QUESTIONS: *Conflicts of Interest:* 1) Can you define what Conflict of Interest actually means? Conflict of Interest is defined by google as “a situation in which the concerns or aims of two different parties are incompatible or a situation in which a person is in a position to derive personal benefit from actions or decisions made in their official capacity.” However in regards to the MES it is specifically a situation where another member of this organization would benefit in a positive or negative fashion from your personal relationship with that member. Positive example: As a Domain Coordinator you award unearned prestige to your significant other, relative, or close friend. Negative example: As a Venue Storyteller, your exgirlfriend joins the MES and out of a personal grudge your refuse to approve any PC’s this member submits for approval to play in your VSS. 2) How will you as the National Coordinator maintain impartiality in dealing with issues that cross your desk involving your friends? How will you maintain that same impartiality with someone that you have had prior negative interactions with in the past? I will use the same methods that I currently use as the Regional Coordinator for the North Central region. I personally review all issues that are brought to the office of Regional Coordinator. I determine if there is a conflict of interest in regards to the involved parties and myself (either positive or negative), if so I appoint a member of my staff to handle the issue. I have on staff an individual that aids in conflict resolution, arbitration, and investigations under my guidance. Additionally I have staff members situated throughout my region in the event that my arbitrations staff member is in conflict of interest with an issue that arises. 3) With a position such as National Coordinator, there are always needed assistants. Do you plan on naming any assistants that you would be seen as having a conflict of interest with. An example would be your Significant Other, Roommates and such. Would you even consider this a conflict of interest? Why/Why Not I will appoint the most qualified assistants from the applicants that I receive following an all call for staff positions. In the event that the most qualified applicant for a particular position happens to be my significant other or another individual I was in conflict of interest with, I will weigh the decision to hire that induvial with Board Approval vs the next most qualified applicant received. Thou to be perfectly frank I have already told my husband I won’t hire him as an aNC regardless of how qualified he is for the position. It is my intent to hire my staff from multiple regions across the MES, this is of course subject to the applicants that I receive for positions. By adhering to this standard, I will hopefully eliminate the risk of hiring a potential candidate that would be seen in conflict with myself. 4) As National Coordinator what will you do to reduce any possibility of members feeling that the you are showing favoritism to anyone during your term? I would like to think that my record so far as a regional coordinator will stand as a testament to my impartiality. I have treated each member of my region with equal consideration and respect both as a general member and an officer. I have appointed several staff members during my term and have showed no favoritism in hiring towards my home domain. In the instances that I have found myself if conflict of interest with an issue brought to regional I have excused myself from the investigation. I would not do anything less as a member or officer if appointed as the National Coordinator. 5) Each of you has a long history with this game and associations built during that time with members that become friends. At what point would you recue yourself from presiding over a matter that concerned a person you knew personally if it crossed your desk as NC? In the event that an issue crossed my desk that involved someone I now personally I would evaluate my relationship to that person – if is it my S.O or a current close personal friend then I would excuse myself immediately. If it is a member of my domain/region, I will monitor the situation, but likely excuse myself from the investigation. If it is someone that I am FB friends with but haven’t seen in years since that one convention…well I am not likely to excuse myself from that issue. I would note that I will in all of these situations have a member of my arbitrations team on board to ensure the MHB is followed at all times and that no preferential treatment is given in any issue that reaches my desk as National Coordinator. 6) A general member has contacted you to complain about their DC. This member is a close personal friend of yours. As National Coordinator what do you do? I would first ask the member if they have brought their concerns to their DC and/or RC. If not I would encourage the member to follow the process outlined in the MHB for addressing concerns and complaints regarding officers. If the member indicates that they have indeed followed the processes outlined in the handbook, I would reach out to the regional coordinator that presides over that DC, and follow up with an inquiry of the status of this complaint. At no time would I open an investigation/inquiry into this issue, due to first circumventing policy as well as, the conflict of interest that would present if I did so. *Culture:* 1) If you could change one thing about the Club, what would it be and why? If I could change one thing it would be to make incentives for volunteering mean something again. Currently there is a marked lack of volunteerism in this organization, I want to get to the bottom of why and then improve the systems that are in place to reinvigorate the general member to want to do more than just show up and play. 2) What do you consider to be the biggest challenge that the Club is facing? Why? What do you plan to do to address this challenge? / What is your greatest concern for our club that can be prevented during your term as NC? The biggest concern I have for the organization at this time is atrophy. We are consistently seeing members across the country opting to walk away from the organization rather than renew. This issue is spanning both veteran members as well as members that have only been in the organization a few years or less. I would like to access the nature of this loss of membership – to find out what exactly it is that is motivating members not to renew. From there I would look at implementing or laying the ground work for the changes that would hopefully stem this loss of membership. 