sprd-out-grps-msg - 5/4/10
Suggestions on making SCA groups (Baronies, Shires) spread out over large geographical areas, work.
NOTE: See also the files: new-groups-msg, households-msg, fundraising-msg, travel-funds-msg, largess-ideas-msg, Baronial-Lead-art, recruitment-msg.
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Mark S. Harris AKA: THLord Stefan li Rous
Stefan at florilegium.org
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Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] [OT} Questions about groups that cover large geographical areas
Date: Mon, 03 Dec 2001 16:28:52 -0800
From: "Laura C. Minnick" <lcm at efn.org>
To: <Susan-the-Curious at swbell.net>
CC: "Mark.S Harris (rsve60)" <mark.s.harris at motorola.com>
"Mark.S Harris" wrote:
> > I have a question for anyone who has lived in a Barony or group that is/was
> > over a large geographical area. How did you keep people involved in the
> > group at large, when it was difficult for them to come into the population
> > center very often; but want to stay apart of it as opposed to starting an
> > insipient group of their own? I would love to hear of all the different
> > things you all have known of, because I have had quite a few people that
> > this question applies to in our group during my 5 months as Hospitaller
> > and have no examples to fall back on.
Try forming more Cantons. Last I knew, you only needed three people to
form a Canton- they are still part of the Barony, report through
Baronial officers, have support of the Barony for having events and
such, can borrow money from the Baronial coffers. They can also hold
meetings on their own, and do SCA stuff, without having to drive alot.
Talk to the hats and the seneschal about it- it may be the perfect way
to keep people involved without cutting them off from civilization.
'Lainie
Date: Mon, 03 Dec 2001 19:27:55 -0800
From: "Laura C. Minnick" <lcm at efn.org>
To: Susan <catmafia at swbell.net>
CC: Stefan li Rous <stefan at texas.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] [OT} Questions about groups that cover large geographical areas
Susan wrote:
> Thank you, our biggest thing right now is that they really aren't areas who
> have the numbers now to support being a Canton and would prefer to remain
> part of our Barony. If they get more active though, it might be the way
> they want to go.
OK- I have a couple of minutes here, so I will give you to better advice
;-).
I was a Regional Seneschal, and also a Principality Chatelaine, so I
have a few tricks up my sleeve, especially since the Pr of the Summits
has LOTS of outlying areas...
1. Always remember that you don't HAVE to have a branch to do SCA stuff!
You can do household things, or just a few friends working on a project
together. Only diff is, it usually doesn't go in an official newsletter
(Kingdom/Principality) and you aren't covered by the SCA insurance
(actually, most of what we do is not covered by the insurance, but that
is another matter). Suggestions- someone can call up a couple of friends
and have an informal cooks' night, sewing night,
'try-to-put-up-the-new-pavilion-in-the-yard' party. This works well in
you have a couple of people relatively close together.
2. This is really a challenge for the Baronial officers- a good thing
would be for them to put on a 'travelling road show', and go visit some
of those outlying areas. Maybe the Herald could hold a special heraldry
night once a month that is not in Tulsa, but out in one of those
valleys, or whatever. Get the local person to get a place to meet- a pub
or pizza hall, and then put in the Baronial newsletter something like
"The second Monday this month the Herald will be on pilgrimage to the
Valley of Podunk Pigs. He invites you to join him there for an evening
of teaching, consultation, and as many pig puns as we can think of." And
the Arts officer, the Marshal, whatever. Rotate so several of the
outlying areas get attention, and space them so it does not unduly
inconvenience the officers (though I believe that it is the job of the
officer to be inconvenienced!)
3. See if you can get the B&B to do similarly. Many places encourage the
hats to hold 'open house' so they can have an informal way to greet
their populace. If they were to occasionally go on progress, this might
be a nice way to encourage participants. And the hats can also see what
the difficulty is if they actually have to drive it themselves sometime!
4. Think about a 'meet in the middle' evening- a not-quite-prime-time
council meeting. One of the Cantons of the Barony of Adiantum (Eugene
Oregon) is about 40 miles away, and they have a once a month meeting in
a small town between, so the travel burden is shared. It doesn't solve
the whole problem, but it does help a great deal!
Principality of the Summits covers Southern Oregon. There's several
river valleys, and two mountain ranges. To drive from the northern
border to the southern border where the mountains divide us from the
West, involves six mountain passes and about four hours of travel. And
that is just west of the Cascades- the east side is much bigger. Tiny
timber towns, mostly, full of poverty, heartache, and drugs. Some of our
shires hang by a thread. But hang they do- for many folks the SCA is
their hold on having a life with promise. Many of them never get out of
their local shires, but they keep plugging away...
Let me know if you have any questions, and if I can think of anything
else, I'll drop off another note. I'd be happy to help with whatever I
can.
'Lainie
(Elaine de Montgris, alphabet soup+)
Subject: [Ansteorra] Re: And Miles to Go Before We Sleep
Date: Tue, 4 Dec 2001 16:08:20 -0600
From: "Jacque" <jacquelight at cableone.net>
To: <ansteorra at ansteorra.org>
In response to the question about large land areas:
The Western Region has dealt with the question of lots of land and few
people for almost 2 decades now. It sometimes seems as if the adversity has
just drawn us that much closer as a family and we have a very unique style
and way in which we do things out here. In particular, the areas around
Amarillo (Adlersruhe) have faced the greatest challenges. One idea that has
been suggested is to hold web meetings. If you are two here and two there,
network and do it that way, or even an SCA style chat room to take care of
business could help. Make your house the local gathering spot for those not
having computer access. (Great excuse for a revel!) Then plan regular get
togethers well in advance so that everyone can make plans. Rotating places
always helps. No one likes to be the ones to drive forever all the time:))
Mistress Ulrica...Way Out West
Western Regional Seneschal
Date: Sat, 31 Oct 2009 10:40:07 +0700
From: JL Badgley <tatsushu at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Lochac] lonely in Gisborne
To: "The Shambles, the SCA Lochac mailing list" <lochac at sca.org.au>
<<< We've just had some folks join up in Gisborne, New Zealand. ?The
nearest active group to them is Cluain, which is several hours away.
The registry is pretty bare in that neck of the woods, but maybe we've
got an east coast lurker or two for them to play with ? ?Anyone ?
Tamara
SCANZ Registrar >>>
Greetings from the North!
In dealing with this problem ourselves, several things appear to be helping.
1) Finding more members (we are fortunate in that we had a good core
of 5 right from the start).
2) Electronic communication. E-mail, but also chats--instant
messaging does a great job of bringing people into real-time
communication. Phone conversations for the same reason.
3) "Virtual" meetings. An extension of the above. The Barony of the
Far West has had some success with Virtual Courts. With some trusted
people on the ground, and regular visits, I would offer that other
things (authorizations, etc.) could be done virtually as well, but it
should probably be reserved as an extraordinary measure, nonetheless.
We even recently had our baroness join our event virtually (wi-fi +
video chat) when she ran into passport problems and couldn't make it
down.
Not that this should be something to strive for, but it can help in these times.
-Ii Katsumori
Incipient Canton of the Golden Plains
Palatine Barony of the Far West
Kingdom of the West
(Bangkok, Thailand)
<the end>