SCA-meetings-msg – 10/17/14

How SCA meetings are held around the Known World.

NOTE: See also the files: new-groups-msg, SCA-hist1-msg, you-know-msg, Parlement-art, placenames-msg.

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This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.

This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org

I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter.

The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors.

Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information is published from these messages, please give credit to the originator(s).

Thank you,
    Mark S. Harris                  AKA:  THLord Stefan li Rous
                                          Stefan at florilegium.org
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Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
From: ojid.wbst845 at xerox.com (Orilee Ireland-Delfs)
Subject: Re: Newbie Meetings: any ideas?
Organization: Xerox Corporation, Webster NY
Date: Tue, 4 Oct 1994 17:44:46 GMT

The Barony of Thescorre (AEthelmearc, East) has two types of 
meetings a month - the first meeting is our social meeting 
where the A&S officers of the Barony schedule workshops, demos, 
or discussions on various topics of interest, sometimes seasonal 
(how to survive your first Pennsic or period Yule celebrations) 
and sometimes of general interest.  We also have occasional 
"work nights", usually the August meeting just before Pennsic 
where everyone brings something they are trying to finish for
 War and we all get to see and talk about various projects.
These are generally attended in garb.  Our other monthly meeting
is the business meeting, attended in mundanes, where we discuss
upcoming events, have officers reports, etc.

We also have newcomers nights (or afternoons - this Sunday I'm 
hosting on at my house), where newcomers are invited to stop in
and visit, ask any questions, get newcomer packets, and generally 
get to meet and talk with a few of the "oldcomers" in the Barony.  
We talk about what the SCa is, what activites are available, how 
to make reservations for an event, what to take or wear, all that 
kind of stuff.

I have also heard about groups that run monthly newcomer meetings 
where each meeting is a theme - one month is heraldry, the next 
cooking, the next garb, etc.

Orianna


From: kreed at gravity.science.gmu.edu (Ken Reed)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Newbie Meetings: any ideas?
Date: 8 Oct 1994 03:29:37 GMT
Organization: George Mason University

Orilee Ireland-Delfs (ojid.wbst845 at xerox.com) wrote:
: The Barony of Thescorre (AEthelmearc, East) has two types of 
: meetings a month - the first meeting is our social meeting 
(delitia)
: We also have newcomers nights (or afternoons - this Sunday I'm 
(delitia)
: I have also heard about groups that run monthly newcomer meetings 
: where each meeting is a theme - one month is heraldry, the next 
: cooking, the next garb, etc.

: Orianna

We have been having newcomers meetings (separate from business meetings and
other meetings) for many years.  The Barony of Storvik (Washington D.C. and
Maryland suburbs) and the Barony of Ponte Alto (Virginia suburbs) have 
the newcomers meetings, called "Sumposiun Oikomenikon", once a month on 
different firday nights, 2nd for Ponte Alto and 3rd for Storvik.  Each
meeting has a theme, such as SCA fighting, arts and sciences, heraldry,
SCA basics, etc., and the north and south meetings have the same theme each 
month so we can coordinate resources.  The northern meeting is held at a 
single location (the house of the chronicler of Storvik) while the southern
meeting moves around to the homes of different people in Ponte Alto.  The
meeting are informal with garb optional.  These meeting seem to be a 
reasonable and sucessful way to help newcomers get use to the SCA and 
incomers get used to our Atlantian ways.  A recent meeting at our house 
had 35 people show up, with 1/4 real newcomers (first meeting), 1/4 active
less than one year and 1/4 active less than 3 years.  Not bad for a Barony
that won't see its first birthday for another year and a half. :)


Niall McKennett
Baron Ponte Alto

AFPOPA


Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
From: asamplas at indiana.edu (Vlad the Purple)
Subject: Re: Newbie Meetings: any ideas?
Organization: Indiana University
Date: Tue, 11 Oct 1994 23:56:54 GMT

Callin Mac Druen responding to Gwenfrei's question about newcomer meetings:

>  In my own experience..., i have found that the key is to make sure everyone 
feels like they're part of "the team.".
>  "Business meetings as the hub of social activity?" No wonder you're attrition
>rate is getting high. Newcomers want to see camaraderie, roleplaying, the
>magic of the Dream--not sit around discussing business. Introduce that part to
>them later.

I definitely agree on the first point, but your second point is valid only to 
the extent that business excludes other stuff going on at said meetings. 
Myrkfaelinn tries to limit business-type discussions to a few minutes at the 
start of its arts meetings, and then the remainder of the evening alternates 
between dancing and hands-on arts/crafts or talks on topics - and the 
scheduled newcomers' session at the beginning of each semester is devoted 
entirely to getting-to-know-us & you stuff. Mynydd Seren also makes certain 
that every other week is as much dance-only as possible.

