X Marks Tents at Gatherings

[michael steinrok]

Geez you guys lighten up! The idea of the tent was two fold. A place to hang out and aplace to promote daily kilt wearing. Cost for tent space is cheap and usually covers admission for several people. Wasn't planning on selling stuff Just having a good time. My chieftain offered space, any way. The costs would be absorbed by myself or any other of the local California X'ers.

Take a major chill pill! Some of us like the idea, but we don't want to get in trouble either. Mostly we would promote the forum. A lot of the guys around here are very friendly and it would serve as a meeting place as well when attending games.

I didn't wish to stir up controversy.

[The Wizard of BC]

There is, and always will be, a prominant X Marks poster in my tent whenever I go to an event.
People can ask about it if they wish. I sometimes refer people with questions here to get the brutal truth.
No selling of X Marks stuff, just a referance to information if they want it.

Not once has an X Marks member mentioned the poster and introduced themselves. Heck, it's a small poster. But one day, one day, about 50 of you will find yourselves clustered around all at once, and what a party that will turn out to be.

[motorman4life]

Michael is right. I think the idea would be well received and no one is trying to steal business from anyone else... at least no more than goes on here already. It is not like that is even close to being out of control here and I just don't see it as an issue with our members.

It is worth considering that many of the guys wearing kilts at the various Highland Games and Clan festivals only wear their kilt once or twice a year. I was one of those guys for about 5 years. I had a $300 kilt from Geofrey Tailor that I honestly had never considered wearing out-and-about on a regular, everyday basis. That is until I started seeing Utilikilts being worn with some frequency. Once I ordered my UK, the jonesing began and only then did it dawn on me that I didn't need to "suffer" and that I had a perfectly good kilt in my closet! D'oh! That first kilted trip to Starbucks resulted in the birth of www.KiltDay.com... about 3 weeks before my first UK arrived!

As we all know, Xmarks is a great social group. There is a wealth of great information, resources and a wide array of supportive people who all pretty much agree kilts are not a fad, but a viable option for everyday male attire. Whether you are celebrating your Scotish heritage, your Celtic roots, your Northern European/American/Welsh/Irish/Aussie/Canadian/UK pride or just want to be comfortable!

Giving our members a central rally point at these events while offering an opportunity to meet others and share our ideas and maybe even intorduce a great "target audience" to the concept of wearing their kilt outside "the games" and inviting them to participate in this worthwhile forum, is something I would certainly be proud to be a part of.

Count me in!

[macwilkin]

Geez you guys lighten up! The idea of the tent was two fold. A place to hang out and aplace to promote daily kilt wearing. Cost for tent space is cheap and usually covers admission for several people. Wasn't planning on selling stuff Just having a good time. My chieftain offered space, any way. The costs would be absorbed by myself or any other of the local California X'ers.

Take a major chill pill! Some of us like the idea, but we don't want to get in trouble either. Mostly we would promote the forum. A lot of the guys around here are very friendly and it would serve as a meeting place as well when attending games.

I didn't wish to stir up controversy.

Devil's Advocate: someone who takes the worse side just for the sake of argument.

See also constructive criticism.

Michael, Mark, et al:

I'm sorry if I offended you (I can't speak for AA) with my thoughts on the idea. I can assure you that none were meant to be mean-spirited or malicious -- I just wanted to provide you (and others) with "food for thought" before you took on a project like this. And if you would have read my post carefully, I never said that 1). you were planning to sell anything, just that vendors/organisers might not understand your purpose, especially if you were on clan row and 2). The idea of using your clan's tent as a "base of operations" probably was a better one.

I've been going to games/festivals/reenactments for over a decade now, so I just wanted to throw in my "two bobs" on what I have learned, good and bad, as a spectator, participant and organiser -- clan coordinator for our local festival, to be exact.

I still maintain, that having a Xmarks tent (and I'm not referring to the Clan Cian tent here, before anyone gets offended) really doesn't promote wearing the kilt outside of the games, since you're at the games -- now, directing folks to Xmarksthescot.com with a poster/sign, t-shirt, and a conversation certainly will. But remember, many of these folks may not want to wear a kilt all the time -- for many at the games, the kilt is primarily about heritage (and wearing them to Scottish events) so you may or may not have a receptive audience. Instead, I would emphasise, as Mark mentioned, the camraderie of Xmarks. "If you Build it, they will come".

Again, these are just my thoughts/observations and suggestions -- please do not take them as anymore than that.

Todd

[auld argonian]

Speaking for AA....I suppose that the thing that sort of made me want to sound a cautionary note was, with all respect to Alan H, the mention of any promotion of any of the businesses that are prominent on the forum. Not that all of us aren't grateful to them for their support and sharing of their expertise (and when asked, I always mention as many of them as I can think of to someone who's interested in getting a kilt and suggest that the potential kilt-ee check out their websites) but that it is more of an advocacy group and not a public relations operation for any specific supplier. Todd also mentioned that there were other organizations that help do research for those seeking their connections to clans and tartans...just cautious about stepping on anybody's toes.

Certainly don't mean to sound like I'm discouraging you guys...just overly cautious, i guess

Best

AA

[mbhandy]

and be sure ta wear your XMark T-Shirts you will get lots of questions about the wearing of your walking bill-board.


MrBill

[Magnus Sporrano]

A tent like this would be good for, if nothing else, a place for Xmarks folks to gather and meet face to face. Additionally, as was mentioned earlier, it would be a good way to show that some of us are wearing the kilt regularly as a casual garment. This isn't so much evangelizing that new people wear the kilt, but perhaps that people who tend to only wear it to special events should consider wearing it on a more regular basis.

Instead of setting up a table, it would be nice to set it up as a "hospitality tent" with some folding chairs and bottled water.

[macwilkin]

A tent like this would be good for, if nothing else, a place for Xmarks folks to gather and meet face to face. Additionally, as was mentioned earlier, it would be a good way to show that some of us are wearing the kilt regularly as a casual garment. This isn't so much evangelizing that new people wear the kilt, but perhaps that people who tend to only wear it to special events should consider wearing it on a more regular basis.

Instead of setting up a table, it would be nice to set it up as a "hospitality tent" with some folding chairs and bottled water.

I think Magnus is on to something here: a "hospitality tent" for Xmarkers to hang out at. I know I usually have some extra bottles of water and whatnot at my clan tent at games for kinsmen and women who drop by, as well as an extra chair --same with members of our St. Andrew's Society who happen to drop by.

Cheers,

Todd

[GTRMAN]

2 options...

FIRST: Check with Graham! He's a FANTASTIC signmaker. He's made a vynil one for us as well as an outdoor sign in the shape of our crest. Not sure what his prices are as we did things on trade.

Second: http://onlinesigns.biz/

I just took a JPG file to Kinko's and they made my band's banner for about $100 and I got it back the next day..

[Jerry]

and be sure ta wear your XMark T-Shirts you will get lots of questions about the wearing of your walking bill-board.


MrBill

Have you sent them out yet?