Asst. CM's &Presenting
James D Wellborn 325 795 2010 (WELLBOJ@MAIL.FIRN.EDU)
Wed, 17 Sep 1997 15:57:26 -0500
WOW, 2 Asst. CM's and not just on paper..... Your CM needs to make sure to
develop your experience and resource efficiently and effectively. Having
at one time been CM and Awards for a Pack of 100+, letme see what the top
of my head has (fewer hairs....)
The awards time was made easier by having all awards sorted by den
and type (the more difficult the achievement the later on it was delivered
with the rank awards being the last of the evening). The ONLY benefit of
my being both was knowing what was coming ahead of that night and printing
up an agenda for the order and who got what in that order.
One of your Asst. CM's could be the "point man" making sure the CM
is handed the right award with the right name in an appropriate (whatever
y'all determine) order. Laying it all out on a table, in order also
helped.
Noisy parents and siblings became a problem more when I had fewer
activities that involved them. When I did a sitting hearing activity and
follow it with a moving (standing up & down or bending to a silly story) or
an audiance participation story (as the ones in SPARKLERS) they had avenues
to vent their restlessness. Admittedly, as the Pack got gargantuan and the
meetings drew big crowds (B&G, Christmas desserts, graduation) crowd noice
was a challenge and as you mentioned, usually from non-Scout attendees.
When the Cubs are "Sign's Up" attending and it's the non Scouts disrupting,
the nonScouts seemed to feel they had licence to be discouteous for all but
their own child...(herumph, herumphhh) Maybe one of the Asst. CM wandering
in the back "mentioning" sign's up and the importance of being courteous
role models or something to that affect. As more Cubs were involved, the
more time for awards and the less time for activity (bummer)
I'm now CC and WDL getting ready to crossover in January. The new
CM was the CM long ago and has plans that sound great and very involving.
We'll have our first Pack Meeting of the season in about 2 weeks. We'll
meet at a school and use their sound system. The first one's always a
biggee and then soccer season kicks in and attendance fluctuates.
Maybe during the nonpresenting times if the Asst. CM (CA ?) wander the
edges and have part of the program (a story, a song, a something) and the
CM bounces activity times back and forth for their part(s) (kind of a
theater in the sur-round) it would help with the back rows audience area.
If the rest of the parents see that you two have managable jobs and are the
bad guys, you might find more Asst. CM's when the time comes.
Take advantage of the exposure and experience you have available. Most of
the time, when I was on the platform, I was only remotely aware of the
ripples in the audience unless it was a planned part of the program. You
Asst. CMs as wanderers may get a completely different perspective.
An asst. CM might set up a QUESTIONS AND MAYBE ANSWERS TABLE during the pre
and post times, but not during presentations, skits, etc. One suggestion I
found useful was to announce (if any of you are singing now QUIT IT ;-])
and point out 5x8 cards on a table by the stage area. Those having a
question or request but not the desire or time to stand in line could write
the request down and leave it in my question box (w/ name and phone #) and
I'd or the appropriate person would get back to them. Made that part
easier on everyone.
I entered as the CM with my Tiger Cub son, wore several hats and a few
nights ago assisted with 3 Board of Reviews wit the Troop he's/we's
crossing over to. I've done the SMF but the information I've gleened off
this list and assorted web sites have helped beyond imagination. I'm
looking so forward to a strong Cub finish and an already fine Boy Scout
start.
My thanks to all.
Jim Wellborn Gulf Ridge Council
wellboj@mail.firn.edu Crystal River, Florida
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