3) What steps will you take as NC to discourage the perception that there are "haves" and "have nots" when compared to power cliques (MC14, "Old Boy's Network", etc) whether true or not? This is a culture issue that seems to stem from a different era in the club that unfortunately continues to persist. Keep in mind that is a very difficult perception to change because each regions haves and have nots are so different. For one MC 14 player he can be seen as a have in his own domain/region and when he visits a different city he is considered a welcome guest and veteran member. It is only through being the example I want them to be that I will ultimately begin the change I want to see in this organization. I can provide the tools and resources for members to increase their MC, I can provide education for members that are unfamiliar with member class advancement , I can hire assistants that are not high MC, and encourage my friends and peers to look outside their circle of friends to make connections in this club, but none of those things change perception alone. I cannot however allow members to bad mouth low or high MC players, I will discourage that behavior with my own actions and if necessary utilize the process in the MHB and provide conflict resolutions, letters of counseling and disciplinary action for members that persist in this toxic behavior. 4) GeneralOOC has driven away players and discouraged communication within the club because of its vitriolic and hostile nature. People have instead turned to private groups and Facebook posts for news, club information, and social goingson. How would you use your power as NC to encourage players to use GeneralOOC as a pleasant and helpful communication platform? Sadly I cannot disagree with this sentiment or the reality that members would rather get their news elsewhere or just be uninformed of national news. While I cannot change other people, I can be a nonconfrontational positive presence on that list. I can redirect conversations and if need be working in coordination with the list moderator end or place on hold conversations that become vitriolic or hostile in nature. 5) How can we improve communication in the MES? I believe that we already have the tools in place for excellent communication. What I see however is a lack of using them on a consistent basis. We have email lists, FB groups/pages, wiki pages and the MES website. What I don’t see currently from National and other regions that I communicate stay in contact is a consistent and regular use of these tools. If we improve on using the tools we have, by keeping wiki pages and the website uptodate, by getting out a minimum of a quarterly state of the office update, by offering timely and consistent announcements of news and events, by publishing a monthly report to the member in a timely fashion. I think that will increase our exposure to the members and drive interest in the organization. A final piece that I would encourage all levels of the club to implement are town hall meetings, from the domain level to the national coordinators office – where members can meet in person or via online platform to ask questions, offer live feedback or raise concerns or offer improvements. 6) There is a divide between Coordinator and Storyteller responsibilities in the club, however there are times when a joint effort would be beneficial. Describe a situation where you see a joint effort being more effective, and how would you steer the club toward more joint efforts in the future. I can think of a few times when working together would be beneficial to the organization, in many cases I see these examples already in place at all levels of the club. ● ● ● Coordination of event/game schedules Reporting of recommended prestige for ST Staff and Assistants to Coordinator Staff. Joint investigations of code of conduct violations I as the National Coordinator, I can personally work with the National Storyteller to ensure that prestige reporting for his team is recorded, that when appropriate to the nature of an investigation use a joint format for continuity of action, and I can offer feedback to the NST to improve the connection between MC level and IC benefits. *Achievements and Experience:* 1) What do you believe is the most successful achievement you have made while holding your Regional or Higher office? / What is your greatest achievement within the Organization? My biggest and most successful achievement so far at a regional or high level was the creation and implementation of the Patron Sponsor program for NCRE 2015 – that resulted in donations of over $2000 to cover costs and expenses of the convention. 2) What do you believe you were least successful at/ need the most help with? I have been least successful with grassroots recruitment efforts, as I am by nature an introverted person – I find it difficult to talk to strangers in public. I have been fortunate to have members in my domains that are far more extroverted than I am, that have been able to draw them to a local game. 3) What specific lessons from your previous club experiences have you gained? Which of these pertain to the office of the National Coordinator? You need to be able to step away from your PC at the end of a session, and remember that you are not your character and neither is anyone else at a game. As an NC that lesson means that regarding conflict resolutions you must consider where the line is to help members resolve interpersonal issues that arise. To help them recognize the line. Another lesson is that you must remember that this is a volunteer organization, not a 24/7 lifestyle. As an NC this will apply to maintaining office hours, and knowing when to be a player, an officer or just a person not a member, a character or gamer. 