cellio | SCA: autocratting events

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SCA: autocratting events

For the last several years there's been a gradual decline in the number of events my local SCA group holds, and at the moment there is nothing on the calendar at all. We're a large, old barony, so this really shouldn't be the case. This prompted someone to ask, on the baronial mailing list, the quite reasonable question: why don't you (plural general) autocrat events?

(Translation for non-SCA people: autocrat = convention chair = organizer.)

I used to; I've run about a dozen events, give or take, some small and some large. It's been several years since I did so. I haven't posted a reply to the mailing list (the silence has been deafening, actually), but I've been thinking about my reasons (which I wouldn't post there in these words, but this is my journal).

First there's the Shabbat problem; almost all SCA events are held on Saturdays (or, less-commonly here, over weekends). There's no reason an event can't be held on a Sunday, but people don't seem to like the idea when I bring it up. But I'm going to set this issue aside for the moment, because if this were the only barrier I'd push the officers for permission and I'd run a successful Sunday event and that would prove the point.

I would not be willing to autocrat an event that collects the corporate tax, because I find it offensive, deceitful, and actively harmful to the long-term health of the SCA. Free events (which don't collect this tax) are certainly possible (we've had them recently), but they do limit the options a bit. It would take some work to convince the officers to go along with one that isn't held on a university campus, but that's what I'd want to do. We've got some officers who are staunchly pro-tax, so this could end up politicizing the event before it gets off the ground, which would be unfortunate. I'm not afraid of the fight at officers' meeting; I'm mildly afraid of the consequences. But that's a relatively minor point, I think.

A big reason that I don't autocrat any more is stamina. The autocrat is expected to be first on site and last to leave. Yes, you recruit people to help with setup and cleanup, but the autocrat is expected to be an active participant in those activities too. It looks bad if the autocrat goes home early, or sits there while cleanup happens. I do not hold such things against an autocrat, because I've been there, but I've heard enough to conclude that most people haven't been and do. I'm just not up for the extra-long day like I used to be. And that would be harder on a Sunday because of the need to be at work Monday morning. (Tangent: running an event is not attractive enough for me to be willing to spend a vacation day.)

For a while we've had some vocal members who expect every event to cater to the needs of every sub-group. I've seen autocrats get publicly chewed out for not having organized children's activities, for instance -- and I have not seen the populace rise to the autocrats' defense. There's been a bit of a trend in the other direction recently; yesterday's event had fighting and fencing and schmoozing but no feast and no other organized activities, and I didn't hear any complaints about that. If this keeps up I'll re-evaluate this point. And while I'm perfectly willing to tell someone he's being unreasonable (especially if he's doing the entitlement thing rather than the volunteer thing), the existence of the mindset does make me ask myself "do you want to invite hassle?".

Writing that helped me realize something important. Autocratting used to be fun -- just my way of pitching in. Now it seems like a job, with more demands and less personal pleasure, and it's a job I don't need to take on -- so I'm not inclined to take it on. Am I getting old and cranky? Maybe. Am I less invested in a group that has done some annoying things over the last decade or so, and thus less inclined to help out in ways I don't enjoy? Yeah, I think so.

Autocratting isn't fun any more, but cooking still is. If we had a Sunday event (that does not collect the tax) I would be delighted to cook the feast, if someone else were to be the autocrat. But I think we've got more interested cooks than interested autocrats, and the others can cook on Saturdays and don't mind the tax, so I doubt I'll ever get the opportunity to cook another feast.

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I think we've got more interested cooks than interested autocrats

If the ratio is very skewed, it suggests to me that perhaps there ought to be some sort of "Iron Chef" style event. Maybe it could be broken up, such that each participating chef were a mini-autocrat for all matters relating to getting their offering to the public, including arrangement of 'booths' with associated side-events (fighting, childrenizing, musicality, &c.) at which their food would be distributed, This would leave the general autocrat doing only admissions and the final plate-tally to determine who wins.

There have been some "Iron Chef" events, though the competition is limited to food, not full mini-events. The limiting factor is generally kitchen space.

I think it's the 'vocal members who expect every event to cater to the needs of every sub-group' that's the biggest problem. I remember when BMDL would hold small 'theme events', early period only, medieval games only, fencing only, etc. I liked those. If it was an activity I didn't do, I didn't go. Simple.
-- Dagonell

Yup. We sometimes got a lot of local flack for those, but they worked fine anyway. I think special-topic events are an easier sell now (e.g. music/dance symposium), but people still expect all events to have certain properties, one of which is children's activities. Another is, if royalty are present, court. Another, which has recently begun to change, is a feast.

There's no reason an event can't be held on a Sunday

Been there, done that ;-) My biggest fear was that people would show up on Saturday -- I think I put "Yes, this is on SUNDAY" several times in the announcement.

Turnout wasn't spectacular, but everyone who came seemed to have a good time.

