[Ponte Alto] Recruitment: Making it work

[guylestran at aol.com]

opps Sorry,  I sent this before I finshed the email.  Plesase don't take offense.
 
Sir Guy
 
"Knighthood Is Only The Beginning."
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: guylestran at aol.com
To: ponte-alto at atlantia.sca.org
Sent: Sat, 28 Apr 2007 2:39 PM
Subject: Re: [Ponte Alto] Recruitment: Making it work


I have never been a slow and steady 
"Knighthood Is Only The Beginning."
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: egeorges at cox.net
To: ponte-alto at atlantia.sca.org
Sent: Fri, 27 Apr 2007 4:17 PM
Subject: [Ponte Alto] Recruitment: Making it work


I am really excited to see all the enthusiasm for demos and efforts at
reaching out to the public.

I want to make sure, however, that as we start making all these great
efforts, that we do it realistically and with an understanding to what the
goal really is.  So I'm going to give you all a page out of my Chatelaine's
training manual here....pardon me as I climb up on my soapbox....

The heart of growing the SCA is in retention, not just recruitment.  I can
attract 100 newcomers through high-profile public demo efforts, but if none
of those individuals are still playing with us a year later, I have wasted
my time and effort, and my Barony's resources.  The heart of retention is
this:

People stay in groups where they feel like there is a place for them.  They
leave when they feel like there is no place for them.

Demos are a very valuable tool for raising the visibility of a group in a
community.  They are very showy, and make groups feel like they are really
"doing" something to grow a group.  But they are not necessarily the best
tool for recruitment or retention.  Demos will pull a large crowd of people,
most of which have only a passing interest in things medieval, if any, and
probably aren't interested in a group like the SCA.  You might, if you are
very lucky, attract one or two people who didn't know the SCA existed and
get them coming to a newcomer meeting.  Of those people, a great many will
not stay long.  This is what I call the "raw meat" approach.  Cold-calling a
related group is part of this approach too, to a certain extent.

Contrast that with the small but steady trickle of people who send an email
to our Castellan, who cruise our website and then show up unannounced at a
fighter practice or an event.  These are people who are so interested in us
that they have taken the time and the trouble to seek US out.  These are
people with a high interest level in the SCA.  If we are properly making a
place for these people in our group, then a high percentage of these people
stay and play.  They are the "low-hanging fruit."  This is where most of the
new members in our group come from, and our efforts in this area will
produce very tangible results.

The posting from Mark, our newcomer fighter, gives me pause, because what it
says is that we are not really doing as good a job of collecting the
"low-hanging fruit" as we could.  If we aren't doing that well, all the
high-profile demos in the world are going to amount to nothing but wasted
time and effort, because the newcomers we do manage to attract won't find a
place here and will quickly leave. Consider what happened with Bloodbath two
years ago -- we had hundreds of people show up, handed out nearly a thousand
flyers, and exactly how many of the people who met us that way actually
showed up at a newcomer meeting?  How many of *those* people are still
playing now?

I do not want to discourage people who are inspired to do demos and
high-profile public recruiting efforts from doing so.  They can be useful
and effective when carefully planned and executed.  And having the community
know we are here helps people who want to find us know we exist.  But it is
too often the pattern that a group gets all excited about doing demos,
thinking their group will grow by leaps and bounds, and they expend lots of
effort only to be disappointed with the results because they have not been
realistic about what will happen.  You cannot manufacture interest in this
group -- when you meet people they are either are ready to have the SCA in
their life or they aren't.  It is also very important to prepare the way for
success by making sure we are excelling at making a place for every newcomer
who does show interest (i.e. we are already successful at collecting the
"low-hanging fruit.")

I love all the ideas I am seeing.  I want to especially commend Mary and Red
for taking on the armoring issue head on.  And I want to encourage all of
the folks who are gearing up to do high profile efforts to also be sure to
collect the "low hanging fruit."  Go to the next newcomers meeting at
Aislynn's house so that you can help newcomers acclimate to the SCA.  Look
for new faces at practice and events and introduce yourself.  Ask newcomers
what they are interested in, and help connect them to the people who share
their interest.  Do these things consistently and I promise you will see
this group grow.

See you all on Wednesday, May 9th at Aislynn's....

In Service,

Luce Antony Venus
Chatelaine, Atlantia


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