First Communications Group meeting: Thursday, October 12, 2006

The Communications and Marketing Committee convened for the first time today. We're mostly media-oriented--getting the Midnight Mechanics out there and such. We cover ground including publications (i.e. brochures, pamphlets, newsletter), news contacts (to cover Robotics events and such), and publicity (signs, trinkets, etc.).

There weren't too many team members present today (they probably didn't know), but we still had a good-numbered group. We discussed what Communications and Marketing hopes to/should accomplish. Several of these things are:
>>Newsletter with more than just articles; have comics, spotlight/feature articles, and other varied things. It'll make our publication more interesting (hence, attracting more readers--maybe even subscribers)!!
>>Team mascot, flag, and shirts?! Possibly..."wrenchman" or "wrench dude," a glowing flag, and real mechanic shirts...?
>>Informational CDs would be nice to have along with all our papers. Maybe...music video of team working?
Of course, we'll only be going ahead with some of these ideas with consent of the team. Just brainstorming and previewing right now.

I realized that my anxiety leading up to this first meeting was unfounded. People are nice--especially team members. Talking about (and now writing down) goals and prospects made me feel better. There's just some magic in putting ideas out there that makes them so much more reachable. It'll take work to make the ideas happen, but the first step is beginning. I was glad to see enthusiastic people come to this committee, especially since it wasn't introduced too well (and isn't as self-explanatory as the others). Hmm...how did Lisa get such high turnouts the previous years...? Or maybe today's was a large turnout, given the members present. I'll have to do the math one day and see.

Cordially,
Rose Cao