How to Recruit??

[D.W. Scalf]

Re: How to Recruit??

As we said in earlier posts....You can't "give em rounds and turn em loose" in Australia. We'll all end up in jail, and the hobby here gets another gut punch. That's part of our delima. The "burning powder" thing doesn't apply here. The only place we can do that(with new guys) is on private property with no spectators, with licensed shooters supervising. And we still have to be VERY careful. New guys are not even allowed to TOUCH firearms in public, without a license. Things are just so different here than in the States...you just can't imagine. Bob of the 125th NYSVI had some great ideas in his post. We'll try to take a little bit of all we've gleaned in this thread and go to work!! On behalf of myself and Paul, we thank you for your input so far!

D.W. Scalf

[jones56ga]

Re: How to Recruit??

Heck,
The easiest way i've found is to talk to people about the hobby. Once they express intrest invite them out to an event. Kit em up, give em some rounds, and turn em loose...and once they see if they'll like it, then begin on the finer points. Dont hit them all at once with the reality of the cost and time involved. Otherwise you'll scare em off. Just ease em in...

[Bob 125th NYSVI]

Re: How to Recruit??

How exactly do units out there try to draw recruits? Posters? Advertisements? Open Bars? What strategy do you try to get interested people into the uniform? I'm asking because we're starting to despair here and are getting stuck in a rut of only doing a couple of public events per year with the rest private. Fun and as relaxing as this is, the hobby here, perhaps nationally, is imploding rapidly. We NEED 'new blood' so how do we get it besides the occasional dog-and-pony show?

Recently we've had pretty good results at local living histories. Three recruits at the last two events (within three weeks of each other). And it really is the best way to go belly-to-belly with the public even if the event is too "farby" for your unit's standards. Ask any salesman you know they'll tell you you have to go to the prospect and go belly-to-belly with them, they aren't going to come to you.

We are currently paying for a recruiting video that we can show on a computer at the "farby" recruiting station we set up at all the local events. And we keep the recruiting station manned with our best talkers to sell the unit to anyone who seems interested.

When at the event take a real interest in someone who asks a question. Don't treat people like they are dumb no matter how dumb the question seems. You never know when you are talking with someone who has an interest in joining you or getting into the hobby and you only get ONE chance to make a first impression.

We use a combination of other methods. A flyer that not only gives a description of the unit but also a sign up form as part of the flyer. Swing by a local dance or karate school and get one of their flyers to use as a guide as to how to do this.

Keep the old website updated and have someone check it at least once every three days. Get back to any inquiries IMMEDIATELY. An updated website shows the unit to be active and vital and an immediate return contact shows you are interested in the potential recruit. Bagged one through a website inquiry in August. This is especially important for getting younger guys, they hit the web looking for information before going anywhere else.

We do a lot of public events like parades, school programs, we just did the funeral for the NY Antietam soldier. That gets our name out into the public's mind and attracts recruits

If we get someone who seems seriously interested we invite them to come to an event as a guest and we equip them head to toe. Virtually everybody in the unit has extra gear so we can equip almost anybody. We even arrange to carpool them so they don't get "lost" on the way.

When we get them to the event we make sure they don't feel like a third wheel on a date. Someone is always with the newbie, talking to them, answering questions, leading them around, making them feel like part of the group. When an NCO grabs the newbie for drill a couple of old hands go along so the guy doesn't feel so conspicuous. Assign the person to a couple of details with old hands BUT not all the dirty details. This is a sales pitch not a hazing.

We found that long ago we tapped out the potential recruits in our circle of friends and acquaintances, we've been at this a long time. At best we pull someone back in from that group. But in order to grow we've found we have to get out to reach new people.

once you've got them keeping them is a whole different set of issues.

[sf46]

Re: How to Recruit??

Outlawing pint glasses? Isn't that messing with tradition?

[talkToTheHat]

Re: How to Recruit??

Looks like my Sig went missing. Should be fixed.

It looks like you have an even harder time than we do over the guns, at least you don't have our knife laws and a government that's considering outlawing pint glasses...

[BrisbaneReb]

Re: How to Recruit??

