[Bryn-gwlad] Newcomer / Hospitaler brainstorm idea

Fri Jul 7 09:31:06 PDT 2006

Okay I literally just thought of this, and I'm still working out the ramifications in my mind, but I think I've hit on an idea that is at least worth kicking around. I thought I'd submit it to public scrutiny since we're all in a mood to discuss things and I'd like to see that trend continue.

  OK I was reading what Clare said about Audette (and my memory of her skill at hospitaling is the same: she was superb) and I was thinking about how do we teach people the right way to talk to newcomers and tend to their needs without overwhelming them?

  See I think it is as much a problem when people give newcomers too much information, and too fast, and annoy them and drive them off thinking we're all weirdos, than it is that they get ignored. I brought my girlfriend to PiP a few weeks ago and this happened to her, even with me sitting there saying that I had the explanations covered! :-) Everyone appreciates the enthusiasm within the barony, but energy without structure is chaos.

  I thought, then, that what we need is some sort of "how to welcome newcomers" classes, and then like a bolt out of the blue, the parallel hit me! Follow me here...

  In the combat arts we have marshalls who keep the fighting safe. Now we have one Marshall with a capital M, and he/she has Deputy Marshalls who help out and fill in, and we also have marshalls with a little m who are trained and certified and authorized to marshal the field. People who have not been trained and passed that authorization are not allowed to marshal.

  Are you starting to sense where I'm going with this?

  What if.... What if the hospitaller had a few deputies to help organize demos or whatever, but there were also a "hospitaler authorization" class that a person could take that taught them how to talk to newcomers, and how -not- to talk to newcomers, and then those individuals could be "authorized hospitalers" (little h).

  To continue the parallel, a rapier marshall, when he/she picks up that staff, is focusing on the job of marshalling the fighters. In the same sense, when a hospitaler staff is in the role, they are actively walking around the PiP, being watchful and available, saying a friendly "Hi!" to anyone who is watching, and being ready to answer questions in the trained manner. It has already been suggested that people work shifts at a welcome table etc. I'm suggesting that we go a step further and officialize it in some capacity. The active hospitaler staffpersons could even carry around black-and-white capped staffs that have "Welcome" and "Ask Me" ribbons hanging from them. I'm volunteering now to help make these!

  And another problem that this solves is, people who are not trained and certified to handle newcomers will have a large pool of people to draw from that they can direct a newcomer to (and by that, btw, I mean walk them over to them, not point and say "go talk to him") and the expectation would be set that those who are not authorized to handle newcomers won't barrage them with their own welcome speech but we will all get it ingrained in us to give a friendly "Hello!" and if anyone appears interested, go notify a hospitaler staffmember to go talk to them. I had great success with this one PiP where I noticed people around and I just went and tapped on Isabelica's shoulder and pointed them out to her. Now if we could do that, but had 4 or 5 people to tap instead of just one, that would be great!

  I've got to go to lunch but I'd like for everyone to chew on this and give feedback. Don't shoot it down out of hand, give me a chance to counter-argue. It's still in idea phase.

  Oh P.S. the standards by which a person would be authorized would/could be set by the Barony with the Baron's input and approval. I'm not looking to make people adhere to a random standard.

  Anyway, think about it please!

   -Corbin (willing to give up fencing time to work hospitalerstaff shifts, too)

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