I was there, nothing huge to report. Here's my rundown

http://www.36reasons.net/2013/03/the-members-forum.html

Thanks for the write up

Thanks from me too.

Thanks

A totaL waste of time with the real issues dodged. I walked away with absolutely nothing but a PR exercise on keeping members supporting the club. About 100 people were there. Preaching to 100 people is not going to solve the issue of poor performance over the last 5 years resulting in lower attendances. The real issues like what the club is doing to improve performances next season were not addressed. The best that came out of Dean Parker about the coaching situation is that the current coach will see out the rest of the season. There's only 2 games left, what difference does it make if he goes now or stays another 2 games? He did not confirm a change of coaches for next season. Membership renewal letters will go out in the next 1 or 2 weeks. Without any information about next season coaches and team, and the frustration of this season still hot, it is going to be pretty tough to make a decision to renew. I am not a fair weather fan. I have stuck it out for the last 10 years. Passion for the club is one thing, failure to perform consistently for the last 5 years with no improvements made is another.

Thanks Forcey, I couldn't get there in the end.

what EC said is damn right. I hope you made your presence known, as I am sure most that went there are these asslickers who love failure

Thanks for that. If they need 6k to make cash they will never turn a profit so something has to change there. I HATE that they send the renewals out so early, I will sign up but it's such a pretentious move after such a horrible year.

I do like that they are attempting to be more connected with the fan base though.

Adding further to 36reasons:

The club will definately have a team on the Arena floor this upcoming season;

Half of the club's expenditure ($1.5 million) is spent on the playing squad and coaches (the cap is a million dollars so that gives an idea what is being spent on coaches and support);

Membership numbers have remained consistent these past four years and while he would be disappointed, he accepts some people may not renew membership based on coach/player selections (Dean did not touch on whether there had been shifts between the types of memberships). Dean wants people to stay members because he would hate for them to be without a seat when the sellouts start again"

Dean will be organising more Member Forums while in the CEO role;

Corporate partnerships, gameday and membership admin roles within the
club need improvement (but after starting the evening by highlighting improvements in the area of social media and communication didn't mention these areas as needing attention in terms of the organisational hierachy);

Skip can expect to be called upon to facilitate a member's quiz night;

Management will leave selection of players to the coach ("coach will have 99.9% control on playing personnel");

the new owners of the Arena need the Sixers as a major tenant with their purchase relying on the Sixers as much as the Sixers needing the stadium;

Request for less Sunday games and more double headers with the Lightning;

Game day half court shot likely to see greater gender balance among participants;

Dean is a Port Adelaide Power fan;

Private ownership, the Cairns community model, the Wollongong community model are not the most appropriate ownership models for the Sixers and the club will continue to investigate the best model to ensure the clubs future;

Only 86 member ticket owners capitalised on the cheap ticket option at the last game;

Dean doesn't read Hoops.

I'll leave it at that. The evening was recorded so I would expect the Club will make it available to members to watch at some point and somehow.

EC, what more were you expecting?

Of course it was a PR exercise but nevertheless it was one of the few opportunities to date where members could put questions directly to the CEO in a public forum without notice.

Did you put any questions to Dean and if so, what was it about his responses that left you unsatisfied?

Personally , I found the night to be a bit bizarre in relation to what some people thought important topics.

Some of the questions asked related to floor wipers and where's Boti to player fitness. For one person gender equality in on court competitions was the most pressing issue facing the club. Could be wrong but I am sure I heard one person even complain about the way the car is driven on court at half time.

I got the impression these menial questions were not what the forum was intended for and Parker did a good job being polite to these low level questions.

If the night was simply to show members there was someone prepared to listen to their questions then it was a success, if it was designed to open up some high level insights then the jury is still out for mine.

Some of the questions asked related to floor wipers and where's Boti to player fitness. For one person gender equality in on court competitions was the most pressing issue facing the club. Could be wrong but I am sure I heard one person even complain about the way the car is driven on court at half time.

I thought it was good. Dean spoke very well and i left positive that good times are near.Obviously would have liked to hear scoops on who is the owner and maybe those in line for the coaching gig if it happens BUT can understand and appreciate why it wasnt released. There were only a couple of negative nellies there and they were old and for mine not true supporters. All in all , i expected more of a turnout and for those who voice their thoughts on here so openly to show and front up but didnt happen. Massive eye opener on the actual expenditure it costs to run the business. Hopefully the community model gets the green light and we get a top class import.

A Port supporter hey...geez he may get my membership back yet...

