Any branch with a seneschal and an exchequer can host KWHSS. While it is a best practice to work with your kingdom Principal Herald, no other kingdom officer needs to be involved with the planning and execution of a KWHSS. Laurel Sovereign requests bids for the next year’s KWHSS and vKWHSS at the beginning of the calendar year. For example, a call for bids for the 2025 KWHSS and vKWHSS will go out in January 2024. A complete bid should be sent to Laurel Sovereign and your Kingdom Principal Herald who will post the bid as a letter for commentary in OSCAR. Laurel will announce the successful bid at that summer’s KWHSS. This gives the event staff a year to finalize the plans outlined in the bid or make any necessary changes and allows attendees a year to make plans to attend.
For more information you can reach out to your kingdom Principal Herald. If you would like assistance preparing a bid for Known World or Virtual Known World, please contact Clarion, the Society Heraldic Education deputy at education@heraldry.sca.org. They can advise you and put you in touch with people to answer your questions like former event stewards, previous heraldic deputies, and others.
Steps for Preparing a KWHSS Bid
Click here to see a list of steps you can follow to begin researching and presenting your bid
Considerations When Bidding for KWHSS
Here are some things to think about when preparing your bid. Be candid with yourself and others when you have the discussions.
Have you ever *been* to a KWHSS? If you haven’t, you need to go to at least one before you bid.
A good bid can be done in as little as a few weeks, but you want to give yourself as much time as possible to be prepared. Don’t procrastinate.
Laurel will call for bids for the next year in January or February of the current year and will give the deadline for bids to be placed in OSCAR to begin the commentary period. Laurel will usually tell the chosen event steward their site has been selected just before KWHSS but this information is confidential until Laurel announces it at the event.
When considering what to include in a bid, speak to past event stewards. The KWHSS history page contains the names of past event stewards. One of the most important questions you can ask is how they funded their event. Group funds cannot be used to buy certain items or services.
Take your hosting group’s internal dynamic and financial health into serious account. If you can’t stand to work with each other on even the smallest project, a Known World event is the wrong time to try to correct this. If the group does not have the funds to cover the site deposits, it may be that the group needs to see to their financial fluidity before bidding. Keep in mind, hosting groups do have the potential to make profit from the event but up-front costs must be handled appropriately.
Generally speaking, KWHSS often takes place in a hotel. However, due to the rise in costs in recent years, think creatively and consider modern institutions of higher learning, or large community centers. The important thing is easy transition between sleeping accommodations and the learning and community spaces, as well as proximity to transportation like airports and train stations. Bids with a primary camping element will not receive the same kind of consideration other bids will, due to mobility and accessibility concerns. It is vital that sites have free Wi-Fi for attendees.
Geographic location is critical. If your kingdom has hosted a KWHSS in the last five years, your bid is less likely to be chosen. Think about the weather for your location during the time of year and be mindful of the potential for extremes. Is the city used to convention crowds or do they roll up the sidewalk at 4PM?
When scouting for a venue, consider that you will need space to conduct multiple classes and meetings at once with easy access between them when it’s time for class transitions. There should be a larger meeting room with tables, chairs, and access to a projector available for the Laurel roadshow on Sunday morning. During the weekend, the Sovereigns usually meet with the Principal Heralds, Submissions Heralds, and their replacement deputes. It is strongly encouraged that a hospitality suite or all-purpose space be provided where attendees can get drinking water at minimum. Also advisable is a “quiet room” where people can go to find a more peaceful environment without having to go all the way back to their sleeping quarters if they become overwhelmed. Other amenities like a pool, hot tub, fitness center or restaurant on site are nice but not necessary.
Is your event in a locale with a volatile political environment? While it is impossible to take every viewpoint into consideration, some attendees may not feel safe to travel there.
If you’re using a hotel, ask the conference manager if there are complimentary sleeping rooms if your event fills a certain number of sleeping rooms, or if you get any of the meeting rooms for free with a certain number of filled sleeping rooms. Ask if there are separate charges for anything. For example, pans of ice or coffee service for the hospitality room.
Are you offering food? Will the site allow you to bring in your own food or must you use their servers? Will you coordinate a meal at another location? Are there easily accessible food options around your site for those that choose to eat elsewhere? How will people get back and forth to the airport or train station? Is there a hotel shuttle or will people volunteer their personal vehicles?
