[Ansteorra] ideas was Presentation at Round Table

[Kristi Johnson]

I left for a couple of years a while back and have been easing my way back in.  
I recently went surfing the calendar to look for events I might like to attend, 
wallet able.   Something I noticed is the dearth of events on the calendar.  
Back in the very late 1990's and early 00's there were lots of events to go to.  
There were big ones and there were small ones.  There were events near and far.  
Now there are pretty much 4 or 5 events a month.  1 perhaps 2 per weekend....in 
the whole kingdom!   

"Hey neighbor that's a really cool helmet you're polishing; what's it for?" 
"Well this weekend how about we drive from Houston to Oklahoma City so I can 
show you!"   It's nuts.  


We need to get over the idea that "Oooo we can't put our event up against XYZ 
big baronial event(that is not happening in our barony)".  The big events are 
great.  Don't get me wrong.  I love 'em. They're a blast.  But small events can 
be great too.  The ones that are really good are going to become big events and 
big ones that may be getting stale will fade.  That's life.  (I don't know that 
any big ones are getting stale but the chances are, there are or there will be.) 


Back when we had as many events as our groups could put on there wasn't such a 
desperate need for every event to be a blockbuster.   Now a small group has to 
pour all their resources into one "big" event and pray that it pays off.  Open 
the calendar back up to the smaller events with official recognition in the 
Black Star and I think you will see more people attending events.  


I for one would love to attend a smaller local event that I can afford to get 
to, rather that sit at home and wish that I could afford to go to the big one a 
tank of gas away; just when I go look at the calendar those events just aren't 
there anymore.

Thora O.





________________________________
From: "willowdewisp at juno.com" <willowdewisp at juno.com>
To: ansteorra at lists.ansteorra.org
Sent: Tue, January 29, 2013 4:37:55 AM
Subject: [Ansteorra] ideas was Presentation at Round Table

Greetings from Duchess Willow de Wisp, OP OR OL, Lion of Ansteorra and a member 
since AS III<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = 
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Our King has said “there trouble right here in Ansteorra”, but he failed to 
describe the problem. Our problem is our events are not attracting people.  

While the people putting on the Events are happy with what they are doing many 
members are no happy and feel it is a waste of time to attend events outside of 
their Area.
In the last year I have attending event after event that was based on people 
talking to their friends. I did not know many people so I walked around feeling 
lonely. This isn’t the SCA I joined and stayed in for so many years.
I go to SCA events for escape and atmosphere. I like pretty so I go for the 
banners and flags. I like the courtesy so I go to be able to interact with 
people in a courtly manner. I also like to do things in persona and tell stories 
and when I was younger dancing. Now I like to watch the dancing. I love the 
Magic. 

I don’t like events that make you feel like an outsider. I don’t like feast when 
they don’t light candles. I don’t like tourneys that are run so fast you cannot 
tell who won. I don’t like 3 or 4 or more list fields going at the same time. I 
hate it when fighters don’t fall down and die. I don’t like Court that ruin the 
evening party and I hate these made up courts that do not reflect our study 
eras. I am really bored with parties that consist of everyone just getting drunk 
.I hate events that have no venue for me to entertain. I despise events where 
behaving in a medieval fashion seems to be discouraged.
I realize that the people putting on the events expect us to entertain ourselves 
and they are comfortable with the current style of event. I also realize that 
they are doing a lot and these limited events are what they have the workers to 
do. If they’re going to be more at our events then those people currently not 
working on the events will have to pitch in and make them these things happen.
Here are a few simple things that will spice up our event and make people 
willing to attend out of group event. 

First let’s look at Ansteorra events that use to pull people. What did they have 
that we are not doing now? 

Decoration: In the past there was a lot of effort to decorate and make things 
look period. I enjoy events that have period decoration and wall hangings and 
candles. I spent my first years just enjoying the candlelight. It was so 
romantic. Candle light brings out the romantic in all of us.
I believe that pageantry and beauty is a major attraction of the SCA so we need 
to dress up our sites. So please make one room sort of medieval. I would be 
willing to help people make wall hangings. Most of the Wall Hangings used at 
events where made by people working independently and did not use SCA money and 
where kept by the artist that made them. Often they were made to fit into a 
theme of an event at the request of the Autocrat. Sometimes the event was 
created to show off the decoration. 

As individuals we can add to the beauty and pageantry of an event by decoration 
our personal space and if we are really trying to make Magic make our own Mini 
event at our area and invite the wandering souls in. Many of the people we 
attract are isolates by nature and need the game we play to be comfortable at 
events. If you allow people to bask in the Magic at you campsite you will be 
serving a great service to the kingdom.  

Entertainment not contests” We arranged entertainment. Not only the Bard telling 
us the tales of Anstoerran Heroes, but also persona play. The King would declare 
that the food would not be served until a marvel appear and message for Pester 
John could come in and set everyone on a quest. Or the peacock in it plumage 
would be bought in and the Knights would swear oaths. All of this didn’t just 
happen. It was planned and arranged so it looked like it was just natural. 

We need some entertainment. I would like a kingdom office of Master of Revels 
and I would like to see every event have a Master of Revels. This office would 
be used to arrange some entertainment at events. Just enough to make the Magic. 
The Office would search out "good" talent and arrange places from them to 
entertain that didn't interfere with the people who just want to talk to their 
friends. The Master of Revels might organize some open areas where anyone could 
perform. That would allow the performers to show what they could do and allow 
the Master of Revel a place to find new performer. 

We used to do Courtly dancing. This was often on the Green .The Master or 
Mistress of the Revel would organize that and coordinate it with other 
activities. 

We used to have Taverns with persona play and Coffee Housed and entertainment 
area all over a site. These were places that people who new, or just didn’t know 
a lot of people or just don’t like everyday conversation could go. They were 
like pools of enchantment.  

There was Courtly conversation among the populace. Gentlemen would address the 
Ladies and kiss their hands and Ladies, even old ladies like me, would flirt 
with the gentlemen. The behavior of the populace can make or break the ‘Magic” 
of an event. We need to increase the Courtesies. Many a Lady and Gentleman were 
drawn to the SCA for the chance to do those old fashion Courtesies. When we make 
our events so everyday people really do not know how to act so in doubt they 
fall back on the everyday. In the everyday world the lady carries her own load 
and is proud to do so. If a Lord is trying to be Courtly.to a lady who is being 
everyday then the Lord often gets rebuffed and the event is somewhat ruined for 
him. 

These kinds of Courtesies are better learned in a group situation through 
Modeling.  We need to open our personal space to new people and show them the 
courtesies by doing them. We also need to arrange more classes on the subject. 
In today’s world young people learn to be very quiet until they have mastered a 
skill so our current recruits will be slow to do any courtly interaction until 
they are conformable with doing them. 

If we looked more medieval and acted more medieval and if we made sure that we, 
(that everybody who can,) welcome people to our events. I believe that we would 
go a long way to increasing people going to out of group events and increasing 
our membership

____________________________________________________________
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