Bigs Ads, out of that extra 500k above the cap that doesn't all go to the coach and assistant coach, it would also include other basketball department related staff that would include S & C staff, medical staff, massage staff, psychologist, team manager expenses etc.

Muzz Buzz, if the coaching is up in the air and there's no confirmed direction on a community model, Arena owner not able to be revealed and so on - what were people meant to ask that Dean would realistically answer? Those strike me as three pretty major points of interest for fans.

I wonder if this event couldn't have been held at the end of the season when they might've been more information on the key topics. Even mentioning looming renewals without a decision on Marty is likely to infuriate a few people.

Isaac i know what you mean. Some of those questions were the first asked , well before what was able to be discussed was clarified.

In regards to the memberships coming out early , why is it such a big deal ?. Yiu still have 6 months to renew and as explained they are trying to maintain cash flow. If people want to wait to see who the players and coaches are thats fine. Those that want to renew early is fine too. Really a non issue.

I dont see any kind of great signs yet. People are getting excited because he spoke well? Hahah. Spoke well about nothing.

And dean DOES read these sites I know that for a FACT

No I dont

Woo hoo, little basketballs are back, about time!

and lol Dean.

Yes, I thought that was worthy of a ball!

I love how being a "negative nellie" is frowned upon after 3 years of total mismanagement. It isn't negativity, it is realism and critical questioning.

It's the same on the official FB page. "No negativity"! When did Sixers fans become so back-seat? Why can't we criticize what has been a monumental cock-up of a season?

These days it seems being a fan, means you have to be supportive no matter what.

So everybody, let's all be good and kind to the delicate psyches at the club, we wouldn't want to step on any toes.

If Marty comes back, it's over for me. I'll wait until he is gone thanks.

I went to the meeting (even left work early expecting to not get a park with anticipation of a big turnout) but a little dissapointed to see such few. Given the opportunity to ask questions and find out about the future - where was everyone??? How many of you Hoops guys who have been expressing opinions - good and bad did go and at least see and hear for yourselves?

Dean expressed that their communication with the fans has been poor in the past and this was a start in rectifying this situation - another forum in 3 months to report on what they have done. Go along and find out!!

Come on everyone, be realistic. We probably wouldnt have a team except for the SOS group and a few have stuck it out despite the losses. Unless a big corporate sponsor comes along - and they are rare in this climate (and trust they dont go broke or to Vegas! in the meantime) this is what we have and deserves some support. Their heart and desires for success are the same as ours and without financial support/growth in whatever model of ownership is chosen, their will be no "saviour import" or top coach and quality players!

SO guys, be frustrated, concerned, passionate, just like the Sixers Board but limit your criticism and poor comments of them and each other and lets get on with positive constructive dialogue that helps to rebuilt the club back to a premiership and that means renewing your membership, attending games, buying a pie and drink (which the club gets a share)and not let the club fold by lack of this support.

Thanks

Agree with Speed44!

Sorry "silver fox" I could had sworn I heard you say that you don't read the various forums because they consist of little more than opinions. Maybe I failed to notice your tongue planted in your cheek so apologies if l had mis-represented your comments from last night.

Thanks Anon for expanding on my reference to "support". I understood that there were others on the pay role that directly support coaches and players however there maybe some people who are unaware of these commitments. I appreciate you expanding on that detail.

BigAds, I did raise a question. It came after someone had asked if there was going to be a change of coach next season. Dean was quite polite in regards to the current coach saying that money was an issue if the decision was made to release him earlier in his 3 year contract. I was led to believe that Dean did not see such a big deal in the performance of the coach and team because he said if the team was losing by 70 points consistently, then it would have become more of an urgent issue in replacing the coach. He seemed to be content that we are right up there and could have won many of the games we lost by a small margin. I stated to Dean the fact that losing so many games by such few points still constituted a loss and as such marked our position on the ladder. I asked if there had been any thorough examination as to why the team has not been able to get over the line when only 1 or 2 points down. Whilst the losses were not huge, the coaching presented a genuine problem that they could not get the team over the line. His response was that every game is different. You may lose a game by 1 or 2 because of poor foul shooting, in another game it may be the number of rebounds, in another game it might be the opposition stepping up, etc, etc. He sounded exactly like Clarke in the post game interviews after a loss. This disappointed me because he should have been more critical of this last season. I also saw right through him when his comment was that the current coach will see out this season. Big bloody deal, the season is only 2 more games. It makes absolutely no difference at this stage which way the coach goes but should not have said that to try and fool people into thinking he was giving some useful information.