[Steppes] Akon vs. Scottish festival

[Maria Cabesa de Vaca]

Sorry Faelan, I had to cut most out...it was too long to include in a 
reply! :)

I have heard this argument many many many times in the last several 
years and every time I have to disagree....

I've been watching this thread with some interest.  I have to disagree 
that we only get 4 or 5 people from these types of large demos and that 
they are only there for beer and cabers.  Though most only come for 
that, they stop and look at what we do and the things we make and yes 
they do go home.  I know we never see a great influx of people right off 
the bat but they do take our brochures home, they stick them in a "junk" 
drawer and after a few months clean out their junk drawers and come 
across our brochure...that's when we grab them.  It happened to me.  I 
went to a couple Scottish Festivals, saw what the SCA did and just 
thought "neat" and put the brochure in a junk drawer. Four years after 
first seeing the SCA, I found the time to get involved in something like 
this. I have been in the SCA for 7 years, I've held numerous offices 
(including the current Kingdom office I hold) and have a really bad case 
of helium hand. hehe

My point is this....Yes, we do see alot of people pass by our tables at 
all demos and yes we do not see an immediate influx of new people, but 
these demos are worth doing. We are exposing ourselves to a great number 
of people at once and we have to think of ourselves as salesmen/women at 
these events because that is exactly what we are doing...selling 
ourselves.  We have to make ourselves appealing to people.  I can not 
tell you how many demos I have gone to in the last couple of years (in 
my mundane clothes) and not been greeted by those running the booth or 
have seen those running the booth with their backs turned to the aisle 
and chit chatting or just sitting there working on their art (I've even 
see people in the corner sleeping).  This is just not good PR.  I find 
this to be a big turn off and I'm in the SCA!  Wonder why the Civil War 
reenactors are so successful at recruiting? Go look at their booths and 
watch their volunteers sometime.  They have display boards that are eye 
catching, pictures, videos and most importantly? The volunteers are not 
sitting down and not behind their booths. They are in their best and 
most historically correct clothing and talking to everyone that comes 
close to their booth. This is why they are so successful!

We want people to be interested in us? We have to get up and go talk to 
them! Tell them the good points that we have to offer (fun, learning, 
friendship and place to come and experience nice and *polite* people). 
If they have children, emphasize children's activities and what fun the 
family can have together (let them know that unlike Scouts the entire 
family can have fun at one event and at about the same cost...no not 
knocking Scouts, I'm an ex Explorer member/leader, Cub Scout/Webelo 
leader and Girls Scout member/leader). I am just not seeing this at demos.

Reenactment groups can be scary to talk to...we are "weird" to most 
people and seem like a closed off and exclusive group.  We have to be 
the ones to break that wall and make non SCA people feel comfortable 
with us.

Sales men hit many doors and receive very few responses...demos are much 
the same way. We have to talk to a great deal of people before we will 
get a new member. Is NTIF and Scottish Fest worth doing? I say yes!!!  
At every demo, we could be talking to a future peer or the parent of a 
future peer! 

Maria




Faelan Caimbeul wrote:
> WARNING, PRETTY LONG
>
> <Snip>
>
> Likewise with the Scottish Festival. I am not familiar with it, but everyone
> should ask themselves, how many people have we really gotten from that
> event? If it's one or two every 5 or six years or more, we need to find
> other venues.
>
> I'll admit, I'm trying to do every fantasy, sci-fi and game convention in
> town over the course of the next year. Why? because they're "our kind of
> geeks", as Morgan so eloquently put it. Mahdi brought this up at populace
> months ago, "Where did we learn of the SCA?". For me, it was a game
> convention. For many it's sci-fi cons and ren-fairs. These are the kind of
> people that would be interested in the SCA, not a bunch of beer drinking
> Highland wantabees (not that  the SCA doesn't have their share of those as
> well), but my point is that the vast majority of people at that kind of
> event are there for beer and cabers and then going back to their mundane
> lives. to be run by mundanes. Then, at Elfsea Springfaire, I saw the
> director/owner of the con coming out just to have fun. Turns out, he's
> already a Scadian (and was quite excited and generous with his con
>
> <Snip>
>
> Just my 4.5 cents.
>
> Faelan
>