[Bards] Bardic Roundtable

[Cisco Cividanes]

Greetings.

Im sorry this took so long, my notebook and I were in different zip codes
for a while, so I couldn't type this up as soon as I wanted to.

Here are the notes from the round table.



Bardic Roundatable

Held 9:30am-10:20am

12/12/2008-Winterkingdom

Barony of Northkeep



Moderated by Lord Ivo Blackhawk

Seven total people in attendance



Topics discussed

1.                  Poor turnout for competitions

a.       Was noted that some potential competitors had to be actively
prodded into entering competition.

b.      Wide opinion that information on event web pages is never adequate
in detail, or timely. Format and theme are rarely posted more than a week or
two before the competition, if at all.

c.       When themes or rules are selected, they are often times not
followed through on,  handicapping those who have spent time actually
preparing.

d.      Too may rules for themed competitions was noted for scaring off
younger competitors

                                                               i.      However,
it was also pointed out that a lot of requirements can increase the minim
skill level needed to enter.

                                                             ii.      Their
was some disagreement as to weather or not this was a good thing.

e.       Lots of varying opinions about how many pieces each competitor
should be asked to perform during a competition.

                                                               i.      More
pieces favor a high level of skill

                                                             ii.      Fewer
pieces favor younger bards, and increase chances that a single slip or
mistake will hurt overall "score"

                                                            iii.      Again,
disagreement as to what are pros and what are cons in this situation.

f.        Everyone present did express that they liked the long standing and
most common format of two rounds, and then a selection of finalist do a
third piece.

                                                               i.      No
one said it was their favorite, but their seemed to be a compromise opinion
that this format had more pros can con's as basic competition formats go.

g.       Some talk about the possibility of doing newcomer competitions
again.

                                                               i.      Was
noted that in the past these have been done with great success.

h.       Advertisement was strongly advocated as a solution to a large
number of attendance problems.

                                                               i.      Current
champion bard (or duly appointed alternate) NEEDED to be hitting populace
meetings and events in the region months in advance, talking up the
competition.

                                                             ii.      The
rules, themes and prizes needed to be established early, and advertized
loudly.

                                                            iii.      Open
talk about "bribing" the competitors with good prizes and enticements to
compete.

i.         General agreement that bardic competitions in the north (all
participants in round table are northern) are not given the same level of
respect as heavy weapons or rapier competitions.

                                                               i.
Perceptions
included:

1.      Quality of gifts and prizes

2.      Pool locations for the competition

3.      Scheduling of the competition

4.      Attitudes from autocrats and event organizers that "Its only a
bardic competition"

j.        It was definitively noted that "Bardic Competitions/Bardic Circles
don't just happen"

                                                               i.      A
bard needs to be advocating for the competition in the early stages of event
planning.

                                                             ii.      The
time and place for the competition/circle needs to be established and posted
early

                                                            iii.      The
schedule needs to be stuck to!

                                                           iv.      Provisions
needs to be planned out ahead of time

1.      Fire for fire pit

2.      Water for drinks

3.      signs and or heralds telling people on site when/where

k.      Several of the opinion that these tasks should fall to the champion
bard

                                                               i.      Was
pointed out that some groups prefer to retain more direct control over their
own competitions.

l.         Overall agreement that communications between the champion bard,
the judges (and the Nobles if applicable) needs to be kept during the
competition in order to make sure the bard that best represents the group is
selected.

                                                               i.      Noted
that several judges have been heard to say "I didn't know what to look for,"
after a competition.


After that, we ran out of time.


I hope this is helpful, if anyone has any questions, fell free to contact me
directly and I will

clarify what I can.