[SCA-Dance] Not a Known World Dance Seminar?

[David Learmonth]

I think we're generally on the same page.   I had to learn a lot along the
way on the internal kingdom politics side.  And I just sort of fell into the
position of running the event for this time around  (I knew I wanted to be a
big part of it, but I wasn't the person who first raised the idea of
bringing KWDS to Ealdormere).

>From the dance side, I think I knew all the requirements.  I just wasn't
expecting some problems.  (thus some of my earlier advice I had shared).

I appreciate that your direct grievances aren't being aired on this list.
We all have issues with the roles people played in this process, whether
they were intentional, or due to the many life emergencies that have arisen
in the past year or two.  But at this point, I still feel that we've pulled
everything together well, and that we will have a great event.

(if it is any concilation to the fact that we had our setbacks, I have
otherwise put in hundreds of hours working on this event to make sure
everything works out)

Anyway, yes, I am a bit defensive on the subject (I don't think that all the
blame rests with me), but I've expressed my lessons, in an attempt to move
positively forward with this, and I don't want to get into any internal (or
external) mudslinging with our group.  Not everything worked out perfectly,
but we have a good site, and an excellent class schedule, and I think a lot
of people are going to have fun this week.  :)

Darius



On Sun, Jun 28, 2009 at 7:21 AM, ROSS WEAVER <ross.weaver at rogers.com> wrote:

>
> Okay I'm going to jump in here about KWDS in Ealdormere.  I was on the
> committee here and aware of a number of problems, but from what I could see
> most where not problems created by SCA Inc., but rather by the situation in
> the Kingdom of Ealdormere.
>
> The slowness out of the gate of the planning/set-up of the event, combined
> with the Kingdom Council of Ealdormere not being as helpful as they should
> have, hurt KWDS.
>
> My recommendation on future KWDS events is to ensure the person at the lead
> is quite aware of kingdom politics, SCA guidelines vs rules and has a great
> deal of experience running SCA events.  There is a lot of working with the
> Kingdom level people and if you don't understand the power
> structure/politics there it can seriously hurt your effectiveness.  Internal
> kingdom politics led us to not meeting SCA Inc.'s expectations of a Known
> World event which caused problems.
>
> The few advantages to a KWDS (FREE advertising, supposed visibility to all
> kingdoms) are good and useful and the BOD itself's requirements (mostly
> around accounting and time lines) are good requirements to ensure the
> success of a large event.  So even if it didn't involve BOD I would
> recommend we be have similar requirements to the BOD's requirements.
>
> I did type up a number of details about the exact problems, but I realized
> it is inappropriate to post them here in a public forum because I was mostly
> venting.  I'd be more than happy to discuss it in private with people (in
> person or via e-mail) with anyone that thinks learning the details will help
> them avoid these sort of problems.  I don't believe in hanging dirty laundry
> out for the sake of rubbing people's noses in it, but I don't believe in
> hiding mistakes so no one learns from them.
>
> Some things may need changing, but this does not mean we have to give up on
> it and never do it again.
>
> In Service,
>  Wilhelm von Pottruff
>