[Elfsea] PEDs -and the issues at hand we mentioned at Moot

[Druinne de Salesberie]

Concerning PEDs...

Daire is on his way to fighter practice, so this one is from me.

The discussion is about the possibility of moving Elfsea Defender to
another weekend on the kingdom calendar.  Due to the flip of Crown and
Coronation, Three Kings is now the week after Defender.  Many of us in
the barony believe that this schedule will significantly impact the
gate at Defender.  This has been a topic of conversation since Round
Table in January, with many in the populace voicing this concern to us
either one on one or in small groups.  So far, all we have done is
talk about it.

Dáire and/or I have been at every regional event since Defender 2008.
We have seen first hand the number of people who were there and who
were not.  After talking to some of the ones who were not, we were
given a variety of very real and good reasons as to why they were not
in attendance:  work, family obligations that came up last minute,
saving up to go out of town the next week, didn't like tournament
format, etc.  There is no one reason why people do not go to events;
there are several.  And yes, escalating fuel costs are one of them.
What concerns us most is that people are having to make choices now,
more than ever, about how many weekends a month they travel, even
within their own region and especially out of region.

The time has come to have this discussion on the lists.  If we are to
make a move, we need to know soon and we need to decide how to handle
this year's event. Moving Defender will have a ripple effect.  Here
are some of the more pressing issues at hand:

Currently we have the following on-calendar events in the Barony:
Defender - PED
Springfaire
Twelfth Night - regional
Guardian of the Tor (Dragonsfire Tor)

We have only one off-calendar event:
Dragonsfire Tor Yule.

The Central Region is being pushed to host Round Table as often as
possible.  Attendance is just better when it is more centrally
located.

Do we move Defender to May and put all five champions with it?
Do we replace Springfaire with Baronial College and put it in fall?
Do we go with one event and have BC whenever someone steps up to run it?
Do we leave Defender where it is at and just plan for a lower gate?
Do we do a Baronial College in late February and sell it as a
"everything you need to get done for a successful GW and spring
tourney season" college complete with melee practice and classes?
And will this generate enough income for us to make our annual budget
or around 1 to 1.5k each year?  Or can we cut that budget?
What can we do to increase participation all around in our local activities?

Regional events are poorly attended by the populace.  We have over 400
"paid" members in the Central Region alone (May pop counts are out).
We had less than 200 at Springfaire and we had out of town folks show
up.

There is no one activity that will guarantee a good gate.  What is fun
for one, is not fun for another.  Without some hard numbers, we cannot
say who makes up the majority of attendees at events.  (I have sent
out a request to get some help to get this info).  People have
different needs and we need to remember that there is some danger to
trying to play to too many needs.  We can lose our focus for the event
and everything gets watered down too much.  Too tight a focus, and we
lose people as well.

Please be kind to each other as we talk about these issues.

Dáire and I would like to discuss this issue at the June business
meeting with the officers and anyone in the populace who wants to join
in.  Like Moot, business meetings are open to all.  We would like to
finalize our event schedule then so that we can make any needed
changes before the office of seneschal changes in July at Round Table.

See you all soon,
Druinne and Dáire