1. delegate or die :)

2. It's actually not that hard. Plan for every possibility and sit back looking good when stuff happens and you can smugly say "Oh yes, I planned for that". ;)

3. Everything you do ahead of deadline is one less thing on your plate at the last minute. The last minute is the time to take care of problems, not the time for the basic planning stuff.

4. Have fun! If you're not having fun, it's possible that your talents lie elsewhere and that's cool too.

I have autocrated several small and middle sized events like bardic gatherings and Shittimwoode's Sir Edwards tournament a couple of times, but the events I really like to work on are the big ones like regional championships (I did the first Northern Regional Five champions) and the summer kingdom events (I have co-autocratted July Coronation twice and designed the Roman ring road city concept for Shittimwoode.)

I am now the seneschal of Madrone, and my current dream is to see a fighting training event like Sport of Kings come together up here.

The best way to learn is to work closely with experienced people. So much of autocratting is remembering things no one would ever think to tell you and making judgement calls that just need to be based on many years experience in the SCA.

So don't ever try to work in isolation--seek out experience (non-SCA experience counts too) and learn. There is nothing as powerful as assembling an excited team of people with a lot to contribute, and then seeing what foments.

On the other hand, just because someone has a lot of rank and experience, don't let that intimidate you. Try to be as calm and polite as possible as you stick to your guns. In the end, if you are the autocrat, it is your vision, and your responsibility, and any team worth their salt will respect you the more for saying so.

From my experience, which is still very small, I found that everything leading up to the event was very stressful and I actually on the day prior to my first event, the Ithra, did not think I would choose to Autocrat again. But the day the event happened I was rewarded for all my hard work with so many compliments and so many pats on the back that I found out why it is worth it.

I think my first inclination would be to say the following...

1. Attend council for 1 year prior to being the actual Autocrat of an event. Listen and learn.
2. Join the Autocrat staff for another event prior to your event to see if you can pick up some learning lessons. Hands on is better than classes. In my opinion, you learn things that just don't get said in classes/or maybe it just they aren't as memorable.
3. Hand pick your supervising Autocrat and make sure that you understand if they will be proactivly helping you or if they will be expecting you to ask for help when you need it.
4. Pick the brains of your local Autocrats and your online Autocrats (if one is busy another will be more than happy to help you out).
5. I found out how very important it is to know who makes decisions in my branch and how that will effect the event and the Autocrat. It helps to know this before you start to ask people questions about your event.
6. As a dear friend and Autocrat recently said to me in a very suscinct way, make firm decisions don't be wishy washy and finally when someone confronts you or ask you a question you are not yet ready to give a firm answer too...never forget the handy way of politely telling someone what a great idea that is and that you will get back to them on it.

MIC for the Gathering, Acorn War 3 times. Event Steward for Acorn War once.

Acorn War had over 500 in attendance when I was the event steward(2002). This year I assisted and we had over 700. (2003)

Your greatest asset as an autocrat is your event staff. A well-managed, competent staff given the latitude to effectively do their individual jobs can pull off astonishing things in very short periods of time.

If you are lacking in either management experience or natural ability, I strongly recommend checking out one or more of the many books available on the subject or take a management class at your local community college or university.

Plan ahead and do as much in advance as you possibly can - it's one less thing to worry about that day. Always have a contingency plan but accept when things take a path of their own.

Make sure your volunteers feel appreciated and trusted - they are your life-blood. A well loved volunteer is a repeat volunteer!

Try to let yourself have fun!

Do your research. Make efficent use of your resources, especially human resources. Never turn away volunteers - try to find a way for everyone to help and fit in. Assemble a reliable staff and enable them to make decisions.

Close to the event you will hit the point where you can no longer control what happens. (People actually showing up introduce a lot of variables.) That's the time when you have to switch from pro-active to reactive mode. Things will never come off exactly as planned. Find a way to make that an okay thing.

Head-Autocrat for: Vulcanfeldt s 10th Anniversary, and Vulcanfeldt s Yule Feasts, 1989, 1990, 1991.

Head-Autocrat for: Wealdsmere s Yule Feasts, 1992, 1993, 1995, Octoberfest 1994, 1996. Riverfront Park, Spokane WA, demonstration s for Wealdsmere 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1996.

Head-Autocrat for: Ambergard s Yule Feast 1999, April Fool s Feast 2000, Harvest Celebration 2002, Oasis War 2003, Lion s Park Demonstration 2003.

Co- autocrat for Stinky Rose 2001, in Ambergard, co-autocrat Grant Co. Fair 2003 Demo.

Autocrating team member:
Alpine Pass War s 4-7, May Crown 1988, Crown Council 1992, Octoberfest 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997, Medieval Olympics 1993, 1994, July Coronation 1995, September Crowns 1991, 1994, 1997, May Crown 1994, Oasis War 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, Thirty Year Celebration 1996.

Before I fell over the balcony, I autocrated three events; A Guard War, a local demo with the Festival of Trees at the Tacoma Dome and A Lord Defenders/ Robin Hood Days (I will NEVER do a defender tourney as a public demo ever again.) I learned a lot on that one.

I was also part of the set up/clean up crew for every thing held at the Orting site (there were 5 of us that protected the site). So we would rotate autocrat jobs. I've been in charge of everything from biffies, parking and gate to Eric reservations. I've even been Co-autocrat several times as well as Merchant-crat once or twice . ;-p A lot of the early events had a co-autocrat that would also be in charge of merchants.

I've been the market manager for An Tir events of all sizes and sites. As well as Estrella and GWW.

Accept help when its offered. There are a lot of people around you that are willing to share their experience, just ask.

Delegate - Trust the people working with you - Visit with the people attending the event, they are the real magic in the air.

Plan well and delegate, delegate, delegate.

If something is going to happen, all the planning in the world will not prevent it! Go with the flow and all will be well.

Remember, an autocrat has delegated so that (s)he is not running around frantically on the day of the event.

"Spring Offensive" tri-branch war: 1992, 93. Oertha, West Kingdom Several demo's, co-autocratted several events in Oertha.

Will be autocratting "Octoberfest" in Wealdsmere 10/16/04 (what was I thinking?)

Definately delegate, but delegate wisely. Delegating to the wrong person might be worse than not delegating at all.

Set a calendar of when things need to be done, then move it all up by two weeks. Then stick to it!

Learn how to let go. Go with the flow. Once the event is under way, appreciate that you've done all you can, and the rest is up to the populous. You've set the wheels in motion, but you're no longer in the driver's seat.

Have fun! If you're not smiling, you're not having fun and then it's not worth it.

Appreciate and thank your volunteers. You are nothing without them.

Delegate, Delegate, Delegate.

It is ok not to have something planned every hour to entertain the guests. People like to visit

Breathe & get a massage the day before your event. It makes for a more zen like attitude about the whole business