(This month’s Seneschal missive is from the Office of the Chatelaine.)
Greetings, Northshield,
Being a chatelaine is about more than just recruitment. It is about the whole group, including recruiting, integration, continued support, and recognition.
How can you be a chatelaine? I’m not talking about the warranted role here. How can you work with your group to support current members and recruit new ones?
A simple recruiting idea is carrying business cards with you. These could be ordered through any number of printing shops, or printed and then cut out from heavy paper or cardstock. When someone asks you why you are buying ‘that thing’ and you explain why, you can easily share information about the group. I like including a link to the SCA newcomer’s portal (http://welcome.sca.org/) as well as http://northshield. org/ and the local group’s contact information. Only include on the card personal information that you are comfortable sharing with strangers. You can always add more with a pen because it’s harder to remove something already printed!
Integrating and supporting newcomers in your group is not one person’s job – the entire group needs to help. Say hello and find out what that person’s areas of interest are. Introduce them to others who might share that interest. Support is key. Their passion and interest can be the spark to bring even more energy into the group.
Lastly, recognition. We usually think of the official award process as recognition, and we should! Enter a recommendation when you would like the Crown to consider someone for an award! (http://northshield.org/OrderOfPrecedence/Recommendation.aspx) But, don’t forget that there are other ways we can recognize people too. Consider carrying small tokens of appreciation with you to give to someone on the spot. Go out of your way to say thank you to the person who is quietly supporting an event. If you hear something good about someone from another source, go tell them what you heard! Consider ways you can integrate gratitude into more of your interactions. It doesn’t matter how long or short you have played, or what your title is or isn’t. Appreciation from you matters.
Thank you for your support of newcomers and members!
Kate