[Ansteorra] ideas was Presentation at Round Table

[kajira camber]

I agree with Armand in that the participation and recruitment of the SCA is
a serious, yet difficult to answer, situation.

In my point of view, I do not know of this 'pagentry' that Duchess Willow
is eluding to.

I have been in the SCA for a little over 15 years and have only seen court
dancing at a handful of events, don't think I have ever seen a site
decorated in such fashion, and don't recall almost all of the 'enchanting'
moments described in the earlier email.  Yet, even without these items, I
have found my home in the SCA.

To me, it is the friendship and family and the fun of the events that have
kept me coming back and spending all of my extra (and not so extra) income
in order to participate in a manner that I like.

Personally, I prefer the lack of handkissing and flirting (innocent or
not) of the women toward the men.  This is primarily based on the number
of, erm...uh...separations that have occurred after some of these
'innocent' moments.  (and I believe most everyone knows how I feel if you
flirt with Rabbit...)

Also, I agree with Armand that the aging population has changed what is
important to those involved.  It is no longer focused 'for the party'
(which, as I recall, was not at all PG), and is more focused on life.
There are still young groups that are only here for the party...I remember
that phase and hope that, when they grow out of it, they will join us on
the front lines and bring their energy with them.

A big kick to our population and the 'younger and more energetic' crowd is,
as His Majesty said, the immediate satisfaction you get out of MMORPGs
(online role playing games).  Once those people play enough and realize
that they are getting nothing out of video/computer games and want to do
something IRL (in real life) we need to be there for them.

A big kick to our events/population is many-fold IMO (in my opinion)--
1-The aging population- The SCA population is made up of many who have
gotten to the point of 'I have done my time for the SCA, now time for the
new members to do what is needed'.  But the issue is that there are no new
members...so the required things are getting done by a handful of people
every time and causing the B&Bs to have to beg for event and feast
stewards...or hope that other people will show up for the work day...or
whatever the item is that needs to be taken care of.  And those few
people who do everything that is needed for the Barony/group run out of
energy and aren't able to do those 'fun to add' things.
2-Money.  (dang it...)  Because of the aging group, there are more
important things to spend money on then booze and SCA, as it was 10, 20, or
30 years ago.  A larger percentage of the population is going to
their children's 'non-SCA' functions, or having sick children, or ailing
parents, financial issues or whatever the situation is, but it impacts
their participation abilities.
3-Recruitment.  Again, this is affected by us not having enough of the
appropriate aged crew to recruit the younger crowd and it is a downward
spiral (the younger 'new' crew is too busy having to do what is above in #1
to even think about trying to add in recruitment).  Even knowing this, we
still put an inappropriate demographic out there to attempt to pull in new
members.  A group of middle aged adults (even late 20/early 30 year olds)
isn't the appropriate age group of people to try and recruit the typical
energetic early 20 year old.  Sorry, but if some of the people that we have
talking to people to try and get them interested had talked to me when I
first started (when I was 18), I would've walked away thinking it was full
of middle aged pervs.
4-Recognition-As Arthur stated, we all need to make a better effort to
submit/recognize those that have done the work or improved in the arts or
what have you.  I have heard through many reigns regarding the lack of
award recommendations and this is an important piece of being part of a
volunteer organization.  Heck, look at how much apps and online mini-games
(i.e. Farmville, Hero World, Bejeweled, Angry Birds, etc)  pull people back
to keep playing simply based on simple 'electronic' awards/badges!  It
doesn't even have to be an 'award' from Their Majesties.  A simple thank
you goes far and it lets them know that their service or skill improvement
has been recognized by others.

I personally recognize that I am not outgoing enough to those I do not
know.  I am going to make a conscious effort to start conversations and get
to know our knew members better.  I prefer to be the listener, but my
position requires me to do opposite.  That is one place I know I can work
to help retain new members.

And (this isn't directed at Duchess Willow, who we see teaching classes and
trying to make newcomers feel comfortable) if you find yourself wondering
'why ___ doesn't happen anymore' or 'why can't we do ____ anymore'...please
take the time to reflect on your own participation.  When was the last time
that you hosted a '____ making party' for your group...or was an event
steward...or sat gate...or held a local office...  You may feel like you
have 'done your time', but this is 'all of our time' and if we all put in a
small amount of energy, the amount it will cause in return will be AWESOME!

Sorry for the length...in a rambling moment...better stop now or I will
have 10 items on my list (started out with 2, lol)

Kajira Camber
Who is a proud Baroness of Wiesenfeuer--proud of her members that step in
to get the job done and proud of those that have helped in the past to get
us where we are.  We will do what needs to be done to help our Kingdom
grow, but I don't think a 'Master of Revels' is the answer to this question.