[Northkeep] Demos (and some rhetorical questions...)

[Keith Duke]

Dearest Anawyn/Skerri and interested others - 
 
I think that Dairmaid's point was that collectively as a group we may have
to do demos to meet our "Education requirement" (see the "discussion sidebar
below), but there is not, and cannot be *any* requirement for a specific
individual at a specific time doing a specific activity for demonstration
purposes, and still maintain the present culture within the Society. Because
as certain as the sun rises, if you were to *tell* (read that as 'require')
me to do a demo during the work week at say 10:00 am, my response would be
an uncompromising, unequivocal *no*.  And, I think that trying to 'require'
Dairmaid to do a demo would also net someone a resounding *no*, after the
laughter stopped.
 
The people who want to do demos volunteer their time and efforts, and
deserve praise and/or reward for that. Those who choose not to do not. 
And there is no way to make anyone participate. They may volunteer to do
other worthwhile things. They may only come out to do the things that they
like. They may disappear for years and then come back. They may play with
all their hearts and then suddenly leave forever. Or some arbitrary
admixture of any or all of the above. 
 
The level of involvement, participation, contribution, and/or satisfaction
can vary wildly over time and because of experiences. 
 
And that has been, is, and probably will always be the nature of the SCA and
the people who play.
 
And, just because I like a good discussion... (For those who want to join in
- Please leave the acrimony at home!) 
"Education" is such a broad term, and the interpretations of what
constitutes it are generally very broad indeed with respect to maintaining
or losing a non-profit status. Not that I am advocating such, but I suspect
that we could completely forego all demos and do our education by other
means and fall well within even an absurdly strict interpretation of what
"education" means. And, just for discussion sake - Can someone point out the
place in our corporate governance documentation where 'education' is
required? Or is it something that falls under "customary and expected" ?
 
So - What do you think? 
Are there other venues that might be more productive as education events? 
Are there other methods of gathering new members that are more effective?
Is there some way to manage greater participation in demos? Food, drink,
recognition, money? (HA! Yeah, right!)
Should we have better 'qualification' of demos so that we do 'good ones' and
skip the ones that are not good?
 
 
But that's my 2 kopeks. And please - Remember that my opinions are my own
and not those of my knight. 
 
Piotr Balomirov syn Barsukov
 
 
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Anawyn at aol.com [mailto:Anawyn at aol.com] 
Sent: Monday, October 27, 2003 6:29 PM
To: northkeep at ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Northkeep] Demo..



In a message dated 10/27/2003 3:02:29 PM Central Standard Time,
marccarlson20 at hotmail.com writes:

And since this is a 
volunteer organization, there's no reason they HAVE to do these things.

Yes, as I pointed out, and Skerri pointed out, we DO have to do these
things.  
 
 

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