[Ansteorra] An answer to the population problem

Tue Aug 19 10:37:48 PDT 2014

Ok. On a more serious note. (I still want a cookie.) 

Prices on gas, site fees, feast fees, other food, and generally everything else (let's just say it here - this is a volunteer organization - we can't expect a lot of people to be throwing money they don't have away on expensive trips for a weekend or on expensive stuff to wear, etc.) are going to affect EVERYTHING we do. Here's an example - after looking for work in my field for going on 5 years, I finally got a job. That job is 36.1 miles from my house (one way trip). I had to buy a new car because the old one was not going to make the trip for long. I bought another SUV because of the SCA and the need to carry a lot of stuff to the events. OK. So now I have a car payment that needs to be paid. If I thought I had little extra money before - well you can see the dilemma. I have had to cut down on the events and activities I go to. I don't do a lot of the stuff I was doing when gas was a lot cheaper. I just don't have the money for it. I'm sure others are feeling the same pinch as me. 

There has to be a happy medium somewhere. But I don't know where it is. 

This is also going to affect how many new members we attract. The other thing we have to keep in mind is that if we are attracting fewer active members to the events, we are going to attract fewer new members. Those who have shown an interest will be disinclined to go if their friends who are established can't go. And people going to their first activity ever are going to feel the same. It's just human nature. We want to gather with people we know. So fewer established members means fewer newcomers. 

I think it's also important to point out, that while I agree with you, Ian, in that this is a volunteer organization and we can't expect everyone to have the time to volunteer, if we are more precise in our job descriptions for the different positions, we may find someone who has the skills who hasn't volunteered. That uses good management of the groups and good leadership qualities. 

Lady Maria 
Gate's Edge 

----- Original Message -----

From: "List, Ansteorra" <ansteorra at lists.ansteorra.org> 
To: "Jerry Herring" <jherring68 at gmail.com>, "List, Ansteorra" <ansteorra at lists.ansteorra.org> 
Sent: Tuesday, August 19, 2014 12:17:14 PM 
Subject: Re: [Ansteorra] An answer to the population problem 

Greetings 

Very solid points to both sides of this discussion. 
and both sides are happening every day in the real world. 
another angle , that is also happening in the real world , 
is that many people are always in a hurry, which results in people 
speaking in " sound bytes " , driving, talking, acting in rude ways 
,texting during conversations / meals/ meetings etc., rushing by, 
instead of taking the time to stop and chat, or help someone.. in person. 
i have watched events / practices / meetings / etc. in many places go 
from " SCA Time " to modern " got to catch them all time " . 
the big difference being that sca time was very relaxed , some events 
had some activities, but not all activities, and you chose your events 
by both expense and activities. 
( with gas prices, it is sometimes hard to still believe that a 2 hour 
drive to an event is a " local " event : ( ) 
but now ( due to many reasons, events try to have " everything " at 
their event, in order to draw in more people. 
resulting in people trying to do everything they enjoy,want to learn 
about, or see. so in most cases it is a rush from one activity to the 
next, missing parts of all of them. 
and by feast , many people ( yes we're getting older ) are exhausted 
from all the running, 
and with bardic arts only available at bardic competitions, there is 
less and less reason to try to move around and socialize after court. 
i understand that with the price of gas, site fees, feast fees , food 
etc. all on the rise, people are going to fewer events. and that the 
same applies to the crowns, who must now try to squeeze in as many 
meetings, and activities as possible in as short a time as possible. the 
archery community has been fortunate in that the crowns have chosen to 
add us to that already long list, and they take the time to make us feel 
like part of the sca, not " those people over there " . which has 
resulted in the archery community going to more events that don't have 
archery and helping with other things ( gate, parking, marshaling other 
activities, etc. ) 
anyway , back on track. the big things i see is that with the financial 
situation many people are in today, TIME - MONEY , are the 2 biggest 
factors costing us memberships. 
$25.00 a year i can scrape together and not worry too much about , no 
matter how broke i am. but when it goes to $45.00 a year, that $45.00 is 
a lot harder to come by, and much more dearly missed. 
the sca then set up a way to " maximize their profits " ( in my opinion 
) by adding a $5.00 surcharge to site fees where the new person, or the 
broke person has to pay an additional $5.00 per event , 
if they can't afford a membership, or are new enough that they just want 
to see what an event is about. which to me seems to have backfired, 
since if i can only attend less than 9 events in a year, it is cheaper 
to NOT have a membership. 
and that is just me by myself, now multiply that for family memberships, 
and site fees, etc. 
and then there is " time " i started going back to school, in an 
attempt to make more than $4000.00 a year, so that i can stop living in 
a dump, and hopefully go participate in more of my hobbies. but this now 
means that i am tied up all week with school work, and get little else 
done, so now everything i used to do during the week needs to get done 
on the weekends and at night, so there goes my being an officer, and 
going to meetings, and in many cases to events as well, because things 
need to get done..... 

I guess what I'm trying to point out is that no one is to blame and yet 
everyone is to blame for our falling membership. 

I'm not an expert , my psychic powers , don't work and my crystal ball 
is cloudy, all i can do is give my opinion, and be willing to change it 
as new info comes in ; ) 
but we are in many ways like the 3 blind men , who upon encountering an 
elephant each describe the parts they " see " , yet each describes 
something different. 
i believe there are many reasons , some great and some small that are 
costing us memberships, both new and old. 
I believe as well that both of your observations are correct ,( as are 
mine ) but in varying amounts depending on the circumstances .. 

be safe, be happy, have fun 
Arthur 

On 8/19/2014 9:05 AM, Jerry Herring via Ansteorra wrote: 
> We are a volunteer organization, applying any ideals to leadership or 
> management is a nice thought but in the end we will only ever be as good as 
> the people willing to step up and do the jobs. In a society that is 
> struggling to grow and maintain, where inner personal issues escalate to 
> levels that spill over and affect the general populace or alter local 
> groups dynamics management and leadership bear the brunt of that. What we 
> need is for people to act with more respect and kindness towards each other 
> and allow those kinds of issues to rise to a point where they drive off 
> members. Every personal issue between people that turns petty and angry 
> that rises to the level where our officers have to become involved to aid 
> in settling the issue is one that adds stress to that officers role in our 
> society, it causes burnout, and it also means that we draw light onto 
> unpleasant issues that would make any sane person question wanting to be 
> involved. In the end escalated personal issues cause the SCA to loose more 
> good people than any other cause. In the end all we are is people so lets 
> treat each other with the respect and honor we would want to be treated 
> with. When you are part of a organization that already is facing issues of 
> retention why generate more reasons for some one new to not want to play 
> with us. Good Leadership and Management those are nice but when people 
> can't treat each other with politeness, kindness, or at least civility then 
> we are fighting a loosing battle. 
> 
> Be kind, be polite, and please try to have fun. 
> 
> Kindly 
> Ian 
> _______________________________________________ 
> Ansteorra mailing list 
> Ansteorra at lists.ansteorra.org 
> In order to make changes and manage your account please go to: 
> http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/ansteorra-ansteorra.org 
> 

_______________________________________________ 
Ansteorra mailing list 
Ansteorra at lists.ansteorra.org 
In order to make changes and manage your account please go to: 
http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/ansteorra-ansteorra.org 