[Ansteorra] Participation vs. Recruitment

[Cionaodh O'Hosey]

So expecting a person to show up and play on game day is what  
prevents us from getting people to play, because going to events is  
just too difficult. I agree that going to events is difficult which  
is why I say the local activities should be focused more on getting  
people to events. Part of getting them to events is helping them to  
get there. I am not trying to put no value on the work done on a  
local level, i am just saying the work done on a local level should  
be focused on getting people to events. A well attended fighter  
practice that sends no one to tourney is just a local fight club  
claiming ties to the SCA. The measure of a successful fighter  
practice should be not how many fighters attend it but rather how  
many of it's fighters go to tourney or war. The measure of a  
successful group should not be the number of people that group has at  
populace each month but rather the number of people that group has at  
events that month. It doesn't matter to the Kingdom when five hundred  
of my closest friends get together in garb in my back yard, it only  
matters to the rest of the Kingdom when they show up at an event or  
host an event for the rest of the Kingdom.

What I am trying to point out is that there is a difference between  
"increasing our number of local players" and "increasing the number  
of people playing locally". Increasing the number of people playing  
locally does not lead to more people going to events if your  
activities are not focused towards getting them to events. In fact  
just the opposite, if they can play locally a lot of people will  
chose to stay home and play locally rather than go to the expense and  
trouble of traveling to an event. Fighter practice is a great  
example, we have i am told hundreds of authorized fighters in this  
Kingdom, but most at most Tourneys we are lucky to have thirty show  
up, and less than a hundred bother to show up and fight in one  
tourney in a year. So all of that activity at the local level is  
producing very little in the way of event attendance. At the last  
event held by our group had all of the locals with paid memberships  
in our group showed up there would have been no room for any one else  
from the Kingdom, so what happened? We had plenty of room. So more  
people "playing locally" does not mean more people going to events,  
even local events. In fact fewer local activities could mean more  
event attendance, we all have only so much time we can spend on SCA  
activities, if we spent less of our SCA time on local activities it  
would leaves us more of our SCA time for going to events, but if you  
are going to four different guild meetings a week by Saturday all you  
want to do is get away from the SCA.

In short, and not meaning to be cruel, our time and resources should  
be invested in developing players who can and will go to events. That  
will be more productive in the long run than trying to make the SCA  
available locally for those who can not or will not go to events. For  
instance I have only a limited amount of time to train fighters for  
war, should i spend it working with people who can and will go to  
Gulf War or should i spend it with people who can not or will not go  
to Gulf War?  The answer is obvious, if a little cold hearted.

Cionaodh O'Hosey


On Jan 24, 2012, at 12:21 AM, Jeffrey Clark wrote:

> This forms the crux of my original point. The focus on THE ONE  
> EVENT is counter to our ability to get new people into the SCA.  
> With modern schedules the way they are, in these economic times --  
> and especially speaking of younger people (under 35?) -- you MUST  
> understand that even four events a year can be difficult.
>
> Lord O'Hosey, I'm a junior in college -- I sit in class in Fridays  
> until four in the afternoons, I also work for a church -- which  
> means that I have to be at work awake and alert (not tired, drunk,  
> or hung over) at 7am every Sunday morning. I will do well to make  
> three events this year, I probably won't realistically make more  
> than two -- I have neither the time nor the money to travel that  
> much; nor do most of my friends. Should I just not participate at  
> all in the SCA since I'm not willing to lead others by attending  
> more events? Should I stop trying to get some of my friends to join  
> since I can't (sorry, won't) go to more events? Shod my friends not  
> bother joining because they can't make that many events either?
>
> I agree with Lord Casey's response that increasing our number of  
> local players will cause more people to attend events, and I  
> restate my assertion that we need more activities on the baronial,  
> canton, and shire level. We need to be more social in our own  
> baronies and get to know each other locally beyond the guys you see  
> at fighter practice and the weaving guild. We need to get together  
> in garb (or garb optional) and just hold mini-revels, no classes or  
> fighting. That will give us a good place to bring newcomers that  
> isn't overwhelming and allows them to talk to people and get a  
> sense of what's going on. It also gives the more veteran members a  
> chance to wheel and deal and for intrigue to happen across the  
> established groups and guilds. It allows networking and helps like- 
> minded people find each other where they otherwise wouldn't.
>
> Stronger local groups would make for a stronger kingdom by  
> providing members with more opportunities to get involved and re  
> reasons and support to make it to the big events; as well as  
> motivation and reason to keep playing in the downtime between the  
> events they can go to -- whether those events are weeks, months, or  
> years apart.
>
> -- Alessandro Zorzi
>
> On Jan 23, 2012, at 16:36, Cionaodh O'Hosey  
> <CionaodhOHosey at verizon.net> wrote:
>
>> There is a lot of discussion about recruitment on this list, i  
>> hope this is because we want more people to participate in our  
>> events. We can also increase the participation at our events if we  
>> all participate more often ourselves. For example lets say we have  
>> 48 events a year, and our goal is 200 active players people at  
>> each event then the following things are true: If we all go to  
>> every event then we only need 200 people total to meet our goal.  
>> If we all go to two events a month then we need 400 active  
>> players. If we all go to an event just once a month then the we  
>> need 800 active players. If we all go to just three events every  
>> four months, that's just nine events a year, then we need 1066  
>> people, that is also the minimum number of events a person needs  
>> to attend to save enough on non-member event fees to break even on  
>> a sustaining membership. If we all only show up once every two  
>> months, six times a year, we need 1600 active players. If we all  
>> go to an event once every
>  quarter, four times a year, then we need 2400 active players. If  
> we all go to an event twice a year then we need 4800 active  
> players. Lastly if we all go to an event once a year then we need  
> 9600 active players.
>>
>> It becomes immediately apparent that the fewer events we all go to  
>> the more people we need to successfully recruit to meet our goal.  
>> But lets also be honest, the fewer events you go to the harder  
>> time you are going to have getting new people to go to more  
>> events. If it is not worth your time to go to an event why would a  
>> new person, who looks up to you as an experienced player, want to  
>> go to that event? It is a simple matter of leadership, you cannot  
>> recruit people to do what you don't do.
>>
>> Cionaodh O'Hosey
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