When/Where do you conduct Scoutmaster Conferences?

[Eagledad 2777]

>>I will be working through upcoming training to include some simple but basic instructions on phone etiquette. This will fit in with the ideas that we are working our phone trees more and the PLs will be expected to communicate more effectively with their patrol members.

[Buffalo Skipper 13]

Vicki,

Sorry, I wasn't really at odds with anything you were saying. I was only adding that there is a time and place for email, but it should not replace a phone call. And as many scouts are lacking phone etiquette skills, it is a topic which must be addressed at some point, but is really key to communication success.

 

Just my 2. No worries.

[Horizon 97]

I do SMCs constantly, and not just for rank advancement. I keep a bound notebook with me at all times, and make notes every time I have a real conversation with a boy. It makes a great reference for the roast part of the Eagle COH!

 

Troop meetings

Campouts (my favorite - I did 7 on the last campout, and we had three BORs as well)

Scouts can come to my home with their parents - this is usually if there is a time deadline for a COH or a Boy turning 18 however.

[Beavah 205]

Scouts should also be taught politeness (i.e. be helpful, kind & courteous) and respect my time and his fellow Scouts during troop meetings.

...

There are very specific situations in which e-mail is NOT appropriate and trying to schedule something with one or two other people is a spectacular example that I use regularly.

 

Yah, glad you folks don't work in my business, eh?!

 

For us, email is the more polite form of communication, because it allows the person to respond when they are able, rather than interrupting/intruding on what they are doing the way a phone call does. Phone calls are reserved for emergencies when yeh have to interrupt someone, or yeh schedule a phone call (via email) when yeh need to have a more back-and-forth conversation.

 

Schedulin' a meeting I almost never do professionally over the phone. Yeh do it with online schedulin' or polling software. My nephew who works in NYC does it by texting (works much better and is more courteous when on da subway).

 

Different strokes, I guess. But I think we have to be open to the fact that the world these lads are goin' to live in is goin' to be different than ours, and some of our old-fashioned norms of communication are goin' to go away (or already have!). Fact is, phoning all the time is already considered rude in some circles when yeh should have emailed or texted.

 

Me, I always liked doin' SM conferences outdoors. In-town, it's fun to do 'em at the ice cream shop or over a slice of pizza.

 

Beavah

 

[Vicki 11]

Point is, Beav, that it isn't a specific business where everyone is available during a period of time so that scheduling an appointment during that period of time is possible (as in, using polling software or a scheduler). I've lived in the world where an appointment magically shows up in your calendar because everyone can tell there isn't a conflict at that time. Scheduling a MB session isn't the same thing. Someday, perhaps, there will be some sort of universal scheduler, but it isn't today. Which means I've exchanged four or more e-mails to schedule a conference when one phone call (that the person on the other end could elect to let roll to voicemail, thus handling it when they have a moment) could have handled.

 

Not to mention that if the scout calls me the first time, I generally count that as the initial meeting. That way we're not all inconvenienced by having an unnecessary physical meeting.

 

But I guess the bottom line is that we can't expect people to live in each other's context. Everybody's is different. To the extent that we can help scouts learn to be flexible in their approach, we win. That's part of what Communications tries to teach.

 

Vicki(This message has been edited by Vicki)

[Beavah 205]

Yah, I think things sorta changed when cell phones became rampant. Before, if you were near a phone you were either at home or you were at your desk at the office. In both cases, you were presumed available. Nowadays, our phones are always with us in meetings and at lunch and all that. Leads to different rules.

 

I had a scouter at a roundtable recently show me some online meeting polling thingamajig his PLC uses. Person who organizes the meeting proposes several dates and times, all the other folks click when they're not available. Pretty cool. Free service with some funny name like doodle or frooble or somethin'.

 

I had a lad whose EBOR I sat for invite me to his COH with an e-invite that when I accepted automatically dropped itself in my calendar program. Hee hee. I think it's fun growin' old then you can be delighted with all this new stuff.

 

Beavah