[Northkeep] Recruitment ideas

[Lee McGoodwin]

Micalle of Chemin Noir, please contact me privately.
 
Thanks, Etienett
 

________________________________
 From: . . <dimstow at yahoo.com>
To: Barony of Northkeep Mailing List <northkeep at lists.ansteorra.org> 
Sent: Wednesday, February 6, 2013 5:31 PM
Subject: Re: [Northkeep] Recruitment ideas
  
Howdy,
This is going to be a bit long winded....sorry.
Recruitment has been a common (maybe the most common) conversation amongst those of us dedication ourselves to Chemin Noir. Being a small canton we, naturally, would like to expand and grow and recruitment is the natural evolution of that desire. But also many of us are in the unique position in the SCA of being...well...Young. This can be intimidating and omiting at times and is always at the forfront of conversation when we discuss recruitment. (I've often said that I feel like the friend at a family reunion, welcomed and appreciated, but just not quite part of the family, and I think that age is a big factor there.)
 
That being said, I'm a recuring attendy of Tokyo in Tulsa, Like Laiodheach I work at the Med fair, and by golly if I ever have time and money I'm gonna hit the Trek expo. And I think all of these are fantastic ideas for recruitment. 
 
Setting up a booth at TnT, or (ideally) being able to demonstrate some fighting in that venue could and would expose us to exactly the audience that needs that exposure. But...there are some concerns there, the audience of TnT is fairly young, most attendies are gonna fall between 16-30 and some of them are just too imature to be able to seperate the SCA from your typical LARP. Also, and I mean this is the kindest and most loving way possible, North Keep is old. Age can be intimidating and it's hard to show how exciting the SCA can be when what they see is old men in pajama pants. (That was not a stab at Ainar, I promise)
 
As for the Med fair, the gentlemen to owns the ground is, well there's not really a way to be nice about this, a flying jerk-on-a-stick. The odds of being able to do something at the faire are slim to none and if we chose to do it, it probably would not be a pleasent experiance. That being said there is no reason to not make a presence! When you go (Because me and Laiodheach are amazing and, you should come enjoy us in all our Ren-y glory) go in garb, wear your cornet, where your tunic, if people ask where you bought your dress tell them you made it yourself! Plugging the SCA for all it's worth was one of the best parts about working the Faire last year!
 
But I main points I want to make on the subject are simple. Embrace a younger audience, Show the fun and excitement of the SCA, Allow us younger folk up in Chemin Noir to be a force towards letting more people in the SCA (but please god guide us, we need to help) and if and when they DO show up, continue it! Don't let newcomers sit in the corner, talk to them about anything or everything and break from your Cliques to do it.And make them feel like part of the family.
In Service
Micalle of Chemin Noir
 


________________________________
From: Jerry Herring <jherring68 at gmail.com>
To: Barony of Northkeep Mailing List <northkeep at lists.ansteorra.org> 
Sent: Wednesday, February 6, 2013 9:31 AM
Subject: [Northkeep] Recruitment ideas
  
Greetings,
After some posts on the Kingdom list conversing about recruitment and
retention I wondered if our group might like to think about and discuss
some opportunities in those areas? There are two potential places where
recruitment might occur and I do not think that our Barony is currently
doing any active recruitment.

1.Tokyo in Tulsa - August 2nd-4th, 2013.  This could be is a huge venue for
the SCA to make a presentation. The people attending this convention
already have an interest in costuming and many of the younger players in
Chemin Noire and Northkeep are familiar with the event. If the Barony were
to stage a demonstration, or just man a booth at this convention it is my
thought that would generate a good deal of interest in what we do. The
booth might be manned by our members working on needle work, weaving,
leather work, making jewelry, crafting chain-mail. These are just thoughts
that I had. The follow up for this could be a two or three part ordeal;
first a medieval costuming seminar to help teach those interested how to
make some period apropriate clothes, a combo fighter practice\armor making
session for those interested in the martial arts,  and an old fashioned
revel with a bardic sing along and food.

2. Trek Expo - June 21st -23rd 2013. Another huge venue for finding people
potentially interested in the SCA. Although I do not know if it would be
possible to arrange a full demo this might be a place where just having a
booth or convention table set up to pass out flyers and present A&S skills
might be a good way to go, If nothing else these kinds of events have a
printed program where a full page or partial page add might generate a good
deal of interest. As a follow up for this we could plan a mid-summers
themed revel.

Now if getting together a group of local members with enough interest to
man these events then what about pulling together a smaller contingent to
attend each of these events in costume and while attending casually
distributing flyers and answering questions from interested parties. Any
efforts along these lines however grand or small might draw in a new
generation of SCA players.

I look forward to hearing your ideas on this subject.

Kindly
Ian
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