[Cynnabar] Generalist Events vs. Niche Events or Opening the Can of Worms

[Alexander Drache]

I guess the part that strikes me about specific events like Terp is,
normally I wouldn't attend.  I might show up for a few hours to help out the
barony, but when my shift is over I will go home.  By not making me pay to
volunteer, no one is losing money, because if I had not come to work, I
wouldn't have come at all.  When the tables are turned, and we hold grand
tourney, I will happily pay to marshal most of the day, and would be
thrilled to have non fighters help out with troll and food, and I don't
expect them to pay to come to an event that is not their gig if they are
only coming to help out.  So I guess my point is if the only reason you are
coming to the event is to help out your group, that is the only time (other
than royalty) I can see not making someone pay.

That said, when I go teach at a rapier specific event, I am happy to pay my
site fee.  I travel a lot, and at this point, I spend a lot of my time
teaching, and I often drive 6 hours each way multiple times per month to do
it.  That is what we do in the SCA.  So I don't see a point in comping
teachers, that is why you are there, and that is how our social contract in
the SCA works, we don't charge for our knowledge.

It does however get hard to determine who is only there to volunteer, so
just charge everyone.  The minute you make exceptions for one group, you
alienate everyone else.  And yes, that means make me pay to come work troll
for 4 hours.  That is the game we play.

Drache

On Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 1:16 PM, Charlotte Mayhew <crmayhew at comcast.net>wrote:

>  I’m afraid your analogy (the host pays for the party) suggests that
> Cynnabar should pay for the event and not charge attendees anything at all.
>  They could bring hostess gifts, as people do at parties.
>
> The Barony would quickly run out of funds to host events if events were run
> like house parties.  So that model doesn’t work.
>
> There’s got to be a happy medium.
>
> --Sunnifa
>
>
>
>
>
> On 9/15/11 12:54 PM, "Randy Asplund" <randyasplund at comcast.net> wrote:
>
>
> On Sep 15, 2011, at 8:30 AM, dirk wrote:
>
> To sum up, I think we should comp volunteers at our niche events.
>
>
> I disagree, but if you want to comp people, build it into the event
> budget proposal.
>
> - dirk
>
>
> It sounds really logical at first, but in so doing one must recognize that
> in effect it means we would be inflating the gate price for our guests and
> not paying to host our own party.
>
> It seems backwards to me. I wouldn't throw a mundane holiday party or
> birthday party and then expect my guests to pay for it instead of me. The
> exception would be if I hired a band for entertainment, or if I bought
> fireworks or something like that. Then I would ask the guests to be ready to
> chip in.
>
> I hope the analogy makes the point. If folks don't agree that it is a
> concern, then I'm fine with what the group wants to do. But I do point out
> that to not follow what I am saying here would be a departure from our SCA
> cultural norm, a least in our kingdom.
>
> RanthulfR
>
>
> Randy Asplund
> Facebook: "Randy Asplund, Artist"
> www.RandyAsplund.com <http://www.RandyAsplund.com><http://www.RandyAsplund.com>
> Maker of Medieval books and
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> (734) 663-0954
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>
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