[Ansteorra] ideas was Presentation at Round Table

[Jerry Herring]

Greetings one and all,

it is good to see conversation flowing about the problem presented by his
Majesty. The may not be just one answer that fixes what is happening with
the SCA. It is my opinion that there is obviously one thing to take away
from what was presented and that is the fact that the SCA needs more
people. You can work on the period appropriate issues, burnout, and the fun
factors all you want but if new people are not finding their way to the SCA
at a rate faster than they are leaving it then there will not be an SCA to
improve. How do we get new people to find the SCA? Once we have the new
people showing up how do we keep them? Those are the tough questions.
Recruitment and retention how do we do that successfully?

Their Majesties Ansteorra tasked all those present at the Red Tape meeting
to think on what we can do to change the trends. What follows are my
thoughts and considerations regarding that request.

There are some standard tools that are used by all groups for recruitment;
demos, word of mouth, and the old stand by fighter practice in the park.
These methods of recruitment whether active or passive simply are no longer
enough. If the SCA wants to be competitive with all there is going on to
draw people away from it then it needs to consider becoming more serious
about recruitment than it ever has before. The SCA should look at ways of
putting itself out there for more of the public to see. The best way to get
more exposure to the public is advertising. An active advertising campaign
is the only method that I have not see used and the presently what could be
the best method to generate more interest in our organization.  Advertising
applied at all levels of the organization; locally, kingdom, and nationally
for the SCA. This concept might need to go all the way to the BOD with the
creation of a new officer for the corporation some one to be in charge of
advertising, if it has to go that far. Once you have the people you can
work on all the period appearances and activities that you want. However
big this idea needs to grow to get the right results is in my opinion the
stance to take. If you want to have people come and join what you are doing
then they need to know it is there.

In what ever format exposure occurs there needs to be a glimpse of what the
SCA is offering and it needs to be presented in as positive and
entertaining format as possible. Advertising can be expensive but it does
not have to be. Advertising is also a very effective tool when used
properly. At the local level advertising does not have to cost very much at
all if the efforts are made to get it where it will do the most good. Here
are some simple options:

* Putting local meetings and activities on the public community calendars
does not cost anything...changing the name from Fighter Practice to Current
Middle Ages Combat Training and posting that on a community calendar could
draw in some people. Adding a Renaissance Costuming Session instead of
Needleworker's or Fiber Arts Night to the community calender might also
draw in some people. Making sure that new people who do show up have
someone willing to sit down with them and explain who we are what we are
doing and let them leave with a color printed flyer that has a Facebook
page, a website, an email, and a telephone number on will give them every
option to contact someone.

* Get flyers or posters in your local gaming and comic book stores almost
all of them have a bulletin board or a place in the window for such items.
Using catchy titles for the Flyers like "Vanquish your Foes", "Medieval
Girls Gone Wild", "Honor, Glory, and Chivalry" with color images of
fighters in armor, and fair maidens should work nicely to draw in people
visiting those kinds of shops. And what about asking the proprietors of
those shops to see if your group could be allowed to put up a table in the
shop for a day to talk to people about our organization and pass out
flyers. Having a man in chain-mail or armor, and some cute ladies manning a
table in a comic book or gaming store should draw in some interested
people. To take this a step further getting a booth at the local Science
Fiction\Comic Book conventions usually these run for three days over a
weekend and they host all manner of people who could find a new hobby in
the SCA from cos-play and gamers to geeks of all kinds. All we have to do
is put ourselves out there.

* Getting flyers or posters onto the bulletin board at a local libraries
usually only takes a little time, some persistence, and maybe a small
presentation to the local librarian. But once a poster or flyer gets
approved it is there for all the book lovers and researchers entering that
library to see.

* What about getting flyers posted at historical locations and places of
interest, such as the Heavner Rune stone, Medieval Times in Dallas,
Universities and Colleges? Usually all you have to do is take the time to
speak to people on the phone and be willing to go far enough up the chain
of command to make something happen.

Those four ideas using advertising that can be accomplished at the local
group level with very little investment of funds. If a group is willing to
spend a little money then they might consider some of these options:

* What about a billboard in the cities that have larger groups?  "Join the
Current Middle Ages" "Ask me about my geeky hobby" sounds like an great
billboard and if it had the web address and a telephone number on it all
the better.

* Many SCA chapters have successfully Sponsored Student groups at local
colleges and universities, but there are colleges all over and certainly
they will have students who would be interested in the SCA but with out
getting the exposure that a student group provides they might never find
the SCA. If a local group were to sponsor a student organization then to
help draw in members they might offer to present a one time scholarship for
those participating students?

* Another idea is for local groups to coordinate with universities and
professors creating an events that is a themed camp where college students
can come for a weekend to experience the current middle ages by camping and
learning about medieval clothing, culture, heraldry, chivalry, combat,
archery, music, and participating in a real medieval feast?

* What about having local artisans participate in a community or church
craft fair where medieval craftsmen are selling hand made goods and
presenting small demonstrations of medieval techniques, while distributing
flyers?

Now of course if the SCA as an organization is willing to entertain the
idea of advertising by spending a little money then there are some places
where a well placed full color advertisement might prove effective.
Renaissance magazine, History Magazine, Game Pro and PC Gamer Magazines,
Fantasy & Science Fiction Magazine. There are certainly several other
magazines out there where circulation of an advert in one or two issues
could make a big difference. Those Magazines end up in bookstores, doctors
offices, libraries all over the USA and the people who read them will see
the SCA.

What about contacting web providers and buying add space on their home
pages think about how many adds you see on Facebook or Google?

There are more expensive options to look at like running a TV spot on the
Sci-Fy and History Channels. A short commercial run on the right channels
would have such a huge impact on recruitment for the SCA, yes the initial
cost might look prohibitive but when you measure that against the long term
gain of members and the effect it might have on the decline isn't it worth
the chance? Some of the cost might even be dissuaded by presenting it as a
opportunity at local colleges for students to have a chance that their
commercial would appear on the air. I am not sure about that or the legal
issues involved but if you want to make an impact and get results we need
to seriously look at these kinds of options.

Flyers, advertisements, posters and presentations all need to focus on the
lifestyle of the SCA, pointing out the various areas of interest combat,
archery, crafting, arts, pageantry, music and song, if we can take the time
to put together an organized unified effort that covers the fun and social
side of what we do in one concise advertising campaign. Then anyone who has
an interest in the current middle ages can find a place to fit in to our
fun, friendly, and family  environment.

Covering wide levels of involvement a fairly broad field of public access
and at an array of costs through advertising would make the largest impact
on the SCA today. When you look at the modern world if we are not putting
ourselves as an organization out there were people can see us we are not
going to be taken seriously and definitely not making the most of our
potential for growth. We have to stop looking at the small picture and
think bigger than we ever have if the SCA is going to stand up for its
continued existence and be competitive for all the other options that are
drawing people away from what we do.

Kindly
Ian