WTF moment of the week.

[gurdymonkey]

I had made a suggestion that we might have a better shot at increasing our membership by inviting people to some actual scheduled events or practices. A demo in a classroom (because recruiting people whose mommies will have to drive them to events and practices is so successful!), con or library is NOT the same as an event with banners flying, pavilions pitched and a cast of at least dozens.

Quoted at me on SCA-West yesterday. No, I am not making this up. "Regarding the Society Media Policy" on the Society Chatelaine's page at http://www.sca.org/officers/chatelain/chatresources.html) :
Community Calendars:

.....Many local media outlets, either television or newspaper, have a free calendar for listing community events, either in the paper itself or on its website. There are also some local community-oriented event sites which are not attached to any particular media outlet. If the group wishes to place this sort of
announcement for a demo, as a way of attracting greater attendance from the public, this is permissible with courtesy notification to the Kingdom Media Officer. However, it is not recommended to place such announcements for events. If too many people respond to the announcement, a large number of spectators
looking to be entertained could easily overload the capacity of the event site or disrupt the event schedule.....  (Emphasis mine.)

Oooh, beware the nasty "mundanes." They might actually SHOW UP! God forbid we should, you know, inspire someone off the street to join our organization! Heaven forfend we should actually be organized enough to have a greeter at the gate and volunteers (of the stripe who are going to present our activities in a positive light before you go pointing out to me why muggles Always Get Us Wrong) to show our visitors around and get them involved and invested in the event.

Comments

[eleryth.livejournal.com]

I'm learning that a recommendation is only a recommendation and not a rule.

I'm curious about the last time they tried such and 'mundanes' overwhelmed them and disrupted the schedule. I don't think it would hurt to try occasionally, or perhaps depending on location, and see how it goes. A link could also be added to the announcement, which would lead to a page explaining what it is and proper etiquette for 'guests'.

I hope you're not fighting the good fight alone and have backup.

[gurdymonkey.livejournal.com]

No fight to fight, just boggling at the mindset.

[czina.livejournal.com]

Hmmm ... I can actually see both sides of this. If you're in a public park doing an event - how much 'disruption' can there really be? 'Ooohhhh - look at the pretty banners - what's going on? Let's check it out' has drawn many a member in the past, I'm sure - if the new person is treated nicely and given good information. Heck - it's hard to keep the people away from the site, if it's public w/o a security fence.

If it's at a private location that isn't exposed to the general public - I can see that being a problem. That's an issue here in TX - we don't/can't/won't have events in public parks, usually - so the event is on private land, not usually visible from the road, etc - in fact, it's often at the end of a windy backroad somewhere. So no-one is going to come on the event by accident - but advertising it could become an issue for the host (esp. if it's on private land).

In our barony, we try to help with this by having at least one of the fighter practices each month in garb. That way we can draw the people who are already at the park - and it's right by the road to help draw passersby, as well.

We're also talking about doing a blood-drive demo - where the drive people (not Red Cross, but equivalent) do all the legwork and advertise - and we show up in garb to entertain/educate the donors.

But thinking outside the box to get membership - priceless (esp. if it's free advertising!)

[firehauke.livejournal.com]

I always thought that was worded wrong.

[maredudd1066.livejournal.com]

I guess the Winchester Pilgrimage is right out then? I mean: the actual public are invited to come and watch us by our hosts; the church congregation have to walk through our campsite; the general public see us around the cathedral precinct! What were we thinking of? Back to remote Scout camps with the lot of us!

[gurdymonkey.livejournal.com]

Winchester. Sigh. I loved visiting the UK (all many years ago before I even knew what the SCA was). Going to events in Drachenwald must be special!

[dustinmartinez.livejournal.com]

Look lets cut to the chase here about the corporate entity of the SCA. They are fucking morons. We know this. Nuff said.

On that note however you can still invite as many people to watch, enjoy and partake in the SCA. It just can't be an "official" announcement, much like the waterbearers are no longer "official".

Maybe we can make the corp no longer "official".