Welcome to the Online Clann Tartan Newsletter for November 2007

Clann will be demonstrating for early St. Andrew's Day in Fargo

Julie is collecting RSVPs. Let her know ASAP if you're interested in taking the van so Bruce can rent the size we need.

Quarterly Membership Meeting -- Schedule Change

It's coming up to that time of the year again!

That's right – the staff elections are right around the corner on Saturday, November 3th, 2007, so it's time now to start thinking about running if you're interested, and voting regardless. Some quick answers to questions you may have:

Who is eligible to vote? Anyone who is a paid member and is recognized by at least one member of the Staff and one member of the Board can vote. There will be absentee ballots, but they won't be anonymous – we need to verify you are a current member, so your name will have to be on it. Better still, attend the Quarterly members meeting and vote in person!

What am I voting for? Last year we elected a Chief of Staff – basically, as it was decided at last year's quarterly and members meeting, the CoS position is the top dog – the head honcho, who oversees all of the staff. It's mostly a coordinator position – make sure that things are done, and the work is divided equitably. Mia McDavid was elected to a two year term as CoS which will end in November 2008, so we will not be electing a CoS at this meeting. However, she would like to see someone join the Staff at this time with an eye to taking up the Chief of Staff position next year when her term expires. Please contact Mia McDavid; mia_mcdavid@comcast.net.

The next positions, which are up for election this time, are Captain and Head Campfollower – they report directly to the CoS, and are responsible for making sure that shows run smoothly – scheduling the demos, buying and making sure the food is prepared, and many other duties. The final positions are staff – they report directly to the Captain and HCF, and perform the duties assigned to them. We don't have a set number of these – it depends on who is interested.

How do I find out more information? There are a few ways – the manual is one of them, the best way is to talk to a current or former staff person and find out what is involved. All your staff members are listed in the newsletter.

How long is the position? Last year, the Chief of Staff was elected to a two year position. This year the HCF and Captain will be also be elected to two year positions this year. This is to ensure that we will always have continuity on the staff, which has been a problem in the past. The rest of the staff duration will be discussed at the meeting, so show up and vote!

The current Captain is in her last year of college and will not be active in Clann while she pursues her graduate studies. She is running for re-election, but can only serve for one more year. If she is re-elected (as of Press Time she is running unopposed) we urgently need someone to join the staff as her lieutenant with an eye to running for Captain in a year. Please get in touch with Maeve Kane; mollmccaine@aol.com.

How do I get nominated? There are a few ways – have a friend of yours nominate you by sending information to Glenn McDavid, the Secretary, nominate yourself the same way, show up at the meeting and toss your ring into the hat, or don't show up have your friends nominate you… Just kidding – you have to agree to run to be voted in.

How much time is involved? There are monthly staff meetings of 1-2 hours duration, plus all the prep time getting ready for shows. With everyone helping, your time commitment can be smaller. The CoS, HCF, and Captain usually also attend the Board meetings monthly which are usually about 2 hours long. As always, everyone is welcome to attend the meetings!

What if I have a question you didn't answer? Call, email or write, or show up at the meeting and ask - that's the best way!

Mary McKinley, President

Board Elections

....But it still needs people to server on it. The Board elections are coming up on Saturday, February 2, 2007, so it's time now to start thinking about running if you're interested, and voting regardless. Some quick answers to questions you may have:

Who is eligible to vote? Just like the Staff elections--Anyone who is a paid member and is recognized by at least one member of the Staff and one member of the Board can vote. There will be absentee ballots, but they won't be anonymous – we need to verify you are a current member, so your name will have to be on it. Better still, attend the Quarterly members meeting and vote in person!

What am I voting for?The Board positions are for two years, and are staggered. In February 2008, we will vote for President, Treasurer, and Camp Representative. In February 2009, we will vote for a new Vice President, Secretary, Quartermaster, and Company Representative. Again, if you're interested, attend the Board meetings, talk to those currently in the positions, and review your manual. Just for the record, Mary will not be running for President in 2008 - She believes it is time for New Blood.

How do I find out more information? There are a few ways – the manual is one of them, the best way is to talk to a current or former Board person and find out what is involved. All your Board members are listed in the newsletter.

How do I get nominated? There are a few ways – have a friend of yours nominate you by sending information to Glenn McDavid, the Secretary, nominate yourself the same way, show up at the meeting and toss your ring into the hat, or don't show up have your friends nominate you… Just kidding – you have to agree to run to be voted in.

How much time is involved? There are monthly Board meetings of 1-2 hours duration, plus additional time for the specific responsibilities of each position!

