[SCA-BMDL] Rooms for Barony meeting + ideas about Barony meeting

[Douglas Wade Needham]

Greetings to the List,

Some of you know me already, and some of you have not yet had the
experience of being punnished by my presence.  But given that I have
been in the SCA forever around the likes of Duke Syr Talymar, if you
have ever been greeted by someone saying "Greetings! I'm Cinnion. I'm
lousy with names, and it's lovely to meet you again!"  That's me.  If
you know Master Tofi, you can ask him about me as well... we have
known one another since like 81, and will likely warn you to run away,
very quickly.  ;) If you want to learn more about me, I will put the
URL for my profile page just above the bottom of the message, but onto
the topic at hand.

OK... as mentioned, I am not a newbie, but I am extremely new to the
BMDL (still moving as I type) and CMU...  so I am wondering... what is
"UC"?  I am sure that if I could find a CMU campus map, I might have
an answer, but unlike Ohio State (which Tofi will tell you is HUGE),
CMU is small enough that apparently a high visibility link to an
up-to-date campus map from the CMU homepage is not thought to be an
issue.  Of course, admittedly, I have also been mega busy moving and
getting ready for my new job.  But I will definitely be learning CMU
in the coming weeks! :) 

Here, I will begin replying in-line, closer to the original
text.... and with me still being an experienced outsider, I can
perhaps provide other insight which help validate or priortize the
ideas.

Quoting Ben Cogan (donnghaile at gmail.com):
> Hi Margaret,
> 
> The room itself worked decently enough, but it was located 2 floors
> down and around a tricky corner.  I think we lost a lot of people who
> just couldn't find it, even with people on guard duty at the front
> door telling folks where to go.  If we cannot find anything else, then
> it is a room that's large enough for our needs.
> 
> Is it possible to get anything in the UC for Barony meeting?  Having
> the garage and the lot across from Hamburg Hall may help out our cause
> with people who think parking is bad on the flagstaff side of campus.
> Though I've never had a problem, even with the extended exhibit hours
> at Phipps.
> 
> I think even on our biggest nights that we haven't had over 50 at
> barony meeting in 5 years, that includes elections.  Last night we
> barely had 20, but I think that under 30 remains a current average.
> If Peter/Wright/Mackenna were open in the UC, that would be a fine
> location for Barony meeting.

Now, I will say that for any large SCA group, be it the BMDL,
Tirnewydd (the group centered around Ohio State), or others I have
seen or know members of, attendence can always be a bit spotty.  At
one time, Tirnewydd boasted around 250 members, but only about 40-50
of them showed up most of the time at the weekly meetings.  Yes, for
special events, such as elections or slide shows of Their Excellencies
trip to Europe, we might see 75, but that first figure was the norm.
And this included fighters coming in from other groups, as fighter
practices were also being held the same night.  At other periods,
meetings would be much smaller.  Part of this was in part the fact
that meetings were on campus and required a parking pass or risk of
getting a ticket.  But like BMDL, Tirnewydd also had things going on
outside of the meetings.  Scribal, sewing circles, and other
activities would go on other nights, to avoid the crunch for space,
the noise, and what ever else might be the problem.  This was true
even when fighting was moved to a different night, and some of these
groups could become quite insular, with the members of a said
sub-group never showing at local meetings.  And for those local
meetings, time would go on, some folks would wonder away, others
return, and attendence would wax and wane.  I will make further notes
down in Their Excellencies list.

As for Middle Marches Baronial meetings...be they business or
otherwise, the only way we ever had decent attendence was to make it a
part of a larger event (such as BMDL's Carnivale, which I attended
last weekend).  Even then, I know we got nowhere near a majority of
the members, even after we split off Brendoaken and gave up other
territories.  Middle Marches is a whole different beast, as baronies
go, given that even from the groups of Tirnewydd (Columbus/Franklin
County) and Mugmort (Lancaster/Fairfield County), which are about as
"central" in terms of population and geography, one can still drive 4
hours to reach some groups, and 2-3 hours is easily a possibility.

Quoting Cara & Char (charb at mail.connecttime.net):
> Last night's Barony meeting focused on brainstorming about how to
> make Barony meetings better and increase attendance.  Here are some
> main ideas that most people seemed to agree upon.  We'd like to hear
> comments from everyone in the Barony (so please forward this to
> anyone you know who is not on the above lists). 
> 
> 1) Keep the formal "business" part shorter with very brief
>    announcements by officers (most of that information now comes out
>    in a more timely manner on websites, the BMDL list, or more
>    specific lists, etc.).  Last night we got through all the
>    "business" part in just over 15 minutes.

I know Tirnewydd has worked towards this goal for years.  Even with
weekly meetings, there might be 5 minutes on most nights, and one
meeting a month, they would go up to 15-20 minutes.  When I was
regularly attending, this was true even with upcoming events.  An
announcement would be made, and those interested in a discussion about
it would go elsewhere during the rest of the meeting.

