This is the Minimal Officer’s Manual for officers in baronies, shires, cantons and colleges in the SCA in Lochac. The requirements for Herald begin with the requirements for all officers, and continue here.
Basic Information
Name of office: Herald
Equivalent in the mundane world: master of ceremonies; maker of announcements; genealogist; artist; database maintainer; geek
Required? In Baronies: yes. In other groups: sort of. Every group smaller than a barony must have at least one of: Marshal, A&S Officer, Herald.
Quarterly reporting schedule: standard officer schedule using the provided template.
Kingdom Superior: Crux Australis Principal Herald, herald@lochac.sca.org
Officer website: herald.lochac.sca.org
Facebook group: Lochac Heraldry Chat
Usual group email alias: herald@group.lochac.sca.org
When you take on the office
Sign up for the Blazons mailing list. Subscribe to the email list here. The list doesn’t see much traffic – maybe one post a fortnight, usually from Crux (the boss herald). Being on the list is still a requirement of the office, though. Sign up with your office email address (eg herald@group.lochac.sca.org) if it has been set up for you.
Fill out the roster. The roster itself is here, and the form you fill out to get onto it is here. Make sure you give your office email address if possible.
When required (usually at events)
Direct people to other heralds for help with registrations (“book heraldry”), announcements (“voice heraldry”) and running baronial courts (“court heraldry”). You’re not required to do these things yourself to be a minimal officer, but you are expected to keep a mental list (or write it down in your officer’s notebook) of heralds who can do them, and share their names when someone asks.
To quote Sorle McNicholl, current Crux Australis Principal Herald as at 2018:
I agree with the MOM Herald description … and I even use something similar when discussing the role. The office of herald … is a reporting office that can happily let enthusiastic non-officer types do the actual fun bit if the officer is happy to do the paperwork.