Authentic ACW Enacting in the Post Sesquicentennial Era

[Tyler Underwood]

Re: Authentic ACW Enacting in the Post Sesquicentennial Era

Yes, thank you Eric! This was not only very helpful but also motivating for me. I have a few ideas in my head, and this just might make them become a reality.

[Eric Tipton]

Re: Authentic ACW Enacting in the Post Sesquicentennial Era

They kept the Rich Mountain Web Site Up:

http://www.richmountain.org/2006event/

[Mtjoyce]

Re: Authentic ACW Enacting in the Post Sesquicentennial Era

This is an excellent discussion and Eric's posts have been very helpful and insightful. My original post and points have yet to be addressed though. Its not the groups who may claim a site and/or host events there that I was talking about. It's the lack of support for those making an attempt to put on an event. If it's not put on by certain folks, nobody goes. You can't say "We want new people to put on events" and in the same breath say "Well, we don't know them, so we aren't going to support them." Can't have it both ways fellas.
I applaud the efforts to make a visible calendar of events. Ultimately though,
"What we have here is failure to communicate." Everybody is planing events on top of one another regardless of what anyone else may have announced and we are cutting our collective legs out from underneath us. My personal observations, other opinions and mileage will vary.

[Eric Tipton]

Re: Authentic ACW Enacting in the Post Sesquicentennial Era

Tyler:

Ah, yes, Phase Two. What I call "The People Phase". My first goal with the events at the AC was to simply make sure we have them listed and to encourage people to get their events up here. But, forums, Facebook and e-mails have limits.

The "People Phase" is much harder than everything I talked about in my Rich Mountain story and it is everything that happens after my "and the event was born". The long and short of it is this. Hobby politics, rivalries and personalities are never going to go away. However, many of the people who have organized events in the past have "gone away", or will be going away after the 150ths. That is the subtext to this thread, I think.

When we did Rich Mountain, we were one of those groups who had "never put on an event", so I know of what you speak. With that moniker attached to us, it made the People Phase even more important. The People Phase is simply politicking. It is the hardest phase, no question. Here are my recommendations:

1) Get on the phone and call every unit commander that you can get in touch with. It can't be done by e-mails or posts. It MUST be done in person.

2) If you are putting on an event and see others around the same timeframe, call the organizers. I have found that as long as the event is far enough off, it is easy at that point to "move this one a week ahead" or "move that one a week later." It doesn't always work out, of course, but that is the point for personal contact.

3) Attend annual meetings for different groups. In 2004-2005, I presented the Rich Mountain idea at the GHTI Annual Meeting and the WIG Annual Meeting. Ahead of the meetings, I contacted the leaders and answered all of their questions and got a good idea about the support that might be there prior to the meeting. I present at Zoning Meetings quite a bit. I was always taught to know what the vote is going to be before you show up to make your presentation.

4) Secondary to all of this are the e-mails, forum posts and Facebook posts. Once you have your site, support from the site and your date, use these methods to keep the word out to people.

In my opinion, after the 150ths, we will see an exodus of some of those people whose events "everyone wants to attend". These established groups don;t have to go through all of the steps I have outlined here, because they are a known quantity already. The main point of this thread and the second one that I opened regarding 2015 and 2016 is intended to see what potential conflicts are out there and solidifying dates. I think there will be somewhat of a void of the "known groups" which is the reason for my stirring of the pot here. As some here can attest, I have also been on the phone with people to discuss future events as well.

I cannot stress personal contact and time on the phone enough. If there is someone who may have a conflict with you or someone you have not worked with in the past, they would be first on my list to call. That is the ONLY way to get past what you are talking about. It may not work out, but you have to iniate the discussion if you are going to have any chance.

The last thing I will add here is that if you get an event up on the AC that meets our criteria, it WILL be advertised through the AC. It will be sent out to Facebook and Twitter. Ask the people who are currently posting their events here.

I would also love to hear stories from others who have organized events. What was your personal experience that can be passed along here?

