Hey everyone,

As you all may know, we usually try to ask the community how we can improve ilmarching each year. Normally we get around to asking it in December or January…when everyone has already stopped coming for the year…and it generally goes un-answered. So this year I thought I was get ahead of the game and pose the question before Grand Nationals, in hope that we get a few responses.

Dan and I work very hard every year in the off-season to think of new things for the site. But we are only 2 people and can only come up with what we would like to see/use. This is where you guys come in. We have nearly 2000 registered members of the forum, and even more that visit but aren’t registered (I’ll share some statistics later :) )…and we all know you have strong opinions. I know there has to be things people want…but we can’t work on them unless you speak up. These suggestions could range from anything, from content for the wordpress page (2 years ago we did about 20 director features…) to stuff you would like to see on Band pages or Festival pages to the aesthetics of the site…even to stuff you want to see in the forums.

As some of you my remember, I revamped the database and it is now MUCH more powerful than it ever was before. We now have more fine grained stats on each band and festival. Are there any stats you want to see for your band? Maybe some more information we can gather about each band? About each Festival?

Seriously, for the most part this season, all the changes I made were in the back end that only about 4 people see or use. While our lives have been made a lot easier with my new tools…this coming season I want to make changes that everyone will enjoy. So…if you have any suggestions…PLEASE email me at moverholt@ilmarching.com so that I can get it into my TODO list for next season!!

Thanks for all the support everyone!! We wouldn’t do all this work if it weren’t for the loads of people that actually use it…so thanks!!

Mark