Re: Roundtable Help!
James A. Sheckels (sheckej@EARTHLINK.NET)
Tue, 30 Jul 1996 07:51:26 -0700
Mike Kemp asks:
snip
>
>This year I am considering trying something new - rotating roundtable
>location among different Troops. This will vary the geographic location.
> Also, host Troop can choose day and time as long as it is scheduled
>during the third week of the month. I have spoken with a number of
>Scoutmasters at camp and they at least seem luke warm toward the idea.
>Anyone out there tried this before with any success? At the very least
>I'm hoping that the host Troop will have people there and someone may get
>interested and continue attending.
My experiense has been that this does not work very well. Tried it three
different approaches in two Districts- same results. Didn't work well. I
had hoped to get the Troops who were never at RT to be more active. They
either refused to come, or came, did an RT, grumbled and disappeared.
The Troops that were active did if asked, but rarely volunteered.
And NONE of them liked to be "tasked" or "assigned".
I believe this is because the Troop leaders commitment is to their Troop -
not running RTs. While none ever stated it, I got the impression they felt
we were trying to get them to "do our job at District".
So, we backed off that approach. And then invited Troop and Pack leaders to
make special presentations throughout the year at RTs. This worked very
well. The units appreciated that they did not have to run the whole show,
and they got to show off, using their leaders and Scouts. This way, their
participation was an exception, and they felt they could attend RT and relax
without getting "tasked" to do a part.
As to rotating the meeting place - our leaders prefer a central place that
is constant. This way noone is left out by not knowing where the next show
is. No matter how hard you try, you can't keep everyone 100% informed.
Those who are "left out", no matter what the reason, will give you all the
bad publicity you can handle. Then you have the constant "How do I get them
to come?" challenge. This works for us, but our District is large and
close, compacted I guess, not spread out. It may not work for you, just
some info to consider.
We gat a fair representation at RT. Maybe 40-60% of the units at any given
time. I don't think that is to bad given the makeup of our District. There
are always those who need nothing from the District. They are generally the
same ones who have no trained leaders, don't go to camporees, summer camp,
day camp, Scoutshows, Pinewood derby, etc, etc, etc. They also seem to have
the most trouble with advancement and membership. Then, of course, it's
because they never see anyone from District!
But wev'e gotta keep on plugging on. That's the commitment I made. Smile!
YIS, Jim Sheckels - I used to be a Bobwhite...SE 308-7 '82/sheckej@earthlink.net
CR & CC Troop 742, Hope Mills United Methodist Church, NC/Member of NAUMS
District Adv & Tng teams/910-426-2766/3501 Farm Circle Rd Fayetteville, NC
28306-8303
Scouting IS NOT an exact science, so use your brain - noone else is! <|:)
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City |
