Boy Scout Roundtables

[bt01 10]

I would like to know how to increase attendance at our district roundtables.

 

Our meeting location is in the middle of the district. The meeting is also on the same day of the month and is published . We also have a topics that the troops wanted.

 

[SemperParatus 1]

The only way to get folks to come is to make it worth their while.

 

I am sure most of the unit leaders know about your district's roundtable, where it is and when it is. In some cases, their are legitimate timing conflicts (e.g., troop meetings the same night) that make it impossible for some to attend. For the rest, the only way to get them to attend is to make it interesting and beneficial. You say, you have 'topics that the troops wanted' - I am not sure how you developed this list of topics. If it was based on a query of those already in attendance, then you are really not addressing folks that are not currently attending.

 

If you want to increase attendance you need to reach those that currently are not coming because they believe they have something better to do that night. To reach them, you need to create a sense that your roundtable is the 'place to be' on that night. You do this by effective communication well before each meeting (do you have a district e-mail list of leaders/units), an engaging program that will truly help unit leaders to improve their program (review your topics again and again - are they really meeting the unit needs), a fun (not corny) non-threatening atmosphere that will not turn-off the first timer, a hook to have them come back next month.

 

 

 

 

[bt01 10]

SemperParatus,

The survey that I speak of was first given to the Scouters that where at the roundtable. Then I mass produced them and gave them to the CC and the SM of the troop though the mail box that they have at the Scout Office.

Also our council has a program launch in the spring, gave to the CC and SM for the 2nd time. I started to speak to the CC and SM about the roundtable and they just said that they do not need roundtables.

 

 

BT

[SemperParatus 1]

You speak of troop, SM and CC in the singular form, but I assume your efforts have been directed at many nonparticipating units.

 

The question for you is how much effort do you want to go through in order to change the mindset of those who feel that roundtables are not necessary or worth their time. You could visit with each of these nonparticipating unit leaders to address what it is about roundtables that turns them off and pose the question to them, 'how would you design/change roundtable so that you would feel it is worth attending.' Now, that could be a lot of meetings and work in making the necessary adjustments, so it comes down to how much time and effort is your district willing to expend to increase attendance. Perhaps the meeting/data gathering can be performed by the Unit Commissioner staff to share the load.

 

If your roundtable attendance is less than half of the units in your district then I think you would want to look real hard at what your roundtable is offering and whether it is really meeting the needs of the units by helping them improve their program.

 

What is your attendance rate?

 

What topics are on the calendar for the next 6 months?

 

In what fashion will these topics be addressed? Will it be engaging or just a bunch of talk?

 

Have you eliminated the corny stuff - by boy scouts most leaders want info and new ideas, not fluff?

 

Do you have mandatory roundtable attendance by units for certain activities - recharter, Scouting for Food signups, Camporee signups, etc.? - perhaps focus on these nights in particular to put on a really superb RT and make them want to come back.

 

Have you tried personal invites to all the SM and CCs in your district (via e-mail, phone, mail)?

 

[FScouter 24]

Serve refreshments.

[bt01 10]

SemperParatus & FScouter, Thank you fore responding. Here are my comments to your questions.

 

BT

 

 

What is your attendance rate?

The attendance is better than year ago. I toke over the position in December 2003.

 

What topics are on the calendar for the past 6 months?

 

Dutch oven Cooking

Fall Camporee/Myths on Philmont

Food Drive/Leave no trace

The Order of the Arrow

Cold Weather Camping/Recharting(announcement)

 

In what fashion will these topics be addressed? Will it be engaging or just a bunch of talk?

 

For the first to hour there is general announcements that deal with the district and council. I limit the number of announcements and how long they are up. For the roundtable topic takes most of time.

 

Have you eliminated the corny stuff - by boy scouts most leaders want info and new ideas, not fluff?

 

Yes

 

Do you have mandatory roundtable attendance by units for certain activities - recharter, Scouting for Food signups, Camporee signups, etc.? - perhaps focus on these nights in particular to put on a really superb RT and make them want to come back.

 

Mandatory attendance??? The last two roundtables I sent out emails and flyers (that where put into the mail boxes at the scout office) about scouting for Food and the recharter packets are going to be at the roundtable. There was no major increase in attendance.

 

Have you tried personal invites to all the SM and CCs in your district (via e-mail, phone, mail)?

 

Yes

 

Serve refreshments??

Coffee, Tea, Cookies and fruit have been served.

[SMT99 10]

I think you're all putting too much thought into how to 'sell' your roundtable to your units.

It isn't about whether I have something better to do!

Or whether I might miss something Fun or Exciting!

...It's about 'ownership & responsiblity'.

 

If I'm going to these roundtables, and you have a couple of people standing up front, spouting information that we've all heard before a thousand times over; or giving their personal opinions on a topic; or telling us how the next camporee is going to run (which is also in handout form that I could read from home), then why SHOULD I come to Roundtable?

 

In my experience, Scouters are byfar the most responsible people I know! But you are not including us & making us 'part' of the District. And let's define that while we are at it. 'District' = Does NOT equal the DD, DE, & the D-Committee, not the D-Commish, D-Chair, and Roundtable Chair. The DISTRICT is ALL of the units in your District. When you INVOLVE all of those units in decision making, in planning for camporees & special events, then THEY become part 'owners' if you will. They become 'responsible' for it's performance, and for it's outcome. And people who OWN something take better care of it!

