[Ansteorra] ideas was Presentation at Round Table

[Ld.blackmoon]

greetings

from hl Arthur blackmoon ,general member with a few awards ,active  since 
1982 .
with all due respect you grace .
at the event ,the king made it very clear what the problem was and why we 
were and are continuing to lose people before and after they become members 
.
several of the reasons in fact , he even debunked a few of the commonly 
believed " reasons " and had the numbers to back up his statements .

also, while I can agree with some of the other things you mention / describe 
in your post, some things I have to disagree with.
1st , I spent the 1st 10 years in the sca , running around helping people 
set up their camp sites , tear down their camp sites, and hauling anything 
anywhere I was ask to as well as setting up hay bales and paper plates so 
that I and others could be sent to the far side of the sites to shoot 
archery . that's how I learned what to do and how to act and who did what. 
to this day I try to do some kind of work ( usually gate  or marshaling )at 
every event I can get to .
you say that people setting up events don't plan enough of the activities 
you like. but you don't look outside your personal upset to see that the 
truth is that, people are not stepping up to do the work ...
autocrats try to make sure that the crowns ( if attending ) can do 
everything they need to do, the landeds can do everything they need to do , 
and then every other sca activity that can be ran at the local event site 
AND HAS PEOPLE TO RUN THOSE ACTIVITIES gets added in if it won't overlap or 
cause problems with the 1st 2 items on the list. ( crowns and landeds 
business ) .
how many members do most baronies have ???  and yet by the number of posts 
requesting aid and assistance for most every baronial event leads me to 
believe that there are only a small portion of those members willing to 
repeatedly pay site and feast fees, then give up most if not all of their 
time and energy ( in many cases ANY  time / energy ) to work their own 
events, let alone anyone else's events.
and yes that also includes those willing to become officers , so that others 
can play this hobby we call the sca.
if you really want to see more pomp and courtesy etc. I hold that you must 
not demand that someone else do it for you. that you must set your own camp 
to please you. if others find this to their likeing they too should do the 
same, and the actions / decorations will slowly spread.
if you want the halls better or more decorated , contact those people 
already doing that job and ask if you may help in any way .and don't forget 
to say thank you when you see some one working , many times the people doing 
the work are ALWAYS doing the work and so people believe them to have all 
those awards , and don't even say thank you , let alone put in an award rec.
candles can sometimes be used, but due to insurance and site restrictions , 
are not always usable, ( sorry those little battery ones often look very 
modern and dont look the same as light either )
another issue is that, as was pointed out , many people can't afford to make 
distant events alone anymore.
and since we no longer seem to have revels to build " family " as well as 
give nubies a less stressful , less expensive way to meet us and get to know 
us well enough to WANT  to go to events with us.
there is less and less carpooling  / sharing resources to get to / from 
events.

sorry , I'm late for school , gotta run.
Be Safe , Be Happy, Have Fun .
Arthur

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <willowdewisp at juno.com>
To: <ansteorra at lists.ansteorra.org>
Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2013 4:36 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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