[Ansteorra] ideas was Presentation at Round Table

[Ld.blackmoon]

greetings

your Excellency , you have a lot of interesting points.
but ,you touch on one problem area in your post that may need expanding .
some of the " free " advertising that seems to be under utilized is demos, 
our hospitaler has been advertising an upcoming  large audience demo , 
giving plenty of time to make arrangements ,
and yet if I recall correctly, something like 4 people have so far 
volunteered.
it used to be that many people would go and share at demo's , so we had many 
people in garb going to schools, and parks, and movie openings, etc. but now 
, it seems fewer and fewer people are willing to help with demos .
also as his majesty pointed out, we all have event signs , many that only 
say " SCA --->  " , how hard or expensive would it be to  add " www.sca.org 
" to those signs ??
the key to what ever we do is always going to be  " BEING SEEN " in a 
positive light. ( btw, " medieval girls gone wild , brings up all kinds of " 
ansteorran swim team " images , not sure how non sca people might interpret 
the whole " girls gone bad " image while trying to recruit younger people 
? )
anyway , if we go back to getting out in public in garb more, we will 
automatically kick up our visibility.
years after the fighting moved away from the park , I still heard , "oh yea, 
I think I used to see you guys in the park on Saturdays . "

anyway , just my 2 cents worth : )
Be Safe , Be Happy, Have Fun .
Arthur

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jerry Herring" <jherring68 at gmail.com>
To: "Penny Roberts" <pennyrobertsho at yahoo.com>; "Kingdom of Ansteorra - SCA, 
Inc." <ansteorra at lists.ansteorra.org>
Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2013 10:35 AM
Subject: Re: [Ansteorra] ideas was Presentation at Round Table


> 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
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