Thanks for the tips Mr. Talk to the Hat (best to sign your full name on your posts before a mod jumps on you), those are helpful pointers.

Unfortunately no, shotguns are put under A-B classification - lumped with single shot, bolt/break/pump action weaponry in regards to the laws enforcement. So buying a three-bander would mean the same paperwork as buying a shotgun for re-enacting. If you're using your shotgun for sport you would need paperwork to prove you're a member of a sport shooting association.

[talkToTheHat]

Re: How to Recruit??

Is there a distinction between shotguns and rifles in Australia like there is in the UK? Here the onus is on the police to show why you shouldn't have a shotgun and the rules surrounding storage, use and ammunition are much more relaxed so most reenactors use smoothbores on a shotgun licence. An extra certificate is needed for black powder.

The upside of having smoothbores is we can use them for clay pidgin shooting. If you want to infect people with the the black powder bug it's easier to get someone to commit to half a day than a weekend away. I find a walk in the woods to shoot clays much more social than a trip to the rifle range.

I've noticed that most of us that shoot black powder outside of reenactment don't show up to events in order to burn more powder.

[D.W. Scalf]

Re: How to Recruit??

Well first off, guns aren't banned in Australia, but they are highly regulated. If you have a legitimate reason to own a gun, such as owning property where varmints might need exterminating, they are permissable. Believe it or not, military reenacting or belonging to a shooting club are also valid reasons. A lot of those ads the NRA put on TV a few years ago were, shall we say, scare tactics to a degree. They made it sound a bit worse in Australia than it really is/was. But just by a bit. The purpose was to scare Americans into not going down the road Australia has. Like I said in my earlier post, it's against the law to carry a pocket knife, once again, unless you have a valid reason(other than self defense). Pellet guns have to be licensed here. Common sense has taken a back seat to total government control. For most folks it's too much of a hassle to go thru all the hoops you have to go thru to own a firearm here. So I'd say, IMHO, that most of the guns here are in the hands of criminals instead of law abiding citizens. So to answer your question, they aren't banned, but they(including muzzle loaders) are highly regulated. And you are under heavy scrutiny by the Government. Oh, but one more thing....If you happen to own an antique firearm, for which "ammunition" is not readily available, it's considered as harmless as grandma's antique egg beater, and you can own it legally. Provided it's kept locked up in a steel box bolted to the wall or floor(as all firearms have to be stored). But I look for that to change too.

Oh man, I could go on and on.....But this is still a pretty good place to live over all. I've been here 8 years, and will be at least 4 more.

D.W. Scalf

[sf46]

Re: How to Recruit??

I guess the biggest thing to think about from Paul's point of view is that we're recruiting in another country. We have obstacles other than what units in the States have. First we have the fact that this is foreign history to people here in Australia. The American War Between the States is probably one of the most attractive to folks worldwide. The whole "Brother versus Brother" theme, the "lost cause", and the huge scope of the whole War make it appealing in general. The underdog aspect makes things Confederate especially intriguing. Having said that though, our prosective member pool is much smaller than in the States. The gun laws here hurt us. People know that to get involved in a hobby such as ours will mean lots of jumping thru hoops. It also means that we're not able to keep as many extra muskets around for people to give it a try.

The farbs, rednecks(and you know what type of rednecks I mean), rebel flag waving KKK, etc. have given the hobby a bad image around the world. Too many farb reenactors get facetime on TV, even way down here. Excuse me if I get on any toes, but "Confederate reenactors who won't wear blue" and vice versa make themselves and the hobby look silly.Too many farb reenactors get facetime on TV, even way down here. Some people lump as together due to this. Think we're ALL just a joke. We're fighting along with you back home(I'm originally from Georgia) to change this image.

I agree with Andrew that letting them burn some powder in a "battle" probably gets their attention more than a good living history. We just don't have the numbers do do anything of any size here.....yet. Though we do get everyone together and borrow from other groups sometimes to do small skirmishes. The gun laws affect these sort of things too. I guess they're afraid we'll revolt if we get a big enough group together with firearms, even muzzleloaders. It's against the law here to carry a pocketknife, so I'm a criminal. Fellas, don't let Mr. Obama do this to the hobby in the US or the country in general....please.

