Krampus

Exactly. For ASMs, don't stay in your swim lane. Help whenever and wherever you can.

National Aquarium too.

Thought of somethings covered above under a general category. I wish I had known about what's "required" for various outdoor program activities. Such as WRFA being required for certain activities. How to become an RSO/Instructor. Things like this matter for safety and insurance.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ THIS!!!!! I would say that a good 40% of what I was told my first year was essentially myths and legend. For example, what constitutes the polar bear award. Don't laugh, but in my area (@@KenD500 and I are in the same council) it is two nights below 32F, ice forms in a cup left out, etc. The RUMOR was that it had to be FIVE nights. Went a year before I checked Google and found out the rumor was dead wrong. Google is the SM's best friend!!

Know the GTSS. Know the GTA. Know the age appropriate guidelines matrix. Read the SM guide. Read the Field Book. Be able to demonstrate the trail to First Class skills. Read up on the patrol method. Know the troop roles and what they do. Know the advancement path. Wear the uniform correctly and at the right times. Step in and volunteer at camp to cook, clean, set-up. Show them what a leader is. First one up, last one to bed. Follow the rules even when you don't want to. Set the example. This may mean there's a Scoutmaster You and Real You. Accept help. Delegate. Know when too much is too much. GET TRAINED....take every course you can. You will always learn something. Have fun...when it stops being fun it is time to leave.

We don't. The Scribe collect forms, take attendance, keep patrol records, etc. But that doesn't mean it is not a good idea. We just have too much going on to add that to their duties.

Interesting. Seems BSA's ambivalence continues. They still talk like it is a national program in some areas of BSA, yet the website seems to infer that it is a council (local) effort.

Our PLs and SPLs are usually close friends. They tend to work out who will run and when. For example, my current SPL is good friends with two of his ASPLs who aspire to the top slot. Rather than run for a second term, the current SPL will ask to become an ASPL (or will be appointed JASM) so as to assist his friend. This is not always the case but happens more often than not. Usually the strongest leaders are elected. Have had a few guys (not many) who were popular, but miserable leaders (despite frequent training, guidance and counseling). We had one SPL who the PLC nearly voted to impeach.

I like the PL Ceremony thing. What do you do @@KenD500 and @@Sentinel947?

We do use ceremonies. We do them at COH's mostly but also at flag retirement and our troop-based OA tap out ceremony. We have our own ceremony team that does those. We also do crossovers for Cub Scouts.

So three and six wheel carts are clearly okay...

Yes, of course. However, make sure that the Instructors, Guides and PLs know how to teach the PL Scribes how to do all of that. Nothing like getting lost paperwork and having get a kid to remember what happened. Depends on your unit. In our unit it works like this: - Camp out forms (not collected online) go to scribe who gives to event coordinator. - Checks and money (not collected online) go to scribe who gives them to treasurer. - Membership forms go from scribe to membership coordinator. - Blue cards are the responsibility of the scout. They must arrive early to give/get blue cards from the MB coordinator. Great feature. We use that on MyTroop and makes it SOOOO easy to register and pay for things like camp outs, hoodies, etc. Even have an online Troop Store. We don't have "late payments". You pay on time or you are dropped from the event. Once people learn that they need to pay on time they start doing it. We simply credit their scout account. Account updates are given monthly. If someone truly wants a direct (check) reimbursement they fill out the form, otherwise default is account credit. Seems to work find for us.

It took a great deal of time and training at the adult level. The Scouts picked it up right away. Depending on the channel the scouts do some and the adults do some communicating. The scouts tend to use email and text between each other. The adults mostly email. We are lucky in that most check frequently. The website is used by all. The FB page is maintained mostly by the Historian (scout). The website is done by a combination of adults and scouts. Not really. The website is the main source (announcements, calendar). Twitter only for camp outs to announce arrival and status. Blog is an FYI thing. Remind is a smaller admin group of leaders. So the use of the tool is situational. For example, adults know when we are on the road we use Waze and text/phones. It is kind of like knowing when to use a specific tool. We train the adults when they come in to the troop. Actually they can now. We have the site set up that they can download the full resolution picture online. If they sign up (free) we make everyone an admin and they can post/download the full res images.

Here's a video done by a local troop near me. Just goes to show what a unit can do when a scout takes an interest. One of their scouts did it in school using stock footage and unit footage. I laughed when I saw it because I know the father of the boy. Dad BIG TIME in to Game of Thrones so you get an idea of where the soundtrack came from. They played this and other videos at the annual Webelos round up and got some great comments.

I agree with the statements around getting an audit. Have that done BEFORE you take control. I would add another idea: Make a policy that ALL monies/paperwork are given directly to you. Scouters and other people do NOT handle any money or forms. It is a recipe for disaster. Set up a time that you will be at meetings to collect dues, paperwork, etc. Also let people know when they can expect reimbursements or refunds to their scout accounts if you have them. I don't take ANY paperwork. Applications go to membership. Money/checks go to treasurer. My job is to manage the boys not the back office operations.

