Think And Grow Klingon

A challenge, as Ship Commander, was to maintain a level of interest for the members of the group.  The next event that would get the members out in costume was Nova Con in November.  I realized that I would have to generate events that we could participate in.

One of my first priorities was to find a neutral location for our meetings.  I didn't like holding meetings in a home.  The model I was using was what I was used to in the Military.  I was the Commanding Officer, and the members of the ship were my section heads.  I carried a ledger to the meetings, and would delegate a task to someone at the table.  In my ledger I would note who and when the task was to be accomplished.  This became part of my agenda for the next meeting.

This works in a perfect world.  Holding a meeting in someones home defeated the purpose.  I did not want to compete with the dog, cat, parakeet or even worse the children.  When the dog - cat or little Johnny crawls in being too cute and takes away the focus of the meeting; well Moms just do not like it when you tell them their precious is interrupting the meeting.   This sounds harsh and I did not want to put myself or the others in this situation.  My other option was to find neutral territory.

I had heard that the YWCA by the Mic Mac Mall in Dartmouth could provide meeting space.  There was a nominal fee for the space.  We would take up a collection at the meeting.  Nominal Fee - We got what we paid for.  Our meetings were held in the hallway.  We could hear the sounds of ballet music from one side of the building and the thud-slap of the judo classes on the other side.  Anyone who had to use the washrooms had to pass by our 'conference table'.

Truth be told, I did not want to host the meetings at my house. 

I was relying on my Military experience.  A busy soldier is a happy soldier.  My Amway experience was to build for the event.  Make sure:  the experience is positive;  the people involved have to feel good about what they are doing and themselves; and  recognition for accomplishments.

Question:  "How do I generate an event?"  Looking for events was my challenge.  I was constantly looking for people of influence in any organization that was trying to raise money.  The Klingons were different and attracted attention.  I started talking to anyone and everyone.  My attitude was that I did not know who I was talking to.  A casual conversation could and did lead to, "Oh, I know someone you should talk to." 

One of the more unusual events, (Note to self - define usual.), was one of our first.  In October of 1995, we had been invited to participate in a "Skate-A-Thon".  If you can imagine a cadre of Klingons cavorting on skates.  I did my first split ever - my first and only split.  On a personal note, the Ice Capades never really did it for me after that. 

We had participated with the Children's Wish Foundation in Bedford.  Our participation at that time was to show up in costume.  We would walk among the crowd, have our picture taken and just add presence.  This was a lot easier and even safer, for me, than trying to keep my balance on skates.

During the early summer of 1996, Henry had quit KAG Kanada.  Henry had been the Ship's Captain of the IKV Praksis as well as the Squadron Commander of the Black Ice Fleet. The new Squadron Commander was Floyd.  (Not his real name.)

I was appointed as his Second In Command or 2 i/c.  I saw my role as administrative.  Following up on Ship Reports and maintaining a dialogue with the other ships in rural Nova Scotia.  The Internet was starting to take shape.  I had migrated from the Bulletin Boards to an Internet account.  We were in a rush to take advantage of the GUI features of the relatively new Windows platform.

IKV SonchIy

I had bought a book on HTML coding, and was keen on posting a picture on a web page.  I had bought my first computer, a 286.  1 mega byte of ram and 40 mega bytes of hard drive.  The computer store that I bought it from told me, more accurately the sales man told me that I would never need another computer.

We had a crest for the ship, compliments of Rick.  Rick was also the first one in the group to become proficient in HTML coding.  That translated to Rick was spending a fair amount of time at my house, on my computer.

I wanted to establish a web presence as soon as possible.  I wanted to get the name of the ship, the crest and visual proof of our events on line and as soon as possible.

Sue had gotten in touch with me regarding the picture she had taken at MarFest.  We were communicating via e-mail.  Sue also was in the Military.  She was posted to CFB Moncton.  The base was in the process of closing down.  During the course of our correspondence, she confided that she was being posted to CFB Halifax.  I knew that she was into costuming, and I wanted her to join my ship when she arrived in Halifax.

What I did not know was that her participation at MarFest had also been her first time in costume at a convention.  The only question was when she would be in Halifax to hand over the copy of the photograph she had taken.

There was another new ship in Halifax, under the command of Lloyd, (again, not his real name), who was committing himself totally to establishing a presence in Halifax.  My impression, at the time, was that he was in competition with the Praksis.  I remember the ship's name sounding like the Shang Way.  My spelling, not the Klingon.

His targeting scanners were not on the Praksis as much as on the SonchIy.  I would find that out much later.