Virtual Muster Night - Feb 2nd 7-9pm

[Greg in MO]

Virtual Muster Night: A Call To Everone

Hello and welcome to each of you!  If you are reading this it is because you are a member of the Appleseed Project and are being contacted as such. 

In just over one week, the Appleseed Project will be hosing an event called Virtual Muster Night.  It is designed to help us all rejuvenate ourselves to our joint purpose, reconnected to our state programs, and reconnected to each other.

The Virtual Muster Night event is Feb. 2nd from 7pm-9pm Central.  The event will be both on the forum and on Scout's Rifleman Radio Show at the same time.  We are asking that each and every one of you come to the forum, sign in to the Virtual Muster Night Subforum and then head over to your state forums.  Once there you can find all the others from your state, check on projects that are happening and check in briefly with your State Coordinator and look at the calendar of shoots.  Sign up for a few. 

Then get ready to have some fun.

Now, normally the Appleseed Project is all work and no play, but this night will be a bit different.  For one night only, there will be special Virtual Muster Night only threads written by the Master Instructors on cool topics and open for Q&A.  Fred himself is expected on the Radio Show in order to take calls and questions!

Radio Show?! Yes, the Rifleman Radio Show will be running and we hope many will come on to report in on the forum mustering activities.  Scout will be there along with many others in the chat room.  If any of you have missed the the weekly Radio Show, this is your chance to check it out and be a part of it.

So, please, get ready to muster up.  Get ready to have an "Appleseed Revival" for each of us who can use it.  Get ready to be a part of an event that will go into the Appleseed history books.  And get ready to take your place in the success of this year of record breaking growth. 

Be warned - the special forum, the special threads, the VM Night Radio Show itself will only last for those two hours, then they will lock and history will be closed.  Do not come late or you will miss out and only be able to read what others did!

As you know, we ask participants at every Appleseed how many could they muster on short notice.  1000? 100? 10?  This is our night to ask that question of ourselves, our states, and of our national program: "How many can WE muster?" 

Mark you calendar, and make some time for the night even if it is just 15 minutes.  Help spread the word that the muster bell is to be rung and let's make this a big night.  Our forum has never had over 340 members on it at once and that is a small portion of our membership.  Let's see if we can break 1000!

Let's make real work of it. 

[Greg in MO]

Just a reminder!

Hope to see as many of you online tonight as possible...  We have lots of work to do.

Greg

[InSoMNiaX23]

Checking in a bit early from my phone in Norfolk, VA.

[Longshot]

KR is in the virtual building....

[Greg in MO]

Great!  Good to see you guys!

Greg

[Greg in MO]

7pm!  Let the Muster begin!

Sign in when you get here!

Greg

[MamaBear]

Kori is also "virtually" checking in

[mikaldulee]

Present and accounted for.

[Jungle George]

I am here, been surfing around to see what's going on.

JG

[MamaBear]

Did I check in accordingly?  Do we need to check in anywhere other than on the MO board? 

[Greg in MO]

Good to see you guys!

Topics tonight:

Scheduled shoots
New shoot locations
New Instructors and advancement

Feel free to ask questions about what's going on in MO for 2010.  Greybeard couldn't be here tonight, but hopefully Longshot and I can answer your questions.

Greg

[Cookie Lady]

Cookie Lady checking in for the fun!

[Greg in MO]

Scheduled Shoots for 2010:

Right now I believe we have the following shoots scheduled...

Osage Beach (6) possibly more.
Weatherby (2)
Bates City (2) disappointing
Williamstown (1) but probably another in the fall

I believe we will be adding a March shoot at Osage to kick off the season.  Ben or I will probably run it if Longshot doesn't want to.  Osge is our best location and we need to take as much advantage of it as we can.

See next post on shoot locations... and don't make me do all the typing!

Greg

[MamaBear]

As just an FYI...CookieLady and I went to a women's defensive pistol class last weekend with Bill and Dee Regina and they both are SUPER interested in Appleseed.  Dee has also offered to post upcoming Appleseeds on their SRT yahoo groups board!!    This is great news- this is free advertising...can I get a WOOT WOOT?!!

[Greg in MO]

New Shoot Locations:

Currently we are working on two additional locations.  

Gramma Goats has generously offered her land, and as soon as we can get down there we will start getting some shoots on the schedule (assuming it's acceptable).  It is north of Springfield a bit.

The other property is up by Mt. Moriah (off 136).  We looked at it last year but communications fell through (my fault).  Fortunately the landowner is still willing to host if we can get our act together.

We NEED:

A shoot location (or more than one) in the STL area.  Desperately.  It is the largest population center in the state and we don't have anything near it.

Springfield/Branson would be good, as would someplace in the Bootheel...  Heck, anyplace would be good, but those are are target areas that we don't have good coverage for.


Ideas?


Greg

[Rebel Yell]

Checking in. What's up?

[Greg in MO]

Good job bringing the Regina's on board ladies...

Instructor advancement and recruiting:

We have a good instructor corps in MO now, and we should be proud of it.  When you get the chance, try to get out of state occassionally to work with other groups.  Pittsburg, KS has put in a request for their March shoot, so if you can make it, help them out.  Longshot and I will be heading to WSMR, so it is up to the rest of you.