What we need are some good ideas as to getting some young guys interested, as well as the older farts like me. If it was in the States, I'd say school programs would be the way to go, and I'm not saying they aren't. But where most schools in the States are eager to get "experts" in to teach a class, free of charge, people are a bit more skeptical here. Most folks have no idea why we do this or who we are, so that makes them a bit skitish.

We've done local newspaper articles with some results, but we just can't find that "magic bullet" so to speak. Well, I guess there isn't one. But any more good ideas??

D.W. Scalf

D. W.,

are blackpowder guns banned/regulated in Australia the same way that other guns are?

[talkToTheHat]

Re: How to Recruit??

I was recruited at the beginning of this year I've been a LARPer for a long time. I don't know how it is in the USA, but in England, much of my initial resistance to re-enactment was the opinions a lot of larpers (and probably a lot of the public) have about the hobby.

It's all scripted - If it is no-one gave me a copy! The amount of ad-lib unexpectedness that happens has exceeded all expectections and there's no chance of someone spoiling a wonderfully tense moment by yelling "REF CALL" or "TIME FREEZE"

It's all about the battle The prospect of standing in the rank and file pouring powder down my piece like there's no tomorrow doesn't really thrill me. At first I thought my first event was going to be along the lines of camp, drill, march, discharge musket a few times, move a bit, empty cartridge box, fall over, get up, march, empty tins into a pan, eat, sleep, repeat. I wasn't aware of the pervasiveness of the living history or the extent to which first person impressions could be done.

I'd seen an American Civil War re-enactment when I was a lot younger and hadn't been all that impressed, lots of bangs, a regrouping disguised as a surrender, and half the re-enactors seen half an hour later wandering around whatever county fair I was at eating hot dogs or burgers. I wasn't hugely impressed.

Some crawling in the woods under fire from cannon and sharpshooters, cooking everything on a fire, a lack of script beyond he orders from a vaguely familiar rank structure, and my first trip to church in many years (I'm a devout atheist but it's good living history) had me convinced. Why? Because most of the things I thought I wouldn't like turned out to be misconceptions, or things that were severely frowned upon.
If I'd gone along to one of the events later on in the year, especially as a visitor, I might have been less impressed as all the farbs showed up and we had some lovely speeches about how living history isn't important. Impressionable people might have heard the speeches, and my mother saw a uniformed burger van raid at my home event :-(

My point? It's often easy to find what people want, especially if you know them, finding out why they're resisting is also important, it may be for reasons that are easily set aside.

And then there's a little but of translation of terminology that helps if you're going after people with similar interests, the magic phrase for larpers is "Your In Character is our First Person."

[BrisbaneReb]

Re: How to Recruit??

Christian: Those are some good and valid points there. Asking the recruit first-off what they are expecting or want out of the hobby is an excellent tactic. It would also have saved myself endless time with every prospective member. We were thinking of finding some D&D types, the 'nerdy' ones so-to-speak because of the few we have come across they seemed the most constructive and adaptable. Might haunt some gaming events and conventions in kit.

Brian: We've sort of going along the public track and noticed some of the attitudes by some to the public. It's just hard to break into the business down here - insurance, few events, stereotypes, etc. We've brought some people into the hobby and they've turned into farbs - we tried to turn them around but sometimes people just can't get over that hurdle of 'If the public is happy and I'm happy then we're all good.' It sucks to see all that work gone to waste but you've just got to keep trying.

[briangauthier]

Re: How to Recruit??

This is an interesting forum and I feel compelled to post now.

When I started up in the hobby several years ago, I had many of the negative preconceptions that are unfortunately associated with the term "reenactor". I thought it was a bunch of old fat men pretending to play war while drinking copious amounts of beer. Thats all well and good, but there is so much more to be learned and enjoyed from this hobby than that. When we recruit, we must keep this in mind. We will not, I repeat will not encourage new members to join if the first thing they hear is the sometimes overwhelming price tag associated with things like uniform, musket, etc. It is incredibly difficult to start off as an authentic, let alone maintain it for people like me(recent college grad).