How will you deliver proceedings? You’ll need someone to be responsible for receiving articles and organizing them for publishing whether that’s a webpage, a thumb drive, or something else. Keep in mind the up-front costs of these options and their durability.
How will you disseminate information about the event including changes? Remember that not everyone uses social media and it’s best to have a wide variety of places to list information.
What kind of commemorative items will you offer? These things need to be packable, cost-effective, and fun. Check the various marketing promotional item websites for ideas and ask other heralds what kind of items they’d like to see.
Is there any kind of special programming, like a speaker or a trip to a special collection you could make available at the event? Static displays are a great addition as they don’t require constant supervision. What attractions are adjacent that don’t have SCA significance but are nevertheless attractive, like theme parks, natural features, or museums and galleries? Perhaps the city has a rare book store or a garment district?
Merchants commonly want to be part of KWHSS. Does the site charge a merchant fee? Who pays it, the merchant or your group and will you recoup it from the merchants or not? How many tables and chairs will the site furnish them? How is local sales tax handled? Do the merchants have to have an in-state peddler’s license? Have a FAQ for merchants with any special instructions.
If you plan a revel at any point, make sure that it is well-publicized and keep in mind many folks choose to go out to dinner and return to site.
For the roadshow on Sunday, you might offer some light breakfast refreshments and coffee per any agreements with your site.
When you’ve considered all this and written your bid, take it back to the hosting group and answer any questions. Have some folks who have been to several KWHSS look over your bid before you submit it. Send it to your Principal Herald for suggestions. Once everyone feels satisfied with the bid, send the final draft to your Principal Herald to have it posted in OSCAR. Be sure to copy your hosting group’s seneschal. You might consider copying the Herald’s Ombudsman, listed with the Board of Directors on SCA.org. Keep an eye on any questions in OSCAR and respond if you have commenting privileges. If you don’t, your Principal Herald may grant you privileges, or they may ask you and answer on your behalf.
Laurel will let you and your Principal Herald know whether your bid has been selected.
What Now?
If your bid is chosen, plan to meet with your staff sooner rather than later. Review the list of deadlines for things like deposits and when people will need to secure their sleeping arrangements. Decide on the timetable of sending out information.
You may not need certain staff, or you may choose to put certain roles together. Some of these are subject to Inter-kingdom Anthropology. Here is a list of potential staff to get you started. This list is not exhaustive nor are any of these roles except Event Steward required.
Event Steward – the person ultimately in charge of the event. The first person on site and the last person to leave. They should ultimately plan not to attend many classes and be as available as possible. This will be the person who knows who to contact with the modern site staff for any issues. When the event is over they’ll need to send the needed information for the historical data page (link) to (whomever) and Clarion (education@heraldry.sca.org).
Deputy Event Steward – the person in charge if the Event Steward is unavailable.
Information Coordinator – the person responsible for updating web pages, social media, and sending flyers to kingdom newsletters.
Class Coordinator – It is a best practice to split this between Scribal and Heraldic. This person should actively recruit instructors. Keep in mind that this is the time to bring knowledge to the heralds and scribes of the host kingdom. Talk to your kingdom’s heraldic and scribal education deputies to get a feel for what kind of classes you should focus on finding. Maybe the scribes want lots of hands-on classes while the heralds are more interested in Extra-European names research or finding a way to do a tournament heraldry practicum.
Reservationist – the person responsible for event attendance reservations before the event and for the smooth operation of the gate during the event.
Merchant Coordinator – the person responsible for liaising with the site for the merchants.
Proceedings Editor – the person responsible for collecting and briefly reviewing the articles presented for the proceedings then disseminating them according to the event bid and the Event Steward’s vision.
Hospitality Room Coordinator – the person responsible for keeping the hospitality room neat and stocked.
Static Display Coordinator – the point of contact for any static displays. They’ll need to know how much space is available and have someone to keep an eye out for potential issues with the displays.
Motor Pool/Transportation Coordinator – the person responsible for getting people to and from the airport or train station. This may be as simple as keeping abreast of the shuttle timetables or it might mean coordinating rides for people.
The last six or eight weeks leading up to the event are when the most activity happens. Once the event starts, your job is almost done. Keep everyone informed of changes as quickly as possible.
After the event, make sure that every expense is taken care of promptly, file data with those that need it, and take a well-deserved break! The next year’s Event Steward will reach out to you if they have any questions.