4) What lessons do you, as potential NC, take from the real life experience on your resume that would apply to this position? Why does this experience apply? What experience do you have that has no practical application, but you think should be known? If you took a look at my real life resume you will find that I have experience as a retail manager, a teacher, an event planner, and an office manager. All of these prior positions will help in one way or another in my job duties as NC. As a retail manager I regularly had to resolve customer service issues to the satisfaction of my employer’s policies as well as to that of the customer to ensure I retained their future business. As a teacher I was a mentor and educator to children of a variety of ages. As an event planner I was responsible for organizing, planning and execution of a wide assortment of events. As an office manager I was responsible for budgeting, staff training, scheduling, maintaining reports and communicating regularly with owners and clients via a variety of platforms. Nonrelated experience I can cook, I like to dance, and in the long long ago I was on the fiction panel for Requiem the Camarilla Publication. 5) Name three ways that you've seen volunteering improved within the MES organization by people around you. Name one way that you've helped to improve volunteering within the organization yourself. I have seen dedicated individuals take the time to work on a project, or mentor a new player at a local game, or run for an elected position; however what I see most often is that it’s the same group of people locally and regionally that continually and consistently volunteer. We are not seeing new names and faces stepping up to assist in the organization in its operations or philanthropy To be honest I have not seen an improvement in volunteering in the MES as a whole. I have however seen domains that struggle with officer burnout because no one will step up and run for domain/venue level positions. I have seen regions including my own running on a shoestring staff, because no one volunteers when all calls go out to hire staff. I have seen regional charity drives that go completely unsupported despite a variety of ways for members to participate. I have attempted to make volunteering more accessible to the general member in several ways in my time in the MES. ● ● ● ● ● Posted a variety of staff positions as RC. Created a calendar of charity drives for the region on a quarterly schedule to allow for 3 months participating in any give drive in a multiple of ways; from inkind donations, time given, or monetary contributions. Improved the FGotM prestige opportunities for my region to allow more ways to volunteer at monthly events and earn prestige. Hosted local drives and events that awarded prestige to those that assisted in the event. As a VST in the past I have offered up projects for members to be NPC’s, ST Support, and other plot specific projects *Leadership Style:* 1) What do you consider your primary strengths to be? How will these strengths help you in this office? My strengths are my ability to be organized and complete tasks in a timely fashion. Additionally I am able to get along with a wide variety of people in a professional manner. These strengths will help me by setting timelines and goal for projects and seeing that they are completed within the set time frame. They will also help me be objective and nonbiased with dealing with conflict resolutions, disciplinary reviews and appeals. 2) What are your primary weaknesses? How will you overcome these weaknesses to be a good leader? Because I want to see that things are done to the highest standards I have had difficulty in the past with delegation of projects, feeling the need to do it myself. As a regional coordinator I have learned that I must delegate, and have done well in the past few months with hiring qualified staff that have a similar work ethic as myself, so that when projects are created and distributed I am confident that they will be completed. If appointed to National Coordinator I will continue to apply that principle to my staff and guide rather than do. 3) Please describe your leadership style? I am tend to be hands on, and prefer to have a hand or at a minimum be looped in on all projects that my team takes on. As an event planner, my name and reputation were on the line if things were not exactly to the client’s expectations. The same applies as National Coordinator – if my team is not performing up to standards that reflect not only on them but on me and the position. 