It’s a new year and people are asking me what my themes, goals, expectations and ideas are for 2011.  Well, I have a lot of them.  Primarily, I want people to recruit with a vengeance.  We need more Browncoats.  We can always do better and one of the ways to do that is to focus on some unsung strengths.   

Example:  Affiliate Events.
 
Now, I’m a big fan of city screenings.  I make no apologies about that.  The big screenings raise the big funds.  They’re great fun and they have some brilliant venues, guests and activities.  I love ’em, but I also like the affiliate events and what they can bring to the table.

I really think this is the year of the affiliate event.  We have our big city gatherings and we should, but we have so many little towns and modest Browncoat groups that never get into the mix because they don’t have a theater to show a screening or can’t afford one or just don’t feel that they have the time and the gumption to throw a gathering together.  Not true.

If you have a big room in your house for throwing parties, then you have an affiliate venue.  If you have a backyard (with or without a pool), then you have an affiliate venue.  If you have access to a community center, church space, old barn, unused warehouse, circus tent, reasonably comfortable cave, bomb shelter, empty attic space, historic village, music hall, home theater, abandoned tract of public land, city or state park or just a good sized porch, you have an affiliate venue.

Let’s face it.  You’re Browncoats.  You can meet in a bombed out building, a bar, or a bombed out bar.  All you need is a handful of Browncoats and a good sized ‘tip jar’ for donations.  That’s it.  You don’t have to show Serenity to be a part of it all.  You don’t have to wow a crowd.  You just need some friends, fans or potential friends and fans and a meeting place.  Put together a potluck dinner and collect some cash for the cause.  Throw a pool party that benefits people half way around the globe.  Have a fish fry.  Explore a nature walk with a picnic at the end and pass the proverbial collection plate.  Charity begins at home, and it doesn’t even have to be your home.  Do you have a friend with a huge basement neglected, in need of music and bowls of bright candy?  Affiliate party.  Have a boat that doesn’t touch the water enough?  Boating Affiliate Party.  Have an old barn?  Affiliate Barn Dance for the greater good.

The thing about the affiliates is this: they aren’t confined to dark theaters and stadium venues.  The big screenings are a blast and not to be missed, but think of all the towns, suburbs, cities, hamlets, mountains, riversides, meadows, caves, and far reaches begging for an affiliate event.  Affiliates are your warm ups to the big game.  Affiliates are your recruiting stations for the larger screenings.  Affiliates are little venues that add up to a lot of extra donations, support and Browncoat fandom.  People who are oppressed and in dire need of our help don’t care how we help, they just care that we help.

Get together and show people FIREFLY and then take them to see SERENITY, where they should see it.  Among friends.  Bookend the CSTS season with as many events as you can muster.  You already have people who can do this.  You already know fans of the show.  You already have a circle of friends in need of a gathering.

 Eat, drink and raise money, for tomorrow we have day jobs.

Now head over to the forum and post ideas and get planning!  We’ve got work to do.