My first present tense crazy notion was proposing that our Fraternity turn itself inside out in terms of what has been generally accepted as esoteric as a goodwill gesture to provide mankind a vehicle for greater achievement.
I was against and still am against any present day information that has been classified as esoteric being sold or revealed in a forceful manner.
If the esoteric information is going to be revealed, we should be the ones to keep our destiny within our hands and do it ourselves versus being forced to do so.
By choice versus by force is the essence of my proposal and I cannot foresee anything to change this perspective.
With this disclaimer being made, here is my Present Tense Crazy Notion #2. It should knock anyone out of their seat and raise individual and collective blood pressures in the short-term but not in the long-term.
Hopefully any dissenters will still see my love for the Fraternity throughout the proposal;)
As a matter of fact, the idea raised my own blood pressure before I asked myself the question "Why not?"
So here it is with one more disclaimer as to the rationale behind it.
Granted, I know that it may not work in every situation and for every individual Brother, but it may do so within some settings for sure. The situations where it could work would be worth the effort of it all.
The idea is that after the initial opening for meetings of all levels, the meeting itself should be recorded so that members can play the meetings back on devices such Apple iPods.
I would have fought this idea myself and others might be inclined to do so now as the idea reeks of potential abuse by Brothers not currently attending meetings as they currently exist.
You know how hard and impossible it is to herd cats and Kappa Brothers are no different;)
Yes, there is a certain psychographic profile that would ask themselves and others why should they pay dues and be present for a meeting when they can get it as an podcast?
But at the same time, there have been Brothers for ages that told a third party such as a spouse or girlfriend or other party that they were going to be attending a fraternity meeting and were engaging in unknown business elsewhere;)
Can I get an Amen?
I have held virtually every office of leadership within the local chapters I have been a member of. I know that the 80-20 rule is strictly adhered to by every organization mankind has witnessed on earth.
But at the same time, recording the meetings would have the impact directly on the Bond itself of directly and indirectly recognizing who is helping, leading, and pushing the chapter forward as well as who is being a hindrance, anus, and demoting chapter morale and effectiveness.
Could it be possible that everyone might take up too much time in expressing their thoughts, positions, comments, memory of the good old days on the yard, running them ****, and pontification on various issues simply because there is a recording device rolling?
But isn't this is what is happening now without recording devices being present?;))
Who has not had to endure someone slipping into a near Alzheimer moment and relive their past glorious days? Who has not burdened a meeting with such instances themselves;)
Have we progressed to the point where we are taking ourselves too seriously and failing to be able to laugh at ourselves?
Are we totally incapable of being wrong, silly, or self-deprecating?
This moment I am reminded of the various young princes within the movies "Gladiator", "Braveheart", and "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy as well as other cinematic experiences that would have preferred death versus being potentially seen as weak.
But we know from viewing them as outsiders that what they were afraid of being perceived is what they were already carrying and demonstrating as a clearly identifiable characteristic.
There was a principle that I learned as an undergraduate member and have preached and practiced it ever since as it relates to individual and organizational achievements.
Most individuals and organizations are either concerned with Image or Performance.
My undergraduate chapter Mu Theta practically slaughtered the entire campus and other BGLOs to run the yard with steel gloves with this concept.
If the supposed competition is heavily focused on their image and considers themselves untouchable as a result of their opinions about themselves, then flip the script and focus on the undeniable performance benchmarks to identify who is really number one.
Then as the performance is being certified within official and unofficial recognition, the image suddenly leapfrogs ahead at warp speed and you can then coast a little bit based upon your newly discovered and earned momentum.
This principle allows either an individual or an organization to maximize its resources versus experiencing feast or famine when implemented.
Image and Performance are essentially like two convicts chained together on a chain gang making a jail break from the prison of failure or two closely-aligned teammates running a three-legged race;)
Another reason to implement this Present Tense Crazy Notion #2 is that it would very effectively serve as a calling card for potential members (existing Brothers) to join
various chapters (if a choice is possible) when moving to a new city.
Using this concept for a noninitiated individual is a sacred cow within my own mind that I am not ready to kill yet;)
Someone has to pay some dues to sing the blues as the old beer commercial said;)
But if I were moving to a new city and the mp3 files of the various meetings of chapters were available, one could say that the listener could and would very easily identify where the action of progressive achievement (or lack of it) really is.
