Krampus

I *think* that's what they (BSA) intend.

We used older Scout patrols for over a decade. We never saw this (rise in keeping older scouts engaged). We experienced elitism, lower attendance and basically segregation. Mixed patrols have solved this. Mixed patrols have solved this. Others may have had better luck than we did.

Very true. Despite it being un-godly hot in Texas during the summer, Sid Richardson does a GREAT water program and they are ALWAYS booked early. Constantine does a so-so program (with shoddy facilities) and they struggle.

"Gun nuts"? As opposed to the "Gun Restriction Nuts"?

What were the stats on guys using box cutters to kill pilots and drive planes into building?

Well, I can tell you that Experticity main business is to use the latest marketing crappola to connect brands with sales chains, through sales people to the end user. In other words, they work with, say REI, to train their sales people to be better educated to push certain products. Ever wonder if the REI associate REALLY has used every backpack? Or are they just pushing what the back office tells them to? There's your answer. Now, the question arises 1) Is Scouting working with them to connect scouts with brands that are needed to fulfill the scouting mission (e.g., get camelbacks and osprey packs in the hands of kids who may be buying Kmart stuff). Or 2) Is Scouting working with them to take a deep dive in to their own brand to see how to better equip Scouts? Coming from 20 years in consulting I'd have to agree, there's so much double-speak and marketing jargon I had to check to make sure my own company didn't write this release. I will say this, The quote below seemed to indicate that BSA was going to work with this company to give some of us access to brands, special deals, etc., that might help us direct kids/adults to purchase better gear. For example, maybe we get access to a discounts portal from Cabelas, Bass, Osprey, Kelty that tells us when things go on sale, what packs are best for Philmont, etc. We can then in turn recommend these to our units.

Not really clear how this will trickle down to the unit level. BSA to partner with Experticity. http://scoutingnewsroom.org/press-releases/boy-scouts-of-america-and-experticity-announce-innovative-new-partnership-to-benefit-scouts-young-and-old/

Check out this survey on Millennials. Any wonder the injury that helicopter parenting does to Scouts?

I was talking about having an REI store in the UK. You could always ship, but then you need to pay ~$50 for that which you could apply toward a better tent. However, I suspect since everything is more expensive in the UK that $50 in shipping may be worth it. Those are good, rugged tents. Our unit has used them for at least 15 years. Imagine surviving 10-12 camp outs a year, being used by boys who (at times) may not be the best at keeping gear proper. That's a good tent.

Too bad you can't get REI in the UK. They have some great, lightweight tents. Big Agnes, Marmot and Kelty are constantly at the top of gear reviews. Backpacking review here, Gearlab here.

@@Stosh, couldn't/shouldn't the UCs contact the units to find out why scouts/adults dropped too? First, you get both sides of the story, Second, in many cases the unit knew (or suspected) a scout may drop for various reasons. Might help complete the picture from both sides.

We don't have any ducks. How much are they? Do they have to be BSA ducks?

Guys, you can have 10 churches on a city block. Yes, the all serve Christian church goers BUT they cannot serve ALL church goers. Two carry your analogy to a more proper place, the Cabelas/Bass merger would be like have 4 Catholic churches on the same block. Eventually the Bishop will close a few if there are not enough parishioners to keep them going. Unless Cabelas or Bass decide to specialize (Bass in fishing, Cabelas in hunting/outdoors) you will eventually cannibalize the other. Brand loyalty will be another big player in this game.

@@00Eagle, yup that was the other glaring example. Great syllabus, lousy supporting materials. My favorite is the direction "Now have a detailed discussion about the key features of good leadership". No content. Nada. I use that slide with my PLC to show them what poor preparation looks like. If THAT'S what BSA wanted to accomplish, well done. But I suspect they meant for something else to happen.

Didn't realize their sales were off. Their stores are always PACKED when I go. Bass less so. By us more Cabelas are 5 miles from a Bass, a merger there would mean store closures.

