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Texas Instructors Meeting July 31

Started by Scout, August 02, 2010, 11:48:48 AM

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Scout

  First, let me say Thanks! to Lauren and Andrew for ramrodding the event, getting the location and making reservations and for procuring all the gifts for the Instructors and families. That was a kind and thoughtful task that you executed flawlessly.

 There were some questions on whether you deliberately scheduled the event for the hottest day on purpose, but we will wait until we see "Davilla Swim Party, Feb. 2nd" " before we make any decisions on whether it was a coincidence or you actually hate us.  :) ;)

 What a great time I and my family had at the meeting yesterday. There is nothing better than being in the company of Riflemen and their families. I do not think the 100+ in the shade temperature put anyone off that much. The support and camaraderie of our small but tight and loyal group is something I am absolutely proud of.


 I would also like to thank GPS, the Texas State Parks information sign service and the state park police for making getting there and parking an interesting part of the event.


 So, for everyone who was not there let me give you some updates on this.


Staffing Committee

 Chuck, (Reddot) along with Lauren and Andrew (DoubleLL and Starfox) will be handling staffing and event planning for Texas events. They are the new Staffing and Planning Committees. Chuck will also be following Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi. What this means is when you sign up for an event please send Chuck an email (you will still have to send a PM to instructor scheduling)  so he can get your event info recorded and input into our records.


Texas State Coordinator

 Chuck will be tracking all of the Texas Instructor information and running the Texas Instructor database we set up. I have asked Chuck to take on the responsibilities of Texas State Coordinator along with the rest of the stuff he is doing. This does not mean we will be handing Chuck everything we need done in Texas, it means he will be tasking us for jobs he needs done. This job is a thankless job that entails a lot of paperwork and non shooting stuff so be sure and thank him for taking the job none of us wanted and please help him help us by providing him with info he asks for immediately and by doing whatever you can to make his job easier so he does not quit and one of us has to end up doing it. :)

Locations and Event Planning Committee

 Any of the special/new events will need to go to Lauren and Andrew. Women's Only, all new ranges, military, The Wounded Warrior Shoot coming up, etc. for getting them set up, the details ironed out and the staffing done etc. Repeat events at established locations will also go to the Planning Committee with a notice sent to Chuck to make sure it is listed.

 Chuck and Lauren and Andrew will also be running the Texas schedule out for another 18 months ahead in order to better facilitate long range planning. So for all of you who have contact info for new ranges, and any contact info for any current ranges please get it in to these guys as quickly as possible. Chuck is going to start contacting ranges this next week in order to lock us in for next years dates as well as adding the new dates for this year.


Promotions Committee

 Aaron was not at the event but I have asked him to help Kirk and I with Texas media/relations/promotions and publications in the Promotions Committee. Aaron has done a great job recently getting articles published on weblogs and on line publications, and he will be helping design and publish the new Texas promotional material and planning for Texas promotions, so Thank You Aaron!

Promotions are one of the most important aspects for the future of Appleseed. Promotions and Instructor development.

 Listen, I am going to need a lot of help with promotions. Getting folks on the line is our one really weak spot. We have locations that are running at 25% and we could double the number of folks on the line in Texas right now without running out of line space at any location. We have a huge amount of Texas Promotions to get out. We have a ton of projects we are going to start spinning up in the next few months that I will need help on. I am planning to switch on the Texas Appleseed Blogpost and will need you guys to become contributors. I would like to start up a hard copy of our Texas Newsletter to follow it.

 I have learned a great deal in the last year or so about billboards, outdoor advertising, on line and hard copy promotions and I think we can work out a deal to finance a hard copy of the newsletter and also get distribution for it statewide. It would be, in essence, a Texas Appleseed "Magazine" that would be a monthly publication.

 I have worked out a deal with the Texas Road Side Rest Stops to start carrying Appleseed literature and make it available to everyone who stops at Texas rest stops. There is a future Texas AM radio station slot for Appleseed in the works and I think I have found a way to finance that also.

 You guys know Michael Banes with Downrange TV, he has offered us a TV channel with his station and we might be able to get Chuck Untersee, the director who just did the movie that Appleseed is featured in, to help us do some 30 min. and one hour Appleseed television spots that we can sell to on line and cable sports shows. I will really need help with this, and about a dozen other promotional projects for Texas, so please let me know when you can start helping (soon please) :)

 We are trying to work out a deal where the next Governor of Texas will attend an Appleseed before Christmas this year. It might have to be a special event and we may need to pull in all the troops and Texas members if it happens to make it as large an attended event as possible, families and kids etc. This might be a situation where we can actually do a tie in event with all of the Texas groups working in the state at this time. We will let you know as far in advance as we can.    



