[Ansteorra] Newcomer help

[Susan]

>Timid or quiet newcomers could be greatly assisted by sca members
>approaching them, rather than assuming they will speak up when they are
>curious enough.
>
>Audette des Grenouilles

This is very much how I have approached talking with newcomers here and
just brought it all into doing the Hospitaller's office.  I have a troop of
deputies, thank you so much the suggestions Lady Maria, Elfsea's
Chamberlain and Hospitaler, for it has been great.  I started my tenure as
hospitaller with info sheets for my populace so I could know what all
people did so as to have ready resources to send new people to with
questions.  One of the other parts on this I did was to ask for those
wanted to work on something similer to a welcome wagon.  When we have done
a big demo, all of the ones on this have worn a ribbon favor that indicates
them as someone that has the time to answer any of their questions and/or
knows enough people to know who to take them to for those answers.  It
worked great, I made a point of welcoming all (if they had not been
welcomed already) to our demo and then told them what pavillions contained
the brochures and sign in for follow up info, where the A&S tables were to
look at finished arts, where are artisans were and that they were welcome
to go up and watch and ask any questions they like, where the hospitality
table our cooking guild was and that they were welcome to taste the foods
and that if they had any other questions to find me or to ask one of the
people wearing the ribbon favors.  This worked so well, so they could
transition from one thing to another and there were many of these people
around the demo that they were always handy and the people visiting didn't
worry that they were inturupting them at all.  It worked great and I plan
on doing all of our large public demos in this way as the flow went so
well.  I will admit after 4 or 5 hours of this, I thought I would never
walk or talk again, but it was a delight.

What flowed out of this are the people who had so much fun helping and were
taking on so many of the duties of hospitality that I have just recognized
what they were doing on their own by making them deputies and then giving
them the tools of office to work with.  It was when we were getting ready
to have a demo at a local college that one member was talking of bringing
out all of her garb to share that I realized that she was definatly the
type who would thrive with the gold key position and she has done great
things with our loaner garb.  Our event hospitality deputy had been serving
as a place where anyone could share a meal at an event and now he holds our
loaner feaste gear and he is a point at events where people know they can
find hospitality and it makes a great hospitaller clearing spot.  In the
same way we have a demo director, college liason and a coordinator of
images from and for our demos; the excieting thing that is coming out of
this project is we are working on making several videos to use with our
demos and for different purposes.  We have recently added the Kingdom
Hospitaller of the Outlands to our list as in a discussion on one of the
hospitaller lists it seemed that he has had planns of working on something
similer to what we are doing.  As many of the people on this project are
working with new cameras and equipment, it may be awhile before they have
any finished projects but it will excieting watching this project take
shape.  Yet again, thank you Lady Maria, for with our host of hospitallers
there is usually at leaste one of us at most anything going on and we are
always there to help anyone who is looking for more info on this wonderful
organization that offers so much to all.

Hoping a wonderful 2002 to all,

Susan the Curious
Hospitaller
Barony of Northkeep
Ansteorra
Susan-the-Curious at swbell.net
http://northkeep.ansteorra.org/hospit/hospitaller.html