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[SCA] newcomers at general meetings
I'm curious how other SCA groups with predictable influxes (this usually means students) handle the introduction. We have demos at the beginning of the school year on our two major college campuses, so the first general meeting in September doubles as the "talk to the people from the demos who were curious enough to come to the meeting" meeting.
What often happens at ours is that each officer and each guild head gets up and gives a spiel about that particular area. There are about 30 such people, which IMO is at least 20 too many to speak at such a meeting. Even if you limit them to two minutes per, that's an hour of just sales pitches. Some people will not be limited, and we're collectively too polite to shut them up. I fear that we drive away people who would otherwise come back. I've seen this scenario happen year after year; some years are better than others, of course, depending on who's running the meeting, but it's a standing problem.
I have yet to meet a college freshman (the bulk of these attendees) who, at the first meeting, will care one whit about heraldic bureaucracy (commenting sessions), children's activities, becoming a first-aid officer (let 'em come to a fighting practice or event first), setting up tournmanet brackets (ditto), awards, or several other things that usually get covered. By definition, if you've gotten them interested, they'll have plenty of other opportunities to hear about such things, once they have context and interest. And there's a newsletter and a web site anyway.
At various times I've suggested to our officers either telling some positions they don't get to make pitches at all at that meeting, or choosing 4-5 offices/guilds a month to highlight and doing 'em all over the course of the academic year. So far it hasn't happened. A couple times I've quietly suggested to specific people that, hey, the meeting's long, and would you consider delaying your spiel? Apparently I have not mastered the right diplomatic skills, as that hasn't tended to work either.
So what do the rest of y'all in big groups do?
Our meeting is tomorrow night. Since that's also Rosh Hashana, I won't be there to see how it plays out this year. And anyway, it's probably too late to try to do anything now; this would best be done as consciousness-raising at the officers' meeting earlier in the month. So, thinking ahead to next year, what might I be able to do to encourage my group's officers to think about this issue differently?
(I am aware that several members of my local group read this journal and this might look like some sort of passive-aggressive BS. It's not. I'm interested in ideas, from anyone.)
What often happens at ours is that each officer and each guild head gets up and gives a spiel about that particular area. There are about 30 such people, which IMO is at least 20 too many to speak at such a meeting. Even if you limit them to two minutes per, that's an hour of just sales pitches. Some people will not be limited, and we're collectively too polite to shut them up. I fear that we drive away people who would otherwise come back. I've seen this scenario happen year after year; some years are better than others, of course, depending on who's running the meeting, but it's a standing problem.
I have yet to meet a college freshman (the bulk of these attendees) who, at the first meeting, will care one whit about heraldic bureaucracy (commenting sessions), children's activities, becoming a first-aid officer (let 'em come to a fighting practice or event first), setting up tournmanet brackets (ditto), awards, or several other things that usually get covered. By definition, if you've gotten them interested, they'll have plenty of other opportunities to hear about such things, once they have context and interest. And there's a newsletter and a web site anyway.
At various times I've suggested to our officers either telling some positions they don't get to make pitches at all at that meeting, or choosing 4-5 offices/guilds a month to highlight and doing 'em all over the course of the academic year. So far it hasn't happened. A couple times I've quietly suggested to specific people that, hey, the meeting's long, and would you consider delaying your spiel? Apparently I have not mastered the right diplomatic skills, as that hasn't tended to work either.
So what do the rest of y'all in big groups do?
Our meeting is tomorrow night. Since that's also Rosh Hashana, I won't be there to see how it plays out this year. And anyway, it's probably too late to try to do anything now; this would best be done as consciousness-raising at the officers' meeting earlier in the month. So, thinking ahead to next year, what might I be able to do to encourage my group's officers to think about this issue differently?
(I am aware that several members of my local group read this journal and this might look like some sort of passive-aggressive BS. It's not. I'm interested in ideas, from anyone.)
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When I was there Myrkfaelinn first ran a booth at the activity fair with people in period clothing or armor and lots of displays of fighting and A&S. Once we had a list of interested folks we ran the next meeting for new students as one of the twice-yearly Althings, since the group is nominally an icelandic proto-democracy. Everyone came in period clothing and we had loaner tunics for the newcomers. We had a neat periodesque hall that was dimly lit and stationed a guard at the door to claim everyone's weapons before going in to the meeting (one person always came with lots of [blunt] knives, so that he could remove them with great show and indirectly discuss metalworking. Once everyone was assembled the lawspeaker (a tiny blond woman) was carried in on a big heavy chair with great ceremony and many drums and placed before the fireplace, where she recited the Laws of Myrkfaelinn from memory (it is wrong to beat live musicians even if they play badly, there is no high table in Myrkfaelinn, It is all John (the Pell's) fault, etc.). Sometimes the laws would be discussed briefly or modified, occasionally one would be added.
Add the end of the Althing frequently we'd teach a dance or two (to live music!), then everyone went out to Friendly's to tell Pennsic stories and to get to know the newcomers better. The following afternoon we'd invite them to fighting and fencing practice.
We always got at least a crop of four strong newcomers, sometimes many more.
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We have people come in garb, but I don't think we've ever made the leap to letting newcomers wear garb too (by having some to spare). I'll bet that makes a big difference in how included they feel. And I love that it's not "we're going to talk to you about us" but rather "we're all going to do stuff together".
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Cour d'Or has in the past. I got plunked into garb at a Cour d'Or Newcomer meeting, and as chatelaine (very short stint), I did that once. People seemed to like it.
I think we can't say that ceratin people can't talk at all. September Barony meeting still has to run, after all, and it's policy that anyone can stand up to speak. It's not just a newcomer meeting - it's Barony meeting that some new people attend, so we try to make it interesting. Business still must be done.