Texas Appleseed "Envoy at Large"

 Pop will continue to do his job as Texas Appleseed "Envoy at Large" in the four state area and continue to procure new ranges and locations for us. He has the new one in the Texarkana area and also new ones under consideration in Louisiana-Thanks Pop! Liberty Hill coming up so make some room for it. If you have a lead on an event location get it to Andrew, Lauren and myself and we will get Pop on it.



Instructor Development and Continuing Education Committee

 Alonso1, Aromatic and myself will be working on the new program for Instructor Development, they will be heading up the Instructor Development Committee. If you have questions about how to become an instructor, how to prep for a PC, how to set up your plan for becoming a Texas Instructor etc. We will be more than happy to answer any questions, set up specail times and dates for you to get PC'd etc.


 Along those lines, we have the Rifleman Boot Camp coming up in November and I have asked Junior Birdman to come down to help out with the event as it Will be Voortrekkers first RBC as Lead Instructor and at the same time to instruct an NRA RSO course for all the Texas Instructors. We have had several ranges lately ask for an RSO to run the Appleseed event so I would like to get as many of you certified as possible in November. It will take three nights including the exam and will only cost you $20 for the materials (application license cost is additional from NRA) but usually runs around $200 so this is a good chance to get cert. at a low price.

I need to know as soon as possible by PM how many of you would like to come so I can order the materials from JB.

 I have the new manual for you guys that will be out as soon as I finish tweaking it. It was supposed to be a semi short appendix to the current manual, but the first three paragraphs turned into over seven pages and it just got bigger after that. It will contain a great deal on info about instructing, running shoots, recruiting folks, range presentations, promotions, paperwork etc. A kind of "everything you wanted to know( but really never wanted to know) etc.etc." for doing the job we need to do here. I am going to publish it in hard copy and send it out to folks by regular mail. Make sure I have your mailing addresses.

 We would like to get as many of us certified as NRA "Instructors" as possible in the coming year. This does two things. It makes us look more legitimate when we approach ranges and do board presentations and a side benefit is it allows us to be able to certify our instructors without charging them an arm and a leg to do so. Chuck, Bill and I will be attending some of the NRA Rifle Instructors courses coming up and don't forget JB's RSO course coming up. This will allow us to teach and certify instructors as having had NRA rifle courses and get them certified. (more jacket patches) If you have a chance to get a class, especially an "instructor" course let us know so we can get you the time to do this.



Military Liason Committee

 Chuck is also our new Military Liason, in company with Bill. Between the two they have about 50 or 60 years of military service and know every single person who ever served in the Army or who currently commands troops in America ;) They are working on a program which might ultimately lead us into instructing marksmanship for all of the troops who are being prepped for deployment overseas. We are going slow into these discussions as the end project is a very big one and has a lot of possible outcomes affecting our lives in more ways than just in Appleseed. More on this as it comes along as it has a number of implications for the Texas program which I will discuss with you guys later.



The Plan for Texas

We discussed Fred's request for Texas to take on 55 additional shoots this year between now and December31 in order for Appleseed to make it's goal of 1000 and how we will go about this. We added ten shoots last week which leaves 45 to make before Dec. 31. More on this later also, but let me say this is not going to happen with out each and every one of you guys hustling to add events to the list, so please get the additional contacts and suggestions for additional events and locations in to me and the rest of the crew starting today please.



The Future of Texas and How You can become a part of it

We also discussed developing a permanent type state group to handle running the operations here in Texas. I think this will help provide a way for the folks in Texas to have ownership in the program and have a chance to become involved in how the program is grown and run in this state. Right now we have less folks in the Texas program than it will eventually take to flesh out the group but if we wait until next year to work this out we will be way behind the ball and be less able to make the decisions we will need to make and less able to handle the expected growth of the program here in Texas in the coming years.


Thanks to all of the Texas Folks!
God bless you all, and God Bless Texas!!
I will see you on the beach!

Scout





!  
   
BattleRoadUSA.com

"Who wants Ice Cream?" Fred

Sixty seconds is way too long for a minute, I am cutting it down to thirty seven seconds- SoM

"You can shout it, you can preach it, but no matter how many times you repeat it, NEVER believe your own bullSh*t." (as told to me by Grin Reaper)

dragit

QuoteIt will take three nights including the exam and will only cost you $20 for the materials (application license cost is additional from NRA) but usually runs around $200 so this is a good chance to get cert. at a low price.

