Supporters Group Meeting

[buspasspar]

Thank you Digs great work and great report .. you are a star 

[DougieDave]

Outstanding update Digs - much appreciated….

[the saline hill puma]

Cheers Digs 

[Stanza]

Having in the past spent countless hours writing up the notes of the larger Supporters' Council meetings, it occurs to me that we missed a trick by not recruiting Digs to do them ...

[parsforlife]

10 hours ago, Digs said:

I appreciate that effort and apologise if if any of my comments seem to to not recognise that.   
 

Take on board that groups are generally appreciated at these meetings, but without public advert it will naturally seem exclusive. 

I recognise your efforts to put across thoughts from this forum and appreciate the boards willingness listen, but for myself I don’t place myself as if I’m a particular member of this forum more than I am other forums or guys I go to games with of folk at work I’ll chat too,  we are all the same. The current system could possibly put my opinion above that of someone I chat **** too outside of here and I’m not comfortable with that.

At a minimum public advertising of these chats would be a positive, at least make those who are possibly unaware that these events occur and they can put forward representation.

Again, i want to reiterate that these meetings are good, just want to push them towards being the best they can be.

 

 

Edited March 24, 2023 by parsforlife

[Grant]

7 hours ago, Stanza said:

Great report from Digs, many thanks.

As he says, DC and the Board seem to be very keen on communication with the fanbase, and are willing to try out new methods.

Having been involved with the larger Supporters' Council meetings since the start my view is that they never really developed into the proper two-way communication forums (fora?) we had hoped for - instead they became set-piece presentations followed by a few questions that usually didn't add much value (putting it diplomatically!) By the time the pandemic arrived the meetings were so sparsely attended they weren't worth continuing - not many more were turning up than now attend the smaller meetings like last night.

The mood music has now changed, and the dynamic of these smaller informal meetings is dramatically different - with smaller numbers they are far more of a two-way conversation, and everyone - management and fans - leaves better-informed. They are also much more flexible and (within reason to keep the numbers down) it might be possible for a few unaffiliated fans to attend occasionally - contact Drew Main, who organises the event. Remember though that (again to keep numbers down) not every group in the Pars family is represented at every meeting. (The obvious solution for anyone desperate to attend is to join a group!)

But it is up to those who do attend (I wasn't there last night, btw) to feed back information to the members of their groups in whatever way is most appropriate. What Digs has done is excellent.

Not disagreeing with what you say about the supporters meeting, however personality I'd go for the set piece presentations. Tbf I also find the questions to be quite frankly, mostly ****. However the last meeting didn't even have a set piece presentation, there was a whole load of nothing said, followed by some pretty cringe questions. 

 

I also don't doubt for a second that these meetings are far better, I can see that from Digs notes. However outwith this forum there's absolutely no notes of them, nothing official, nothing on social media, nothing on PnB or Dotnet, unless you were a member here how do you know about it? I'm not doubting these meetings are good, I'm just doubting how the passage of information gets out. 

 

Maybe if there was more openness someone mightve asked why McPake was offering out 16 year olds or we as a club had almost 2,000 seats unsold in a sold out game? Again, I know a few Pars fans, the only way they know about this meeting is because of that tweet, and because I've linked this post. I don't really get vibes about us being more open and transparent tbh. 

 

I don't get the "these aren't closed shops!" While also, how on earth would you even know it was taking place?! It's about as closed shop you can get with regards to a supporters meeting! 

Edited March 24, 2023 by Grant

[Raymie]

Some fair observations, Grant 

[Superally]

I think Grant has some valid points, there is perhaps scope for both. The only thing when there has been supporters meetings they haven't been that terribly well attended. In truth you cant please every one, but in essence the club are right to continue with this dialogue and process of engagement. There is a good vibe around the club atm, so it would be right to make best use out of it - especially looking towards next season and ST sales. COYP  

[livipar2]

There has been 3 Q&A’s with Cook and McPake this season. All well promoted and fully subscribed. I believe 1 more is due before the end of the season.

[Piracy]

11 hours ago, parsforlife said:

I appreciate that effort and apologise if if any of my comments seem to to not recognise that.   
 

Take on board that groups are generally appreciated at these meetings, but without public advert it will naturally seem exclusive. 

I recognise your efforts to put across thoughts from this forum and appreciate the boards willingness listen, but for myself I don’t place myself as if I’m a particular member of this forum more than I am other forums or guys I go to games with of folk at work I’ll chat too,  we are all the same. The current system could possibly put my opinion above that of someone I chat **** too outside of here and I’m not comfortable with that.

At a minimum public advertising of these chats would be a positive, at least make those who are possibly unaware that these events occur and they can put forward representation.

Again, i want to reiterate that these meetings are good, just want to push them towards being the best they can be.

 

 

Tell you what, how about I organise your attendance. I've been invited to all of them from the start this season, attended 2 and initially organised Digs attendance through asking for representation for this website. We can send you instead fir the next one, how about it?

[Piracy]

Thanks for the update Digs.

[Superally]

9 minutes ago, Piracy said:

Tell you what, how about I organise your attendance. I've been invited to all of them from the start this season, attended 2 and initially organised Digs attendance through asking for representation for this website. We can send you instead fir the next one, how about it?

Ahh, but will his minutes be as good as Digs?

[parsforlife]

57 minutes ago, Superally said:

Ahh, but will his minutes be as good as Digs?

Not a chance, I’d have to be stopping the meeting every 30 seconds, it’s absolutely not a skill of mine.

[Stanza]

I know from experience that organising meetings for supporters can be a thankless task - for some people it will always be the wrong format, the wrong day, the wrong time, the wrong venue, the wrong speakers, the wrong questioners, the wrong outcomes etc. It simply isn't possible to meet everyone's wishes, particularly when you have to factor in the availability of management, support staff, sporting events on the field or TV etc.

But equally, some of the criticisms being made are valid - it sounds as if those who attend the informal meetings at EEP aren't all doing a great job of feeding back the information to their "constituents", and then there is the question of how dialogue is to take place for individuals who aren't members of any supporters' group.

Perhaps the answer lies partly with some of those who feel left out. Perhaps they could contact Drew Main, who organises these meetings and is a Board member as well as the Supporter Liaison Officer, and offer their services to help organise and improve the meetings. Perhaps they could take notes themselves (as Digs did) and issue them publicly so other fans could read them.

I know not everyone has the necessary skill sets to do this sort of work, or perhaps there are too many other demands on their time, but the fact is that many functions of the club still operate only because a relatively small percentage of the fanbase do actually volunteer for anything.

This post might sound too defensive, but I have no involvement with organising these informal meetings and it's just because I know how hard it is to get it right.

Whatever develops, I think it would be a mistake to over-formalise and regiment the meetings. The Chairman and Manager seem comfortable with the format and speak much more openly than they would in a more formal setting, and the fans who attend are much more likely to speak up than they would in a larger meeting.

[Digs]

45 minutes ago, Stanza said:

The Chairman and Manager seem comfortable with the format and speak much more openly than they would in a more formal setting, and the fans who attend are much more likely to speak up than they would in a larger meeting.

This. 100%