4) Tell me about a time when you wanted to take a risk and were confronted publicly by powerful stakeholders who disagreed. What was at the situation, and what did you do? Did you go ahead? If so, how did you explain it? I have been fortunate that I have never had to deal with this situation with a stakeholder. Either my projects have been green lit, we found a compromise that was mutual agreeable to all parties, 5) What do you consider you're management ideology? Looking at the variety of management styles I like to believe that I am a hybrid between mainstream thinking model and the quality movement. In that I will set goals and objectives based on consumers’ needs while overseeing all activities and tasks needed to maintain a desired level of excellence. *Policy:* 1) What programs will you put in place to encourage MC14 members to continue to participate in club administration and charities after they have reached maximum prestige that will not punish them for reaching the top and still be fair to low MC members? I certainly can’t speak for other regions at this time, however I have 1 MC15 and 16 MC14 members in the North Central and more than half of them are still active contributors to their domains and the region either as position holders or active mentors to new or lower MC players. Most of those active high MC members also still track and periodically report prestige as well. They are no longer motivated by the prestige, but are driven to keep this organization alive and thriving by continuing to be mentors and leaders. I could tell you that I want to treat the MC Class system like an MMO expansion and add on 5 or 10 more levels to the tiers, but that would only serve to reinforce to lower MC members the “haves and have nots” phenomenon – but that is not my call, that is a decision for the BoD to approve as a referenda to the general membership. I could tell you I am going to sweeten the MC rewards to make the MC 14 member see the value in their level – but yet again I am reinforcing “haves and have nots” – more importantly that is a matter for the Storytelling Staff to decide upon. 2) We have a fairly wide array of officer education standards available within the MES. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the system? Is there anything about it you would like to see changed? These standards and education documents provide a foundation of information for all members of the MES to understand the roles of officers as well as the basis mechanics for the venues we offer for play. They are easily accessible and provide quick and easy MC advancement for new members. The weakness in the new standards for existing members and officers especially is the feeling that this is not new information. The weakness for new member is the vast amount of standards available that it can seem overwhelming. I would love to see a series of tests that act as more of a refresher course for older members, rather than a full standard – or an advanced standard for veteran members/officers. I would also like to see the return of the stage and prestige ordeals, they were the final piece in the education process that I think is missing for newer members. 3) Given recent organizational changes in national officer elections, how will you solicit feedback from regional officers and other MES members? How will you use the feedback? The fact that the National Coordinator is appointed by the board is irrelevant to this question. Honestly I have a variety of ways that people can now, and that will not change if appointed as the next National Coordinator. As the NC I will still have a presence on the lists and FB and I will be reachable by email. I intend to maintain the monthly staff meetings that have been established by the iNC Jenn G erardi . I will consider all feedback given from that wealth of sources equally; when appropriate I will present those ideas to the BoD, retain them for later use if the timing is not right, or implement them as national projects etc. 4) Do you feel that the current prestige budgets are reasonable? If so,why? If not, what would you like to do about it? I am personally disappointed with many of the changes in the prestige system including the budgets. While I understand the need for a stream lined system of categories I disagree with the current limitations on the categories. In regards to officer budgets I also understand that there was a time that regional and national staffing was outofcontrol with aaaN/R(C/ST) – however limited the amounts of regional and national prestige that our regional and national staff can award has caused many regions and venues to be run on a shoestring staff and the inability of their supervising officers to properly compensate the standing staff for the work they are doing. I would like to work in conjunction with the RC/ST, the NST and the BoD to see what improvements we can make to this system to either increase the budgets to something that is a more distributable amount or improve the structure of the current systems and allocation to improve the overall level of the awards. 5) Our Membership Handbook made changes to ensure that officers were rotated out of primary level positions after certain service milestones. What will you do during your time in office to facilitate the transition to the officer that will eventually replace you? How will you support the people assisting you so they can potentially step up to your office? In regards to handing off the office to a new member, I will hopefully have a chance to chat with them before the hand off to make them aware of possible open issues and or projects that they might be inheriting. I will also have transition document prepared to share with them that will include all relevant user names and passwords associated with the office. The last piece I will provide is any templates or blank form that have been developed during my term of office. To the second part of the question, I would provide them the same information as needed for them to perform their roles as assistants, they would not however receive open issues information as to maintain confidentiality of the parties nor would they be given passwords to officer accounts that were not directly for their sole use as an assistant. If I was specifically grooming a replacement they would also be provided with coaching sessions on a variety of topics related to the position they were being groomed for. 6) One of the most coveted items for the membership is National Prestige. Disaster areas such as earthquakes, tornadoes, and hurricanes affect our nation, but offer little opportunity for charity outside of donating money if you do not live near the affected area. What will you do to improve the prestige opportunities at the National