How to form an investigation team.

This is my personal opinion page. What I advise herein is my own method, not the rule.

It is my opinoin that paranormal investigation groups should be dedicated and serious in the puruit of answers to the questions that abound in this field. Teams are not a haven for "mall goths", "creepy kids", "attention seeking misfits", "spooky kids" or any derivative thereof. If you want to sit around camp fires and tell scary stories, then go camping, and leave the research to the rest of us.

I administered guidelines in this group. I will give you a few examples:

1. No team members may date among the group. This is only a disaster waiting to happen.

2. There are set tasks assigned to team members on each investigation. The tasks rotate between the members. This ensures that everyone gets to do all the fun jobs, as well as the not so fun jobs.

3. EVERY member must know how to use ALL equipment. This ensures that no matter who is "fragged" for a case, we are not left with idle hands.

4. One of the group members suggested that we have weekly meetings, "round table discussions" so to speak. I encourage that idea, and suggest it to you, as well.

Picking group members can be a thorny snakepit, but with a few thoughts in mind, it can be very nearly painless. Get to know a person a bit before you admit them to your group. Make sure that they are serious about the task at hand, and that they are compatible with the rest of your team. Have a meeting over coffee, or whatever the case, and let them interact with the group. Afterward, ask your team thier collective opinion of the new person, and respect thier judgement. If you start small (I certainly did...our first case was handled by just myself and one other person) you will have a much better gauge on the new people, as they come. Unit cohesion is paramount.