I liked what Christian mentioned and that is meeting people where they are. Private events such as LBL and Knoxville (this past year) are great events, but its not a spectator event. And yes, we all have friends that we know might be interested, but how great is it when a father and son, looking for something to connect over, come to a reenactment, farb it up together and have a great time learning a new hobby? Or what about the people who come to reenactments and FINALLY get a sense of what life must have been like 150 years ago. I've come across too many reenactors who shun people away from camp simply because they are too caught up in themselves to deal with the public. If you don't want to deal with the public, why go to a public event? And to follow that up, where else are you realistically expecting new recruits will come from if not from some fresh blood?

Most Sincerely,

[Indianabugles]

Re: How to Recruit??

here in the UK gun laws hit hard. But, we have several inert guns for training, not quite the perfect solution I know but at least A solution, at least until folk can get licenses sorted out.
We are also massive lucky to have a regimental guy with a big car who rounds up all that spare, grown out of, got better than now, kit, shoves it in a sack and brings it along as a stock to equip potential new members there and then!
Now I get contentious.....Probably the worst thing that happens is your new member gets all excited, so burn powder during the day and drink beer at night, Maybe?
Or, on the other side he gets put off by all the restrictions and sudden seriousness about him in what he/she/it thought was going to be a fun hobby.
Guess what I am trying to say is do not recruit too much on the obvious fun side of the hobby, don't over emphasize this and when they have started go gentle n coaxing them into being a high standard re-enactor. Many of us started in A frames with modern kit inside hidden away, not seeing the point of cooking period style etc etc and then began to get it gradually over a season or two. had it been enforced straight away, or we felt so, we would not be in the hobby today.
I say none of this lightly as I work as a recruiter at events and also in my own time. One thing I will say is look for a foot in the door of your new prospective recruits skill set or desire. Fact find, don't just present what you think is cool about the hobby.
THINK - WHAT DOES HE WANT OUT OF IT?
Sorry if this is getting all salesman but it works!
A bit of background on your new recruit will pay dividends and may ease his mind or fears as well. Useful background hooks I have found include.
Scouts, any paramilitary organizations etc - Drill, camp routine.
Role players or LARPers, and yes I do mean D&D players. - First person, narrating or story telling.
Musician - obvious really
Historians - Experimental archeology, chance to exchange views with others of the same interest type.

If they have done any of these then you can say mind easing stuff, after all they have done some of it before, one way or another. build on existing foundation, don't make them feel like they are starting at the bottom.

Now I guess some of you are reading and thinking I am telling you what you already know, but next time you are recruiting stop and listen to yourselves and I bet what you are selling as a hobby is what you enjoy, and not what they would.

P.S As far as Bronwald the Barbarian goes, I am not suggesting that D&D translates directly across but someone who has created a character and stays in character for four hours during a RPG night is doing fantasy living non history. I know many re-enactors who cannot do first person and many RPGers who can once they have been given relevant details.

[BrisbaneReb]

Re: How to Recruit??

I think Trace hit this on the head for me. Thanks to the folks for the help on going to shows and lending out gear but basically none of this works here because of a simple rule: those few that might be interested never get to the equipment lending stage. Why? Well, they've got their own reasons.
But the thing that is really killing us is the bad press civil war reenactors get as Trace said. Namely the media and folks love nothing more than having a good chortle at scenes of tubby men dress up and 'make pretend.' For example we had a show here about these two guys travelling across the US Borat style. For a Civil War scene they found the farbiest bunch of guys they could grab and popped rounds cowboy and indian style. Its this oppressing stereotype that strangles interest. Unless I'm standing right in front on them in my full impression, if I mention my hobby I get the raised eyebrows and the stereotypical assumptions. There are plenty of civil war buffs around but getting them into the field is a real struggle and often unsuccessful until we get the ball rolling with some good public events and the like.

[lojafan]

Re: How to Recruit??

One thing I've done lately is to join "groups" on social networking sites (facebook and such) and posting recruitments or mentioning events and having people contact me if they are interested. I've gotten a few "fresh fish" doing it that way, but nothing beats the good old fashioned way at events and good friends to help spread the word.