Clan Vizsla Address 1.0

Mandos & Mercs of Vizsla,

Or is it my Vizjizzles??

As many of you will know, I prefer to use a different structure to my unit reports. I pull inspiration from Kir Katarn, someone who most people these days aren’t familiar with but is a role model for myself. I’ve found his approach delivered both transparency & accountability and I would like to replicate this as best I can.

Going forward, I will provide a Clan Address every six (6) months and then proceed to follow that up with monthly reports providing status updates on our progress. The address will outline the vision for the clan’s next 6 months and will act as our guiding principles during that time. Therefore this will be a piece of information we will refer back to should we lose our way or face setbacks and it will also be what we can celebrate at the end of those six months before committing to a new vision.

This also has the dual nature of outlining any projects we are working on, so those interested can reach out and participate - a reminder that this is a great way to get non-site XP and credits. I intend to be as inclusive as possible, as I know from speaking with you all that there are many of you with goals of amassing credits, ranks, and awards. I plan to work as a facilitator of opportunities and options, like a Guild Master providing bounty pucks so our coffers are enriched.

Fore we desire: Credits, Not Words.

Contents:

1. My Thanks
2. Our Situation
3. Our Solutions
4. Current Operations
5. Summit Changes
6. Consul Q&A
7. Coming Events
8. In Closing

My Thanks

I want to start this with a sincere word of thanks, first to the membership - thanks all! Truthfully I feel like this wouldn’t have happened without all the support you all have given. What success we continue will be because of all of the whole Team Vizsla and I’m happy with the group I get to work with on this. Second, I want to thank Bubba & Atra for trusting me to step into these shoes, so large that they are. I appreciate the show of support even when I clearly am a hazard on our discord server and deserve a cone of shame.

Drac & Mako, how am I going to follow you, jerks. I stand on the shoulders of giants. What comes next is because you did your duty and so much more. Thank you both.

Our Situation

*“Our club’s purpose is to provide entertainment, enjoyment, and fellowship to its members.” * - Darth Pravus, A Letter to the Voters

I firmly believe that the above quote is a perfect description of our club’s purpose. The three pillars it bears are easy to communicate and digest. Additionally, they serve as an excellent reference point from which any new plans can be made. This will be the foundation from which we work. Vizsla must serve the greater club’s purpose of providing entertainment, enjoyment, and fellowship to its membership. While in this service, it needs to offer an experience that is unique from the other clans. Thankfully, we have the Merc/Mando theme going for our unit and from this identity we will strengthen the three pillars.

However, a frank assessment of our situation needs to be considered if change is to be made:

When it comes to the entertainment pillar:

• Competition participation across the clan has decreased since last year
• Competition hosting, both in the summit and membership, has decreased since last year
• Role Play sessions have been attempted but abandoned after a few introductory posts
• Clan lore was been retconned but largely untouched since the spring

In regards to the enjoyment pillar:

• Gaming remains Vizsla’s greatest strength, this needs to be maintained and new opportunities explored…there’s a sizeable group that would mutiny if we abandoned or forgot this important platform :)
• Member investment/interest in the clan lore remains uncertain
• Member participation in the clan narrative has been under-utilized
• The Ad Vizsla are a growing group, but what’s next for them?

Finally, when it comes to the fellowship pillar:,

• Member feedback reports a growing feeling of being silo’ed
• Member feedback reports an understandable loss in the community
• Membership numbers have decreased since last year
• Fewer members are earning 5000+ credits for the clan

It is these above issues that we will seek to combat over the next 6 months and how we will do that starts below.

Our Solutions

When it comes to the entertainment pillar:

• The Bounty Board (BB) will continue to be a staple of our community, as a reliable source of XP and credits that the membership can tap into on a monthly basis.
• As new summit members are brought on, the BB will be an important part of our onboarding and training so that the next generation summit has a baseline that they can grow for our members.
• Summits will be directed to connect with members regarding career goals and offering guidance/opportunities to earn XP and credits, including developing a culture where membership is empowered to run competitions of their own or come up with campaigns/clan events of their own -A story group will be developed to assist with the development of campaigns, expansion of clan lore, and the spending of clan coffers

In regards to the enjoyment pillar:

• Offer a robust and regularly updated fiction environment that is community-driven
• Expand on Clan Fero and unpublished lore that Sarin created. This rivalry will be our main focus until the next Great Hunt, while offering opportunities for the clan to impact the lore/direction themselves.
• Develop merit based awards with character representation in the clan story
• Develop alternative opportunities for character representation in the clan story
• Offer competitions that canonize the winning entry into clan lore
• Launch Val’s Vizsla Seasons (name change coming to avoid confusion with the DB Seasons), a project that will offer fictional and lore rewards within the clan
• Launch Tater’s Round Table that involves the clan’s fictional titles/roles in opposition to the Clan Fero

Finally, when it comes to the fellowship pillar:,

• Develop Social Nights to break down silo’ed experience
• Develop a clan strategy for recruitment to bring in new members
• Connect with membership to understand when is best to be running opportunities they can participate in

As you all can see, we have our work cut out for us. However, I’m certain we are up to the task. Those that see items on here that they would be interested in assisting with, or perhaps you have your own idea on how to achieve success, I encourage you all to reach out. Have a conversation with a member of the summit so we can get you onboard.

