You've been to science fiction or gaming conventions, yes? The SCA BoD is analogous to a convention's ConCom. The SCA is merely larger.

Don't let the discussion here bother you - in the day-to-day experience of most SCAdians, the BoD... isn't an issue. Our host here is a policy wonk (and I mean that in a good way). For someone like me, who just wants to go to events, do some arts and crafts, and maybe experiment with whacking people with rattan on rare occasion, the BoD comes close to "might as well not exist".