So, wanna autocrat a Sunday event here? Tell me the theme and I'll make a suitable feast happen. :-)

Oh that's tempting. I've had a bunch of ideas for simple events, everything from an all-day collegium to pas d'armes. Ask me again in about a year, and I'll let you know ;-) Besides, I have a little bit much on my plate right now with the "Combat A&S" program.

Carolingia regularly has events on Sundays, usually about twice a year. Today's event was, obviously, one (Novice Schola). Baronial Archery Champions in July was another - and since it was won by someone observant, next year's championship will also be on a Sunday. We probably take a minor attendance hit, for instance today we had 145 people :) It's not considered a major strike against an event bid for it to be a Sunday, and gets around conflicts with other regional baronies (for instance 2 of the other 3 groups in Massachusetts had events yesterday).

I'm really hoping that the young man in question decides to spend a year (or more) learning here in Israel. I would love nothing more than to steal him from Carolingia for a year.

Actually thats not true, I would like to steal him forever. :)

I met him and his family at pennsic when I spotted someone wearing a kippah who I didn't know, we spent the rest of the war eating together.

We'll lend him to you, but we'd like him back after :)

Down here the argument against Sunday events is usually that people won't travel for them. My counter-argument is that for some events that's just fine.

Granted, your nearby groups are a lot closer than our nearby groups -- but even if no one from outside our respective baronies came, I predict that Sunday events would be viable in both groups.

(Who's your new archery champion?)

Our new archery champion is Yaacov, who is also our Youth Archery leader and a yeoman of Peter the Red (once-and-future Royal champion).

I don't believe you would be permitted to steward an evne tin Northshield.

Autocrats are seen as ad hoc deputies to the seneschal, and all our officers, even ad hoc ones, must be paid national members.

Another case of ill-advised corporate policies driving away the volunteers who make the organization run.

In the past we've gotten around that by having an "autocrat of record" (or do-nothing co-autocrat) to satisfy the corporation, while the real autocrat does the work. I don't know if our current local officers would consider that acceptable.

It seems that the corporate policies have somewhat forgotten that having members on paper is nice but not really important, having people show up to events and do stuff is what we should be mesuring. I think we currently have 4 paid members in Israel, our last few events have run between 16-23 people. But trying to get folks to shell out $35 here is hard. Its a lot of money for a newsletter that is not very interesting. And then there is the issue that not all of our members have international credit cards or US bank accounts.

We are working on building an Israeli affiliate, which I hope to have running by thanksgiving.

It seems that the corporate policies have somewhat forgotten that having members on paper is nice but not really important, having people show up to events and do stuff is what we should be mesuring.

Yes yes yes. Except that these days I wouldn't use the word "forgotten", because many people raised that point prominently and repeatedly after the events of 1993/94. The folks making corporate policy just seem to disagree with that assessment.

I have noticed that people tend to gripe when there aren't children's activities, and then don't bother to step up when the autocrat asks them to run it. YOu probably have some clue of whom i speak so i won't name names. I decided a long time ago I didn't want to run any events because I saw the way former seneschals treated some autocrats, and decided to forego the pleasure.

I've seen bad treatment of autocrats by past barons and past seneschals, but I wouldn't necessarily hold that against current occupants of those positions. I'm not willing to let an officer's implicit assertion that he speaks for the entire barony stand, so once the disagreeable individual is no longer a factor, I won't let that block me. No, I'm letting other things block me. :-)

I'm also willing to tell the repeat offenders (with respect to childern's activities) to put up or shut up, because they are repeat offenders. And I'd do the same if the complaints came from the dancers or the heralds or the A&S community, though they don't (now). But even though I'm willing to tell complainers to buzz off, having to deal with them sucks away some of that energy that otherwise would have gone into enthusiasm for the event, so combined with other things it's a factor.

I don't expect every person to like, or come to, every event. Somewhere in the last couple decades the "proper response" (common perception) has shifted from "so don't go to that one, and offer one focused on what you want to do" to "I demand you satisfy me". This is a problem in American society in generl, so I'm not surprised it's found its way into the SCA too.

Yeah, It's like people have a sense of entitlement about lots of things. It's sad that it has made it's way into the SCA, but like you, I am not entirely suprised that it has. You're right about not holding past behavior against current office holders. I think Illadore is doing a great job so far as Seneschal. I just also think the same people are getting tired of doing the events all the time. what do you think?

It sounds like the role of autocrat has grown too large as is for almost anyone to want it. Is there some way of breaking up the different functions so no one has such a big burden?

Most autocrats do delegate parts of the event to other people. Maybe what needs to change is the perception that the autocrat still has to have his hands in everything too. Good point.

magid asked about breaking up the job: yes, many of us do (for example, I get someone to handle reservations, because when I'm juggling lots of things, that's the one that always slips). However, the northshield thing about having to be an officer, as opposed to having an officer present, annoys me (sorry, friends) because some truly spectacular event stewards have never been more than associate members if that. Much of the reason I have loved the SCA and tolerate BSA, for example, (leaving aside the homosexuality issue) is that volunteerism is a huge part of the culture of the SCA, and the membership/religion/fingerprinting business with the BSA is a pain in the tush.

