[SCA-BMDL] BMDL Barony Meeting Wednesday September 10

[Pam Bolkovac]

I agree with She'erah.  Last year, you could watch the newcomers' eyes glaze over and see them start to fidget 20 minutes in. Each newcomer is probably interested in one, maybe two activities to start. Yet, the way the meeting was run, we bored them with information they aren't interested in.  Since we're in Porter 100, maybe we could list the active guilds and practices on the board along with contact info and other relevant info. Something like:
Fencing Practice - Sundays, Washington Blvd. Rides and loaner equipment available Call  Charles at #
etc.
And then say something at during that meeting like "The contacts or their representatives  will be in front of the hall after the meeting for newcomers to talk to."

That way newcomers can focus in what they are interested in now without being subjected to 40 minutes of information that doesn't matter to them.

And as Ts'vee'a pointed out there is an event in three weeks, we should focus on that as upcoming activity that people would be interested.  It's something active and fun.  We're dealing with college students, primarily freshman who are probably overwhelmed with the amount of school work they are facing.  They are looking for a fun activity to help de-stress.  A group that is focusing on research and more book-work will be a turn off.  To get them hooked, we need to focus on the social activities we offer.  If we do that, then the research interests will come later.

Cassandra


--- On Thu, 9/4/08, Monica Cellio <cellio at pobox.com> wrote:

> From: Monica Cellio <cellio at pobox.com>
> Subject: Re: [SCA-BMDL] BMDL Barony Meeting Wednesday September 10
> To: "BMDL" <Sca-bmdl at lists.andrew.cmu.edu>
> Date: Thursday, September 4, 2008, 9:39 PM
> > 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
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Sca-bmdl mailing list
> Sca-bmdl at lists.andrew.cmu.edu
> https://lists.andrew.cmu.edu/mailman/listinfo/sca-bmdl