[Michael Comer]

Re: Authentic ACW Enacting in the Post Sesquicentennial Era

I've been reading this and there has been some great discussion. I would like to throw in something from the other side. This thread has talked about putting on an event but it is just as important to participate in the event. And, I mean participate. I've been guilty of leaving early at a couple of things lately and, after some soul searching, I made up my mind that I'm not doing that anymore. I put out the effort to get there, the organizers are counting on me to me there and other participants are counting on me to be there. Folks, at some of these things the Sunday scenarios are just as, if not more, important than the Saturday ones. As vital cogs in the reenacting hobby, we are the ones that need to make the event work. After the organizers have done everything they can do, it's up to us to pick up the ball and run with it.

I understand that some people may have long drives, work etc. but let folks know that coming in and not on Saturday night when you think you'd rather just go home. I find our side of the hobby getting too much like the mainstream and that's not what I want to be. We don't stand guard, we don't drill, we're afraid of rain, we want lots more food than the real guys had etc. It didn't used to be that way and I fear that if we don't get our act together, there won't be much of a campaigner side of the hobby to carry on after the 150th's.

So, I'm renewing my dedication to stick out an event to the end. If I know I can't, I will let folks know ahead of time.

[Tyler Underwood]

Re: Authentic ACW Enacting in the Post Sesquicentennial Era

I love this discussion and all of the thought that everyone has put into their questions comments and concerns. We have established:
1. The need to get a younger crowed involved in leadership.
2. Get new/younger guys more involved in organizing events.
3. Set aside personal differences and work together.
4. Improving communication.
5. Increasing membership in the C/P/H community.
6. More organization within the C/P/H community.
7. And we all hate golf.

Forgive me if I have missed a few things but now that we have a list of our shortcomings what can or will we do to fix it? I personally feel that the first step would be setting aside personal differences. Then move on to organizing ourselves. Groups like the WIG, SCAR and the old AoP have done a fine job of creating an umbrella organizing for independent messes within our wing of the hobby. This is also the same method that is applied to a lot, if not all mainstream units and they seem to always get good participation at events.
I love what my old Commanding officer used to say to us during quarters “We can talk about, or get it done.” Let’s get the job done!

[LibertyHallVols]

Re: Authentic ACW Enacting in the Post Sesquicentennial Era

Whenever some basic cable channel wingnut wants to "tell our story", I laugh. The "story" they want to tell begins and ends "at the event". That would be like telling the story of "What it is like to own an airplane" by following an aircraft owner from take-off to touchdown.

The Reenactment itself isn't the story... its the END of the story. Its what you show while the end credits are rolling.

The story is everything it took to make the event happen and what guys do to prepare and get themselves there... all the stuff that Eric describes, above.

[Jboring]

Re: Authentic ACW Enacting in the Post Sesquicentennial Era

Honestly, gents, I think much of our mustering problems are as Nathan alluded to. We're losing to the technology boom. It's made many, if not most, of the younger generation out there soft. They can't conceive of being with out their smart phone, twitter or being 2 minutes away from a facebook post. If we're going to get new blood to fill the ranks, we need to look at the niches where they're hiding. History classes, National Park visitors, gun shows (?) in order to dig them out. I expected a bump from the 150ths, but it didn't materialize. No "Gettysburgs" to pique their collective interests. Units we associate with are in similar situations. The dumbing down of our history lessons in school isn't helping either. Another option may be to associate with a few local mainstream units in order to "advertise" ourselves and siphon off those looking for a more authentic experience. Regardless, it is a disappointing state of affairs.

What you view as a possible cause, I see as an opportunity. It has been mentioned in passing that while better organization and a tighter authentic community will produce better and larger events, getting new blood into the hobby is an essential componenet. Recruitment is down for most, and part of that is that evens themselves aren't enough. The same generation that has incoporated technology into such a large part of their life should be reached out to using that same technology. If applied correctly, I firmly believe it will yield results.

