Post event reflections
Oct. 15th, 2013 02:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
baronessekatAll in all, Crown Tournament went very well.
If I did the math from the troll sheets correctly we had 267 people through troll. 240 adults, 15 kids ages 6-17, and 9 kids 5 and under. I needed 100 adults to break event. I was expecting around 150-175 (though I told the cooks 200) in attendance. Needless to say, the Kingdom and the Barony made a respectable profit, even with family caps.
I had a great staff and a crew of non-staff volunteers. Without them the event could not have happened as well as it did.
We got to the site Friday at 12:30 to set up common pavilions, layout the dayshade grids and get the list field set up. We discovered that there was a drop in communication and the church secretary (my only contact) never passed on to the trustees that we needed at least 60,000 square feet of the field not just brushhogged but mowed. (210 feet wide by 300 feet back). Instead they only mowed 75 feet back. So the remainder of the field was roughy 4-6 inches high with lots of dead grass and seedlings left from the brushhogging.
I had brought my manual reel mower with me so that if we needed to touch up spots we could. I wasn't expecting to have to use it for the entire field. But my crew was great. We raked where the lists were going to go and started with the push mower while one ran home to get their home gas mower. After we got the lists cleared, we managed to track down another member of the barony who owns a commercial mower and he brought it over and we were able to clear where almost all of the dayshades were to be set up. If I knew it wouldn't have embarrassed him, I probably would have kissed the man.
When we left site Friday night (I got home at 8:20pm and I live 5 minutes from site), the field was mowed, the list field was up, the populace tents and troll tent were up, the kitchen was set and the cook had the smoker going.
Saturday dawned and we got the last of the popups up for the MoL and Herald and then everyone arrived. I'm glad I had planned to have parking and traffic control folks there. It was a small parking lot and they could not drive onto the field to drop of their dayshades and belongings. But that all seemed to go smoothly.
We had unseasonably warm weather (the report was a high of 78ºF) with clear skies. Which I will happily take since 7 years ago to the day we had a horrific ice storm.
I got many compliments from the Marshals and the Heralds for thinking of them. See, I've worked enough crown tournaments to know that the list heralds, the marshals and the MoL can't go and get lunch once the tournament starts. So the list heralds and marshals got lunch bags delivered to them in messenger bags that they could then keep. And I coordinated with the cooks to have all handheld food items for them (their lunches consisted of a hand pie, pickles, half a scotch egg, cheese, some shortbread and a bottle of water). We then delivered food trays to all the combatant couples, the Royalty, the troll and the MoLs.
I also heard that the combatant couples thought the "swag bags" they got when they trolled in were fun. I simply had their site token, the site book and a small frog with a crown finger puppet in each bag for each member of the couple. The consorts also received an invitation to the consorts tea that Her Majesty hosted before the tournament.
The food seemed to go over well. I recall there being on some hard boiled eggs and a handful of apples left on the all day side board when we tore it down.
The biggest complaint I heard was over something I had absolutely no control over. The site was infested with spiders. Little black jumping ones and baby ones freshly hatched. I have a feeling we stirred them up when we mowed on Friday. Even those who are not arachnophobia were a bit freaked at times.
The field also had some deep ruts from when the church brushhogged it a couple weeks ago as they did not wait for the ground to fully dry before driving the heavy tractor over it.
Things I would do differently:
1. Ask a different person to be on troll. I went with the suggestion of someone else and while he is an great guy, he wasn't prepared for it in scope. I had told him he needed at least 2-3 helpers for when it opened. Thankfully a lovely Duchess jumped in and helped him out. He was great, but I think he would do better as troll for a smaller event.
2. Make sure to have a case of TP in the car the day of the event. We didn't run out but we seriously depleted the church's supply. We replaced it the next morning.
3. One or two other small staffing changes just for personality meshing.
4. When I confirm with the site via email that the field has been taken care of, I will do so with the one where I stated my initial request attached. (I had asked in May and again in early September for the amount I needed mowed)
5. Autocratting a kingdom level event and being Sylvan Signet. Or at the very least have in place a Signet of the Day.
Things I would do the same:
1. The majority of my staff.
2. The lunch delivery. I honestly hope other crown autocrats keep up the lunch bag idea in some form.
3. Having a populace tent so those who did not bring sunshades could have a place.
4. Autocrat. I actually enjoy doing it and had forgotten I do. I'd happily do a crown again. Though I'm already thinking about trying to find a place for the Barony's next Masked Ball event (winter 2014).
