A typical Round Table night

[Dimemaker 10]

Our district in the process of reorganizing and revitalizing our Round Table.

(Ineffective Round Tables are a common thread I have been reading on here so sorry if I'm beating a dead horse) Since I'm not able to attend 20 different round tables in the area, I thought I would turn to you all and get an idea of a typical night in the life of a Round Table goes.

 

Schedule and timing wise from start to finish. What works, what does not.

 

Ill give our current iteration as an example (which I do not think is effective.)

 

We have had usually an pre-opening period where attendees can browse the different fliers set out on tables, then everyone is called in for opening ceremonies. We go in have a flag ceremony and then have a number of different announcements, which seem to go on for about 45 min.

From there we break out into different training sessions or other break outs and other event. Honestly there has not been much of a regular program to speak.

 

Ive read a lot on content, I'm looking more for what works on RT schedules and organization.

 

Thank you in advance

[dg98adams 18]

I have been a RT regular since I was CM, and now an ASM. This year I became a UC for 2 Troops and 1 pack, so I collect stuff the units I represent don't get to.

 

I know it's a pain, and not all CM/SM use it, but if I was RT chair, I would use email and the council newsletter/website more to advertise what will be covered at the RT to include special trainings, guest speakers, special topics, etc...

 

Phone calls I have found are not effective to advertise an event, as no one seems to be home on my schedule.

 

I did see a suggestion a while back that RT commissioners should poll attendees to create a plan for the year and broadcast that so attendees could come to the meetings that means the most to them.

 

 

(This message has been edited by dg98adams)(This message has been edited by dg98adams)

[AvidSM 11]

I run our Boy Scout Roundtable like this:

 

First part - Announcements - Don't drag this on. Have flyers and refer to a web page if possible, for each event that is being announced. Have a good idea how many people need to make announcements and limit them if possible. Let the announcer know they do not have a lot of time. (One suggestion is to have a glass of ice water and the announcer has to put his hand in it while making the annnouncement.) Plan on 10 to 15 minutes tops.

 

Second part - Presentation - This has to be prepared ahead of time by someone knowledgeble on the subject. It could be a timely topic or about some new policy that just came out. Plan on 20 to 30 minutes for this. Presentations that I have given in the past: How to Recharter on time, Cold Weather Camping, How to fill out the Quality Unit Award Form, Troop Leader Training, High Adventure Bases.

 

Third part - group discussion - Pick a popular topic ahead of time and moderate the discussion amongst the leaders in the room. Sit in a circle of chairs so that no one is in front - a true roundtable format! Topics that we have discussed in the past: Retention of Scouts, Good camping sites that you have used, Summer Camps that your troop goes to. A lot of what we talk about is very similar to the topics on this forum and the opinions of the leaders are as varied as well.

 

Out of all these three parts, the leaders like the discussion the best and having it really improves attendance. The leaders who "know it all" love passing on what they know to the newer leaders, who attend to get this knowledge. Moderate this discussion so it does not get out of hand and do not let it turn into a Council bashing session!

[infoscouter 11]

I am CS RT Commissioner - here is the schedule:

6:30-7:00 Preopening - attendees visit the various tables set up by the district operating committees, and pick up info, flyers etc.

7:00-7:05 Opening - this is a joint session attended by all program sections

7:05-7:20 (best case - often slips to 7:30) General session - *short* announcements, WB beadings, info from District Commissioner or DE

We spilt into Cub Scout, Boy Scout and Venturing sections. I chase all stragglers out of the room. (As the largest group, we keep the big room)

7:20-8:00 General Cub Scout section, following the Cub RT guide with additional info on Cub events, training, etc.

8:00-8:30 Cub Scout breakout sessions (per Cub RT guide)

8:30-9:00 Fellowship and clean-up

9:00 - Out of the building per our agreement w/ the church

[infoscouter 11]

Ooops - forgot. A week before RT an e-mail goes out from the DE to all units w/ a preview of RT content

[Knot Head 10]

My $.02... no songs and cheers.

 

Our RT will waste a good 10-15 minutes on songs and cheers.

 

Avoid announcements that drag on. Send out an email with dates and announcements.

 

RT should be a time to exchange ideas with adults about the topic mentioned above such as where to camp, retention, campouts that went well and why; bad campouts and why. Fundraising, advertising, how do you encourage boy led. etc.

[Crew21_Adv 25]

Dimemaker,

 

Greetings!

 

You've received excellent advise already.

 

I would add. Have a written plan/schedule (I know already been stated).

 

We moved Chapter meetings to the same night. Although a different program. The SM/ASM staff can attend RT and a few of the Arrowmen can attend Chapter Meeting (the attendance population increases by this mutual meeting night/transportation).

 

Keep general announcements for Cubs, Boys, Venturing down to 10 minutes. Announcements are a valuable way to spread the word. Don't eliminate them, just shorten the announcements. Scouters making announcements should be given a strict time limit (Seconds, not minutes).

