Episode 10: Tearing down and rebuilding

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This episode discusses the last few months of my guild. Going from total melt down to the start of anew era in my guild. I hope you enjoy! If you'd like to contact me send me an email to krrang@gmail.com.

Hello Medivh 6 - Reth from Silent Watch part 2

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This is the conclusion of the interview I did with the master guild leader Reth from Silent Watch.
Enjoy,
Krrang

Hello Medivh #5 Reth from Silent Watch part 1

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I'm very proud to bring you part one of an interview I conducted with Reth from Silent Watch on Medivh. Take a stroll down memory lane with us, and share in the wisdom of a truly outstanding veteran guild leader.
Kick back relax and enjoy!
Krrang

Episode 9 - Types of Recruiting

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This show deals with the 3 types of recruiting.
1. Maintenance
2. Class Specific
3. Survival

Q&A Show 1 - Thanks for all the love

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Here are my replies to all the wonderful questions you fine people asked. Thanks again and keep them coming!

Hello Medivh #4 - Jubite From Nobody Cares About PVP

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Hello All!!

This is my longest podcast yet and it hopefully gives you a fairly thorough look inside the doors of a pvp guild. Thanks again to Jubite on Medivh for conducting this interview! Next show will be a Q&A show so send your questions to krrang@gmail.com.

Enjoy!

Krrang

Episode 8 - Starting a guild day one

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Episode 8 - Starting on Guild Day 1

Things you need to have together:
1. Policy and rules
2. Name and tabard design
3. Any special rank ideas
4. Personal recruiting goals
5. A plan on how to develop a sense of pride
6. Website - wowguilds.ca
7. Ventrilo server - NationVoice
8. A little bit of gold for bank tabs
9. Have an established level 85 character and all of your alts in the guild.
- If you are going to truly be a guild leader you need to fully commit to it. Even officers shouldn't be in other guilds.
- If you and the leadership can't put your heart in it how do you expect your people to be?
10. Go in with a friend
11. Right now figure out what you want to be. What kind of a guild do you want? You have to be in alignment to this or it will fall apart.
12. Don't ever forget who's in charge.
- The more stuff you have in writing the less drama and people questioning it.
- People may try to take over at first- Don't let them.

Episode 7 - Two Bad Attitudes, intro to ranks, naming choices

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The 2 Loser Attitudes

1. Don't ever say "Well you can't please everybody." You can't cave to everything people ask for obviously, but you can surely try to please everyone or at least communicate as to why you can't do what was requested.

2. Don't ever say "I don't care what people think of me." How could you expect people to listen to you with an attitude projected onto people that you don't care what they think or have to say. Can you be different - yes! But never walk around like a little moron under a cloud of your own negative funk, using the cop out excuse, saying you don't care what people think of you. The number one need is to be accepted, the number one human fear is rejection. I have a little secret for you...if you act like that as if you are gaining fake self confidence...people actually hate you! And they are talking behind your back.

Do try to listen to all angles and try to always make as many people happy as possible. Always make correct decisions, running a guild and life in general is about making as many correct decisions as possible. It's not easy.

Naming Choices: Don't be too silly, short is always cooler. Try to make it reflect what you are about. No Will Smith or Epic Fail or overly dramatic names.

Ranks & Privileges
I recommend sticking to the stock ranks. Simple, but they work.
If you are going to be creative by all means go for it, but be real sure to fully explain what you mean by the rank descriptions.
You can tweak permissions for the ranks and for the guild bank, based on their current ranks you can allow them to withdraw certain amounts of stuff.
Make sure that if you make any changes your guildies know about it immediately. Post it in writing on website. Members always need a place to read about this stuff.

I just made a change to the "member" rank recently. The very first thing I did was put it on the website. If it's major stuff then you probably want to get officers opinions.

Mainly though you need an initiate rank, member rank, alt rank, and officer rank.
Don't go willy nilly changing ranks all over the place. Consistency is everything.

Hello Medivh - Eadorin from Performance Anxiety

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This is part one of a very cool interview I did with Eadorin from the guild Performance Anxiety.

Enjoy!