What if I have a question you didn't answer? Call, email or write, or show up at the meeting and ask - that's the best way!

Glenn McDavid, Secretary

Wanted--One Contracts Representative

For the past several years, I have been Clann Tartan's official Contracts Representative. The contracts rep position isn't officially a part of either Staff or Board, or provided for in the bylaws, but it is an essential part of the workings of Clann the corporate organization--the contracts rep finds all the money that pays for our food, and tents, and gun powder, and cool toys. And we need a new one. Next fall, I will be moving away to attend graduate school where ever will let me in, and will no longer be able to fill the role of contracts rep.

What the contracts rep does can be divided into five phases: Research, Contact, Negotiation, Contract, and Cleanup. In the Research phase, new shows are identified as possible events that might be willing to pay Clann to perform. Sometimes the Research phase is easy, because some events will contact us, and other times, it involves asking at rendezvous, renaissance festivals, traders, and other reenactors or looking online to find events which seem like would be a good fit for Clann.

After shows are identified, the most important part of the Contact phase is the pitch to a new show. The contracts rep contacts the show organizer by phone or email, and tries to make Clann sound like the best, most entertaining, most educational group that could possibly fit all of the event's needs without promising too much. Once contact is established, and the event sounds interested, things move into the Negotiation phase, in which the contracts rep convinces the event organizer to pay the highest possible price for Clann's wonderful services, without pushing things so high that the event doesn't feel like they got their money's worth in the end, or giving such a good bargain that it's not worth it for Clann. Details like how many school days demonstration stations are necessary, when and where to shoot guns and mortars, or how many scheduled drills and dances are expected are generally worked out in this phrase as well.

The easiest part of of the contracts rep's job is actually the title role--the Contract phase. Clann Tartan uses a standard form contract with relevant details like name, location, date and hours of show changed to fit the event. Two copies of the contract are signed by a member of Staff, mailed to the event organizer, signed by them, and one copy sent back to the contracts rep and kept on file, in case it is needed for future reference or the Cleanup phase.

Cleanup phase can be anything or everything. It can be as simple as being handed the check by the event organizer at the end of the show, or as messy and complicated as asking that an event organizer honor their contract and pay up. Generally, though, it is the former rather than the latter.

All of this usually takes less than an hour a month, on average. There are some heavy periods--what has worked well for me in the past has been to do all the contracts for April-June in December and January, do all the contracts for August-September in May, and the contracts for October in July or August. The hardest part is sometimes getting event organizers to answer phone calls or emails (one event organizer, known for his penguin like walk, is particularly bad about returning emails--hence the penguin hunt). Many of Clann's shows remain the same from year to year, and the biggest concern with those shows is to make sure that the agreed on fee continues to cover cost and make it worth Clann's while to participate in that show. Attendance at board meetings, and communication with the Board and Staff (so they know how much money we're making and when shows are) is also an important part of the job. And I cannot stress enough how important a reliable internet and phone connection is. Being intermittently incommunicado can play havoc if an event organizer or staff have an important question about the planning of the event.

Ideally, anyone interested in being the next Contracts Rep should contact myself and or the board in the next few months so that I can include the next contracts rep in the next cycle of contracts, coming up in December-January. I'd like very much to do the next cycle of contracts together, so that whoever takes the job after me can learn the forms, the etiquette and the fees generally expected rather than being thrown in without any training.

Your soon-to-be-former Contracts Rep,

Maeve Kane

First Footing

GAFFNEY'S SUTLER SEEKS WARES

You can either bring your goods to Heidi at events, or entrust them to her beforehand. We ask that items be small and not terribly fragile if Heidi is to transport them.

Thank you for your support of Clann Tartan.

Board Minutes

Clann Tartan Board Meeting, september 18, 2007

Board Members Present:  Mary McKinley, Glenn McDavid, Bruce Yoder, 
Diana Steben, Cate Hesser

Staff Members Present:  Julie Yoder, Maeve Kane

Minutes of the August meeting were accepted as corrected.

REPORTS
=======

VP: Absent, no report

TREASURER:  Got paid for for Deer River, Perham, and The Scottish Ramble
(from February, in the previous fiscal year) in August.  We are close to
budget and October will be better.

SECRETARY:  No report. 

QUARTERMASTER: The QM was absent, but an issue in his department was
discussed:

The pike heads should be replaced.  They were originally made by Arms and
Armor.  Maeve has made a first inquiry about ordering replacements.  Do we
also want butt caps?  There are pros and cons.


CAMP REP:  Nothing new, i.e. things are fine.
COMPANY REP:  Nothing new, i.e. things are fine.