If I did the math from the troll sheets correctly we had 267 people through troll. 240 adults, 15 kids ages 6-17, and 9 kids 5 and under. I needed 100 adults to break event. I was expecting around 150-175 (though I told the cooks 200) in attendance. Needless to say, the Kingdom and the Barony made a respectable profit, even with family caps.
I had a great staff and a crew of non-staff volunteers. Without them the event could not have happened as well as it did.
We got to the site Friday at 12:30 to set up common pavilions, layout the dayshade grids and get the list field set up. We discovered that there was a drop in communication and the church secretary (my only contact) never passed on to the trustees that we needed at least 60,000 square feet of the field not just brushhogged but mowed. (210 feet wide by 300 feet back). Instead they only mowed 75 feet back. So the remainder of the field was roughy 4-6 inches high with lots of dead grass and seedlings left from the brushhogging.
I had brought my manual reel mower with me so that if we needed to touch up spots we could. I wasn't expecting to have to use it for the entire field. But my crew was great. We raked where the lists were going to go and started with the push mower while one ran home to get their home gas mower. After we got the lists cleared, we managed to track down another member of the barony who owns a commercial mower and he brought it over and we were able to clear where almost all of the dayshades were to be set up. If I knew it wouldn't have embarrassed him, I probably would have kissed the man.
When we left site Friday night (I got home at 8:20pm and I live 5 minutes from site), the field was mowed, the list field was up, the populace tents and troll tent were up, the kitchen was set and the cook had the smoker going.
Saturday dawned and we got the last of the popups up for the MoL and Herald and then everyone arrived. I'm glad I had planned to have parking and traffic control folks there. It was a small parking lot and they could not drive onto the field to drop of their dayshades and belongings. But that all seemed to go smoothly.
We had unseasonably warm weather (the report was a high of 78ºF) with clear skies. Which I will happily take since 7 years ago to the day we had a horrific ice storm.
I got many compliments from the Marshals and the Heralds for thinking of them. See, I've worked enough crown tournaments to know that the list heralds, the marshals and the MoL can't go and get lunch once the tournament starts. So the list heralds and marshals got lunch bags delivered to them in messenger bags that they could then keep. And I coordinated with the cooks to have all handheld food items for them (their lunches consisted of a hand pie, pickles, half a scotch egg, cheese, some shortbread and a bottle of water). We then delivered food trays to all the combatant couples, the Royalty, the troll and the MoLs.
I also heard that the combatant couples thought the "swag bags" they got when they trolled in were fun. I simply had their site token, the site book and a small frog with a crown finger puppet in each bag for each member of the couple. The consorts also received an invitation to the consorts tea that Her Majesty hosted before the tournament.
The food seemed to go over well. I recall there being on some hard boiled eggs and a handful of apples left on the all day side board when we tore it down.
The biggest complaint I heard was over something I had absolutely no control over. The site was infested with spiders. Little black jumping ones and baby ones freshly hatched. I have a feeling we stirred them up when we mowed on Friday. Even those who are not arachnophobia were a bit freaked at times.
The field also had some deep ruts from when the church brushhogged it a couple weeks ago as they did not wait for the ground to fully dry before driving the heavy tractor over it.
Things I would do differently:
1. Ask a different person to be on troll. I went with the suggestion of someone else and while he is an great guy, he wasn't prepared for it in scope. I had told him he needed at least 2-3 helpers for when it opened. Thankfully a lovely Duchess jumped in and helped him out. He was great, but I think he would do better as troll for a smaller event.
2. Make sure to have a case of TP in the car the day of the event. We didn't run out but we seriously depleted the church's supply. We replaced it the next morning.
3. One or two other small staffing changes just for personality meshing.
4. When I confirm with the site via email that the field has been taken care of, I will do so with the one where I stated my initial request attached. (I had asked in May and again in early September for the amount I needed mowed)
5. Autocratting a kingdom level event and being Sylvan Signet. Or at the very least have in place a Signet of the Day.
Things I would do the same:
1. The majority of my staff.
2. The lunch delivery. I honestly hope other crown autocrats keep up the lunch bag idea in some form.
3. Having a populace tent so those who did not bring sunshades could have a place.
4. Autocrat. I actually enjoy doing it and had forgotten I do. I'd happily do a crown again. Though I'm already thinking about trying to find a place for the Barony's next Masked Ball event (winter 2014).
