[Steppes] Part 2 <Longish> Autocratting/Stewarding Events--Thoughts on Change

[Patrick Cuccurello]

Which leads me to my second rambling, my concept of an Event
Steward/Autocrat and "Service" in the SCA.

---Leave now.....abandon all hope ye who enter here  <<grin>>

I'm pulling this quote down for reference:

> This, I think, goes to the different concepts on just what an 'autocrat',
> 'event steward' etc. is supposed to be. The only way to get people to do
> this (mostly difficult and headache inducing) job is to give them some
> leeway over how things work. From what I can tell there is little enough
> leeway in the major events, I can hardly imagine someone putting in a
> "bid" for an event that is totally predetermined. They still might apply
> to run the event, but the "bid" process generally seems to be geared
> towards putting competing autocart ideas up against each other and taking
> the best.

Good Stewards/Autocrats are interchangeable in events.  A good Steward you
can place in any event at any time and not worry about it coming off.  A
good Steward will save your butt when you are hitting a deadline for an
event and you need someone.  A good Steward cares less about the event and
more about the job because an event will almost run itself--a job requires
oversight.  The job is the same no matter what the event.  Make it work,
make it fun, make it fall within budget, if someone is holding a skunk--tell
them to put it down, if they refuse to put it down--go buy the tomato juice.
A good Steward doesn't care if it's a indoor Court event, a single day
Tournament, a weekend Grand Event--the size of the event gets larger and
smaller, the challenges get larger and smaller, but the job stays the same.
It doesn't matter if they thought it up, or whether it was thrust upon them,
the job must be done. **and most importantly, there is nowhere in the rules
that says you and your staff cannot have one hell of a good time doing it**

Okay, first off, I applaud anyone willing to take a step forward and do
anything for this organization.  By it's very nature, Service in the Society
is the "man behind the curtain" in the Wizard of Oz.  The running and
mundanity of putting an event together should be totally transparent to 95%
of the people showing up on site.   The more of it that is visible, the more
it will detract from the ambiance of the event.  After all, we are all here
to experience an attempt at the Middle Ages and Renaissance of pre 1600
Western Europe.  Having an Officer from Bob's Security Service walking
around in uniform with a Mag-Lite and a walkie talkie on his shoulder will
detract from the scenery <<grin>> well maybe not from the ladyes with the
low bodices--but I digress.

With this being a difficult job, and many times with a minimal thanks and
recognition, I can see where people might think that "having their way"
might be the best reward.  I do not believe that to be the case.  In my
experience the best Stewards and Administrators in the SCA do this because
the end result is reward enough.  Whether that is an event that you planned
from its inception, or whether it's something that was dropped into you lap
to make work.  When that event is over, the site is clean, every bone in
your body aches, you're wife has threatened to divorce you for the fifth
time, and the last car drives off--the driver smiles at you as they drive by
and the kids in the back seat with dirty faces wave at you--that is your
reward. You can go to your cool chest, grab a beer, sit back and smile.  It
worked, it worked well, and you made it happen.  When one of those "magic"
moments happens in Court where the entire hall is sent back 600 years in
time for that most deserved accolade.  Whether it was a Peerage or the glow
on the face of someone who has just became a Lord or Lady, you are
responsible for that.  Quietly, off to the side, not noticed, but it would
not have happened without the decorations, banners, tables, thrones, feast,
torches, tents, or the thousand other things people don't worry about but
need to be in place for all we do to work.  That is your reward.

And it is not all work.  Some of my greatest friendships were not found on
the field but pushing the mop, up to my elbows in dishwater, trying to find
the cutoff valve for the sprinkler system that just popped up in the middle
of the King and Queen's tent <<no watersports comments please>>.  Somehow,
somewhere, "that greater power than us" rewards us for our work by
introducing us to wonderful people, insane events, and cold leftovers from
feast eaten while sitting on the grass with the kitchen crew watching the
stars.  Inside, the music plays and people dance.

> The only way to get people to do
> this (mostly difficult and headache inducing) job is to give them some
> leeway over how things work.

I think the only way to get people to do this most difficult and headache
inducing job is to show and teach them that the joys, amusements, surprises,
and simple pleasures far outweigh the problems.  The greatest joys in the
SCA come not from the recognition, but the paths we take on the road to that
recognition.  If you want recognition and rewards, perhaps paths on the List
Field or in the Arts and Sciences will gain you renown faster.  You are
there in front of all making this Dream come alive with every Tournament,
War, Pas d' Armes you fight.  You and your Arts are there before all
providing the color, pageantry, ambiance that can make an event "real".  On
the Service side you work behind the scenes pleading and cajoling people,
organizing both the big and the small things.  Let's face it, making sure
there is plenty of TP in the Port-o-Johns is not a very sexy job title.  And
Fame! Fortune! The Roar of the Crowd!.....it all falls in the last 2 minutes
on the last day during the last court--and if you are doing your job, 1
minute 58 seconds of that roar is for all the people who saved *your* fuzzy
little keister during the event while you stand there in a dirty
shirt/dress, needing a shower, with hair that would give Medusa a run for
her money <<grin>>  and all the time the populous is wondering why you are
smiling.    Think about it......next time in Court when they call up the
Steward......they *are* smiling, but why? everyone knows what how difficult
it can be.....they shouldn't be smiling, but they are....maybe, just maybe
they've found that lost little part of the Dream that everyone seems to be
looking for.

It can be hard, it can be scary just starting out as a Steward.  The longest
of journeys however begins with just one step.  Just keep in mind that it is
a path that you do not have to walk alone.  There are Stars of Merit who
will walk with you and light your way.  There are Cranes who will fly next
to you to show you the path.  There are Pelicans that will nourish you on
your trip and protect you from the rain with their wings.

It is for these reasons, I maintain that a Steward need not be part of the
inception of an event--they need only be willing to work with what is given
them.  If they can have some control over an events beginning, it is a plus.
In the end however, a Steward can take what they are given and make
something magic out of it.  Not because the magic comes from them, but
because the magic comes from everyone they get to touch that event and give
a portion of themselves to it--giving it life.

If you've read this far, you are probably masochistic enough to become a
Steward :)  I would like to however apologize to the poor gentle who's reply
I hijacked for my drivel.  Nothing personnel  <<grin>>>  really <<<waving>>>
your post just happened to be in the right place at the right time :)

I think that we as a Barony stand at a crossroads, a nexus, marked by 30
remarkable years.  I think we need to see this as a beginning of another
remarkable 30 years.  Let us not forget what brought us here, but let us not
remake our own past.  I tell my apprentices and protégé's one of my favorite
quotes, "I can reach for the stars because I stand upon the shoulders of
Giants".  I also tell them that they do myself and the Locksley's before me
a disservice if they fail to grow beyond what I have taught them.  So we as
a Barony must grow beyond what we have done in the past.  Let there never be
a doubt as to whether the Black Star is rising or falling within our Barony.

I remain, In Service to the Crown and their Excellencies Steppes,
Petruccio