[Cumpston1862]

Re: Authentic ACW Enacting in the Post Sesquicentennial Era

Ladies & Gents-

If I may add a few thoughts from an ousider's perspective as I have no experience in planning an event.

Mr. Joyce you have concerns about going through all the effort of planning an event and whether people from the in crowd will be there and conflicting events etc. Perhaps rather than doing disjointed events and by this I mean a stand alone event and than it's done. Maybe there can be joined events. Say two events following in the footsteps of one regiment. As an example many of the midwest units were mustered in here in their native Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin etc but they were shipped east and saw their first action out there. So why not do a mustering in event (as an example) of the 1st Minnesota or an Iron Brigade regiment and than do another event three months later of their first action...where ever that may have been.

Two events working in conjuction as one. Ship the guys by rail back east for a battle and than have the other event. Much like the paddle steamer part of 150th Shiloh.. The two events would have two planning staffs working in conjuction with eachother and these would be guys both from the east and the west working together for both events. In this way there is an opportunity to have guys that wouldn't normally be working together doing exactly that. This would also maybe afford some new guys a chance to work with some guys that have forgotten more than some of us will ever know.

I am throwing this out as an example and as I have said I have no experience. A lot of the guys here probably have a lot of reasons why this is maybe crazy or won't work but if we keep doing the same thing we will get the same result. And if this has been tried and I am risking being tarred and feathered I will go quietly and sit back down.

Incidently I don't hate golf but it hates me. I have a nasty slice/hook that is a result from playing baseball before golf. So I quit.

[Tyler Underwood]

Re: Authentic ACW Enacting in the Post Sesquicentennial Era

So as I asked in an earlier post, what are we as the authentic community going to do rectify the problems that we have all addressed? We can point out the inadequacies all day long but that doesn’t solve anything. We have to take action as a group; otherwise we will have accomplished nothing with this discussion except how to organize an event.

[Eric Tipton]

Re: Authentic ACW Enacting in the Post Sesquicentennial Era

I love what my old Commanding officer used to say to us during quarters “We can talk about, or get it done.” Let’s get the job done!

Tyler:

This thread and your quote have reminded me again of a lesson my Father taught me a long time ago. He was a 1st Lieutenant in Vietnam in '67 - '68. He said that when he was new, whenever they received a new mission, he would sit down with his staff and and a debate would ensue. He was a young lieutenant. Of course they debated him. After that, he learned that if he simply walked into the woods, they would follow him there. This has been a guiding principle for me in many facets of my life. Saying is fine. Doing is better. This was my lesson around 2004 with the forums as well.

These discussions are enlightening, necessary and informative to gather the opinions of our members and how they look at things. However, there has never been a thread on any forum, that I am aware of, that ever solved these problems. Action is what we need and it is real simple to me:

1) It is all about the events. We need people to continue to create and plan events. The reason many of us started doing EBUFU's in the first place was because people, who had little or no interest in doing it right were running events and we had no control over that. The 150ths have reinforced this sentiment, at least in my mind.

2) We need to attend and promote EBUFU events.

3) Personalities, egos, turf, command, etc. will NEVER change, but as on sports teams, these divisions appear to "go away" if the team is winning. The gist I get here and talking to people around the hobby is that we have been drawn away from our focus because of the 150ths, so we are not "winning". How do we win? See #1 and #2.

4) We need to do all of this here at the AC. This is OUR site. If we allow ourselves to become scattered to the Facebook winds, we lose the primary tool we have for spreading the word to the masses. I'm not saying this because I now manage the AC. I am saying this because I believe it to be true.

Lead by action. Not by words. THAT is the solution. And Tyler, in my opinion, you are one of those people. We still have a very good core of those people, but some are getting older, having families, slowing down in the hobby or just getting out. So, the prevailing wisdom is that we will have fewer people organizing and participating after the conclusion of the 150ths. Whether that is true or not, it doesn't matter. We can't wait for the 150ths to end. NOW is the time.

Let's walk into the woods. Let's go.