Level? What will you do to rotate prestige opportunities besides donating money? As the National Coordinator I have a role in suggesting and advising the National Philanthropy Manager on charity drives that would be a good fit for the membership to participate in at a national level – such as disaster relief drives that you mentioned. I would like to see our organization move away from drives that are mainly supported by a monetary component. There are many amazing charity efforts that our group can focus on that have a multiprong approach to service. I would like to see us focus on efforts that reflect who we are as an organization – some of the past drives that I felt were successful were the Humane Society Drive of 2015, The American Forest Drive of 2011, and Get Caught Reading 2014 – if you look at the archives you will see that these drives and similar efforts have a large support by the membership. 7) Our most recent NC report discussed reporting lapses, and the possibility of removing officers that do not submit timely reports. What would be your threshold for removing an officer for nonreporting, and what would you do to improve the reporting process to facilitate better reporting? The current stance on this is 3 months no report is grounds for removal from office, and I support this motion – in fact if your local constituency has not already made a move to correct the issue prior to that I would be surprised. I plan to look at the current report structure and see if there is any way that they can be stream lined at the domain and regional level. I would also consider reviewing plans for a partially or fully automated reporting format. Many domains are now using google forms for members to submit prestige requests, so the technology is there for us to develop an online reporting system for our DC/RC and even the storytelling staff to use. 8) Our current (Regional) voting system is weighted based on attendance totals. Yet it is possible for 12 votes for Candidate A to be cancelled by 1 vote for Candidate B under this system. What changes would you make to address the fact that one large domain has the possibility to cancel out all other domains within a region? There are two ways to address this issue – 1. 2. Each domain counts as 1 vote, the DC/ST votes are one for one. How each domain officer choses to weigh there choice of candidate is their own, thou any officer that votes against the advisement of his/her domains preferred candidate will not find themselves very well received. Each member of the region casts a single vote in a general election format and the majority winner prevails. Personally I am a fan of option 1 as we have seen in recent years the voting turn out for local and national elections and referenda is quite lacking in comparison to our body of members in good standing. 9) What is your opinion on the current Social Media policy as it is written, and how would you improve it? The current policy for Social Media is that we have none in place. However if you are referring to the policy that was put out for membership review and feedback by the BoD, I feel that particular draft was perhaps intentionally vague – and perhaps due to our legal obligations as an NPO has to be that way. North Central region has a social media policy in place that is very similar to the one drafted by the board, thou as it is regional policy it is a bit more defined and tailored to the needs of my region. I honestly wish that we didn’t need a Social Media policy that we could all follow Wheaton’s Law (Don’t be a dick!) or Bill and Ted’s policy of “Be Excellent to each other!”. However time and again across the nation it has been presented that we need more structure and guidance than those more simplified creeds. So do we need one, apparently we do. Is the draft as written ideal, no but it’s a starting point, and as National Coordinator I will work with the BoD, the PACT team and review the feedback of the general membership to ensure that when a policy concerning Social Media meets the needs of the organization as a whole. 10) In the event you are accused of malfeasance or wrongdoing during you time in office, will you pledge to address the charges publicly, so the club can see your response to the issues involved, and ensure all members of your staff, from direct assistants on down, do as well? I believe in praise in public and scold in private. As a general member you would not want every member of your domain to be aware of the details of a disciplinary investigation – and that consideration should be extended to all members of this organization regardless of the level of office that they hold. I will pledge that in the ridiculously unlikely event that I were accused and found guilty of malfeasance of office that the results of my disciplinary action can be made known to my constituents. 11) Sometimes when people are new to a position, they learn about abuses that occurred before they arrived. Has that happened to you? How did you deal with it? The only thing that you can do review the situation, and ensure that going forward you do not allow such abuse to continue. If you find that it is involving and open or on going issue, you should make all parties aware of the discovery of abuse and move forward in the process in an up front, orderly, and ethical manner. If it is case of gross negligence or code of conduct violations that are discovered, then the proper course of action would be to begin the process of seeking a disciplinary investigation for that member, if in fact they are still a current member in good standing at the time this information is discovered. I have taken a position where the outgoing officer had been an absentee landlord for the prior 3 months, and then when replaced was no longer and active member in the organization. In that instance, I filled a back dated chapter status report for the missing months and moved forward. *Staffing:* 1) While any skilled administrator will choose assistants from those that they know will get the job done, what specific methods will you use to encourage new and unknown members to apply for assistant positions? In the creation of job postings I will be clear in my expectation of the position, as well as the potential for earning prestige. I will reach out to all mediums that I have access to and share staff opportunities with the membership of the organization. 