We will have to talk via PM. We have done Orr and Pioneer to the west. The boys saw Kia Kima on Facebook and thought it might be fun. Trying to see if we can work a camp out there during a long weekend some time in the future to check it out. Looks nice!! We have been doing SFF since 2004 and even earlier where I live, which is right in the heart of national. It is a HUGE deal here. Local food banks rely on SFF for over 50% of their annual donations!!! With local stats showing donations to food banks down over the last 7 years, SFF is hugely important to our area. Our council mucked it up last year by going to paper bags and a one day "knock and collect" rather than the old method of week 1 distributing plastic bags, then week 2 knocking and collecting. This was done because of someone at council thinking that just because the city went to a "no plastic bag" policy that meant WE had to as well. Silly decision. Donations were down 60% from the year before. My unit had re-useable plastic bags (think shopping bags) made from recycled plastic done up ($1000 donation from a parent) which we distributed on week 1, then picked up week 2. We did not participate on the council dates because they conflicted with our camp out. For some reason council ALWAYS does SFF on the best camping weekend. Nevertheless, our unit DOUBLED our best annual haul for SFF with our method. Donations went to the CO's food bank (second largest in our area). We are doing the same thing this year!

Our units does this a lot. There are two ways to do this but the costs are significantly different. You can have the drivers rest (off road) while the scouts do something but the driver literally cannot drive at all. Must stay a mandatory amount of time off the road. You can arrange for what they call "push" drivers. These are the relief drivers stationed at various points along your route. You can have the bus stay with you at your destination or have them come back. Depending on the bus line your costs will vary. Check your bus company's rules about bringing certain items in the luggage hold such as propane. Some allow it, some don't. IRC I think the DOT frowns on it outright, as in not allowed. Also, check about whether or not your bus company allows you stay on board while refueling. If not, make sure you request that the refuel during reasonable hours during your travels. Nothing like waking up 60 Scouts at 2am and trying to keep track of them at a Travel America plaza.

Our council does contingents too. If interested contact your council or surrounding councils. Great way to meet kids near by.

@@blw2, wow, great question. We try to keep communications focused. I think if you communicate too often the messages get lost. It took our troop a while to settle in to the mode we are in now where things are more focused, but it (communications) does get away from us every once in a while. When it does it is usually a new leader going communications happy. Here's what we use: SOAR/MyTroop: This is our website. It allows us to post announcements, files, rosters calendars, etc. Folks can pay online, register, see rank status, med forms, etc. We strongly suggest parents and scouts sync their various mobile devices with the calendar to avoid missing things. This is very easy and a great way to automatically get stuff on everyone's calendar. (Who Uses: Scouts,Parents and Scouters) The site has a native feature allowing for weekly updates to be sent newsletter format and you can pick the day. This update automatically includes ANY changes to site content, calendars, etc. The site also has a native email list feature for patrol and other unit communications. So patrols can send to Goats@xxx.xxx and reach everyone in the Goat Patrol. VERY helpful. FaceBook: Basically our brochure online. We use it for recruiting and keeping extended family members up to date. Our troop historian has an anonymous account to post things online. Requires parent approval and the account is monitored by the parent of the Scout who is historian. (Who Uses: Scouts, Parents and Scouters) Twitter: Closed group for parents. Essentially used to keep parents informed arrival times and other fast-moving logistics. We also use email for the same purpose but this helps. (Who Uses: Parents and Scouters) Blogger: We use this to keep parents and family up to date on what is going on during camp outs. This is something we started 5 years ago as a way of posting the fun the boys are having. We post short blurbs about activities, some pictures, etc. Parents like this. (Who Uses: Parents and Scouters) Remind: This is a free text service that works a bit like a closed Twitter account. The SMs and PLC use this to send group text messages back and forth. E-Mail: This is linked to our group lists on SOAR/MyTroop. We try to keep these to a minimum. Shutterfly: For pictures archive. (Who Uses: Scouters) Google Forms: Used by Scouts to get the pulse of the troop on various activities.(Who Uses: Scouts and Scouters) Phones: When in doubt, pick up the phone. (Who Uses: Scouts and Scouters) One KEY thing we do is try to keep all communications short. I always remind the PLs, SPL and ASMs to communicate using bullet points, putting your most important bullet up front. Long paragraphs lose the reader. Short, complete bullet points are important, making sure that your point is clear, concise and communicates the information or action required. Lastly, *proof read*!! Don't post or hit send until you proof read!! I am sure I missed something but that's about it.

I am ashamed to say, but my patrol is the one that held the "black market boat races" which you could build a boat from various materials and enter a la pinewood derby. My ASPL and I organized it, took the bets and gave out the prizes. I made $50 during that week doing that. We must have had a few hundred scouts enter until we got shut down on the last day by the camp director. He didn't do anything because 3/4 of the guys participating that day were his staff.

Great area!! Kia Kima is on our five year must-see list.

Agree. Wait. Jambo is overwhelming. He will enjoy it more later.

Been to both (MoreRain SP 1977). I left the decision (twice) to my scout, he picked Disney both times.

Agree this is wrong. Downside is the new scouts never have that association with older scouts to learn from the "experts". They get a guide but in an "integrated" age patrol they'd have more than one person from which to learn. If you have a weak guide you are not teaching much. At least in a mixed age patrol has more than one "expert". I think Instructors should be teach skills and guides should be "mentors". You still miss that constant association that happens when the guide or instructors are not around. This is certainly better than #1 but not as good as #4. My issue is then with the ASM(s) and reminding them of their role. I would have the TG's aligned with the PLs or to act as new scout mentors. Instructors would teach the skills. The new scouts gain experience through daily work with the older scouts in their patrols. ASMs are invited by the PL to get a cup of ocoffee if they intervene inappropriately. In fact, in my unit if a Scout asks if an adult needs a cup of coffee that's code for "Thank you for your input but you are meddling again." This is what my troop does with the exception I noted above around guides and instructors.

For my council it is 9 days; a week at jambo and the rest travel/sightseeing. For my Disney comparison it was 7 days there plus 4 days travel (and sightseeing).