This is the problem BSA has. They are not very good at giving examples. Most of the training templates show how a training program should be organized, but the meaty content that would provide examples simply says "insert good example here". They tend to create obfuscation out of clarity much of the time. Their "rebranding" of myscouting is a perfect example. It could have simply cut from one tool to the other. Instead they monkey about and confuse people; not to mention the system does not work right....if it ever did. Look at their annual meetings when they evaluation their mission, objectives and achievements. Read that and it is clear that BSA mgmt is totally out of touch with what the average Cubmaster, SM or committee chair needs to effectively run a successful unit.

Here's the program I was talking about. Other stores may have a similar thing.

Heck, I'd have draw the line south of Shreveport.

Logged in to myscouting to try to fix a problem for our events person who is also a Key 3 designee. They could not see certain things in myscouting that they could see only a few months ago. Same with tour plan submissions. Before I begin let me say that council has NOT made any changes to our 2016 roster yet, so this is all based on the settings in myscouting and the roster we had on record during 2015. In short, nothing has changed on our end nor in the data on the system, so any problems must be in the system itself. All of this was working back in October!!! All assignments that were made during 2015 were deleted. Training chair, Key 3 delegate, etc., were all wiped out. Tried to go in and re-assign them for 2016. You can set a start date in 2016 but all dates past 12/31/2015 do not show up. End result is you cannot assign anyone to a role. This is a bid deal because it governs other things they cannot do. Because you cannot assign anyone beyond the Key 3, only those three people have access to make changes to training, tour plans, etc. Training profiles are not connected to myscouting records for a large number of people. For example, the TC chair has myscouting access, but the training records he can see in the training window are not credited to his myscouting profile for the unit. Further, he's not listed in the training profile as being part of the Key 3 so there is no mandatory training listed. YPT dates are off. People who have proof their myscouting profile show they have a valid YPT certificate show up in the training tool as having an expired YPT. There does not appear to be an obvious "contact" on the myscouting site to report any of these issues to. I note this simply in case anyone else has folks reporting issues with myscouting. It's WAY off. Not likely to give BSA my unit data if they can't keep this simply system up to date and error free!!

Recruiting tells you how many scouts you are getting and losing. It does not measure the quality of the program or health of the unit. I have seen HUGE troops that were toxic places. They churned out Eagles, but the program did not resemble at any level what BSA says they want. It was adult-driven and broke just about every rule of the patrol method and boy-led. The district loved them because their numbers were always impressive (service projects. camp outs, camporee, etc). But their kids were worthless as leaders.

Become a referee. That will change your behavior in 90 minutes.

Makes me wonder what the unit leads are doing. My unit went to camp. Some young scouts tried to see how many paddles for the canoes would float (plastic ones that sank if you dunked them too much) if they continued to push them under water. Lost 8 paddles so we had to pay. We met with the parents when we got back and told them their scout would have to pay for the lost paddles. Only 1 parent complained. When I asked them if we could borrow THEIR canoe on the next camp out they realized they were being silly. All the boys paid back the camp and put in 10 volunteer hours in addition. Crime meets punishment, er, learning opportunity. I can't help but think if more parents held their kids accountable and let the program work, UCs/DCsDEs would have more time to do the work they should be doing. Preaching to the choir, I know.

JTE is an interesting concept. It appears to be quantitative in their measurement (e.g. Have an SM and TC of three members), but the measurements seem to measure the existence of things, not how well they are functioning. Seems to me it would be better to measure the quality of how things are done. BSA is simply measuring the wrong things. Take the volunteer leadership section which has two parts. The first confirms the existence of the SM and TC. To get from Bronze to Gold you simply need to hold 2-3 COHs to review the "troop plan" with parents. This measurement does nothing to address the quality of how that's done. Even the section on "Program" simply measures how many times camping, summer camp and service projects are done. Again the quality with which these programs are done is missing. If UC's could proactively and consistently aid units in such measurements, AND help with how to FIX any short comings during the program planning phases, THAT would be a huge help to units. As it is now (at least in my district) the district program plan is completed in Aug/Sept...2-3 months AFTER nearly all units are done with their planning. How can the two possibly hope to benefit each other?

Well at least this guy's DC knows why he never volunteered for any committees.

Units use Kroger cards (shop Kroger, use your card, % goes to troop). I would see this as similar.