Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Pre-Season Meeting Minutes

Ok- I know it sounds boring - but these are the decisions that will shape our community for the next year and make or break the poetic hearts of slammers in Victoria. So, it's important yo.

1) CFSW Update /SpoCan Board
Victoria Slam Team placed 12th (out of 18) at this year's Canadian Festival of Spoken Word.
The 2011 festival will be held in Toronto.

Victoria Broad Reps:
Megan Ann Ward - Tongues of Fire
Missie Peters - Victoria Slam

2) New Slam Master
Missie Peters was confirmed as Slam Master for 2010 by vote of present Tongues of Fire members.
Duties and Responsibilities for the Victoria Slam Master were also confirmed - see the post for full details: http://vicpoetryslam.blogspot.com/2010/11/slam-master-duties-and-responsbilities.html

Missie's stated goals as Slam Master for the 2011 season:
  • Consistent and clear organization over the season
  • Encouraging more/new slammers to participate

3) The Slams
Cabin 12 is our slam venue this year - thank you Cabin 12 (follow them on Twitter @Cabin12Victoria).
Tongues of Fire will be purchasing sound equipment for Vic Slam (Cabin 12 doesn't have any).
Finals Night has been booked at the Victoria Event Centre.

There will be 5 regular season slams - monthly Jan-May with Finals in June.
The slams will happen on the 3rd Thursday of every month.

A slam 'kit' has been created with all the neccessary equipment and paperwork to run the slam. This will hopefully make it easier to run a slam, and provide one place where all the scores and standings and records are kept in hardcopy.

We will only need 1-2 volunteers a night to run the door and help bout manage. Megan Ann Ward, Volunteer Coordinator for Tongues of Fire will ensure volunteers at the slams.

We have decided to offer cash prizes this year as a way to encourage new slammers. Cash prizes will be given to the top 3 poets.

Any earnings from the slam season will go to 1) supporting the slam team to go to Toronto for CFSW 2) ensuring enough funds to support the next slam season.

4) Promotions
Posters and flyers are being created for the entire season prior to January by a volunteer design student. The flyers will be used to distribute to schools, at other shows (like the Emcee Night at Vic High) and to friends.

We will create a Vic Slam Fan Page and Facebook Ads encouraging new slammers. We will try to drive traffic from the Vic Slam Team Pages to the new Vic Slam Page.

We will create special buttons for slammers only, to create a recognition program.

The Nexus has already agreed to do a feature on Vic Slam to help spread the word. We will try to sell the concept to the Martlet as well.

5) Code of Honour
SpoCan has instituted a Code of Honour this year and a discipline policy attached to it for both offending poets and slam scenes. Therefore, and in order to promote good sportsmanship Victoria Slam will require all competing poets to sign the Code at each slam. Check out the post on the Code: http://vicpoetryslam.blogspot.com/2010/11/spocan-code-of-honour.html.

6) The Rules
The rules have been updated and amended from last year, specifically to provide more clarity on how the slam team will be chosen. Updates include:

No repeats (Rule 7)
No team pieces (Rule 13)
Points for standings to determine finalists (Rule 14)

To see the full posting of the rules see this post: http://vicpoetryslam.blogspot.com/2010/11/2011-slam-rules.html

7) Vancouver Indies
Vancouver is holding an individual slam festival April 18-24. Each slam scene may send a representative, and chose that rep any way they want.

Victoria will be holding a by-invitation-only slam on December 16 at Cabin 12 to determine the Victoria Slam City Rep. More details on both the festival and the slam to follow soon.

If you have any questions about these minutes, the slam season, or slam in general, please contact us at vicpoetryslam@gmail.com.

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