On the flip side, when I was active in Cour d'Or, I ran a few speciafically newcomer's meetings. They all turned out a bit different. Doing is definitely better than lectures. I think I would have done them differently. As a (nearly)28 year old woman, I've got much better herding and PR skills than I did as a 19 year old girl. The main problem with those was similar to what happens at Barony meeting: someone gets carried away talking and everyone gets bored. At one particularly memorable one, one person got off on a tangent about Pennsic and talked for nearly 20 minutes (Pennsic should NEVER get more than a pssing mention until the person is hooked). And there was someone in the SCA who came to "help" that did nothing but sit in the back of the room and snark. It was a nightmare, and I didn't have the authoritative chops (I do now) to shut them up! There were a ton of people there, too. Not one came back.
I think the key at Barony meeting is the getting the *right* people to chat them up afterwards and personally invite them to stuff.
We sometimes had newcomer events. Remember the Cour d'Or Schola? Those were FABULOUS to hook people in. All beginner classes. The NMS is a giant pain in the side for that one. The last one we got around it by bidding that first-time event-goers got in for free. Or perhaps at one of the Universities? Hmmm. Too late for this year. But next?
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Different people need different amounts of both. Remember what's-her-face who slammed the whole list?
People tend to forget what it's like to be 18. You're really fully developed in anything yet (most of them), and your trying out stuff - experimenting. It's tough to be entertaining yet cool to the younger adults for some people. I'm in an interesting place with that one. I don't want Otto to turn anyone off ("Yuck, it's a FAMILY organization! Not for me!") That's first impressions of course. I'm sure most of them would be cool with it after you get to know the person with the baby hanging off her hip, but still....
How to make that first impression so that they come back?
I'm in favor of several Monty Python quotes being dropped through the night. If they laugh, they are our people! Maybe StarWars, too. Heehee
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don't want Otto to turn anyone off ("Yuck, it's a FAMILY organization! Not for me!")
I suspect -- but do not know, no longer being in the target demographic, so I'm going based on memory -- that babies are not as big a problem as unruly children in the toddler-to-school-age range. Babies are luggage and can fade into the background; the obnoxious 8-year-old prone to tantrums is what'll drive people away. Fortunately, we do not have the problems with that that we once had here.
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All that said, at this meeting in particular, people should try to keep the business stuff brief (while still functional) so we can get on to talking informally with the newcomers.
I'm glad Cour d'Or's newcomer meetings have worked so well (windbags aside). There's no reason we can't have a free event aimed at college students in the fall each year. Schenley Park is either free or cheap enough to make it back in donations, and we can do a cheap meal. Campuses are free (food might be problematic). Maybe folks can budget for this next year. (It's a recruiting expense, not an event expense.)
Gotta run. Have fun tonight.
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That was
So for me, it's activities fairs that really matter. And having stuff on campus. Events came later, and Pennsic didn't happen until I graduated.
(Mind you, I did get
And as a complete aside, tonight's Barony meeting was less than an hour long.
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*Cringe*. We've made that particular mistake (indeed, I've made it), but I learned better a good 15 years ago. Introductions should be short, sweet, and strictly focused on what makes the SCA fun. They should provide enough information that the novice knows that there is cool stuff out there to look up, but should *never* get too deeply into details. And yes, two minutes per guild is way, way too much detail. (My rule of thumb is 2 *sentences* per guild, sometimes less.)
In general, a dog and pony show is more than you want at this stage. You want one or two people doing the talking, providing an *outline* of the local activities, but mostly focused on the common stuff that everyone needs to know about and no one bothers to talk about: What is an Event? How do I go about getting dinner? What are Practices and Guilds? (Not which ones do you have -- what *are* they?) What is your time commitment? What do you need to procure for yourself, and what can you borrow? Maybe talk *very* briefly about persona, just to reassure folks that they don't have to come up with a whole LARPish identity to come to their first event. Try to think like a novice, and look at the SCA from the outside, as a club that is kind of cool but rather intimidating: make it friendly, make it *welcoming*, and make clear what they need to know to *survive*.
Honestly, I think the Barony business meeting is a terrible setting for this -- there are way too many people there, and too many want to talk. I generally prefer to have only about as many experienced folks as I expect there to be novices (maybe less), and skew them towards peers of the novices. (Hence, I'm attending fewer college intro sessions myself these days, simply because I'm getting a little old for it.) It should be organized and planned out, and the total speechifying time should be no more than 20 minutes. After that, the healthiest thing is to encourage some roundtable discussion, getting the questions from the novices and answering them honestly. (But not *excessively* honestly.)
In a perfect world, it's best to have an activity or two right there, to break the ice and get across the meme that this is a participatory organization. Having one or two activities show off is fine, but they should be chosen based on what is cool and exciting. Showing off heraldry just isn't exciting to most folks; getting to swing a sword at someone in armor is. And let's be honest: the social ice-breaking is the important part. The most effective ice-breaker I've ever seen had nothing to do with period. It was at my senior-year intro meeting; the incoming Provost (Seneschal-equivalent) spent the first 20 minutes of the meeting quietly blowing up balloons while other talked. And then she started throwing them at people. Totally unperiod, but it killed all the tension in the room.
If you haven't seen it before, you may want to check out The Provost's Handbook, my booklet on how to run a Carolingian Borough. It's a bit college-specific, and a bit Carolingia-specific, but about half of it is general advice on the various stages of recruiting in the college environment. It spends about a page on these first meetings specifically.
Hope this helps; wish I'd noticed it sooner, since I may be too late by now. Feel free to pick my brains further on it...
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Note also that no real business happened at the Althings . . . it was all handled the week before or deferred for a week.
Good luck!