Too Many Events
[01/07/2005] [jewishjedi] I’m gonna go and say something that is going to be a little bit unpopular. Too many groups in Amtgard are running too many events these days. From small local groups trampling on each other’s toes, to large kingdoms interfering with each other’s schedules, we simple have more going on than can be handled. Take for instance eastern Amtgard. For a month this past summer there was an event each weekend. Wolven Fang ran one, Solstice had Shenanigans, Twin Lakes ran a small event, and Crystal Groves had a coronation. Now, I don’t have numbers on Battle of the Dens, but I do know that attendance was hurt for Solstice, TL, and CG. To make matters worse, CG even ran a small turney on the same weekend as Invasion, TL’s event. This hurts small groups that are trying to grow and make a name for them. We can also see this problem on the kingdom level. This year the Wetlands are running their first large event. Already they’ve run into a scheduling conflict with Amtgard’s happiest kingdom, Neverwinter. To solve this problem, WL moved their event into March risking being very close to Spring War and Sword Knight Boot Camp. The really bad news came when it turned out that Piratical Sabbatical was moved to the same weekend Goldenvale is holding their coronation. Incidentally, SKBC is the same weekend as CG’s Feast of Fools this year. This stops inter-kingdom travel and the spread of ideas. With all these events falling so close together on the calendar, we’re being forced to choose between them. If I go to one event, I can’t go to another. This mentality hurts turnout for all events and thusly Amtgard as a whole. Less people are willing to travel far to go to a big event when there will be three or four small ones right in their backyards. While I’m not saying that any one group is in the wrong on this issue, I do feel that we all need to co-ordinate our efforts and work together to fix this problem. If there are two groups near to each other that both want to run an event, they should work together to run one bigger event instead of two smaller ones. Each year they can switch off who the event will be closer to. They can each run a few games. One group could cook feast for Friday and the other for Saturday. This will help bring us together and make Amtgard a better place for all of us.
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