Well, here we are. No more introductions, no passing of business cards, funny stories of how I came to be in this club or this house... We're down to the real McCoy, the brass tacks, the bits and baubles that will pollute your news for the month until I churn out a new report later.

This is October's Activity Report, <small>Plagueis Style</small>.

Horizons Debriefing

You all know the names that I'm going to mention here, right off the bat. And I desperately hope that Solus blushes when I mention this. He's just that kind of guy: humble. Well... sometimes, maybe. Okay, not completely, but he's human just like the rest of us -- and that's what's important, right? Humanity, instead of Zombieness.

Solus is very very human. And very very not zombie. He's human to the tone of ten Novae (3G:4S:3B) from twenty-five submissions and one very beautiful club-wide #1 in Horizons. That's what a beautiful .400 batting average can do. Why do I worry about his batting average? 'Cause he's a Giants fan. <small><small>And I, as a Cardinals fan(-ish), would like to bring up that we were beat in 7 games by the best. We warmed 'em up, y'hear? We warmed 'em up.</small></small>

And you know who else is human? Arden Karn: knighted on the battlefield, carrying in twenty submissions and netting four Novae for himself (2G:2B).

Oh no, but that's not the end of it.

Overall, Plagueis put in 132 submissions and walked away with 28 (7G:8S:13B) Novae from fifteen of the competitions. That's a whole 21.21% of the submissions that we entered converting to awards.

Well, maybe not converting. It's not happening all on its own. You earned every shred of those medals. And 132 seals? That's a healthy reaping.

16 people competed in Horizons from Plagueis -- I'll let that one speak for itself. I don't want that to feel like shame, but I want you to realize what we could have done if the other three-quarters of the House could have contributed. We did well with a quarter of our membership. I can't imagine what we would have done with everyone's help.

Awards Lists

Here's the month's Award and Medal breakdown by member:

Alaris Jinn di Plagia: 24 CFs, 3 Novae (1G:2B) Arden Karn: 9 CFs, 4 Novae (2G:2B) Bracen Kaeth: 2 Novae (1S:1B) Eiko: 12 CFs, 3 Novae (1S:2B) Kal di Plagia Vorrac: 1 Nova (1S) Kuro Kogarasu: 1 Nova (1S) Rediir: 10 CFs Silent: 33 CFs Solus Gar: 1 CF, 10 Novae (3G:4S:3B) Telum Vas Umbra: 1 Nova (1B) Tra'an Reith: 2 Novae (1G:1B)

And because I feel better separating the Merit Medals from the competitive stuff, here's who earned what on that front:

Grand Cross of the Dark Side: Arden Karn Steel Cross: Alaris Jinn di Plagia, Eiko Anteian Cross: Braecen Kaeth, Kuro Kogarasu Dark Cross: Furios Morega, Kal di Plagia Vorrac, Silent, Telum Vas Umbra

Competitions Available

Eiko's Trivia Cookoff of Destiny will shut down on November 2nd so that we can start up the next weekly trivia for you folks. The top two competitors get Legion of the Scholar, and those awards are still VERY up for grabs. Apparently, I made the trivia harder than I expected. It's good for you. Once this round is done, I'll be starting up a new week-long trivia. Watch your emails.

Zuser's running a pair of competitions in his quest for Dark Jedi Knight:

"Pilot Those Pods!" <small><small>What a great game-show name!</small></small> pits you up against Sebulba on Tatooine's famed Mos Espa raceway. Race on Easy, then submit your scores to take home a Crescent. Ends on November 6th

"Space Jedi? Meet Space Tank!" pits you against your peers in a race for score and completion in Space Paranoids. Highest completion wins, ties will be broken by score. Enter the machine. Fight for the <del>Users</del> <ins>Plagueians</ins>! And Crescents. Snag the opportunity before it leaves for good on November 6th

Hurry and get working on Kal's "Anything You Can Do" fiction event. Five pages of rivalry with another Plagueian. Submissions close November 9th.

Those are the House-focused competitions. Go find some Club-level activities too, so you can get higher level Crescents and prove your supremacy aboard!

Question Time

When it comes to motivation, and inspiration what techniques can you bring to the table to foster a communal feel to the House of Plagueis? (from Telum)

Let's start here: this House has fantastic climate to it already. Everything can be improved upon, but TR and Kal and those who have gone before them have all stepped up to make a very nice environment.

What motivation can I bring to the table?

Regular interaction. Yeah, it doesn't sound like much, but my goal is to show up as regularly as possible and jump into conversation with everyone else here. I want to hear what you're thinking, what you're looking forward to, what you're fearful of... and I know that's not going to be the way that works for everyone. Some people don't have the time to spend on IRC or don't want to jump into a chaotic email thread -- that's too much time or too much energy for them. That's absolutely fine. I just know that the easiest way to encourage is to help point members in the direction of entertaining competitions and to spend the time between competitions, those relaxing lulls (like right now) just hanging out in a way that strengthens the club.

Prompt feedback and encouragement. I will try my best to be on the front lines of congratulatory emails and behind-the-scenes preparations for awards, promotions, and other encouragement. I also want to spend good time working on meaningful recommendations -- the kind that you'll want to look at a year from now, to reference in your next leadership application, the kind that will help remind you that people at this club really do appreciate your work. That's a quiet way to encourage, and I think it's one that suits my personal strengths the best.

How do you propose we ensure communication with new members aside from the usual (and mostly ineffective) emails? (from Furios)

There is only so much that I can do. This entire club is focused through email. Can't read your email? No promo updates, no AWOL checks, no award updates... and even if there was a "better" way to contact people, it would likely be too invasive (i.e. phone numbers) or personal (i.e. Facebook or Twitter) or completely disconnected (i.e. separate forums with a PM system).

Sadly, we're stuck with email. Good news, though, is that it's reasonably universal and it's definitely the standard of interaction on the internet. Everyone asks for an email address, and if a recruit never check that email address, then that's completely out of our hands.

IRC and Ventrillo are great for personal connection, but not good for retaining records. Email is the way to go.

And here's the other part of the answer: we ensure communication by encouraging new members to want to be here. If they like the company, enjoy the activities, want to participate in the community, then they will read their emails. If they don't feel welcomed, or if they weren't committed enough to the idea of being a part of an online community in the first place, there is very little that anyone can make them do something that they don't enjoy. Community.

Seth Godin calls it a "tribe." I like that. <small>Yes, it's from 2009. But it's still perfectly right. <small>Yes, there will be a trivia question about this</small></small>

We don't need everyone. We need the good ones.

TL;DR: Look up, read the medal numbers. You're missing out on good content if you skip like that, but...