First off, thank you so much for thinking about hosting an SCA event. This job can be rewarding and enjoyable for anyone who works with the aid and support that is available.
There are many resources out there that help you on your way to a successful and fairly stress free day. The good source for An Tir Autocrats is www.currentmiddleages.org/autocrats. It contains a ton of budget templates, forms, worksheets, essays and handbooks from all over the known world (many you will find here.) However, in Avacal, it is often hard to know who gets what form when. The Autocrat’s Binder is set up as a paperwork timeline leading up to the event and for a few months after. It will help you deal with all those waivers, NMS submission and calendar requirements.
This document is just a general guideline. It contains a brief explanation of what forms are needed, what they mean, when to use them and who needs to see them. While some items such as NMS submission are required within a strict timeline, not all these forms will be used for each event nor will they be sent in when suggested here. But remember the sooner the better….and If in doubt, ask someone. Talk to your seneschal and other autocrats. Personal insight is often your most valuable guide.
At the same time, we’ll try not to ignore the two other important aspects of an autocrats job – that is delegation & marketing.
Manyra
July 2008
***Down Load the PDF version here***
Table of Contents
Autocrat’s Binder: A guide to the forms every Avacal autocrat needs6 months prior to hosting a Principality Event
4 months before the local event (at least!!)
Types of Events
Activities & what is needed to make them happen
In Avacal, most events are booked by the seneschal or a group representative at the calendar meeting in February as per the Avacal Calendar Policy. At this time any event being held from the upcoming August to July of the next year can be put on the calendar, including assigned Principality Events. For example, an event being held in August 2008 or January 2009 may have been reserved on the calendar in February 2008. This means most of the tradition events are booked long in advance and the Date Reservation form (signed by the Seneschal) has been filed.
However, if the date for your event has not been reserved, you first must contact the Avacal Calendar officer (calendar@avacal-sca.org) to confirm what dates are available and avoid any conflicts. Once a date has been decided, the Date Reservation Form can then be filled in and submitted to the Avacal Calendar officer.
In addition to an early submission of the Event Information form and Event copy detailed under the 3 month heading, principality event autocrats also require to send in a Principality Event Information form. (This is undergoing a few changes, such as changing the term constabulary however the basic needed information still applies.)
This is also a good time to contact any principality officers such as the lists or marshal who can help arrange activities. It’s part of their job to help. Take advantage of them.
This can actually be done far in advance. It’s always a good idea to have some sort of site evaluation to give the events other volunteers an idea of what they are working with.
A budget proposal is done for many reasons. First, groups often need to see a budget before allocating money to book sites, etc. Second, it helps decide site fees.
A very simple budget for a feast looks like this:
Site + Feast cost + Misc = Event expenditures
Divide that by how many people you expect to get to figure out a site & feast fee.
However, there more detailed examples provide: Site Fee Worksheet & Event Budget Template
Here is where the delegation starts. No autocrat can be in charge of every activity at their event; they simply don’t have the time or know-how. There’s volunteers needed for set up, gate, clean up, feast preparation, any martial activities, A&S, classes, royalty liaisons, biffy patrol, safety officer. A good autocrat will delegate the major activities such as the tournaments to one person and allow them to pick their support team, then check in periodically to make sure things are on track. Remember you don’t have to do everything just make sure everything gets done.
Support Volunteer worksheet or Event volunteer worksheet.
This can be done whenever you get a site but no later than when the event copy is due. The Event Information form (EIF) is sent into the Avacal Calendar officer. This is signed by the seneschal, autocrat and marshal in charge.
The event copy must be sent into the Avacal Calendar officer by the 15th of the month 3 months prior to the event. For example, if your event is slated for December 15th the event copy must be sent in before September 15th. This will ensure that your copy is published in the August issue of the appropriate newsletter. If your event is being held early in the month you might want to get your copy in earlier.
There are a few required items that must be included in your event copy. Please refer to your Crier or to an event copy checklist (the Crier will be deemed that most up to date).
Event Copy Requirements
All event copies for the Crier, Avantgarde, and Avacal Webpage have to go through the
Calendar Officer. Please include the following as required by the Crier:
v Date of event (day and month and year)
v Time of event (when site opens and closes)
v Name of sponsoring group
v Location (name, street address, and town) of the site. The postal code should also be included if available. If there is no street address, this must be noted in the copy.
v Name (society and modern) and mail address of the autocrat; email address or phone number are discretionary but are very helpful. (I find it useful to include the feastocrat as well)
v If there is a fee for the event, the statement "make cheques payable to <Group>" must be included.
v Official SCA Event Title
v Modern Location (town/city)
The event copy for the Kingdom newsletter can be a maximum of 300 words for branch or baronial events, 350 for a principality event.
Once the Avacal Calendar officer has your event copy, he or she will forward it to the newsletters and websites. If you do not want your event advertised in the Crier, you must tell the Calendar officer when you submit your copy.
Also consider how you may start advertising your event: Put something splashy on your branch website, add that link to your email signature line, make a special announcement on the mailing lists every few weeks to keep it top of mind, offer a pre-registration discount to get an idea of attendees, post signs at other events, etc.
Royalty is one of the big draws to any event; it’s nice to know beforehand if they are attending. As soon as possible send out an invitation to the Crown & Coronets of An Tir and the Coronets of Avacal. You may also wish to include any outside Baronial coronets or other special guests (royal patrons, etc). Letters should include the event date, location with directions, contact information, any offered accommodation and a request to see if they have special needs. A good example of a letter can be found in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner: How to Host Royalty at Your Event.
