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How to be a Better Local Herald |
| Updated: Jul 4, 2006 |
This article has some of my thoughts on how a group-level herald can provide better service. I wanted to teach this at the SCA Known World Heralds' and Scribes' Symposium in July 2005, but I didn't get to go. (sigh)
If you're currently the herald for a local group, thinking about possibly becoming one, or you know someone in either situation… read on.
In this article, I present some ideas on how a local herald can provide better service.
A better local herald:
- knows what their customers need (and exceeds their expectations)
- knows what resources are available
- knows what's going on
- acts with restraint
Customers and Their Needs
If you were a local herald, I would ask you this: Who are your customers and what do they need from you? Your customers are the people who benefit directly from your service. What they need is clear and correct information from you. Your main customers are the people in your local group, the people at your local event (when you're working as a herald there), and whoever reads your reports.
The people in your local group
They need your help with their submissions. Your customer brings their idea for a name, device, or badge to you. They want you to get their submissions passed on the first attempt. You need to know what all the higher-level heralds need from both of you. There are forms, documentation, and all that conflict checking… If you haven't done it already, go through the process with your own name and device. Then you'll have a better idea of what it's like for your customer.
Your basic job is to process the finished submission paperwork. You can do this better by [1] encouraging the customer to do the work they can handle and [2] finding others to help with things when you cannot, such as documenting the name elements or drawing device designs. When their submissions are registered, most customers will appreciate their personal heraldry more when they have an emotional investment in it from doing a portion of the work themselves.
When I was a local herald, to help make sure I sent the correct number of copies of the various forms in the submission packet, I made a submission checklist with exactly what I needed from the customer.
For name documentation and conflict checking, we've got it made nowadays with email groups specifically for SCA heraldry, articles on the Internet, and the list of books for which photocopies aren't required. Heralds can get their answers for their customers in hours instead of days.
For devices and badges, it's a better thing to be able to do at least some basic checking at your level, rather than mailing it off and leaving everything to the commenters. You should know the obvious showstoppers — that is, what's Offensive, what's Presumptuous, and what's not Compatible according to the Rules for Submission.
Your local people may not need your classes, but you could offer to teach them what you like about heraldry. Such a class could focus on art, science, or history. A class with an art theme could be just a display of heraldry (historical or SCA). Another class could show how to display one's heraldry by drawing, sewing, or painting. A class with a science theme could, and perhaps should, be on specific topics on blazonry.
The typical "basic heraldry" class usually covers visual concepts like tinctures, furs, and ordinaries, right? For additional heraldry classes, I suggest a tighter focus on something less common — or somehow relevant to the time or place. Some ideas for topics include plants, beasts of the hunt, birds in general, humanoid monsters, marks of cadency, and a survey of crosses. How about a class on vexillography during the week of Flag Day? I'm sure you can come up with even better ideas. A heraldry class with a theme on history could attempt to answer questions like these: Who were the heralds then? What did they do? How were they treated? Find out and, with a dash of enthusiasm and some visual aids, share it with your students.
The people at your group’s event
If your group has overnight events, some of your guests may appreciate your help with waking up in the morning there. Know how to do great wake-up calls using the proper volume for the space and telling the sleepy people what they need to know about breakfast (Is it being served? What's being served? Do they need to take feastgear? When does serving end?), the first things on the schedule (like meetings, classes, and armor inspections), and the weather forecast. You could also have a second round of calls about midway through breakfast for the people who slept through your first call.
There's already plenty of great information available elsewhere on site/duty heraldry, list heraldry, field heraldry, and court heraldry so I won't go into those here.
The people who receive and read your reports
Your kingdom herald needs basic information on the heraldic activity in your group so that she can make out her report to her superior. Getting it there on time is good, sure, but early is, you guessed it, better.
Your report should be complete, correct, and early. Same thing goes with court reports. At Court, take notes so that you know what's going on. Then you'll know for your next report which people in your group received kingdom-level awards. If you happen to have an excuse for not taking notes during Court, go find the herald who did run Court right after it closes and hope that [1] they kept the docket and [2] it's something you can read. Neither of these is a given. After you get home, if someone else doesn't already do it, you could share the news from the event on the Web.
