Facebook is a great social media site for a lot of reasons, and it also has its own failings. This, however, is a post about how it accidently was a catalyst for a big project that has the potential to improve the lives and SCA experience of a whole Kingdom.
Facebook recently reminded me of a post that I made on September 16, 2018 about wanting to know what my next class I teach should be. One of the comments on that was from Baroness Kelda about us co-teaching a class. I sent her a message and we cooked up a class for Fall Academy from “Two Helium Handed Baronesses”.
The class went really well, and ideas started to roll for us to expand to a full track of classes about service in the SCA. This was actually done at College of Three Ravens on February 23, 2019 with Kelda, myself, and Baroness Ekaterina being the main instigators. The response from this was astounding and left all three of us – and many of the other teachers and roundtable participants – shocked. This was something that people really saw value in, and that was when the work really kicked off. We started to assemble a team of people and AE Leads was created.
AELeads is an effort to create an informed, engaged, and positive volunteer experience and community within the Kingdom of AEthelmearc. Our tag line is “developing community, confidence, and leadership.” This endeavor is powered by the belief we can integrate volunteer management tools and leadership best practices into our Kingdom culture to provide each of us – because everyone in our organization is a volunteer – with the tools and practices we need to ensure our Kingdom is welcoming, inclusive, and well-run – plus, a fun place to be.
It is now just past a year from that first Facebook post asking for class ideas and we have grown. We are looking at ways to make things more accessible for members of the SCA, to provide office specific training and mentoring, as well as general leadership and management skills. We still have a ways to go, and we invite you to help us.