 

Move into a skill development in each program about 15-20 minutes into the hour. Take a look at the Boy's Life for the next month, does it apply to the next months program theme and can a troop apply some of the tools in Boy's Life? The skill should have a "take away" or hands on experience; as well as specifically apply to theme of the month.

 

The term Roundtable means that we all can add. Although a district may have Roundtable Commissioners and Roundtable Staff, all members of the district may be able to demonstrate a skill or illustrate their unique program to their fellow Scouts. So enlist other Cubmasters, Scoutmasters, etc to conduct a demonstration throughout the year.

 

Good Luck and have fun!

 

Scouting Forever and Venture On!

Crew21 Adv

[SSScout 1615]

KiS MiF for all parts of the R/T.

Everyone starts out in one room for opening, general announcements and then CS go to one room, VS to another and (usually) BS stay in the big first room. CS "breakout" is run like a Pack Meeting,next months theme used as a start, cheers, den activities, beads awarded for "advancement" etc. Cub activities demonstrated, skits practiced. BS might have a camping demo (biscuit donuts in the parking lot), types of tents discussed, MBfeatured, a special speaker does a slide show about Philmont. VS talk, mostly about trip and adventure planningtrips.

Might have a joint meeting to discuss/demo Whitlin'/Totin'Chip, or Astronomy MB and BL.

 

DO NOT make it a lecture series....

[beardad 12]

I am just a lowly Webelos 2 den leader and I don't have much experience with RT, but I can share my experience on the last 2 RT's I attended. last month and this months.

 

The opening announcements dragged on for so long that I finally just left. both months. I wasn't the only one. Also it's manscout central. you wouldn't believe the preening and prancing around some of these guys do. It looks like some kind of foreign embassy dinner.(This message has been edited by beardad)

[GKlose 24]

I wouldn't exactly hold up our roundtables as exemplary, but I do like that when we have visitors, they are usually limited to 10 minutes or less. When I present sessions related to membership topics, I try to keep it very short and get to the questions as quickly as possible. I also try to change it up a little each time -- for example, this year's primer on Webelos-to-Scout transition was different than last year's.

 

However, some presenters just don't get the idea. Last week, a council camp promotion team came in to talk about council camps (to the same 20 people that go to every roundtable). One guy talked, but then the chairman would get up and "add just one more thought) several times. Then they switched to the guy for council cub camps, and same thing happened again. My eyes were spinning in my head after 45 minutes of it, and I had even walked in late.

 

Then we got the "if you have time, we have a short video for you to see." I've fallen into that trap before. My idea of a short video is two to three minutes. Their idea of a short video can sometimes be 15 minutes or more (after spending more than 45 minutes talking about the camps!). Luckily, last week's video wasn't so bad. Last year's was unwatchable.

 

Guy

[Twocubdad 665]

Instead of figuring out what everyone else is doing, maybe it's time to re-invent what Roundtable should be.

 

Ninety percent of the value of Roundtable is finding out what is going on in the district and council. Unfortunately, this means half the time of most roundtables are spent listening to someone crow about their pet project. An no one can simply announce an upcoming event. They have to come up with a unique and entertaining way to announce the same thing they announced for the past two months. This drags each announcement out an extra 5 minutes. While the information contained in the announcement is valuable, I resent spending an entire evening away from my family for 15 minutes worth of information.

 

This problem was solved in 1440 by Johannes Gutenburg and further refined in the early 1980's by Al Gore. The printed page and the Internet are technologies with which all RT commissioners should familiarize themselves.

 

For 10 years I could count on one hand the RTs I missed -- and almost all of those were due to other Scouting commitments. But I've not been back in more than a year. Why? They are a waste of time. Almost every roundtable I've ever been to took an hour-and-a-half to cover a good 15 minutes worth of material. And that doesn't count the 30-40 minute drive each way.

 

In four years of boy scout roundtables, I can only remember one program which I felt was valuable: an impromptu discussion of favorite and unique camping trips. That came about only as a last-minute fill-in program bacause the regular RTC got sick. And I CANNOT TOLERATE cub roundtables run like pack meetings. I do not need any additional rehersal time on the Grand Ol' Duke of York. If you have a truely new song, fine, teach it to the group -- but give me a copy of the words and music. I am an educated man. I can follow a page of written instructions for a craft. I do not need to sit and watch glue dry for a half hour to understand the process.

 

The RTs I've attended failed because the leaders treat them as a big leaders meeting for the whole district. It's a chance to conveniently do (convenient only for them) what they failed to do the rest of the month. How many RTs devolve into camporee committee meetings? Or membership committee meetings? Or popcorn?

 

ROUNDTABLES FAIL BECAUSE THE LEADERS FAIL TO UNDERSTAND THE PURPOSE OF RT IS SUPPLEMENTAL TRAINING.

