[SCA-BMDL] BMDL Barony Meeting Wednesday September 10

[Monica Cellio]

> This is a special meeting as it is the newcomer
> meeting and it is in garb.  Guild heads and officers please bring an
> example of what you do and be prepared to talk briefly.

Please can we do this differently this year?

We have a lot of officers and guilds.  I think we've been overwhelming,
or boring, most of the new people who show up at our September
meetings.  Our recruitment hasn't been very good; let's ask
ourselves why that might be.

No college student (our primary target at this meeting) is interested
in heraldic commenting meetings, children's activities, and getting (or 
writing people in for) awards.  None will be interested *at the first 
meeting* in becoming chirurgeons, running lists, writing articles for
the newsletter, and so on.  (Yes, we have newcomers to the barony who
are not new to the SCA; they already know how to navigate.)  I urge
the officers and guild heads collectively to focus on the things that 
matter to SCA newcomers *now*; we have all year to fill in the rest
if we don't chase them away on Wednesday.

I think we should focus on the things newcomers can do *right now*
-- fighting, dance, guild meetings at which beginner-level teaching
will happen *this month*, etc.  The more participatory, the better.
Nothing is more boring than an hour of "hi, I'm the [office], I do
[thing you can't do yet or don't care about], it's really great
because [pitch], come talk to me after the meeting".

Besides, the less time we spend lecturing, the more time we have
to actually meet and talk individually with the folks who are
checking us out.  That's got to be more productive than anything
any of us could say to the whole group, right?

She'erah