Krrang

Episode 6 - How to create a Charter and Code of Conduct

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Hey all,

Thanks again for all the amazing support and kind words. This show is a bit longer than others - almost a double episode. Going out of town for several days and wanted to put out a very important show on the behind the scenes nuts and bolts of guild management. This show focuses on the foundation of any successful guild the code of conduct. I didn't skip anything here as this show is 44 min long.

Also I'll be doing a Q&A show soon, so if you have any questions start sending them in and I'll answer as many as possible to the best of my ability. Many have asked for a Q&A show, but I need lots of questions to choose from so hook up my email with anything you want cussed and discussed heh. As always the email to contact me is krrang@gmail.com

You guys are awesome and I'll see you soon.

Krrang

Episode 5b Supplemental

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Hi all!

First of all thank you so much for the kind words of encouragement! Any kind of positive feedback and honest reviews really help motivate me to pump out this content and make it better. Reviews on itunes are fantastic. You can as always email me at krrang@gmail.com.

This supplemental show basically states what I'm working on for future shows including the art of recruiting quality people for your guild, ranks, in game controls and much more. I hope you like this and can put up with my nasty chest cold. I did manage to get it done but I'm going to record the next show later on this week after it clears up a bit and energy levels come back to normal.

You guys are awesome and thanks again for your nice feedback! We need more quality guild leaders out there - go for it. I hope these shows are a good resource to go to for information on how to do it.

Krrang

Episode #5: What a guild leader wants in a guildy

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Show #5: What a Guild Leader Wants

What a Guild Leader Wants...
• In a nutshell to avoid drama and have a rich, fun experience.
• You want a thriving guild.
-People who quit the game for 6 months expect the guild to die, it's awesome when they are shocked to find the guild even better then they left it.
-You want a culture that carries on when you aren't there.
• You want a structured environment where people can enjoy a pleasant experience.
-You can always loosen up but it's way harder to tighten up.
• As a guild leader you NEVER want to feel like you can't trust your people.
• You want your guild growing under control.

Why Have So Many Rules:
-You want to cover as many bases as possible.
-Nothing makes you look more stupid than to have a situation come up that you don't have it covered. Loot for example.
-You'll have to make tough decisions from time to time but what normally happens is people will start pointing fingers at you saying you play favorites and it's not fun. Rules and Policy prevent this from ever happening.

Episode 4 Types of Guilds

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Show Notes #4
Topics:
• What is a guild?
• Why run a guild?
• Types of guilds.
• Can you do it?

What is a Guild?
• A guild is a collection of people, organized to achieve common goals.
• A guild is a team and each team member and each team member should have each other's back.
• There should be an incredible sense of pride within the people behind the keyboard.
• A guild can become more than just a title on your screen.
• There is a name that you are or will be responsible for-Don't let a jack hole act like an idiot in trade chat because people will associate you and your guild to his behavior. (Isn't the first thing we do when someone in trade acts like that is shift-click on the name and check out the guild they are in?)
• It is very possible if not highly likely that you'll spend more time with people in your guild than with family and real life friends.
• Everyone should have a voice in a guild.
• The green chat of friends. These are the people you count on.
• BUT...leading is a huge responsibility because they don't have to come back. They are not getting paid.
• What keeps them coming back is you and their trust in you to provide direction and focus the guild in the correct direction.

• Why Run a Guild?
• Are you a person that says to yourself, "If I were in charge, I would..."
• Do you think in a structured logical way? If we push here what will happen.
• Can you set goals and stride to them?
• Running a guild is the ultimate experience in WoW.
• -You put others in charge of things that you create.
• -You create this "vehicle" that others get in together for common success and good times.
• You give up a lot of freedoms but when things are going well there is nothing better. There will be many monkeys that will get on your back.
• -Arthas.
• -Prince.
• You will probably compare yourselves to other guilds of your goals. Casual guilds should never compare their raid progress to a hardcore raiding guild. That's ok too. Friendly competition is always good. It's what focuses a team.

o Types of Guilds
o 2 main groups.
• Non raiding guilds.
• Raiding guilds.

o Non Raiding Guilds
o PVE Guild:
• Focus on battlegrounds
• Focus on arenas.
• PvP achievements, city raids.
• Can have hardcore attitude.
• Not the social hour.
• Focus on one of the hardest aspects of the game.
• They will train you but it probably isn't very casual.
• They are going to want to play with losers.

