Official Club Stuff OFFICIAL GEELONG CATS THREAD - Questions, comments and suggestions for the Club

[Official Cats]

The only productive purpose it really serves is as a means of canvassing feedback about ways to improve Geelong's digital content. Theoretically it gives the club an opportunity to ascertain what fans are looking for in that domain, while fans benefit from having a more direct line of communication with the people actually involved with producing the content.

I must admit - I wasn't responsible for setting up this thread but I imagine one underlying concept was at the very least to pick YOUR brains about what YOU want to see from us.

There's no need to go over the old ground of what we can and can't answer/tell you, and frankly those who are asking questions they know fall into such categories seem to just want to poke the bear. Nonetheless, we'll do our best to provide answers to genuine questions and we are listening, ready for genuine discussion about how we can improve Cats Media going forward.

 

[Daniel McL]

Official Cats is it possible to get more coverage of the VFL team during the season? I like seeing the highlights of the game that you post already & was wondering if we could possibly start livestreaming our VFL games or get some interviews with the listed players after a VFL game? Thanks

 

[Go Hoops]

Official Cats I think the answer to my question is 10 years. If the Addy can be believed Fantastic if true as the continual naming rights change was a pain.

 

[Lana]

To second Daniel McL on improvements to the VFL coverage, there used to be a live chat platform on the GFC website which had a play by play commentary and where we could get questions about the game answered as the game was being played. The current setup on twitter just doesn't work well.

Also can we get a profile page made up for the VFL players when the list is finalised.

 

[catempire]

I must admit - I wasn't responsible for setting up this thread but I imagine one underlying concept was at the very least to pick YOUR brains about what YOU want to see from us.

I don't believe I got a response/reaction to the following which was my 2c on what we (the BigFooty community) seek from you.

Good to hear Mitch. Many here feel the same.

Can I just say that the BigFooty community, as I'm sure you appreciate, isn't really made up of garden variety fans that are satisfied by the content put out by the club through the usual channels. That's why people come here - to discuss and to dig down to another level. To the extent you are willing and able to do so, the value you can provide by contributing on this board is to provide something that people don't get elsewhere. That's not to suggest it needs to be any club secret - it could be things that just don't have mass appeal - but the thirst here is for something different to what we see through the website, Twitter and Facebook. How realistic it is for you to bring something like that here is of course a challenge you face that we all appreciate.

 

[Baudolino]

Official Cats is it possible to get more coverage of the VFL team during the season? I like seeing the highlights of the game that you post already & was wondering if we could possibly start livestreaming our VFL games or get some interviews with the listed players after a VFL game? Thanks

Lack of livestreaming might simply be down to not having the resources for it.

However, if it is resources preventing the club from doing that, there are surely compromise options, such as the live chat/text commentary they used to do on the website on VFL matchdays. I think there would be substantial fan interest in the return of that feature.

 

[dazbroncos]

I have a thesis on VFL coverage and monetary policy get it funded.

Go Catters

 

[Baudolino]

There's no need to go over the old ground of what we can and can't answer/tell you, and frankly those who are asking questions they know fall into such categories seem to just want to poke the bear.

 

[AM]

If you keep "poking the bear" we risk losing the valuable input of Mitch which would be a travesty.

 

[Official Cats]

In relation to VFL coverage and specifically livestreaming, it certainly does have a lot to do with the resources at our disposal currently - however I've spoken to Tom Peeters and he'll log on here at some point in the coming days to explain a little more comprehensively.

- Mitch

 

[cats_09]

I've spoken to our marketing team and we'll be switching to a platform called Stanza. They hope to have this sorted and available by the end of this week.

- Mitch

Hi Official Cats - any update on if there will be an electronic version of the fixture?

thanks,

 

[Landgraft]

Any chance we can get Danger Watch added to the bottom corner of the website? A nice intrusive and distracting size if possible.

 

[mac_cat]

Hi Official Cats - any update on if there will be an electronic version of the fixture?

thanks,

Pretty poor of the marketing department to still not have an iCal schedule available.

Don't they realise that people organise events in advance, and that it helps to have the dates of all the games locked in to the calendar? I wonder if they realise that this might impact on ticket sales, when people inadvertently organise events in advance because they didn't know it clashed with a Cats game?

They should be making it as easy as possible for supporters to know when and where all the games are, and it's really not difficult to create and share an electronic calendar!

 

[you pick one]

Pretty poor of the marketing department to still not have an iCal schedule available.

Don't they realise that people organise events in advance, and that it helps to have the dates of all the games locked in to the calendar? I wonder if they realise that this might impact on ticket sales, when people inadvertently organise events in advance because they didn't know it clashed with a Cats game?

They should be making it as easy as possible for supporters to know when and where all the games are, and it's really not difficult to create and share an electronic calendar!

You mean there's something easier than clinking this? http://www.geelongcats.com.au/ticketing/fixture

 

[cats_09]

You mean there's something easier than clinking this? http://www.geelongcats.com.au/ticketing/fixture

That link is great if you just want to check when games are, but what I believe mac_cat is alluding to and something I have used the iCal for in the past is that it will generate a subscribed calendar in whatever you calendar program of choice is - outlook, calendar etc. It will list all the matches, including opponent, venue, duration of game, links for radio & television viewing options, and if things change then the electronic calendar automatically updates - ie round 23 as the floating fixture.

