[MR] Your suggestions please => Newcomers thread

[Craig]

I think it's a great idea!

When we went to our first event about 2 years ago,it was intimidating. 
We had gone to our local fighter practice a few times and had met 
several people in our canton, but showing up at an event where there's a 
lot more people than the few we had met was very intimidating. 
Fortunately, after we signed in and got situated, we were in the main 
area looking lost, and Dame Morwenna came up, introduced herself, asked 
if we were new, then took the time to talk to us about the SCA and gave 
us her SCA 101 class that she's so famous for.  It was that act that 
really made us feel at home and feel welcome and comfortable.  That, and 
the fact that when we went by the heavy fighting field to watch, one of 
the fighters whom we had met at fighter practice came off the field 
right after his battle directly to us to welcome us to the event.  It's 
those kinds of personal touches that help make the SCA special.

A couple of possibilities for ideas:

1) Have some sort of special token, ribbon, or flag that can be given to 
newcomers to wear when they check in at Troll.  This will signify to 
everyone that it's their first event, and will help ensure that the 
populace knows a first timer and thus can go out of their way to greet 
them and make them feel at home.  Often times, we don't know who is new 
and needs that special welcome.

2) Have volunteers take a shift to hang out at troll as the "event 
chatelaine" to specifically greet newcomers to the event.  Each shift 
may only be an hour long, but that gives someone there to greet and 
assist newcomers.

3) Along those lines, when I was researching the SCA before attending, I 
often read about a "Gold Key" tent where you could get questions 
answered and loaner garb.  I have rarely seen those at events, but since 
I'm no longer a "newcomer", I don't really look for them.  I believe 
there was a Newcomers Point at WoW.  In conjunction with thought #2, 
maybe have a designated Newcomers Point at each event, with a volunteer 
or volunteers to staff it during the early part of the event.

Those are just a few thoughts from someone who was a newcomer not too 
long ago...

- Cian mac Cellacháin hUí Dublaich

(mka Craig)

On 10/15/2010 10:38 AM, Jack Black of Flint wrote:
> Along this line, Siegfried, I have also seen this happen on a number of
> occasions...
>
> However, in most of the cases, the folks running the Gate are usually so busy
> with a line that they don't have ((or are uninterested)) in the time needed to
> learn that the folks are indeed new, and need to be "handed off to a Chatelaine"
> ((A phrase that I personally dislike, since in my opinion everyone who pays site
> fee and is in garb is a Chatelaine to one degree or another, but that's a
> different story))
>
> So I agree, how do we fix that problem?  One suggestion could be to have
> something printed out at the Gate for newcomers, saying something like this:
>
> "Hail and well met!  Welcome to (insert event here).  If you are new to our
> lands, please, seek out Lord Jack Black of Flint, our Baronial Chatelaine or
> newcomer contact.  He is wearing all black, with a purple sash and head wrap.
>   He will be more than happy to assist you in whatever way he can!"
>
> ((Using myself as the descriptor for ease))
>
> But obviously there is rarely space or availability for the Chatelaine to sit at
> Gate all day, or even stay AT a Newcomers point.  Have it set up, but if there
> is something like what I just suggested available as a hand out at Gate, it
> might help new folks get an idea of who they are looking for, and help them feel
> a bit more at ease knowing there is someone there FOR them at their first event.
>
> What say you, folks???? Good Idea, Bad Idea, shut the hell up and get back on
> your boat, BlackJack? **laughs**  ((Last was a joke, I hope))Until the next,
> Yours in service,
>