Information Booth

[RookieScouter]

What items do you put at your information booth. Recently we participated in school orientation night and our table seemed a bit boring and had not many stop by or seemed interested. 

Items I had on table: Pack information sheet packet, mini boys life, pencils, wrist bands with our pack name on them, posters with pictures of past events, our pack banner, and a few items our scouts have made or earned throughout their activities this past year. 

I felt like our booth wasnt very interesting and didnt catch anyone's attention. In the next couple weeks we have been given the opportunity to setup a booth at a fall festival. We have limited space to do any activities. 

What would you suggest doing different or what should we add to our booth? I would love to do activities but feel like we wont have enough space as our space is limited.

[Jameson76]

Did you have any Cubs or Webelos there?  They can be doing some activity to draw in the interest

Rather than a poster maybe a video running on a laptop, motion trumps static display

[malraux]

We've found back to school nights to be awful for recruitment. Parents are busy trying to find everything and don't have time to grab stuff.

[mrkstvns]

12 hours ago, RookieScouter said:

What items do you put at your information booth. Recently we participated in school orientation night and our table seemed a bit boring and had not many stop by or seemed interested. 

Items I had on table: Pack information sheet packet, mini boys life, pencils, wrist bands with our pack name on them, posters with pictures of past events, our pack banner, and a few items our scouts have made or earned throughout their activities this past year. 

I felt like our booth wasnt very interesting and didnt catch anyone's attention. In the next couple weeks we have been given the opportunity to setup a booth at a fall festival. We have limited space to do any activities. 

What would you suggest doing different or what should we add to our booth? I would love to do activities but feel like we wont have enough space as our space is limited.

Sounds to me like you're on the right track...

Activities would, of course, be the best draw for kids, but if space limits what you can do, perhaps a good video loop showing kids really doing fun things might be the ticket.

A pack info sheet is a good idea, but I think having it be short and compact is good with lots of pictures and few words, but with pointers to a pack web site where more complete info can be found.  A URL for sure, a QR code might be nice for the folks who know how to use 'em on their smart phones.  Make sure some kind of pointer to your pack (like URL) is on all the hand-outs. 

Enthusiastic scouts at the booth can work wonders.

When my son was in cubs, the parent night was probably THE most important outreach effort. The pack was chartered by the PTO and while we had a couple kids who were home-schooled or in private schools, the vast bulk of the pack were students in the chartering school.

Good luck!

[RookieScouter]

20 minutes ago, mrkstvns said:

Sounds to me like you're on the right track...

Activities would, of course, be the best draw for kids, but if space limits what you can do, perhaps a good video loop showing kids really doing fun things might be the ticket.

A pack info sheet is a good idea, but I think having it be short and compact is good with lots of pictures and few words, but with pointers to a pack web site where more complete info can be found.  A URL for sure, a QR code might be nice for the folks who know how to use 'em on their smart phones.  Make sure some kind of pointer to your pack (like URL) is on all the hand-outs. 

Enthusiastic scouts at the booth can work wonders.

When my son was in cubs, the parent night was probably THE most important outreach effort. The pack was chartered by the PTO and while we had a couple kids who were home-schooled or in private schools, the vast bulk of the pack were students in the chartering school.

Good luck!

A website sounds like a great idea. However, we dont have a lot of funding and dont see how we can afford a subscription. My husband and I just took over leadership and still working through the bumps on getting things straightened back up. I'm also working with the schools. For years our pack wasn't involved. We have a scout night next month. I like the idea of a video showing all the things we do. I tend to take too many pictures at events. Lol.... When I put posters together it's hard to just choose a few pictures. 

[Eagledad]

Pinewood derbies, a few other things like soap carvings and crafts, and a computer display of pictures with scouts having fun. It worked for us. The display gets the kids attention and pull the parents over to the booth. We would ask for the parents and scouts names, kids age and phone number. We would recruit the next weekend by calling them. We build the dens and set a first time den meeting where we explained the program in full detail and filled out membership forms. 

Success is dictated by the adults marketing abilities. Most parents don't leave the house with an agenda to fill out a BSA membership form and write a check. On the other hand, they aren't against the idea, they just need someone to hold their hand while guiding them through the process. So, have a process in mind to get, at the very least, their names and numbers. This is a busy confusing time for parents, so help them out with something simple.

Barry

[qwazse]

1 hour ago, Eagledad said:

... calling them. ...

In this technological age, calls might never be answered. Consider having a post-cards with your schedule that you all can sign or mail. Ask DLs if anyone is friends with the parents who put their name name down and they personally extend an invite. Consider doing all the phone-calling and inviting in one night.

If you don't have a tiger den yet, the CM should be prepared to have an informal meeting to meet the parents. They'll need guidance on organizing themselves.

[mrkstvns]

On 9/23/2019 at 8:17 AM, RookieScouter said:

...We have a scout night next month. I like the idea of a video showing all the things we do. I tend to take too many pictures at events. Lol.... When I put posters together it's hard to just choose a few pictures. 

Regardless of whether you're putting together a flier, a web site, a video, a pamphlet....whatever, remember the first commandment of effective graphic design:  LESS IS MORE

If it's hard to just choose a few pictures, ask your son to pick out the *ONE* most exciting picture.  Then pick ONE word (or at most a short phrase).  Now you've got your whole poster:...Your poster is the really cool picture of a kid rapelling down a cliff --- blown up to fill all the available space, and just the word "ADVENTURE" laid over the top of it, set in 300 point type, bolded, and made red.  Now stick a small QR code in the bottom corner (the code can jump to your landing page....but I'll save that discussion for another day).

Let the collage of photos and the 2,000 word text bore somebody else....not the new kid you want to attract.

[Beccachap]

On 9/23/2019 at 9:17 AM, RookieScouter said:

A website sounds like a great idea. However, we dont have a lot of funding and dont see how we can afford a subscription. My husband and I just took over leadership and still working through the bumps on getting things straightened back up. I'm also working with the schools. For years our pack wasn't involved. We have a scout night next month. I like the idea of a video showing all the things we do. I tend to take too many pictures at events. Lol.... When I put posters together it's hard to just choose a few pictures. 

https://www.scoutlander.com/PublicSite/home.aspx

That is a free hosting service and we use that in conjunction with a pair of Facebook pages - one public page for recruiting and a private page for members.