First steps (pre-invest)

"After this, the rest should be easy"

We had just over three weeks notice between the announcement of our selection as B&B at Twelfth Night, and our investiture at Canterbury Faire. For one of those weeks, we were out of town.

In that time we had to attend to the predictable practicalities of new garb and ceremony and handover and appointing a Court. But we chiefly focused on the many planning and communication issues related to the nature and style of Baronage we wanted to present. We wanted to hit the ground running.

The first thing we did, starting the moment our selection was announced, was to put out a general offer to meet with anyone in the Barony -- our place or theirs -- in the limited days we had available before CF. Some folk took up the general offer and we made a point of specifically chasing down many others - in the end we covered about 45 people, which was a good proportion of the active populace.

We had three key aims in those meetings:

1. To listen, and thus demonstrate to everyone that we would always see listening to them as a key part of our role, no matter who they were

2. To hear what specific concerns and ideas they had to offer about the Barony

3. To try and motivate them (or allow them to motivate themselves) to get more involved in things than they had been, and to have fun doing it

We also corresponded with key folk in neighbouring groups, including our soon-to-be cousins of Ildhafn (more on the fruits of that later).

One opportunity we missed was a strategic Baronial Planning Meeting which had been organised by the other couple who had stood for the Baronial role. Unfortunately the mid-January meeting coincided with our week away, but it was well attended by a range of folk from across the Barony.

When we obtained a record of the discussion a few months later, it became clear that it had helped prepare the ground for the face-to-face meetings we held, in that it got people thinking hard about what they wanted for the Barony and about their own involvement in it. It was also clear that, although sources of contention certainly still existed, people were trying hard to communicate and to reach common ground on the things that really mattered to the Barony.

We quickly evolved one overtly political catch-cry which we used in the course of our meetings, and for at least a year thereafter - "Permission to Play". We used it to convey as simply as possible that we expected the Barony to be an enjoyable, friendly place where new ideas and initiatives would be welcomed rather than spurned. There was nothing ceremonial or in-game about it -- it was strictly our short-hand for the mundane culture change we wanted to encourage.

This was supported by some mundane documents that I'll reference in a later post. These introduced us as human beings, and outlined our approach to the B&B role.

The whole exercise was all about increasing transparency and helping people realise that we were not going to let the passions and problems of the past dictate the Barony's future or our approach to it. Sort of a Year Zero effect, but without a Pol Pot...

All the meetings were a huge investment of time, and sometimes a bit scary too, but we came away with a great many ideas and much in the way of positive vibes. We remain absolutely convinced that there could have been no better way to launch ourselves into this role, and to lay the groundwork for the happy and productive period which the Barony appears to have enjoyed since then.

Appointing a Court took a lot of our time too. We invited people from many walks of the Barony, but invariably our prime focus was on a cheerful, friendly demeanour. Every invitation was made in person, and time had to be allowed for them to consider the matter, including reading and digesting the "Court positions" document which we'd prepared.

We were incredibly fortunate in that Condesa Catalina agreed to be our Chamberlain - her Royal experience and pleasant and conscientious nature made our Court's first year much easier than it would otherwise have been. That was particularly important as neither of us had any experience of Court and neither did the rest of our Court members, so it was a steep learning curve.

And then there were the Court tokens, liaison with Their Majesties and our predecessors, finding out and planning for whatever Baronage items we'd be bringing back from the Faire, and getting suitable step-up garb organised (thanks on my account to two wonderful ladies in SG), ... on top of all the normal preparations we'd do for the Faire. Not to mention the several in-game initiatives we planned to launch there! (more on them next post)

Somewhere in there, our business started learning to do without us (somewhat), as did our three children.

So by the time CF and our investiture rolled around, we were ready -- or else! -- but in need of rather a lot of sleep.