Current Operations:

• Vizsla September Bounty Board is still running! We will run this every month with accessible competitions that anyone can do. If there are other competition types that you want to see, let us know in the comments or in Clan Chat!
• Social Nights - So far we have launched two nights with a gaming focus, we intend to keep offering gaming nights for our clan members to group up. Alternatively, Azler is working on developing RP nights from his DND background while we will also looking at special events reflecting the unique interests of our group. Watch the discord event page and our clan mailer for future dates.
• Clan Survey - We are looking for everyone’s input into developing our stories. Survey will run until Oct 1st. Thanks to Azler for creating this.
• Story Group - We will be starting a story group where participants will have the opportunity to develop future clan campaigns, create new clan lore, and make recommendations for clan purchases. If this sounds like something you’d like to join, email Raiju: [Log in to view e-mail addresses]

Summit Changes

As was announced yesterday in the clan war channel, but we’d like to make it official on the site now. Please join me in congratulating Azler as Proconsul. Azler's been doing a fantastic job as Quaestor so it was a no-brainer to move him up. He brings a passion for building an inclusive member experience to storytelling and his skills are well needed as we set sights on developing our fiction community.

With that appointment, it means we lack a Quaestor. However, from the candidates it was clear that Malodin'Tater would make a fine addition to the summit team. Having previously served as M:CON during Sarin’s term, Tater is already well familiar with the plans we want to bring to life. So please congratulate him on taking over Wren as QUA.

Consul Q&A

As many of you are aware, I spent some time this past week inviting everyone to ask some questions about the future of Vizsla. Some of you chose to participate, others roasted me. Here’s some selections from the event:

Jenni asked: Do you have any plans of friendly/frenemy competitions/tournament ideas with other clans?

Great question Jenni, for some time now Viszla CONs have been planning a inter-clan competition. Unfortunately, life has been its main nemesis. At present moment, my focus in on supporting Pro Bowl as best I can since week 0 is set to launch Sept 22nd. After this I plan to follow up on my predecessor’s plan to host a coop event with another clan.

Should they be willing to continue, I’ll gladly share the details in due time.

Lastly, we’ve recently opened our bounty boards DB-wide to foster more competition and increase the awards. I’ve also been using this experience as an experiment. I’m excited to share that this has been successful and we will be running our next Great Hunt db-wide where non-vizslas could have a direct impact on the clan storyline.

Dek asked: You’re at the end of your tenure. It’s been 9 months to 5 years. You look back upon yourself and your time here: “What was my greatest singular goal that I accomplished?”

The greatest thing I hope to accomplish is that there is a dugout full of talent to carry Viszla forward and keep the fun happening. This past year has been earth shattering for our clan and thankfully we had talented folks to shoulder that and drive forward. However, we can’t keep relying on former generations if this club is to continue. If we have fresh faces and an empowered membership, I’ll be delighted.

Mal’Tater asked: Where do you see us short term? Say within the next 6 months? And how are we going to spend all the credits?

Great questions! When it comes to planning for the next 6 months, this will be the focus of the address I will release. I borrow my report structure from Kit Katarn, a name most won’t remember today. However for me he was quite influential. The clan address will chart the vision for the next 6 months and follow up monthly reports will refer back to this document with updates on the progress we are making. The goal being every six month cycle starts with an address providing the direction and then five follow up reports showing the progress that we’ve made.

How would I define our next 6 months? We are going to enter a phase of decentralization for the clan narrative. Experience has taught me that I can’t do it all, I’ll burn out if I try. The same goes for our summit team. So we will be looking to include individuals and groups in our project work so the work load is shared, folks are earning non-site XP and credits, and we are giving learning opportunities for the next generation of leaders.

One of these groups will be focused on spending our credits in a meaningful way.

Coming Events

1. Fiction Update: will be coming out before the end of the month. This update will feature the top 3 credit earners in August as the POVs while including a hand full of mentioned/side characters to help tell the latest Vizsla story. After this month, fiction updates will be included with the Consul report on the 15th of the month.
2. Seasons Has Returned: With a new cycle for seasons, a new chapter has been released. Check it out and then go compete in Parabellum Cycle 3. Important Reminder: Parabellum participation impacts Pro Bowl scores!
3. Speaking of Pro Bowl: The club’s Consuls have been working hard at bringing you the latest Pro Bowl. Big shout out to Slagar for once again running this event that focuses more on participation than placement. Pro Bowl will be a scene in an upcoming fiction update for the clan, so be sure to get involved if you want your character captured in the action.
   

In Closing

By now, each of you should have a good idea of what our situation is, where the clan summit stands, and what we will be focusing on for the next six months. By February, we will know our successes as we prepare a new Clan Address. In the meantime, the summit and I will promise to provide regular reports, announcements, emails and other forms of contact over the course of this term. We will also promise not to @everyone anymore.

Should you have any questions, comments or concerns regarding the material above, please contact me directly.