What I mean when I say 'wanting a ren faire experience' is not intended as a slight. Renaissance faires, by their definition, are money making ventures that invite the public to come and observe profession actors who are giving a scripted interactive experience to a paying public. The public, while invited to interact with the actors on a certain level, are there in an observatory capacity, much like if you decided you wanted to go see a play, musical, or comedy act. Renaissance faire actors have costuming professional putting together their ensembles. They have directors, stage hands, all the trappings of 'theatre'. As a general rule, renaissance faires focus on one particular time period, in one particular culture.
The SCA is a hobby group. We are not professional actors putting on a play. We make our own clothing, we recreate many different periods, and we don't stay 'in persona' throughout events (we talk about cars, computers, work, recruitment, movies, etc). Our atmosphere is not one of a show that the casual passerby would want to pay money to observe.
What we want to avoid is the busload of tourists coming to 'see the show'. We are hobbyists. Some of us are exceptionally good at what we do, but we are hobbyists. We do this for fun, and we do this as part of our leisure time. That is what makes us different from a ren faire.
Yes, we could gain newcomers from folks who happen upon us thinking it's a ren faire. Absolutely we could. And get fantastic members from that. But we don't want to advertise in a way that might be mistaken as a ren faire. It puts too much pressure on our populace to 'perform', and we are not performers.
Now, with regards to what you have said about casting our net wider, you are absolutely correct. We do need to cast a broader net so that regardless of outside interests, we are recruiting anyone who thinks putting a tunic on or swinging a stick might be fun. What I am saying is not that coffee shops/universities are the only place we should recruit, they were just the first 2 examples than came to mind when thinking about posters
This is where demos start playing a larger roll for our branches. Demos allow the public to see a variety of what the SCA has to offer. Practices in public places also allow for the public to see what we do, and can be treated like a 'mini demo' by encouraging member spectators to come in their medieval clothing and talk to those individuals who stop to watch in street clothes. Essentially? We will get more recruitment from people who 'see' than people who notice a poster. So - back to what you were saying about the random newbie who came out thinking it was a ren faire? Yup. You're absolutely right, and we need him just as much as we need the 'coffeeshop crowd'.