One could identify which chapters match my current demographic profile, lifestyle, and mindset as well as where one may potentially make the greatest impact (strong, progressive Brother joining a chapter in decline or stagnant).
I know that there would also be some extremely clever jokes or lines about various statements made within various chapters such as "this statement is going to be off the record", "I move to strike the previous comment", and/or "don't tell anyone that I said" etc.
But isn't this what technology can do for the Bond overall?
Isn't it possible that more Brothers might become more interested within individual Brothers, Chapters, and/or Provinces other than their own?
Who as a responsible chapter officer would not listen to sound recordings of other chapters possessing a reputation of both image and performance worthy of emulation?
Although the crazy notion could be expanded to video, I am not sure if one could drive safely and look at Kappa-Span at the same time:D
I just discovered the phrase for this concept and have entered it within the subject line as a result. C-Span is essentially the model while the concept initially proposes audio recording only.
Brothers who dip into meetings and slip out would have a grace period still in effect with audio that would totally expire with video;))
But who knows whether someone would go as far as to digitally use CGI effects to make Brothers active, inactive, present, or absent;)
We can have fun with the concept as well!!!
The concept in its present form suggests that we could reclaim and retain more contributors than we have historically done so.
I wonder if it will become possible for another organization to beat us to the punch in implementing such an idea.
But as it relates to Grand Chapter and the IHQ, this concept would be a significant, paradigm-shifting, and raison d'etre for individuals to remain financial AND active members.
It could be said that such recordings might be a such source of both revenue and enjoyment just like songs are for record labels. The Fraternity should immediately seek to be the central and exclusive source for such content and chapters would upload their meetings to a secure server owned or leased by GC accessible to IHQ.
Financial Members would be able to download their own chapter's files free while having to pay a small fee to obtain content from other chapters.
This concept is already expanding while creating this post alone!!!
There is nothing that should prevent this idea from being implemented in the course of a year or less!
The idea could be now expanded to video now as it relates to various events, fundraisers, Guide Right programs, etc.
We would have Kappa TV as a technology and concept currently being tossed around as IPTV (Internet Protocol Television). Here are the Google results for the acronym and phrase for more links!
Who knows how many photo-opportunity seeking Bruhs would rejoin and become more active (financially and otherwise) after they consistently saw the Bond in video;D
Better yet, this crazy notion would serve to reduce the short and long-term strain on Brothers in reading the official publication known as The Journal.
Since The Journal is sent to financial members, receiving highlights or limited access could be granted to unfinancial members.
The editors and contributors of The Journal would be able to use their skills in video format and other Brothers with experience in producing audio, video, and textual content would have a magnetic forum that would effectively provide a call to arms for them to utilize their skills and talents.
Granted, not every Brother or level of organization would be able to be as effective in using multiple multimedia formats. But starting with one and expanding their effectiveness to other formats would be a great reason to stay Bonded.
No struggle, no progress.
This concept would also serve to document a lot of the history that we are missing at the micro levels of Kappa. Because we miss the fine details, we suffer the consequences at the macro level and vice versa.
We could also seek to quickly recover any tangible and intangible assets upon Brothers joining the Chapter Invisible and prevent situations like the recent copy of the Ritual on eBay.
Furthermore, the idea and present-tense crazy notion #2 heavily leans on the notion and question of why are we tying down multiple Brothers and lifestyles with the mundane processes found within present-day meetings anyway? Is it not possible that the concept of fraternity meetings could be revamped and made more productive by conducting business faster than the speed of light via e-mails, conference calls, and other technology and leave the meetings to a low-tech concept of focusing exclusively on pure Brotherhood?
Isn't that what the word Fraternity is all about anyway?
Would impact would this have on reclamation? Are present-day meetings too much of a sacred cow to be considered as a reason for a great BBQ cookout (there is a book entitled Sacred Cows Make Great Hamburgers)?
I'm looking forward to either comments on the original and derivative forms of the Present Tense Crazy Notion #2.
If there are no comments, then regardless I will know that there will be a day where Kappa-Span or Kappa TV will come to pass in one form or another.
To this end, I shall be satisfied with the incremental steps of achievement witnessed as a result of this blog entry.
Here is a link to a blog entry that I created on my personal blog on why organizations and the upper echelons of government such as Grand Chapter and IHQ should not overlook how and why individuals are using technology to create disturbing change within society.
Yours in the Bond!
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