2024 Proposed Working Groups

In 2024, The Demon Army are proposing to create informal working groups to generate new ideas, branch out into new areas and share the workload. Depending on the role, it is not expected these groups will be too labour-intensive, probably just a couple of hours of work per month outside of match day. Your main contribution would be to put thought and enthusiasm into your team.

Take a look at what we hope these groups will achieve and then jump in and nominate yourself or a friend by using this nomination form. If you don't want to commit to these groups or nothing here grabs you, we're always looking for people to help in other areas. Jump to the bottom of this page to see where else you might be able to assist.

AFLW

Be part of the core group who gets The Demon Army ready for action at the AFLW.  Work with all Demon Army groups to increase involvement and support for our AFLW side. This includes planning for the new season, helping to co-ordinate the run through, monitoring player milestones and ensuring we're represented wherever we play.

Atmosphere (Match Day)

Help to manage the appearance, sound and atmosphere of the group on match day. Create new chants, check placement of equipment and coordinate with the ticketing team so we always get the right people in the right spots. This group would also work with the Equipment team to create a wish list of new equipment and will monitor other teams, sports and countries for ideas of what might work for us.

Communications

Assist with content and coordination of the weekly Mailchimp email and other volunteer communication. Work with the social media team to create a communications plan. Coordinate a schedule and reference handbook for handling Demon Army queries and work towards driving more people towards proactively finding information on the website

EQUIPMENT

This group would work with those focused on match day appearance to source and purchase new equipment. They would also keep an eye on existing equipment for anything that needed cleaning or repairing and would handle feedback about what is and isn't working. This group would also coordinate regular stocktakes in both the MCG "cage" and our storage facility.

Events

The message from our recent member survey was that people want more social opportunities and not just the occasional post-match drinks. This group would pull together an events calendar and manage all aspects of hosting Demon Army events. They would work with our fundraising, communications and media team to promote and manage events. They would also have a hand in organising tables and tickets for major club events (Best and Fairest, Coterie Season Launch, etc)

FUNDRAISING

We're looking for members to assist the First Goalkicker team to keep this weekly function running smoothly. One day we hope to have an app that does it all but until then, it's a fairly manual process. We have a number of raffles during the year and plans to get involved in initiatives organised by Jim Stynes Foundation.

INTERSTATE

This group would coordinate with the equipment team to get the gear interstate and out to the ground. They would work with ground staff to ensure we have early entry and enough time to put the banner on the poles. They would also need to help find people to come out and hold the run through up. They would work with interstate MFC supporter groups to make sure we get a good number of members to pre-match events and would work with our own Events Team to coordinate get-togethers if nothing else was planned. The travel pages on our website would need to be regularly updated and regular communication with the Ticketing team would be required to ensure all our interstate seats are sold. This group would also maintain the WhatsApp groups for people who are travelling.

MATCH DAY

This group would coordinate our match day activities at the ground. This would involve putting the run through on the poles and getting our equipment into our seats. It involves helping to distribute the equipment and making sure it comes back. This group would also work with the volunteer team to see who was in line to hold the banner up out on the ground plus coordinate the distribution (and return!) of ground passes. At the end of the match, the equipment will need to be collected and packed away and the poles would need to be stripped and put back. Many hands make light work in this area!

MEDIA

Help to schedule and create content across multiple social media platforms, maintain website to ensure content is current, add and catalogue our existing image library, fulfil ad hoc media requests, get crowd and banner shots from MFC, monitor other clubs, cheer squads and MFC forums for content, monitor social media for trolls and online bullying. We're looking for people who can write content and be a bit edgy without being offensive or controversial. Our ideal person would be someone who can diffuse a heated situation but knows where to draw the line and block people.

MEMBERSHIP

This group would assist with maintaining the membership list we receive from the MFC. We would like details of new members to be passed to our New Members working group to ensure everyone receives a warm welcome and the opportunity to meet the gang. The security of our member personal data is vital so all privacy laws must be followed. This team would review and revamp our neglected members handbook. There would be a degree of data analysis required in an attempt to retain current members and reconnect with lapsed members. This team would work closely with the Ticketing team and MFC to identify errors and missing members from list. Most importantly, they would provide assistance in our quest to reach 1,000 members.

MERCHANDISING

Join the existing group and help to decide on our merchandise offerings. There are decisions to be made on 2024 members items and other promotional goods. This group will manage stock levels and content on The Demon Army shop website, source manufacture of items within budget, assist with member purchasing issues and help with the design, quantities and timing of finals t-shirts (fingers crossed). 

NEW MEMBERS

This group would act as a welcoming committee for new members. They would maintain the new members page on our website, create an email template to go to new members and introduce new members to compatible experienced members if they'd like more involvement. They would also work on ways to make more people feel more accepted and included, and to work with the membership and inclusivity teams to ensure no one falls through the cracks.

SPONSORSHIP

The sponsorship group would work with MFC to secure Demon Army sponsors that complement existing club sponsors. It would involve negotiating agreements with potential sponsors and maintaining the relationships going forward. Ideally we would have a sponsorship "wish list" and this group would source the funding and then coordinate purchases. 

VOLUNTEERS

This group would be responsibility for tracking Demon Army volunteer involvement throughout the year. This is a vital part of our group as the volunteer spreadsheet captures members participation and determines finals ticket entitlements. It also includes monitoring Working with Children's checks for our regular volunteers. This group would help find volunteers for the BBQs we frequently run plus responding to external requests for volunteers. We would love this group to create ideas for how we can use a variety of people in voluntary roles (sewing flags and signs, helping on match day, helping our charity partners, etc). This group would also work with other groups e.g. Coterie, MFC charity partners, interstate supporter groups to help fill their requests for assistance. At the end of the year, we would need to submit a list of volunteers to MFC and coordinate end of year thank yous so every Demon Army volunteer is recognised.

INCLUSION

This group would assist with the development and implementation of our Inclusion and Accessibility Plan. It is anticipated that our Inclusion team would work with  the New Members team to ensure everyone finds a place to belong in The Demon Army. This group would help to deliver a child safe training program. We would hope that this group would work with the Committee to monitor and address member issues and and highlight any potential areas of conflict. We would also hope they could identify behavioural issues which could affect members and stay across all aspects of the group to ensure we are providiing a safe and inclusive space for all.

OTHER ROLES INCLUDE:
Artists, graphic designers, seamstresses​, writers​, app/software designers, face painters plus anyone with ideas ​for signs, chants, run through slogans, equipment, fundraising opportunities, etc.