I think we could improve this forum by making it look a bit more like this and also making it not as wide so we have to scroll right and left.
http://w11.zetaboards.com/Ambush/index
That's my Battlescape pure clan
As you can see they have a promoting video on the homepage, have the ranks, times, a nice banner and what would be for you Ventrilo information. If you scroll a bit lower you can see a shoutbox. Then you get the essential sub-forums.
If you really want to impress everyone, try making it look like this.
http://www.battle-scape.com/
Home page, usually filled with news/ public announcements, and then you get the forums with every essential sub-forum. This forum does look kinda dull and the banner could be improved. Once I'm accepted I will surely be trying to get us epic banners and signatures and also a forum format.