Recruitment and retention are always key issues for the SCA, and Chatelaines tend to be particularly focused on increasing them. When you have a large event where everyone from the host group is volunteering for a time-consuming job, it can be tough to really give new folks the attention and guidance that will make the event successful for them, personally. The year I was co-Event Steward for Wars of the Roses (2015) while my husband was Chatelaine for Concordia, we worked on finding a good place at the event to set up newcomer resources.
The Barony has an ample supply of Gold Key (loaner clothing), so we needed a place people could peruse it and try things on. We also wanted a table to set out resources and collect contact info. The site we were using was already short on buildings, so indoor space was already tight. We took to the internet to discuss ideas.
There was some contentious debate, including a bit of insult catapultery, but we did get some good ideas out of it! In particular, one of our members volunteered her tent and it’s fly for the newcomer space. This worked great!
We set up the tent with a divider running down the center for changing rooms. out front, under the fly, we put up the table and the garment rack with some suggested outfits assembled for folks to look through. We also made a large sign that fit over our existing “sandwich board” style signs to call attention to the tent, which was across the gravel road from Gate.
The biggest challenges were keeping the table staffed and fighting the wind! Fortunately, I had a good bit of time un-filled since we tried to stay free at the event to handle spontaneous “Event Steward Emergencies.” Conveniently, this also placed me close to Gate so that I was easy to find for the couple of times someone needed to contact an Event Steward without putting it out on the entire radio network. We also had several volunteers who spent quite a bit of their time staffing the table to whom I am eternally grateful! We did make a small sign to tape to the post of the fly in case someone arrived while the table was unstaffed.
As for the wind… well, we ended up covering all of the flighty items with heavy things with the philosophy that a newcomer could always move a block of wood, but if all the sheets blew away before the person got a chance to come to the table, they wouldn’t be any use at all!
Ultimately, the fact that we persevered in the online discussion despite some heated opinions and discourtesy coming up mean that we were able to put up a splendid area for orienting and dressing newcomers. We ended up running out of Gold Key garb and asking a few folks for temporary loans of clothing just to be able to garb all the folks who needed it! It was lots of work, but the reward was worth it.
This is what I think of whenever I am in a conversation that starts to devolve into discourtesy… this experience taught me that it doesn’t matter where the idea comes from if it’s a good one. If I’m in a headspace that allows it, it is worth sticking it out for the brainstorm.
Smash the Shell 