ANST - If a tree falls

[Mark Harris]

Sir Dieterich declared:

Okay, Daniel, here it is:  IN MY OPINION, an overcrowded calandar is a
symptom of a kingdom that is trying to grow.  Principalities are the
groundwork one lays for the possibility of another kingdom in the future.
Having either more kingdoms or fewer events is the only way you can insure
higher local attendance.  That's it.  Either grow or die.  Funny how it
mimics nature, isnt it?

>>>>>>
No, I do not think that's it. I don't think it is a matter of having
the biggest event or having an event that was bigger than it was last
year. The size of the local events may change over the years. Deal
with it. When I joined the SCA, eight years ago, the average event
size was growing. I watched Bryn Gwlad's Candlemas event go from a
hunderd to two hundred to over 350 the year I autocrated it. In the
years since then the gate count has been going down. Not because the
event got less popular but because there were more events competing
with it. And not just that particular weekend. The number of local
groups has grown tremendously since the early nineties. This is good.
This gives more people more opportunity to put on interesting events.

If it is making a profit vs. a loss that is a concern, then stop
trying to put on ever bigger events. You can break-even or make a
profit if you plan for a smaller event and budget your expenses
and set your gate prices accordingly. 

If the concern is a problem of being able to budget because you
really don't know the numbers expected, then take an idea from
other kingdoms such as the East, and move to reservations and
better  pre-paid reservations. This seems to work well there
especially with feasts with their high upfront costs. A good 
many of their feasts are apparently sold-out ahead of time.

As far as the number of events go, I believe the East typically
has four or five conflicting events every weekend. They make it
work with a kingdom which is much less spread out than Ansteorra.

Baroness Clarissa, you moved from the East Kingdom within the
past few years, is this how you see it, having lived there?

Stefan li Rous
markh at risc.sps.mot.com

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