A few ideas, by Julie Mirth {spill the beans}

As most of you know by now, I am on the ballot for the position of the new team leader. Below are some of the ideas I have.........
 

Hello Handmade in Vegas, I am Julie Mirth of {spill the beans}. As many of you know I am only half of {spill the beans}, as Brandy Decker is my partner in crime. I would like to take a minute to tell you about Brandy and myself. I want to tell you about both of us, because we are a team and although my name is the one on the ballot, Brandy will be a huge part of helping me with my new role on the Handmade in Vegas team.

We have both been crafting since we were little girls. We became crafting partners when we both moved to Vegas in 2003. We created {spill the beans} in 2008 and have been active in the Las Vegas craft scene ever since. Brandy is originally from San Diego and I am originally from Seattle.

Since {spill the beans} joined the Handmade in Vegas group we have had the opportunity to meet many wonderful people who share the same interests as we do. We have also been able to attend and host many great craft shows around the valley with the Handmade in Vegas team.

I think what I would like to see happen most with the HMIV team is more unity. There are many members, however only a handful of them are active within the team. I think that some small changes could have a wonderful impact on uniting the team. Thus, my first item of business would be to have family friendly meetings, as many of us have children and cannot attend a meeting where they are not welcome.

I think it would also benefit the team to elect more than just a president. I would like to have an election for vice president, secretary, and treasurer, etc. A team as large as ours should have a proper board of officers to run things and conduct business.  I know we currently have people in charge of the jurying committee, Etsy group, Facebook, etc. However many of the team members do not know whom these people are. I would like for the whole team to know who is who, so we can all be on the same page. Possibly something as simple as adding a leadership page to the website/ blog. On this page all the positions will be listed and a small post from the person holding that current position will accompany it. 

I would like to have more HMIV only shows.  Brandy and I get asked all the time about putting on handmade only events. We have tried this in the past, however we find that not all of the handmade only people are on board, thus we have to accept home based businesses, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to fill the venue. There are many great venues in the valley that could provide the perfect setting for a handmade only show; my goal is to get everyone on board so we can have more amazing shows!

I would also like to see the HMIV team have some sort of funds to support things like advertisement, banners, show venues, etc. I think it would be great if we could do small things here and there, as so not to overwhelm anyone with fundraising. One example I was thinking of is having a team garage sale. Team members bring all the craft supplies that they are no longer using and donate their items to the garage sale. This could be a great way to clean out the stuff we no longer use and earn some money for the team.  

The things I have mentioned above are just a few ideas that I think could help the team continue to grow and thrive.  

I would like to thank Sarah Flake for having a great vision and bringing it all together! Through this amazing team, Brandy and myself have met many wonderful people who share the same ideas and crafting interests as we do. I hope to help carry the great people on this team to many wonderful opportunities in the future.

Thank You,

Julie Mirth {spill the beans}