Social Guild
• Group of friends.
• Maybe 5 man stuff whenever.
• Not that consumed with gear.
• Enjoy the company but spare time is ok.
• Can be friendly and can be a place with buttholes

Leveling Guild
• Ok seriously I fail to believe this actually exists although I see it in trade chat all the time.
 -Whenever possible I ask them what they are looking for in a guild.
 -Always the answer is, "People to run me through stuff." NO NO NO-Never invite these people. EVER!
• How could someone be in charge of this?
• The name implies that people leave the game after 85.
• That would nightmarish hell and totally NOT gratify at all!
 Some guild leaders want to help lower level people out but this should never be the sole focus of your guild, because people are just using you, AND they will leave you!

 Roleplaying Guilds
• Some are rigid.
• Very uncommon style of guild.
• Toon histories, chat must be done in character.
• It's for some but not for others.
• Form a guild master prospective I can't imagine trying to police that, you didn't say, "mon" like a troll when you asked if anyone had obsidian ore.

 Crafting Guilds
• Usually a group of alts looking to RAISE money together.
• Highly uncommon.
• Beware doing this with strangers.

 Bank Guilds
• Couple of people buy bank tabs and share the space.
• Can be the corpses of dead guilds.
• People sell the guilds.
• Some of the biggest guilds out there are now just some dude's bank.
• People server transfer and leave them behind.
• Space is nice, but this really isn't a guild, just more space.

o Raiding Guilds.
o Hardcore Raiding Guild.
• Attendance is mandatory or you are out and you'll be replaced.
• Numbers and performance are everything-All that matters is raid progression.
• If you can't cut it you're out.
• Can be friendly but normally it's more like a business.
• Not so much about time.
o -Many don't play much other than raiding.
• Different levels of hardcore/pro world firsts and all that.
• Best players in the world, may not be the nicest because they need the best of the best gear to be the best.
• Put up with a lot of ATTITUDE for the price of gear and progression.
• Have rigid loot rules and policies.

o Casual Raiding Guild
• RAIDING is a main focus but not the only focus.
• Social interaction is also a main focus
• Probably the most common medium to large style of guild.
• Tend to be semi to super structured with policies and regular events.
• Attendance to raids is not mandatory.
• It is kept fairly friendly overall-however these guilds can be a hot bed for drama because of the social aspect of it.
• Raiding process is always behind the hardcore guilds. 1-3 nights per week normally, but tend to have other non-raid events from time to time.
• Get a lot of talented players that can't commit to the hardcore raiding guild's attendance and policies-OR-They like to play well but not so serious.
• Tend to be fragmented.
o -People that are into gear.
o -People that are into achievements or solo play.
o -People that are always on vent and people that are not.

Hello Medivh #2 Interview with Happielock from Pros

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This is another fantastic interview from the local guilds around Medivh. Here we learn about a much different kind of raiding guild featuring the guild leader Happielock from the guild Pros. This fast paced, exciting interview is eye opening into a smaller style raiding guild. It was great meeting Happielock and discussing guild management. I hope you all enjoy!

Hello Medivh! #1 - Interview with Boradinn from Acid Burn

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Hey there!

I am pleased to announce that I had the opportunity to interview the highly successful guild leader Boradinn from the guild Acid Burn on Medivh. The is the first of hopefully many "Hello Medivh" editions of love to the guild leader where I will be "talking shop" with different guild leaders on my server. I really appreciate the time that Boradinn gave up to record this and I hope you enjoy! My goal is to give everyone different perspectives involving guild management. My apologies for my microphone issues at first. I'm a little too low but it gets corrected about 3 minutes into the interview. Also my push to talk noises are absolute fail but hey Enjoy!!
- Krrang (Alchanon - Medivh)

Episode 3 Qualities of a Successful Guild Leader 5-1

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Show notes #3
5. Be Empathetic
You have to be a person that is in touch with the guild. This involves talking to each and every guild member whenever possible. Don’t miss an opportunity to say hello how’s it going? In a whisper.
You need to feel when people are getting a little ticket when they are left out or realize when the guild is growing to fast or getting kind stale and could use some new people.
Be in touch with how people are feeling. You need to be able to put out fires and more importantly sense when the fires are starting. People have a right to fume and complain to each other behind your back but you’d better not be naive about it.
You need to feel if the guild is getting annoyed with a certain member or officer or if they are not inspired by the guild goals or lack of goals that you have set.
You are setting goals right?
When you recruit notice how the people are answering your questions. If you get a bad vibe do not let them in or feel like it’s your job to change them. This is one place where you don’t have to deal with turds!