> 2) Keep the main purpose of the meeting socializing, including
>    having more time to talk to newcomers

Taking time to talk to newcomers, be they totally new to the SCA, to
the group, or just returning from a time away is very important.
After returning to Tirnewydd after some years of being away in other
groups, I was amazed at how stand-offish and cliquish (sp?) it had
become.  Even folks who knew me did not take the time to welcome me
back, much less take the time to meet my wife, who had never been a
part of the group.  It was a far cry from the Tirnewydd I had known,
and from the other groups to which we had belonged, and for awhile,
our continued attendence was questionable.

> 3) Have Barony meeting every other month to increase the importance
>    and give it a "mini-event" feel (have the Officers meeting in
>    some form every month since there is business to address every
>    month)

I don't know how the populus and meeting attendence are between Cour
d'Or, Steltonwald, and the BMDL itself break out, so I cannot really
address the meeting frequency the way I would like to be able to.  But
most groups in the Middle Marches meet weekly, and I know Tirnewydd
does a "mini-event" one of these meetings every month.  In warmer
months, they are even doing these in more visible locations on campus,
to attempt to recruit new members.  Nothing like a bunch of fencers or
fighters out on the campus green to attract attention.  Especially
when you have 20-30 heavy fighters doing melee practice.
 
> 4) Move away from weeknights to Sunday afternoons (probably
>    associated with fighter/fencing practice).

It has its pros and cons... Sunday afternoons would get it away from
things like school functions, as well as away from being a school
night.  But Sunday's also can tend to be family time, or time
recouping from a event.

> 5) Have potluck food (bringing food not required but nice if you
>    can).  Our Exchequer mentioned this can be subsidized by Barony
>    funds if needed.

Potluck is a good idea, and is a part of what is done during
Tirnewydd's mini-events.  Even if it is modern food, it is often nice
to be able to avoid worrying about dinner between work and a meeting,
even if it is a run home to get the crock pot and its contents.
 
> 6) Have Barony meetings located centrally most of the time.  Try to
>    get large rooms at CMU or Pitt or use Washington Blvd site in
>    warmer weather.  Distribute detailed parking information for
>    people who don't know the Oakland area well.

This is a very good idea, and posting information with links to Google
Maps, and where possible, providing GPS coordinates, makes it even
better.  An example of such information (for Border Keep) can be seen
at

    http://borderkeep.org/Meeting_details

but I know it can be done even better.  I have seen a number of sites
use sites such as Google Maps, and then add things like trails, points
of interests and such.  Indeed, one such example of this is on another
web site of mine.  An example of this can be seen looking at maps like 

    http://www.ka8zrt.com/cycling/maps/20070421-221504.html

with more found at

    http://www.ka8zrt.com/cycling/maps/index.php

It does not help as much navigating within a building.  I know some
buildings on Ohio State's campus were such that even those of us
working in the building did not know all the public areas.  But it helps
get someone parked and to the right building, and with directions
telling them to enter into the build by doors X, Y or Z... And add in
Google's Street View or a few pictures, and it gets even better.

> 7) Try to have some particular Guild or Barony group present after
>    the business part of the meeting is over to allow all comers to
>    see the people in that group and more information on what they do
>    (less intimidating and easier to access than showing up for the
>    first time at a certain practice on one's own).  This would not
>    be "mandatory" but available as part of the Barony meeting.

This is great idea as well.  Perhaps one meeting could have a scribal
theme, another more general A&S, or bardic or fighting.  It of course
goes without saying that it works great with "mini-events" in the more
public venues where recruiting is a goal.

> 8) More advertising of the Barony meeting, both with posted flyers
>    (e.g. at Inner Vagabond, around campuses) and online.
> 
> 9) Updates to the Cour d'Or and Barony webpage (Clemente and Arianna
>    have started some of this already) to have a more attractive
>    web-based presence.
>
> 10) Since the meetings would be less frequent, use the BMDL mailing
>    lists for dissemination of recent information
> 
> Please let the Barony know if these changes would increase your
> attendance at Barony meetings or not and why.  Any further
> suggestions are more than welcome!

I don't know how the meetings for Cour d'Or are scheduled (and the
only link I can find for it on both the BMDL site and the AEthelmearc
site points to an invalid location), but I know baronial meetings are
not at too huge an inconvience.  The only thing that I might possibly
suggest is perhaps moving it forward perhaps an hour, say to run from
7-9.  That helps aleviate the school night issue, and if it is
pot-luck, potentially also removes the conflict for dinner, and maybe
even the need to commute out and then back in.  This is especially
helpful for groups centered around a college, which the BMDL itself
may or may not be.


Well, that is pretty much it.  If you got clear down to here, maybe
you are interested in seeing more about me.  If so, my profile on the
Canton of Border Keep (Marietta, OH) web site is at:

    http://borderkeep.org/Members/Cinnion/

Feel free to look at it or look around the site and ask questions.  I
am currently turning over the duties of Webminister to someone else,
but I will continue to help them maintain the site, for reasons which
include my hosting it.

In Service, though still trying to figure out how this move affects my
Oath of Fealty sworn to the Crown of the Midrealm,

- Cinnion

-- 
Douglas Wade Needham - KA8ZRT        UN*X Consultant & UW/BSD kernel programmer
Email:  cinnion @ ka8zrt . com       http://www.ka8zrt.com
Disclaimer: My opinions are my own.  Since I don't want them, why
            should my employer, or anybody else for that matter!