About that monthly/quarterly report you do: your superior shouldn't necessarily be the only one who gets to read it, either. If someone in your group received awards or made something for heraldic display, share the local news with the populace at the next meeting and/or in your local newsletter! Your local chronicler (and historian) will doubtless be grateful.
Resources
Do you have everything you need to give your customers what they need? To write reports, you need to keep notes on what's going on. To process submissions, you need the latest forms and the knowledge of what to do with them. Good office supplies can help too.
You might also need people. Know who likes to help with those things that, well, you've "just never been good at." Whether it's public speaking, getting up early, doing artwork for a device, keeping papers organized, or going to the post office, it's your responsibility as the local officer to make sure the stuff gets done. This doesn't mean that you have to do it all yourself. Attract good helpers.
What’s Going On?
A good herald is seen as a walking information booth. Rather than rely on secondhand or thirdhand sources for information, be there! Within your means and interest, go thou unto where your fellow SCA folk do gather. Not just meetings and events, but practices, workshops, demos, and those after-meeting meetings that happen at taverns and restaurants. Unless you have a phonographic memory, take good notes. This will help you be a go-to person regarding happenings in your group.
Acting with Restraint
Being a better herald calls for knowing when to hold back — such as whispering and tempering your reactions when appropriate.
Heralds should have three voices: Performance, Normal, and Whisper. If you have no skill in whispering, please practice so that the quiet message you give is heard only by the people you intend to hear it. Likewise practice with one's performance voice for the field and large, open courts where everyone should be able to hear it.
Heralds, when on the job, should be neutral. We don't cheer for one fighter or another in a bout. When we must keep secrets, we do not give them away with our reactions or our words. "Restraint" can call to mind related concepts such as dignity, class, formality, and strength. These are adjectives that describe exceptional heralds. We heralds are the "masters" of ceremony on the field and in Court. We direct the show; we are not the main attraction.
Further Education
I hope you found my ideas interesting, if not useful. To go way beyond this modest article, read the herald's handbooks and other articles of your own kingdom and other kingdoms. Everything you can find. They have good information and may give you more ideas on how to do your job as a group herald even better.
To learn more about the importance of comportment and philosophy, I would recommend the words of Baron Taliesynne in the handbook for the heralds of Trimaris (which is no longer online?! - argh!)
For detailed instructions on file management, I would recommend the article "Running a Local Herald's Office" on the Web site for Artemisia.
For compassionate consultation, read you the advice given to the heralds of Æthelmearc (see the Links at the bottom of that page) and the East Kingdom.
And for tons of stuff you wouldn't think would be in a "beginner's guide" the Middle Kingdom's handbook is 194 pages of plentiful PDF pleasure.
Some of the things that get my attention:
- Excellent drawings of various headgear
- "Choosing a Culture" (generous notes on clothing, weapons, literature, politics, religion, and heroes from various cultures)
- Drawings of each barony's device
- An annotated bibliography and more articles on visual heraldry,
- The entire RfS and the entire CoA Administrative Handbook with Appendices
- … you get the idea!
SCA.ORG page with
Contact Information, Mailing Lists and the Inter-Kingdom Directory
This was rather useful in my research.
About the Author
Yves' first experience in heraldic service was as a volunteer field herald, circa A.S. xxj. He later served two terms as Red Raven Pursuivant for the Barony of the South Downs in Meridies and was a deputy of that office for a while before that. Yves does many other things besides heraldry, too.
Closing
So, there's some ideas from me on how to be a better local herald. I hope you enjoyed this article.
I'd love to know how things are different in your kingdom.
If you're interested, I have more articles on this site where you can learn more about what field heralds do, what list heralds do, what book heralds do, what court heralds do, and an heraldry article for children.
Your feedback is most welcome!
Original page posted: July 30, 2005. Links tested: September 2, 2007. Last tweaked:
September 2, 2007.
The address for this page is [ www.therotunda.net/heraldry/better-local.html
]
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