Scout,

Is this 3 nights during the RBC after the RBC activities are completed for the day?  And what is the NRA application fee?  Put me down for the NRA RSO course if it is during the RBC.

Newt
None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.  Goethe

Sarah Belding: Be careful. You're a man who makes people afraid, and that's dangerous.
The Stranger: It's what people know about themselves inside that makes 'em afraid.

His genius was to promote collective action in the cause of freedom... Fischer

Scout

Yes, I am sorry I did not make that more clear. We will run the NRA RSO course at night during the RBC. We will wait to set up the dates/times until we get word back from everyone so we will know who can make the course etc. If you will be here during the RBC you should be signed up for it, so
I am putting you on the schedule Newt. :)
BattleRoadUSA.com

"Who wants Ice Cream?" Fred

Sixty seconds is way too long for a minute, I am cutting it down to thirty seven seconds- SoM

"You can shout it, you can preach it, but no matter how many times you repeat it, NEVER believe your own bullSh*t." (as told to me by Grin Reaper)

Reddot

Scout,
Please add me as well; when we get a bit closer I'll contact Mr. JB to see if he'd like some help instructing it.
I believe we're required to do so much training per year to remain current. 
Chuck

doubleLL

Well at least we had shade and a slight breeze that lasted until 11am. Hopefully by Feb. we will have shade at Davilla.  :)  Thanks Dean for the ice cream, there were smiles on quite a few faces.  I am glad Scout wrote out the meeting minutes because it was hard to hear over the fan in the pavilion.  ;D 

I found that planning events with the ranges a year or two years out gives us leverage and makes it easier to plan and promote them. The 2011 March DIVA shoot should appear on the schedule soon and I am working on a special Wounded Warrior Shoot for 2012 in San Antonio. 
"Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien."
Davilla 3-10

Scout

Quote from: Reddot on August 02, 2010, 05:03:49 PM
Scout,
Please add me as well; when we get a bit closer I'll contact Mr. JB to see if he'd like some help instructing it.
I believe we're required to do so much training per year to remain current. 
Chuck

Chuck,
Yes this will count as part of your teaching credits for keeping your certification up.

Lauren,
Yes, for the folks who were not there, we had a fan, and then we dropped the fan, about four feet which made the fan a big whompy lompa fan with an exciting new sound which made it hard for me to talk over.

Mark Alonso said he did it to pay me back for not moving the flapping flags off the Davilla firing line while he is trying to instruct ;) ;D

I am really looking forward to seeing you huys filling out the schedule with new events for the next two years and I am depending on you and Andrew to help us do that Lauren  :) ;)  Also looking forward to your DIVA shoot since you have pried open the lid on a six million member organization of potential Appleseeders ;D
BattleRoadUSA.com

"Who wants Ice Cream?" Fred

Sixty seconds is way too long for a minute, I am cutting it down to thirty seven seconds- SoM

"You can shout it, you can preach it, but no matter how many times you repeat it, NEVER believe your own bullSh*t." (as told to me by Grin Reaper)

starfox

Quote from: Scout on August 02, 2010, 09:08:58 PM
Mark Alonso said he did it to pay me back for not moving the flapping flags off the Davilla firing line while he is trying to instruct ;) ;D

Wait, I thought the RV project was the payback.   ;D **)
"Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women,
when it dies there, no constitution, no law,
no court can save it." - Judge Learned Hand

"Never compromise. Not even in the face of Armageddon . . ." - Rorschach, The Watchmen.

Davilla 3-10

Scout

Quote from: starfox on August 02, 2010, 10:05:43 PM
Wait, I thought the RV project was the payback.   ;D **)

Yea, listen, whatever you do, don't give Mark a bunch of tools and shut him up in a cramped trailer in 105 degree temperature.

When he starts looking around with that furrowed brow and making strange sounds then you know when the first field mouse/snake/scorpion comes running out of the wall he is tearing out....someone is going to take a bullit.  >:D :---

Remember guys we have very little time between now and Dec. so please get your new shoots in pronto. Chuck told me last night he has a couple of new events ready to hit the books this week.

You can also use One Day shoots to persuade locations. These are in the process of being worked out, but they will be ready by the time the shoot dates you put on are ready and if they are not we will wing them so if a range does not want a two day shoot because of range restrictions pitch them the one day shoot.

BattleRoadUSA.com

"Who wants Ice Cream?" Fred

Sixty seconds is way too long for a minute, I am cutting it down to thirty seven seconds- SoM

"You can shout it, you can preach it, but no matter how many times you repeat it, NEVER believe your own bullSh*t." (as told to me by Grin Reaper)