[Ponte Alto] Recruitment

[egeorges]

Greetings!

Just a few thoughts here....

1) Lady Katharine is absolutely correct.  Even the best chatelaine cannot
hope to recruit and retain newcomers successfully without the support of the
populace.  Sir Guy, your passion for seeing our numbers grow is a fine
example of Ponte Alto's long history of populace support for Baronial
Chatelaines -- Thank you.

2) It worries me to hear that we have loaner gear on "permanent" or even
"semi-permanent" loan and that loaner gear isn't making it to practice on a
regular basis.  If a fighter is committed enough to fighting to need loaner
gear on such a consistent basis, then they probably need to start
transitioning into their own gear.  Perhaps we can have some armoring
workshops for folks who have loaner gear on "permanent loan" so that the
loaner gear may be freed up for newcomers?

3) Armoring heavy fighters is one of the toughest issues we face as a group
when it comes to new members.  The most important thing we can do as a group
to retain newcomers is to give them the tools to become participating
members.  Mark's observations are indicative of a problem that groups all
over the SCA are facing -- while it is certainly possible to make a good set
of armor relatively cheaply, people often don't have the time, or lack
access to the people with the skill to help them.  Many are so new they
don't even know how to ask for help making armor.  The alternative -- buying
armor -- is often prohibitively expensive, costing hundreds of dollars.

And he is correct in the assessment that attracting lots of newcomers is a
fool's errand if we haven't created an infrastructure capable of
assimilating and retaining them.  Indeed, the statistical information I deal
with on the Kingdom level indicates that we could increase our numbers by as
much as 30% just by improving our retention efforts, even without making any
significant new recruiting efforts.

An effort to teach people how to make armor on a consistent basis would
help. Just as we often hold garb workshops to assist newcomers with getting
garb (another big barrier to entry for newcomers) we need to make more
organized efforts to assist newcomers who want to fight.  Perhaps some of
the pieces of armor laying fallow in Mary's boxes could be refurbished at
these sessions and become a resource for new fighters in the Barony.

4) Sir Guy, since you are so passionate about this, perhaps you and our
Castellan can work together....there have been many offers of help and
someone needs to step up to coordinate them.  Not every effort to assist
newcomers has to be run solely by the Castellan.

And again, I want to commend ALL of you.  I was recently at a Symposium held
for Kingdom Chatelaines and most Kingdoms struggle getting their populace to
even recognize that recruitment and retention are important issues that
deserve their energy and attention.  Ponte Alto is blessed with a populace
that cares very deeply about newcomers and that is amazing.  If there is any
group in the Knowne World that can tackle this challenge, I know it is Ponte
Alto.

For those of you that are interested in learning more about how they as
members of the populace can help grow Atlantia (and Ponte Alto), I would
encourage them to take the "Grow Atlantia" class I'll be teaching at the
June University in Storvik.  

Many thanks for your patience with my long post...

In Service,

Luce Antony Venus
Citizen of Ponte Alto