MUSIC: Have met twice 4th Mondays at the Yoders'.  Same 5 people

DANCE: The Hiawatha site for Wednesdays dance is now expected to reopen
at the end of October.
St. Christopher's Church in Roseville, the Tuesday site, will be
unavailable on September 11 because of local elections.

FIBER:  The new ensign looks good.

SWORD:  No report.

UPCOMING EVENTS
===============

Big Island--Things are in place.

We also have 6 people for Russ Melton's event in White Bear Lake on October 6.
We can use Virginia pikes there, leaving all the others for Big Island, where
they will be needed.

Mankato--We took a cut, but are still doing better than last year.

Winona/Big Muddy--Not a Clann event, but individual members can talk to Luke 
about going there independently.  We expect to be paid for 2006.  [Later--we 
have been paid for 2006.]

Quarterly Meeting--Saturday, Nov. 3, 10AM at Corcoran.  The only declared
candidate in the Staff elections is Maeve (running for a 2nd term as Captain).
We need to e-mail the members and get more candidates.  We are looking for a
new contract rep. to replace Maeve.

The event in Fargo on November 3 seems to be coming together.

We probably will not be doing Des Moines in 2008.

Tactical--Bruce will prepare a proposal to resolve the issues that have come up
about this event.  We still have not paid Don for this year, and in fact do not 
have an amount.

Next Meeting:  Tuesday, October 16, at the Yoders'

Meeting adjourned at 7:55 PM.

Board & Staff

If you need to contact someone associated with Clann Tartan, here is where you find out how. If you are unsure who to contact, you can always email us at: info@clanntartan.org

Guilds

Contact:
Marty L. Byers
orthodoxdruid@gmail.com
651-483-1173

MUSIC!!!!!!!!!!

We will sing and play music of many styles and places from our period. Bring your voice and/or your instrument(s). Neither need be period correct.

The Yoders have graciously offered to host music once a month. We will meet at their house at 4736 12th Ave S, Minneapolis, from 7 - 9pm the 4th Monday of each month.

To contact the Yoders, call 612-825-4519 or email to Julieyoder@juno.com.

To contact your Music Chair, call David at 612-378-1973 or email to baethan1630@yahoo.com

Thanks, and I look forward to making some noise with y'all!

David

Dance

Questions? call Mary at 651-699-6853 or Julie at 612-825-4519

2nd & 4th Tuesdays
Saint Christopher's Episcopal Church, 2300 N Hamline Ave. in St. Paul.

It is at the northeast corner of Highway 36 and Hamline Avenue (Hamline is between Snelling and Lexington). The church is actually encircled by the highway entrance ramp.
The Dance Guild gathers weekly from 7PM-9PM to learn and practice historic Scottish country dances.
For more information call:

Mary at 651-699-6853 or Julie at 612-825-4519

It's a great place to meet people!

Other Guilds

DUN GOWAN WORK WEEKENDS

We have work weekends where we will continue working on the first house in the village, which we started last year.

No construction experience is neccessary. Just bring your enthusiasm.

Contact Don Chesney (218-721-4501 or DLChsny@aol.com) or David Vavreck (612-378-1973 or baethan1630@yahoo.com) for further details.

Drill

Calendar of Events

Event Schedule for the 2007 Season:

The following is a list of the dates of the events that are currently on the schedule for this year. The staff has met and decided to keep this running list of events in the newsletter to give you a chance to get an idea of what is going on this season as well as keep you updated to changes in the schedule.

The column titled status will include the following information.

Tentative- this means that an event organizer or Clann has expressed a strong enough interest in doing this event that it warrants reserving space on the calendar for the event.

Pending- this is the next stage of an event. This means that Maeve has entered serious discussion about Clann doing an event but we are still not committed to the event. You should however if possible think about wether or not you may be able to attend this event.

Scheduled- this level means that the board and staff have approve the event and we are committed to providing manpower to making the event happen. When an event is assigned this level please let Julie know as soon as possible if you can or can not attend this event.

Canceled- This means that for various reasons an scheduled event has been removed from the current season. We will try and give as much notice as we can prior to canceling an event.

If you have any questions about this, please feel free to contact me regarding this matter

Thanks,
Maeve Kane.

Maps

Map to Board Meetings &1st and 3rd Wednesday Dance Bruce and Julie Yoder's Home 4736 12th Av S, Minneapolis, 55407	Map to St. Paul location St. Christopher's- Dance
Map to /Quarterly/Annual Meetings Corcoran Neighborhood Center, 3334 20th Av South, Minneapolis, MN	Map to Marty & Judy Byers home 2821 Churchill, Roseville MN