[Ansteorra] Event Limits?

[j_smallw at titan.sfasu.edu]

Quoting Michael Tucker <mtucker at airmail.net>:

> One could just as easily ask "Why was there no officer from your shire
> in attendance at King's Round Table, to hear the news first hand? 
> Failing that, why did none of your up-line officers (such as the 
> regional or kingdom seneschal) notify your group of this pending 
> change?"

Of course, one might ask why all the pelicans, knights, laurels, white scarves, 
centurians, etc don't all attend the various circles.  We don't even have all 
of any of these groups attend even if the circle is local.<G>

True, the seneschals should have been informed by either the kingdom seneschal 
or their regional and then, in turn, inform their own populace.  Evidently this 
isn't the case with every group.

> 
> *Most* of the groups in the kingdom don't have landed nobles to inform
> 
> them. That doesn't make them the downtrodden minority, it makes them 
> the majority of groups.
> 
> Speaking as a former officer of  the kingdom, I assure you that the 
> shires, cantons and colleges are given plenty of consideration at the 
> kingdom level. But, it has to be a two-way street. The shire's officers
> have to care enough to attend meetings when they're called, bring news
> back from those meetings and share it with their fellow officers and 
> populace.

Again, were the all the seneschals in the kingdom required to be at Round Table 
or send a representative?  If so, then there's no excuse.  If not, then it 
falls back to being informed by kingdom or regional level.

> 
> > As a shire member, I can tell you
> > that we don't here the news from a landed person in these groups.
> The
> > baronies worry about themselves and don't bother to bring this kind
> of
> > news to the shires, at least in my region.
> >
> 
> Is it our neighbor Meridies' problem to keep Ansteorra informed of 
> changes made by the BoD? No. It's Ansteorra's problem to stay informed,
> all on her own.

At least the BOD announces the changes they are contemplating (to a certain 
extent) if it's going to affect the populace in general.  And perhaps the Crown 
or the kingdom seneschal will have just such an announcement in a future Black 
Star.  Hopefully that's the case as it seems that there is a fair amount of 
resistance to such a change.

> 
> It's not the barony's problem to inform you. It's *your* problem to 
> stay informed. Or, failing that, it's your up-line officers (regional 
> and kingdom) to see that you are informed of changes.
> 
<snip>

> I'd like to see more shires and cantons bid for those events. If you 
> don't bid, it's pretty hard for the kingdom to give you the event.
> 
> I'd also like to see more thought put into our events. I'd much rather
> 
> have 3 groups get together to host a knock-your-socks-off event, than 
> have 3 bland "formula" events.
> 
> The research was done years ago to determine that we needed fewer, 
> better, events. The Crown and Kingdom Seneschal suggested that groups 
> head in that direction. Very few listened. Modest limits were put in 
> place. Still, very few listened. We're about to see stronger limits put
> 
> in place.
> 
> I think the answer isn't to complain about the limits, but to do 
> something to address the problem that motivated the Crown and Seneschal
> 
> to impose those limits in the first place.
> 
> Yours,
> Michael Silverhands

Has the problem been brought to the people?

And just what is the problem?  I've been hearing for years that the calendar is 
too crowded.  Everytime I hear that, I check the calendar and actually run the 
numbers.  It makes me wonder just what certain people consider "crowded".

For instance, if you were to look at the current 12 months (Aug '03 to July '04)
of the kindom calendar on line, you will find :

There are currently 69 events scheduled over 53 weeks.  Thats 1.3 events per 
weekend.  (Doesn't sound crowded to me.)

If we exclude the weekends that have no events at all scheduled (Christmas, 
Gulf War, etc.), we have 44 weekends with events scheduled.  That brings the 
number up to 1.6 events per weekend.  (Still doesn't seem too crowded)

The breakdown is :

25 weekends with only 1 event
14 weekends with 2 events
4 weekends with 3 events
1 weekend with 4 events scheduled.

This means that only 5 of the weekends with events currently scheduled have 3 
or more events on a given weekend.  That's only 11% of the weekends with events 
scheduled.  And some of the weekends that are empty could easily take an event 
or 2.

Also something that people don't tend to mention when they say the calendar is 
too crowded is that, in addition to the current group limitations, there is 
also a regional limitation (no more than 1 per region per weekend) and a 
distance limitation (not sure where the mileage between events has to be, but 
I'm sure HL Gwenneth Blackrose can tell us).  Yes, these limitations can be 
waived, but it's not often that they are.

So I guess my whole question is "What is the problem?".  It doesn't appear that 
the current system is broken, so as the old saying goes "If it ain't broke, 
don't fix it."  Improvements are one thing, but I don't see as whole these new 
limitations will improve things appreciably.

Ansgar



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