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I can't get Scout units to confirm attendance to camporee


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I am president of the Lutheran Association of Scouters in the Sam Houston Area Council. We are planning a retreat/camporee for the last weekend in September. Our planning committee wants numbers of those planning to attend so we can plan number of patrols, number of people eating meals, etc. Except for one problem - I can't get the Units to confirm attendance and give numbers. I tried visiting with units at the Scout Fair, e-mails, fliers, phone calls, everything - with very poor results. Is this a problem in other councils? I feel I have the let the committee down by not getting units to confirm their attendance, but I also feel like it's not my fault that units aren't responding. Maybe they don't set their calendar until school starts? Maybe they are waiting on the high school football Friday night schedule? Maybe the boys voted to go to a different camporee in September. That's ok, but it would be nice if someone could let me know. It puts a lot of pressure on me that I am not getting any responses. In fact, I am kind of burned out from trying so many different avenues. Maybe I have angered units by sending them too much material. Anyway, I would sure like to turn this negative problem into a positive one. We have a lot to offer at our retreat and camporee and I'd like to see more units attend. If you have any advice on this problem, please let me know and thanks in advance.

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I am afraid all I can do is give you "misery loves company" You are not alone. In our Council/Disctrict its the week before and up to 2-3 days before an event that units actually sign up. The organizing Committees set up for the histrical numbers and go from that. Not much comfort I am sure.

 

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Hi eagle-8-74,

 

Our Council and District usually offer an "Early Bird Price" for advance reservations, and a jacked up "At the Gate Price".

 

Our troop will usually make a tentative commitment based on average attendance when there is money to be saved for the boys.

 

It is VERY tough getting a commitment from folks involved in programs outside of scouting in all age groups. The parents of soccer kids for instance, just don't know which Saturdays little Johnny will playing untio sometime in August.

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Have you looked at the Council calendar to see what conflicts there are? It could also be that the denominational label is excluding people. I know in my council, we have a Methodist Encampment and a Catholic Retreatoree. These tend to be attended, not by units, but by individuals of those faiths, and few others. Being a Lutheran myself, I am not interested in attending a "Catholic" event. Our SM is Catholic, and he and one or two others attend...as individuals. It is not a "Troop" outing. While certainly not intentional, it could be you are appealing to too limited an audience.

 

Another problem in society is getting people to RSVP for anything. They simply won't do it and see nothing wrong with dropping in and expecting the host to accomodate their rudeness...or if they do RSVP, see nothing wrong with accepting a better offer should one come along. I see this all the time with training courses.(This message has been edited by scoutldr)

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I believe this is a problem in our modern society in general. I don't know if we are ruder than we used to be or just busier. My experience in the last 20 years has been that no one RSVPs to written invitations anymore, people say they will come on the phone and then don't or they show up unannounced. Many times these party crashers want to come and go as they please and don't want to pay for the event. My son's patrol had been planning a weekend camping trip for a month and he had difficulty getting 3 out of the 6 boys to commit. It was finalized 2 days before the event, and only after he called them every night. One boy wanted to back out at the last minute because a friend invited him to a party. Thank heaven, his dad balked because they had already paid for this trip.

 

I think Silver Shark is right - next time offer an incentive to reserve early.

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I think part of the problem that the person/group that requires the RSVP does not stick to it's deadline date.

 

I am a firm believe in, if you state 'final date for RSVP is X/XX' than that's when it is. We've have had the last date to attend pass by a month and had a boy show up the night before a trip and say he wanted to go and they let him go because they don't want him to leave the troop. My reply is 'what are we teaching them if we continue to give into their not obeying the rules'. Maybe I'm just to strict.

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