4. Delegate
You will not survive if you try to do it all yourself. You'll have to for the first few weeks but then you're going to need officers. (More on officers in a later show)
All the daily and weekly tasks need to be delegated to officers. Such as:
• Bank
• DKP
• Setting up raids
• Recruiting
• Promotions
• Auctioning stuff from the bank
• Reaserch strats/bosses
• Website creating
• Forum moderating
• Running guild events
You cannot do it all-Have lots of officers.

3. Leadership
Are you a follower? If so do not be a guild leader.
-As guild leader you are in charge of the well being of the guild-period. You need to keep that thing DRAMA FREE, growing, harmonious, fun , progressing and at the same time not being an overbearing, selfish dictator. Say, "It's our guild." Now don't miss an opportunity to kick an asshole from the guild. That's what they want you to do.
Leadership can be summed up in one word-communication.
Do you find it hard to tell people what to do and do they listen to you? If the answer is no don't be a guild leader.
-Leadership can be improved. I do believe that good communicators are natural leaders but you can always work on improving communication an thus becoming a better leader.-1-10 Really does sum up 99% of what it takes to be effective as a leader of a guild.

2. Social (People) Skills
Are you a people person or do you find it annoying when people are always talking to you?
-To be a guild leader you must find it an opportunity when people are talking to you.
These are YOUR people. They want and need to be inspired by you! So do that every chance you get. You need to be charismatic and caring. Talk to them, make them all feel special. Put them in positions where they can succeed and make your guild THRIVE. Keep recruiting-if someone leaves recruit two more people. Encourage people to talk and get to know each other. It's THE MOST important thing.
A guild that plays together stays together.
You HAVE to create a guild culture of supporting friendship. With this accomplished anything is possible.

1. Caring and Encouraging
Be caring and love your guild. Ask anyone to name their favorite teacher and they will 9/10 tell you because he or she cared and encouraged me to do more than they thought was possible.
That's every person in your guild too. Get to know them and find out their good qualities. Dwell on the good and not the bad.
If all of the above doesn't sound appealing then don't become an officer or a guild leader.

Conclusions
Guilds can provide you with tires of struggle, fatigue, depression, doubt and anger. However, it's all with it when they eventually come together under your command and become something special! Whether it's taking down the final boss or helping as a group on some grand guild event.
I promise you that the feeling of your guild's success will make all of that effort seem worthwhile.

Episode 2 - Must have qualities of a guild leader 10-6

Qualities of a Successful Guild Leader (from least to most important).

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What you want ultimately is to be loved by your people. You want to be trusted, respected and adored.

10. Be willing to shell out money
9. Selfless
8. Determined
7. Willing to put the time in
6. Organized


10. Be willing to shell out money
You are going to need two things to run a guild over the long run that will cost money.
A. A great looking website like wowguilds.ca offers. Guildlaunch or guildportal have free and less robust features but a full featured website with forums is an absolute must for a successful guild.
B. A ventrilo server with a minimum of a capacity of 25. 50 would be recommended but you can always upgrade later on down the road.
Being able to communicate with your guildies off line and voice to voice is one of the best ways to form lasting relationships and truly get to know them beyond what guild chat can offer.

9. Be Selfless
Running guild is all about your members and not about you.
Plan on not playing the game as much and instead managing what you’ve started. Especially at first you want to cultivate that all important guild culture.
If you are not willing to sacrifice your time for your guild, this is the wrong job for you. Being a guild leader is the hugest of huge commitments.
I remember always seeing a guild leader sitting in a particular place all the time. I’d walk by and there he was sitting on his mount in the same spot not doing anything, I always wondered what the heck that guy was doing. Now I understand.

