[Steppes] Opinions/Discussions Wanted On Subject of Moving Business Meeting To A New Day

Wed Aug 6 09:40:06 PDT 2008

It has been six years since I first came to the Steppes. August Business meeting in 2002 was my first activity. In these six years, I have missed only a handful of business meetings. I don't say that in order to earn an attagirl or anything like that, but to support the observations that I will make in this post.

Six years ago, Business Meetings were held on Tuesday nights at La Madeline on Beltline near Preston. Populace was on Thursday nights. Fighter and archery practices were on Sunday afternoons. Rapier practice was on Thursdays. There was another fighter practice on Monday nights. The only activities during the month that were held on Tuesdays were guild meetings, C & I on the third Tuesday and Bowyers and Fletchers on the second one. Our turn outs for business meetings were similar to what we have now. We changed locations because La Madelline wanted to charge us for the meeting room and it was too small for our needs. Even though there were no practices scheduled for Tuesdays, the number of heavy or rapier fighters attending was minimal. 

There are only a couple of Rapier fighters or Heavy fighters that have CONSISTENTLY (missing no more than two meetings per year) attended business meetings over the last six years. I mean for more than a two year stint in office as the Heavy or Rapier Marshal or any other office, for that matter. I doubt seriously if that number will change significantly if we change the day of the meetings. They don't come CONSISTENTLY to populace, either, even after we changed it to Friday so that there could be more revelling. We have had some Heavy and Light Marshals who have either attended bus. mtgs. consistently during their term of office, or had a deputy attend for them. When one takes on an office in the Barony, be it martial or not, meetings and reporting are part of the job. That is part of the responsibility and the obligation. That is supporting the Barony, not just the fighting community, but ALL of the Barony.

Sir Morgan commented on the difficulty of having a deputy conduct practices. We have problems in Archery with that, too, but have dealt with it as it arose. Right now, Master Robin and Mistress Serena are allowing us to store the equipment on their property so that the deputy doesn't have to take it home with them, but while I was Archery Marshal, and HL Jaque before me, we transferred the items at the practices, when we knew ahead of time that a deputy would be running the practice. If we didn't know in advance, we changed by meeting during the week or the night before the practice. While I'm sure that the amount of loaner gear is substantial for the Heavy group, transferring four 36-inch wide grass butts that way between 50 and 57 lbs each, close to a dozen bows, several dozen arrows, large unwieldy wood and/or metal stands for the butts, and targets, range marking and measuring equipment adds up to a significant amount of hassle, too. If there is a will there is a way, and when the reason is a regularly scheduled one, I don't see this as a reason, but more of an inconvenience.

Lady Viviane said that she would be glad to move her yoga classes. Wonderful, but some of us with obligations on other nights of the week don't have that luxury. Right now, I have outside the SCA obligations on every Wednesday and Thursday evening. Mondays or Tuesdays are the only nights that I have available on a consistent basis. I am not the only person with this kind of dilemma. Many of us who are part of the core who come to meetings and participate in activities and events on a consistent basis have other non-SCA lives, too. We have schedules that aren't easily juggled and other groups that depend on us, as well. Please don't ask us to change days on the chance that a few more folks might show up...historically they haven't. I would guess that some might show up for a couple of months, but within a year we would be back to a core group. Perhaps there would be a few new faces, but some of the long-standing core would be absent so you really wouldn't make a long-term gain. That's what happened with moving Populace to Fridays. For a short time, those that requested and implemented the change showed up more regularly, but within two years, they fell by the wayside and we have, once again, the numbers that we had before the change, only now, we have to change the dates of populace or not have it more often because of it conflicting with events and traveling to those events.

Master Robin mentioned last night that some of the new fighters were not being trained adequately because of the Tuesday night meetings. That is a shame, but might I suggest that the heavy fighters have had more than one practice in a week though these were not all 'official.' Perhaps a tutorial could be offered or a small group of rapier fighters could continue training on an alternate day once in a while, especially on the weeks where business meetings conflict. Training does not have to be an 'official' event. There have been backyard practices for as long as there have been fighters. I know that some of the Houses have had their own practices before. I am sure that 'training' has occurred at those practices, too.

I would support changing the location before I would support changing the day. Yes, if we moved the location, I would have to pay more for gas, but there will always be someone who is paying more for gas to go anywhere. If we move it south, I pay more, if we move north, someone south will pay more. Same with east or west. Living on the far northeast reaches of the Barony, Lasguaard and I have significant drives to almost anything we attend...we still find a way to be at most business meetings and populace meetings, even when we are on a tight budget. We may limit our traveling and attendance at events, but we make every effort to go to the meetings in order to support the Barony. That is part of what we committed to when we applied to become officers. 

I do think that topics like this should be made known before a meeting so that more people can make arrangements to attend, if it is of interest to them. We were fortunate that some of our members who can't always get to the meetings were in attendance last night.

In service.

Lyneya de Grey

Well-behaved women Seldom make history - Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

> Date: Tue, 5 Aug 2008 22:08:12 -0500> From: dietrich.von.greyssen at gmail.com> To: Steppes at lists.ansteorra.org> Subject: [Steppes] Opinions/Discussions Wanted On Subject of Moving Business Meeting To A New Day> > Good Evening everyone.> > Well, if you missed business meeting then you missed a very good and lively> discussion on the subject of moving business meeting to another day.> > As I promised, I am posting this to the list to ask for a civil discussion> on this topic.> > I am not saying a particular day of the month....ie not the first Monday,> Tuesday, etc of the month, but a day that could accommodate MOST of the> populace the chance to attend business meeting. Right now, we have a> vibrant and growing fighter practice being held on Tuesdays and I for one> would like to have some if not all of the gentles attending the practice at> Business Meeting should they choose to come to it.> > So, use this list and this thread to say what day you think would be good to> hold a business meeting. Why? Why not? Everyone's opinion is welcomed.> > Let the Civil Discussion begin.> > Dietrich> _______________________________________________> Steppes mailing list> Steppes at lists.ansteorra.org> http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/steppes-ansteorra.org