 

Reinvent RT by looking at it as a series of training sessions. My opinion is that BSA training misses the mark by not having a formal, mid-level training structure between position-specific and Wood Badge. RT is supposed to fill that gap. My solution would be to develop two years worth of training modules. On the Boy Scout side, breaking down the the eight methods of scouting would make a great place to start. On the Cub side, you still need to divide the time between organizational topics (like advancement, fundraising, outings, etc.) and traditional Program Helps stuff (crafts, skits, songs, activities, etc.). But I still don't want to sit and watch glue dry.

 

Set this up on a two year cycle. After two years, you've graduated. Go take Wood Badge. Become a RT commissioner and teach. Or spend an extra night a month home with your family.

 

And for heaven's sake, move all the announcements and admin stuff off line. And by off line I really mean on line. Assign a couple RT commissioners to fulfilling that function with a Mac Daddy newsletter or web site. Shoot, I'd pay $100 a year to have a packet of all the stuff mailed to me. I spend more than than now driving to RT -- or I used to.

 

 

[JerseyScout 10]

AvidSM ~ Can you come run our roundtable? That sounds like EXACTLY what I would like to see at my own roundtable.

[John-in-KC 311]

TCD:

 

You may not need York again, but what about the new leader who hasn't been there, done it, and gotten 20 different Scouting T-shirts yet?

 

Roundtable also serves as a tool to impart Scoutings values, aims and methods to newer adult leaders... Not everyone has 10 years of experience in a Cub Pack. Not everyone has learned the basics of administering the advancement program in a Troop.

 

The model Pack meeting provides both the visual and the hand-on methods of learning for newer Scouters. Using the EDGE buzzword (BINGO!!) it's Explain and Demonstrate.

 

Folks, I'm going to throw out one other thing RT should be, and it's thanks to a good friend I believe this: It should be ONE STOP SHOPPING for the unit serving Scouter. He needs to talk with the DE? He's there. He wants to talk with his Commish? She's there. He needs a goood idea for an outing from the Camping Chair? He's there too.

 

Our District offers, over and above the standard curriculum, YP, TIS, MBC, and ELSP review 10 months out of 12 (we take July off, and August is traditionally a reunion night).

 

KISMIF, but something for everyone helps too

[Twocubdad 665]

You've got me backward, KC. I'm saying target those new leaders. Now by new, I mean those who have completed position-specific, not the "we-joined-Monday-and-I-came-to-Roundtable-Thursday" new leaders. Folks so new they don't know whether the ball is blown or stuffed are going to have a hard time making heads or tails out of any sort of supplemental training. For them, maybe their time would be best spent with a cup of tea and a one-on-one chat with some old coot who's only there to socialize anyway. Your other ideas fit in nicely, too.

 

The problem with the RTs I've attended is they don't target ANYONE. There's no program, they bounce all over the board and usually wind up being a subcommittee meeting for the next camporee or training course.

 

My earlier suggestion was to build two years of mid-level (beyond SM/ASM Position Specific) supplemental training programs around the eight methods of scouting. As an exercise, here are some quick ideas:

 

Boy Led

Conducting Troop JLT

Counseling Poor Performing Leaders

NYLT Overview

Getting the most from new NYLT grads

Patrol Method

Maintaining Patrol Method at Summer Camp

National Honor Patrol Award

Camp planning that supports the patrol method

Uniforms

Centennial Uniform Update

What's new from Supply Division

Adult Association

Recruiting New Leaders

Webelos Transition for Adults

Scout Parent -- what is it?

Advancement

Planning for First Year First Class

Eagle Project proposal guidance

Defining "Active"

Outdoor Program

Summer camp prep

Great local campsites

Organizing Troop HA trips (you could do three sessions on each base)

(And you could go on forever just doing outdoor skills)

Ideals

Defining Scout Spirit

Scoutmaster's Minute ideas

Personal Growth

Ideas for Troop service projects

Participating in BSA service initiatives

 

I spent about eight minutes on that. Maybe you don't like my outline, so come up with you own. Better yet, take time at RT to ask the people there what they want to hear.

 

As Gunny Sgt. Highway said, "You can beat, you can starve me, you can kill me. Just don't bore me."

[Mafaking 10]

 

I wish the roundtables were were more adult and business like.

 

Too much silly critter nonsense going on. Our meetings always have a mock opening for a Cubscout pack. The songs and skits are just a waste. If the takes-away meetings seems to be "keep it fun folks". If that's it we get it! In fact from what I have seen we need the scouts to take their positions more seriously. Not less.

 

The breakouts are too water down very little if any educational value. Seldom do we have guest speakers. None in the last two years have focused one youth leadership development. Its usually diversity awareness, LNT, public service, life long hobbies.... BLAND! Anyone can teach that stuff.

 

Help me understand boys. Its been 40 year since I was one and my memory is fading. Why does a 14 year SPL clueless about what needs to happen on a campout? He been in scout since a tiger cub, completed NYLT The campout is reviewed at the PLC, yet he reads a book and needs to be jolted from his trance to get his patrol leaders working.

 

Bring in some one who can explain that. I can teach the scouts how to pick up litter around a campsite.