If a group is mostly students living in dorm-rooms or otherwise unable to get 
out to someone's house for activities, it's very difficult to do other than 
have the business meeting become Group Social Central. The key is not to let 
the bureaucracy expand to fill everything, as it always is...

-purple

Artie Samplaski               Vlad the Purple
Indiana U. School of Music    Myrkfaelinn Midrealm Accounts Rep.
asamplas at indiana.edu


Subject: Re: ANST - recruiting
Date: Mon, 25 Sep 2000 11:58:55 -0500
From: "Ladyarabella" <ladyarabella at home.com>
To: <ansteorra at ansteorra.org>

> Lady Arabella wrote:
> > We in Elfsea have found a wonderful way of getting people new and old to
> > come to our populace meetings.  We hold our meetings at the Coors's
> > Distribution Center Hospitality room where they offer us free beer and
> > wine coolers!
>
> Okay, I have to respond to this.  No offense to you alcohol drinkers out
> there, but THIS would be a definite "non-recruitment" point for me.  You all
> have got to keep in mind that SOME people out there don't drink at all -- not
> to mention minors! ("oh yeah, come to the party and bring your kids -- free
> beer!")
>
> -Emma de Fetherstan, Mooneschadowe

I'm very sorry you took offense to my post.  It was only in the sense of fun
of the previous posts that I even responded at all.

The Coors Company offers a room large enough for our populace free of charge
as a community service.  They also have a bar which offers their products to
the people who attend the meetings.  There are many other groups that use
this room through out the month, including I believe Kawanis, a community
service organization.  They also have a soda machine in the room and a
bottled water fountain.  They have a company employee serving as a bartender
and they insist that all their products are served in plastic cups, even if
they are packaged in a bottle.

I was not referring to our populace meetings as a party in the least.  We
have many children in our Barony and we watch them carefully.  We tend to
think of ourselves as a big family.

Our populace meetings are where we announce up coming events, hear from
officers, meet our newer folks, discuss travel of our populace to other
groups, and any number of other issues necessary at the time of the meeting.
Many times it is a new comers first exposure to a semi-Court Setting.  Our
Baron and Baroness presides at the front as in Court.

So you see, we consider our populace meeting  serious place to conduct
business........ the beer and coolers are only a perk of the site.

Arabella


From: Susan O'Neal <catmafia03 at gmail.com>
To: Hillary Greenslade <hillaryrg at yahoo.com>; "Kingdom of Ansteorra - SCA, Inc." 
<ansteorra at lists.ansteorra.org>
Sent: Tue, January 17, 2012 4:04:54 PM
Subject: Re: [Ansteorra] Free classroom spaces

Other free meeting spaces.  Most libraries will have meeting rooms you
can sign up to use.  A place that I hadn't known about untill we had a
girl scout troup meet there was a local mall, not sure how many of
them have these.  Another scout place we have met was a Ruritan
building, not sure if they have those out here but it is worth
addressing any local groups with their own building.  County or city
community buildings are another possibility.

Susan the Curious

On 1/17/12, Hillary Greenslade <hillaryrg at yahoo.com> wrote:
<<< In addition to some Hobby Lobby stores, I might suggest a few other
locations with free or minimal classroom spaces:

- HEB grocery stores - some have Community Rooms that are free, you just
have to reserve it early enough to get on the calendar, call them, they have
a coordinator who handles it.  They have a policy document they ask you to
sign, but no fees.   I reserve for the Stargate Scribes Guild in June for
the following year's calendar - so you have to reserve early, early.

Gander Mountain Sports stores - Don't recall which branch is using this
store, but I read one of the groups is hosting meetings there.

Good hunting, Hillary >>>


From: auntdwen at sbcglobal.net
Subject:  Re: [Ansteorra] Free classroom spaces
Date:  January 17, 2012 5:20:42 PM CST
To:  ansteorra at lists.ansteorra.org

When the Shire of the Wastelands was first forming in the most conservative part 
of rural Northwest Oklahoma, we had the good fortune to have a community room 
available at the Highway Patrol station.  It made it much more...palatable to 
those who were afraid we were a Middle Evil recreation group!  It also didn't 
hurt that we brought the officers our many bags of toys from Yule Revel, which 
engendered much good will on their part as well.

Some days I guess it is about PR & "spin."

Sigh.

Auntie Dwen

<the end>
Edited by Mark S. Harris	SCA-meetings-msg	 of 6