I volunteer less in the West than I did in the Middle for several reasons:

1. Volunteering to autocrat a camping event seems to have way more complexity than I want to handle right now. I'd be glad to volunteer to handle some part, but for the last 6 months or so I haven't been able to relably promise to be anywhere.

2. Making committments: I have failed to keep just enough commitments that I am unwilling to take any more on. It affects people's lives, and I can honestly be responsible only for my own right now.

3. I can't cope with the non-member tax foo any more right now. I always contribute to the West's fund to pay the tax, even if it's just a couple of dollars, but I don't want to have to deal with the other end of accounting for it. And the last couple of times I was responsible for collecting it, people suggested I argue with my sister (SCA President) about it (sigh), which I will not do. I have no special position with her, won't presume one, and won't argue with people about why I won't argue with her. (Get a life, people.)

4. Event stewarding, or volunteerism, takes money. I don't have any extra. Even if I am going to be paid back, I can't front anything.

Much of the reason I have loved the SCA [...] is that volunteerism is a huge part of the culture of the SCA

Yes, absolutely. And by creating a division based on something that is unrelated to the functioning of local groups (where 99% of volunteering occurs), the corporation has interfered with that culture of volunteerism. The new policies encourage people to believe that they've already done their share by buying memberships -- but membership doesn't mop the floors, cook the feasts, run the tourneys, and so on.

There are two viable responses, but I'm too tired now for the better one.

At least they don't make us here in Drachenwald pay the BoD tax. I would find a number of creative ways to not pay it if they did. Mostly by keeping our events off of the books.

BTW for anyone who has comments on how the sca is run, over on my journal I am asking for comments on how we should sent up a body for the SCA in Israel, which we have to do over the next few months.

It has to be said: the core of your problem is that the Barony has gotten inflexible in its expectations of events.

I mean, none of those issues are set in stone; indeed, nearly all of them vary frequently here. As

msmemory said, Sunday events are becoming downright common around here. (We had the same arguments about them initially, but found that, in practice, they work decently well in most respects.) About half our events are tax-free. Specialty events are downright normal, and we've largely broken the expectation that *any* subgroup can expect to be catered to at every event. (We don't even have dancing at every event any more!) And while I do think that most people expect the autocrat to be there for the whole event, there's no strong expectation that the event runs that long -- half-day events have become quite common, eliding either the morning or the evening as appropriate.

Indeed, I find myself thinking of Archery/Thrown Weapons Champs as a single counterexample to all of these issues. Sunday event, running from mid-morning to 5pm, no mandatory event fee (and thus, no tax), focused single-mindedly on Projecting Objects at Targets. Not the largest event around, but a pleasant day out for maybe a hundred people, and I gather mostly pretty easy to run.

I can't say that our schedule is as full as I might wish -- we have our slow spells, and are prone to boom-and-bust event schedules. But I think we manage to keep things on an even keel, in large part, by being very open to a wide variety of models of how events should run...

It has to be said: the core of your problem is that the Barony has gotten inflexible in its expectations of events.

Or, at least, the most influential members of the barony (officers and loudmouths) have gotten inflexible.

And while I do think that most people expect the autocrat to be there for the whole event, there's no strong expectation that the event runs that long

That's a good point. We just had an event that ran for about 6 hours. If there's no feast you can pretty much count on people clearing out early even if you do have the space for longer, too. (I like feasts, though -- and as I said, I want to cook one -- but maybe I could get buy-in for a Sunday-afternoon event with a feast early enough to not interfere with school/work.)

We actually have an interesting variation on that coming up. Our "bardic" event next year is planned to have a mid-day feast in the early afternoon, rather than the usual dinnertime one. The music then happens after that, with the event ending by early evening, rather than going late into the night.

It'll be interesting to see how that goes. Americans are very culturally trained to expect the big meal of the day to be in the early evening, but I get the impression that's a bit weird by historical standards...

I'll be very interested to hear how your bardic event goes. When is it?

Americans are very culturally trained to expect the big meal of the day to be in the early evening

In the specific case of Sundays, I'm told that a lot of Americans have the custom of a large mid-day meal (gathering the family after church) with a smaller evening meal. (I neither grew up with nor have that tradition, but I've heard this from others.) But the rest of the week, given work and school schedules, the only time for a family meal is in the evening so it makes sense that it would be the big one.

I have the impression that for the period and social class we're trying to recreate, a large mid-day meal is more correct. I don't have any research to back that up, though; it's just an impression.

When is it?

Uh -- March, I think. (It's not all nailed down yet.)

In the specific case of Sundays, I'm told that a lot of Americans have the custom of a large mid-day meal (gathering the family after church) with a smaller evening meal.

Yes,

msmemory actually grew up in that tradition. But even she's gravitated towards the universal big evening meal.

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SCA: autocratting events

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