Once subscribed, you can then check your calendar to see what matches are on, what else you have in your calendar and clashes etc - same idea as an old school diary, just more nifty.

i have actually taken to entering all the details in myself this year, but i just find it frustrating as the iCal that the club used 3 or 4 years ago was really good - they allowed the options of which calendar/s to subscribe to and that included the Cats AFL matches, VFL matches and club functions. Would be great if they could have this new calendar available at some stage and available with both AFL, VFL & VFLW matches.

 

[cats2rise]

Very droll.

But seriously, the exact things we want to know - injury updates, player progress, coaching insights, etc. - are the exact things that they are unable/unwilling to discuss.

So it's something of a waste of everyone's time.

Honestly, what did you expect?

 

[dazbroncos]

The ICAL Cats calendar is particularly handy for those not in Vic. The details load to the Cal and switch automatically to your relevant time zone.

Very important for those not in EST zone.

GO Catters

 

[catempire]

You can get iCal here:

http://icalshare.com/calendars/7597

cats_09

 

[catempire]

Honestly, what did you expect?

Don't worry, my expectations of anything better are long gone.

 

[mac_cat]

That link is great if you just want to check when games are, but what I believe mac_cat is alluding to and something I have used the iCal for in the past is that it will generate a subscribed calendar in whatever you calendar program of choice is - outlook, calendar etc. It will list all the matches, including opponent, venue, duration of game, links for radio & television viewing options, and if things change then the electronic calendar automatically updates - ie round 23 as the floating fixture.

Once subscribed, you can then check your calendar to see what matches are on, what else you have in your calendar and clashes etc - same idea as an old school diary, just more nifty.

i have actually taken to entering all the details in myself this year, but i just find it frustrating as the iCal that the club used 3 or 4 years ago was really good - they allowed the options of which calendar/s to subscribe to and that included the Cats AFL matches, VFL matches and club functions. Would be great if they could have this new calendar available at some stage and available with both AFL, VFL & VFLW matches.

Yes, this, exactly.

I organise my life with my electronic calendar, and when I'm arranging an event months down the track, I'd prefer to have the Cats games already scheduled in my calendar via the subscribed iCal feed, rather than look up the dates online. And it's particularly useful when you're in different time zones, with the iCal changing the times automatically.

Of course I can enter all the dates myself, but my point is that the marketing department of the club should be making it as easy as possible for us to know when events are on, by making these calendars available at the start of the season.

And thanks catempire for the link to that 2017 schedule calendar, I did actually find it and subscribe a few weeks back, when the club still hadn't done anything about providing one on their website. But even though it's available, I still think this is something the club should be providing, with the additional options of VFL games and club functions, as cats_09 said. It's not that hard, it's good marketing of the club's activities, it's something they used to do, and I don't understand why they haven't already done it for this season.

 

[dazbroncos]

Yes, this, exactly.

I organise my life with my electronic calendar, and when I'm arranging an event months down the track, I'd prefer to have the Cats games already scheduled in my calendar via the subscribed iCal feed, rather than look up the dates online. And it's particularly useful when you're in different time zones, with the iCal changing the times automatically.

Of course I can enter all the dates myself, but my point is that the marketing department of the club should be making it as easy as possible for us to know when events are on, by making these calendars available at the start of the season.

And thanks catempire for the link to that 2017 schedule calendar, I did actually find it and subscribe a few weeks back, when the club still hadn't done anything about providing one on their website. But even though it's available, I still think this is something the club should be providing, with the additional options of VFL games and club functions, as cats_09 said. It's not that hard, it's good marketing of the club's activities, it's something they used to do, and I don't understand why they haven't already done it for this season.

Requoted for excellence

Official Cats - Something for the marketing people to fix for sure.

 

[winty]

Find it interesting that the club have put forward another submission to the AFL to include a side in the AFLW next season, yet are very lax in updating the section of the website dedicated to the VWFL side. Just had a look at it before, and they had a 5 line review of the practice match they played in Torquay after the VFL men's side last Sunday.

It's probably not a section of the website that would attract as much traffic as other sections, but if we're looking to be included in the AFLW in 2018 I feel we should show the AFL we're keen to support the women's side by looking to post more updates than what they currently do.

 

[dazbroncos]

One thing I'd be interested in knowing is are the media positions at the club full time?
I could understand if they are part time that time constraints may see a limit to the volume of content created.
If full time, that discussion becomes harder to have - although we have no idea what the day to day involves.

Go Catters

 

[Art Vandelay_]

Official Cats is it possible to get more coverage of the VFL team during the season? I like seeing the highlights of the game that you post already & was wondering if we could possibly start livestreaming our VFL games or get some interviews with the listed players after a VFL game? Thanks

Bump. VFLW side has live stream of the whole game yet our men's side does not.

Any chance of that changing Official Cats

 

[Daniel McL]

Bump. VFLW side has live stream of the whole game yet our men's side does not.

Any chance of that changing Official Cats

They'll get back to you around January/February 2018 aha but hopefully.