2) When a candidate becomes an officer, there is a perception that they commonly use the same people for support staff, from Venue, to Domain, to Regional staff levels. What have you done to rotate staff members under your direction, and prepare the coming generation of members for advancement within the organization? As a standing Regional Coordinator I can state that I have hired staff from all parts of my region that have submitted applicants that were qualified for the staff position. Fortunately I have not had to replace anyone on my staff and have not encountered the need to “rotate staffing”. However as a Domain Coordinator when I had new assistant positions open up I would offer them to members that showed and interest or aptitude for the role I was hiring for. I have encouraged my Domain Coordinators to recruit and hire assistants from new members. Additionally I also offer an open door policy for mentoring new Coordinators to offer them the tools, resources and guidance into their new position. *Misc:* 1) Some of the candidates are Regional Officers stepping up to National. What do you see as the biggest hurdle to overcome in stepping up to a higher office? It will be the same hurdle that I had to overcome when I became a Regional Coordinator, and that is getting to know to varying degrees the members of my constituency. As National Coordinator this means building working relationships with the current BoD, the National Staff, the Regional Coordinators and becoming familiar with a broader spectrum of the general membership. 2) List the five most genius ideas you've ever seen for increasing attendance and membership to local games. Creating double header games to increase, this has been especially appealing to increase out of town player attendance. Cross pollenating games occasionally to encourage standing members to attend new games. This works especially well settings where you can have crossvenue play, but also works equally well when regulars in oWoD and nWoD encourage and invite people to attend the alternate venue. Playing in local gaming shops on a consistent basis one of your medium or smaller games, you will pick up interested parties from other patrons in the shop – increasing not only that games attendance but potentially increasing the attendance as your large games as well. Pulltab fliers at game shops, costume shops, coffee shops, and campus meeting boards. Networking with other local LARPs and TT RPG groups to spread the word about local games 3) Why should you be NC? I should be the next National Coordinator, because I want to serve organization at a higher level of responsibility and I will not be doing this for the prestige – but out of a commitment to volunteer to make the club great again. 4) What can you do for the club that the other candidates can’t? I believe that I bring a fresh perceptive to the office of the National Coordinator, however I remember the club as the original NPO, the WW era, and the new MES that we are now. I have lived in 2 very distinct and very different regions and have an understanding of the knowledge that each of the 8 regions is unique. Finally I listen to the people and with that knowledge I will do everything in my power to help make the club great again, to shed the past image of the OBN and the favoritism that is been seen in the past. 5) How do you define success? Merriam Webster defines gives a simple definition of success as: the fact of getting or achieving wealth, respect, or fame the correct or desired result of an attempt, someone or something that is successful, a person or thing that succeeds Looking at that definition, I cannot say that I am looking for wealth or fame. I believe that respect is something that is earned but not a measure of my success or failure. I do however measure my ability to complete projects, achieve goals that I set for myself, and my peers as a measure of my success. 7) What do you find most attractive about this position? What seems least attractive about it? The idea that I will be leading the Nation, helping to shape the organization and its direction for the next 2 years is something that I find very attractive about the position. We are starting on a new arc with the convention cycle shift, the winding down of the current chronical and the development of the next one, the improvements the website and the upcoming changes to the CRD platform – now is an amazing time to step into the role of National Coordinator and be a part of these and many more dynamic stages that are on the horizon. I find however that the most daunting part of the job will be the learning curve to discover the nuances of the other 6 regions and their members that I am not familiar with. 8) Who is the moral, political, or economic thinker who had the most impact on your views? There are far too many individuals that have helped influence my views on those subjects, nor do I believe that being able to list those persons should have any impact on my ability to act in the best interests of the MES as its National Coordinator or the Board of Directors decision making process on the best candidate to nominate for the position. 9) Besides yourself which candidate do you think is the best choice for NC and why? Deb Clark, I believe that she has a proven track record as a regional coordinator, and has demonstrated in past National Coordinator elections a grasp of the requirements, challenges and rewards of the position.
© Copyright 2026 Paperzz