8. Be determined
There have been 2 times that I can remember saying screw all this stuff, it’s not worth it. That is usually when people that I’ve spent countless hours talking to and helping just up and quit to join another guild.
This is going to happen. Repeat this…this is going to happen.
You gotta keep it going especially at the beginning of starting a guild.
I have a rule when someone leaves you go recruit two people.
These relationshitps that are severed like that can really hurt sometimes. It could hurt your raid team or just your feelings, so make sure you are emotionally stable so you don’t fall victim to just saying screw it!
Running a guild is without question the hardest thing I’ve ever done.

7. Willingness to put time in
If you’re thinking how many hours per week does it take? That depends on several things:
A. Your officers
B. Your goals
Probably 1-3 hours per day. You have to be able to play nearly everyday no question.
Remember you can’t burn yourself out.
If you burn yourself out it’s over – especially at the beginning.
Plan on spending a lot of time chatting to people via text or on ventrilo.
You must build personal relationships with people or they will leave you in a heartbeat. You must invest in them so that they will invest in your guild.
You will also have to spend lots of time updating your website and making it pro looking. You do not want to recruit people and direct them to an unattractive website.
You will be in charge of planning events, scheduling instance runs, raids or other affairs.
Emailing guild mates in game or responding to forum posts.
You’ll be recruiting new guild members.
Getting new members is one challange, keeping them around is another far more difficult endeavor.
It’s non stop because there isn’t specific hours doing the day when people play. It’s 24-7 all day every day.
Without all of this stuff especially in the beginning your guild will fail.
Remember with a guild with 50-200 members this can be like a small to medium corporation. Are you ready for all that?
I’ve seen guilds with 200 members fold overnight. This comes from pure lack of leadership. And expanding too fast.
How do I become an effective leader? You’re listening to it. Do these 10 things and you’ll be doing exactly what it takes to have a healthy happy successful guild that can accomplish anything that you want.

6. Be organized
You are going to be whispered within 5 sec of logging in sometimes by multiple people all wanting something. (this is a worst case thing be it isn’t uncommon)
I recommend you have a planner for your guild that is separate from your RL planner. If you want to be effective as a guild leader your have to know what you are going to do with your time. Bank organization, setting up raids, recruiting, helping someone set up ventrilo, 5 mans,…
It may not be fun all the time but you have to have a written plan for everything, with geals for the month and week. If you spend all your time in heroics you’ll neglect lots of areas of the guild.
You’re going to have to have written policies, raid rules, loot systems, prewritten in advance of even starting the guild.

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Show notes show #1:   Introductions!

Audio Podcast available on itunes.  Love to the guild leader is a show dedicated to guild leaders and officers in the world of warcraft.  This is an informative podcast on what I've learned in the past four years of running mine.

Website www.lovetotheguildleader.blogspot.com and krrang@gmail.com

What is this show and what do I hope to accomplish?

·         Instruction guide on all things guild leadership.

·         Teaches leadership skills

·         Hopefully timeless series that people can learn from instead of a "What did you do this week..." kinda show.

·         Show length around 20-30 min.

How will I record these shows.

·         Relaxed just you and me kinda vibe.  Take me with you in your car or wherever your iPod can go.

·         available on itunes and streamed from the main website.

·         Equipment Heil PR 40, maudio interface into a doghouse systems rig.  I use adobe soundbooth and acid Pro for mixing. 

Who inspired me to do this?

·         Leo Laporte

·         Scott Johnson from the instance

·         Total Buscuit from Cynical Brit

Who am I and why am I qualified?

·         High school and college math and science teacher for 17 years, guild leader for 4 years.

·         Tell about my characters.

·         Tell about my guild evolution.

About my guild

·         Where we are now.

What's coming up on the next few shows

·         10 qualities of a guild leader things the human behind the keyboard must have and understand. 

·         Why run a guild and what you can expect.

·         Types of guilds

·         Policy and charters and rules oh my.

·         Ranks and expectations

·         Starting a guild day one and recruiting.

·         Dealing with getting your guild off the ground and how not to take stuff personally.