Instructor advancement:  Hopefully Longshot will discuss this, but we need to be careful how quickly we advance IITs and make sure they are really ready for advancement.  We have grown so quickly that we are starting to see RHs made who don't necessarily know 100% what they are doing.  That isn't their fault so much as it is the SBs that promote them.  That said, we really need instructors, so it is up to all of us to work hard to get everyone up to the proper level.  It is also up to IITs to understand that just because you check the PCs off the list, doesn't mean you automatically get promoted.  And if you don't get to the shoots, you are never going to get promoted.  The more shoots you get to, the better instructor you will be, and the faster you will advance.

How do we do a better job at recruiting new IITs that will actually show up at the next shoot?

Longshot?  Comments?

Greg

[Missouri Brigade]

I live in Illinois but you can probably count me here too for tonight.  It will stand up until an audit.

Over Christmas break, I dropped some flyers off at a couple gunshops in my hometown of Perryville, one in Cape Girardeau, and a couple in the St. Charles area.  I may have prematurely listed the Sparta, IL world record attempt shoot on the flyers I made, hopefully that shoot gets confirmed.

The good folks at Graf's Reloading suggested St. Louis benchrest.  I think someone mentioned this along with Arnold in another thread.

I need to call for sure, but the guy I talked to at the Apple Creek MDC Range in north Cape Girardeau county said that the range probably could only be reserved on Tuesdays.  When I call I'll point out how we wouldn't need the whole range.

Steve

[Greg in MO]

Thanks Steve...

Last year I discussed this with a couple of Arnold Club members who were eager, but we never got a meeting with their BOD.  Anyone here a member of either of those clubs?  We need an "in", as they are both nice ranges.

MDC ranges are a challenge.  To be honest, I prefer private landowners.  Much less hassle.

Greg

[Greg in MO]

And the Elephant in the room...  PROMOTIONS.

Quite frankly, (and I'm as guilty as anyone here) we stink at promoting our shoots.  Considering how well we have done attendance-wise at Osage and Bates City, think how well we would have done with better promotions.

How do we get better?  Who is willing to coordinate with the SBs to make sure it happens?  Who will pass out flyers.  Hit the gun shops.  Get tables at the gun shows and staff them?

We need to get busy folks...

Greg

[Jungle George]

Greg,
   I will be there in March at Osage Beach and I have been giving out flyers and also putting redcoat targets at a local conservation range.

JG

[MamaBear]

I am getting all the MO shoot dates together to compile an e-mail to Bill and Dee Regina- that will be a great way to promote Appleseed.  I am happy to drop off fliers to Dick's, Bass Pro Shops, nearby gun shops...etc...  Do I need to get fliers from someone or can I jsut print some out from the website?  I know Erik takes Appleseed fliers with him when he works at the gun shows for Pioneer Gun Club...

[Greg in MO]

You can print flyers from the event listing if you have to, or work with Greybeard to get a list of all the MO shoots on one flyer.  Those are great to put in gun shops and Bass Pro. 

I would like to see you ladies really push other ladies to get more women on the line.  In my opinion, women are the key to success (and they are alot easier to instruct too!).

[Rebel Yell]

Greg,

I'm willing to work gun shows in Northwest Missouri. I enjoy it quite a bit, actually. Problem is, where do we come up with the funds for getting tables at these shows? Do we want our own tables at these things, or do we want to work with another group/organization's table in order to cut down on cost? How are we gonna work this?

Rebel Yell

[MamaBear]

Rebel-

how much we talkin' for a table at an event?  If it is considerable, your idea of "mooching"  is not a bad idea!  That keeps the cost low, and if you talk it up well enough (which I have no doubt you will ) then whoever you are sharing a table/booth with can benefit, too!

[Greg in MO]

I would push the 501(c)(3) angle and see if we can get a free table at shows.  It doesn't hurt to ask, and all we need is one table.

If we have to pony up $50 for a table, we can pass the hat and get it done.  We currently share a table with WMSA at the KCI shows, and that is suboptimal.  We need our own table, and we need folks to staff them...

I have a powerpoint that I have put together that can run.  Chris, Ben and I have promo materials (SWAT and Blue Press articles) that we can provide.  We just need some notice to get it to you.

G

[Jungle George]

The tables vary in price depending on where they are at.  Tulsa,OK one of the highest is $110.00 per weekend if he hasn't raised it up again.

JG

[Rebel Yell]

Tables at most events run somethin' around $65 per.

My "mooching" idea has worked in the past, that's why I bring it up. I know we've had Appleseed literature on some tables at the KC shows in the past, though never a table of our own from what I understand (someone correct me if I'm wrong). We actually had a full table of our own when we were with the Campaign for Liberty at the last St. Joseph Gun Show, though not a huge crowd turnout so unfortunately Campaign for Liberty won't be having a booth at the next one. "Mooching" will give us only limited exposure at gun shows, and we're not so much the mooching sort anyway, right? We'd do better if we could come up with a plan to raise money for our own table.

Rebel Yell

[mikeh151]

Mike from MO here.  Happy to be with the crew

[Greg in MO]

One other thing...

INSTRUCTORS:  Check the schedule and get signed up for events.  Especially April 17-18.  This will be a big weekend for MO, with 4 shoots going on, and it is going to push us to the limit for instructors I think.  Try and make sure we are balanced.  

I think we are covered for my Williamstown shoot.  
Weatherby?
Osage?
Washburn?