf bars - we have lots of flyers to give out. Some simple low-cost Facebook and Google advertising will also begin in coming weeks as a trial.  It was noted that there had been a significant increase in press coverage recently and that this should begin to help with recruitment and sponsorship.  Importantly, it was noted there was a lot that individual members could do to help, such as printing and displaying a poster (PDF 4.5Mb) at their work/gym, taking some flyers, phoning rugby friends, or even as simple as liking, sharing and commenting on our Facebook posts and retweeting our tweets rather than just reading them.
   
• Rugby Basics: as a key part of the strategy to get new players, it was noted that 5 people attended last week's session and a further 6 people had emailed interest/responded to the GumTree ad we placed. It was noted that this appeared to have been very successful, and the committee wanted this to continue on a regular basis. Thanks go to Tim McDonagh for starting this.

Whilst the management committee minutes are available to all members upon request to the secretary, it does take time to produce official minutes and to have them approved at the following meeting.

Please DO comment below if you found this update helpful  :-).  It's not meant to be a substitute for minutes... and there are probably some things I've forgotten to note.

Best regards
Andrew
Communications Officer
andrew@millwallrugby.com