Sometimes a site owner will need to see a certificate of insurance
From the An Tir Website – www.antir.sca.org
SCA Insurance Certificates
If you are a branch or principality Seneschal and you need a simple proof
of SCA insurance, please send a brief note to sca_ins_cert@antir.sca.org and request
a copy of the current insurance certificate.
If you need "specific named insured" (event site and date is specifically
stated on the insurance certificate), you will find the instructions for obtaining
that certificate at http://www.sca.org/docs/insurancecert.pdf.
Allow 30 days for completion of request.
Equestrian insurance must be ordered separately (and early!!). Contact your seneschal or the Avacal Equestrian Marshal if you plan to have horsy activities.
This is the big day. Time to decorate the site, make sure your volunteers have everything they need and welcome your friends. It’s a good idea to be the first one on site. I usually bring lots of coffee and donuts as well.
As the day wears on you do well to remember:
Some groups have their own forms for people to sign in at gate. There are also many gate sheets found on the An Tir website. My personal favourite is the standard form for camping events and the standard form with one blank column for feast events. Both of which can be filled in and saved for printing before hand. If there is no NMS I just cross out that column because someone will ask.
How the gate is run is up to you and your head gate volunteer. There will be a time when cash needs to be removed from the cash box for safety. A form for counting the cash and recording who does the drop is handy (this one has 2 parts one for the drop and one to go into the cash box for final counting. Also handy is a final cash out sheet.
Minor Medical Canada * For use at Canadian
events and for Canadians attending
The Non-Member Surcharge (currently $3 in
This fee does not apply to minor who have been given a discounted site fee.
Branches in British Columbia may be a part of the Northern Society for Creative Anachronism. These groups are also required to have the following waivers signed by event attendants. More information about the NSCA can be found at www.nsca.bc.ca
As mentioned above having Royalty attend lends a great air of excitement to an event. But there are many details to look after. Many of these are covered in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner: How to Host Royalty at Your Event such as providing a royalty room, setting head table & coordinating with retinue. One idea I really like is providing Royalty parking – set near the door or access to the royalty room & marked with clear signage. It’s also nice to provide water or munchies in the royalty room, ask for any preferred items.
For our branch records, I like to have a full event report. This provides a good overview of who did what and a quick calculation of funds. There are is another PDF event report and one Excel report as well. Do which ever you are comfortable with; they are only for your branch files.
The Non-member surcharge that you collected must be submitted to the Kingdom Exchequer (address in the Crier or email exchequer@antir.sca.org) within 30 days of your event. The NMS submission cover letter makes it easy to indicate how many people you collected from and the total collected. *NOTE the form says to send the NMS to the NMS submission deputy. Right now that is the Kingdom Exchequer.
Your signed waivers must be sent to the Kingdom Waiver Deputy within 30 days of your event. Again there is a cover letter you must include to highlight the number of members and non-members that attended. Include:
· Two copies of the completed cover sheet
· Original Gate Sign-in sheets, numbered and paper-clipped together
· Adult waivers, paper-clipped together
· Child waivers, paper-clipped together
The entire bundle would then be clipped together and sent to the Waiver Secretary. Please do NOT use staples.
The Kingdom Waiver Deputy is THL Alyna Wolfstan and her current address is
THL Alyna Wolfstan
c/o Gayla Raynor
8216 64th St Ct W
University Place, WA 98467
These are details that should be taken care of by the designated person in charge of that activity. However, it may be good to keep a copy in the event report file if possible.
This Marshal in Charge report must be filled in and submitted by all marshals in charge of any combat activity at your event: armoured, rapier, archery etc. The report is sent to the principality officer and due with the quarterly marshal’s report unless there is an incident to report. Then it must be sent in right away (at least 48 hours) with the Accident/Incident form.
The List report is not required but a good idea to help keep track of historical tournaments and train new list keepers. Keep a copy in the marshal’s and event report file.
Chirurgeon are expected to send in an Event Report immediately after an event. If there is any major incident at any event, they must call or email the Kingdom Chirurgeon within 24 hours of the end of the event.
If you are hosting a principality event, Avacal law states “Thirty percent of any profit made on a Coronet Event may be kept by the host group; 60% is due directly to the Principality Exchequer within 60 days; and 10% is due to the Kingdom Chancellor of the Exchequer.”
Most of these are available for download from the Autocrats website (www.currentmiddleages.org/autocrats)
"And Sing Ye In Chorus Never Again" Everything you wanted to know about autocrating, but were afraid to ask! - The autocrat class handout of Barwn James Llewellyn ap Gruffydd, OP.
AUTOCRATING 101: So you want to Autocrat an Event - The autocrat class handout of Dame Karis Jessica Pursey, OP.
How to Autocrat a Tourney - The autocrat class handout of Baroness Khalja Khorkhoi, Events Deputy.
Wyewood’s Autocrat Guide (Or, I Have This Great Idea) http://www.wyewood.org/docs/autocrat-guide.htm
The Autocrat's Friend; A publication of the Barony of Wastekeep.
RapidGate - by Barwn James Llewellyn ap Gruffydd, OP. A system for processing attendees through the gate as quickly as possible.
Kingdom of the West Autocrat's Checklist
So, You've Decided You'd Like to Autocrat an Event.... From Baroness Lady Genievieve de’Charbonneau
True tales of challenges faced and overcome by our intrepid kingdom autocrats.
Why Autocrats Have to be Flexible OR...You never knew you could deal with this, but you can... - contributed by Vivien NicUldoon