 

I go to Scout meetings because I feel I need to be there as SM. I go to committee meetings because I feel I need to be there, if the committee has questions for me.

 

So I'll come to Roundtable when you NEED me, not beacause you want me to LISTEN to you talk.

 

[SemperParatus 1]

Attendance is up...congratulations! I am sure that is because you are getting the word out and making it more meaningful. No doubt you are committed to improvements. Keep up the good work and contact/announcements and I am sure you will see further increases over time.

 

Dutch Over Cooking - I assume you are having a cook-off and better yet, taste-off!

 

Philmont Myths - an engaging photo presentation by some experienced campers!

 

OA - having a dance/ceremony team come in to perform!

[Eamonn 61]

btps,

I really do feel your pain.Nearly all of the Scoutmasters that serve in our District have been around for a very long time. Trying to enthuse them is hard work.

Somethings that have worked and are working for us are:

Inviting the SPL's to attend and plan the Camporees. The SM, normally gives them a ride.

Food. We invite people to bring a certain food. Chili went well, so did Wild Game.

Bringing in outside speakers. We have had the local Drug and Alcohol guys come in and talk about drugs. We have had different fund raising companies come in and go over how their programs work. Some of the food guys bring food!!

We got rid of the long drawn out announcements and use a news sheet. We now have been working our way through the District Committee, asking the chairs to talk about their area. The camping chair had a rough ride with people moaning about different things about Summer camp.

We also have a mail box for each unit, if they don't pick up their mail the unit commissioner is in charge of delivering it.

It is a hard job and I wish you all the best of luck.

Eamonn.

[Proud Eagle 13]

Never assume people know something. That is a very bad idea when some outcome you are looking for depends on it. For example, no one in my troop knows when our district roundtables are. No one really cares either.

 

If someone put something in our troops mailbox/folder at the office, we would not receive it... ever.

 

We don't do business with our council office except for advancement reports, recharter, and a few other necessary things. For anything we can get some other place we go some other place, like the office of another council which is located closer to us than our own council office.

 

Also, you could perhaps expand your outreach to include SA. Perhaps the SMs are too busy or set in their ways, or whatever, but there may be some Assistant Scoutmasters that would be willing to give it a try.

 

I know when I first became an SA I went to a couple of roundtables because no one else would. I quickly stopped going because I got nothing of any use out of the meetings.

 

Will I be going to roundtables in the future? Probably not. After all, I am now an Assistant Scoutmaster, Lodge Adviser, and council camping committee member. Add to that the fact I will be taking classes full time, and perhaps working a few hours now and then to earn some money, and I don't really have time to waste on another meeting that does nothing for me.

 

If I thought I would benefit, or the troop would benefit, I would go.

[Fuzzy Bear 12]

Your frustration over your results in your job at Roundtable has been noted. Without knowing what you are doing or how you are implementing those things, makes it hard to give you specifics. I have run a successful Roundtable, so I will communicate things that worked for me. I tried to obtain all of the training available, including Philmont leader training for Roundtables. After the training, what did I feel was the key ingredient? Friendship. I got to know each and every person at the Roundtable and not at the Roundtable and communicated with them face to face whenever I could.

 

There are many aspects of running a successful Roundtable. I occasionally sent out fliers and occasionally phoned but some firmly believe that communication is the key. One instructor at Philmont said that "making it the second best show in town" was the key. You make it the second best because everything you do accentuates the Troops program. Another said that it was food and yet another said that is was only the program.

 

I relied heavily on "knowing and using my resources" to make a good program. I knew leaders in the district that had special skills and then called on them to present. I had food that fit the occasion and the leaders; some were LDS and had special food preferences. I also had an open jar for donations. (*I never asked for donations but there was always enough in the jar to cover the costs.) I wanted people to have the important information, so some announcements were made in the meeting to allow for questions and answers but every announcement was printed.

 

My best results came when Roundtable was my only job in Scouting. I prepared the whole month by getting volunteers for programs, visiting leaders to talk to them about the program, and rounding up food. I listened to what they said and noted their needs for special program ideas. If the ideas or concerns were things that I could achieve at Roundtable, I planned to give them an answer. If their needs were greater, then I communicated with the DC or the DE. I then asked that person to follow-up with the leader about that leader's concerns. If we noted it at Roundtable, then I visited with that person afterwards to make sure we answered their question.

 

"Access" is a funny word and generally not used in Scouting. I use this word allot in my occupation, so I am familiar with it. I think that we should use the word "access" more to insure that what we are doing in any of our jobs in Scouting fits the individual. I realize it sounds like a tall order but it makes us reach out to others to find what they need to do their job. We then make it our job to make it available and make it so they can use it. You may ask what is "it". To find out that answer, you must visit with the leaders to find their definition of what "it" is and that takes time. It also takes effort to make sure they have it and that they can use it. (Note- I would like to extend this but I have said enough.)

 

I hope you can use some of my experience to make your job more successful.

 

Merry Christmas,

FB

 

[bt01 10]

Thank you for your thoughts and ideas. The district roundtable is not about me.

[John-in-KC 311]

I'm a staffer for my district BS Roundtable.

 

Some thoughts:

 

1) One stop unit service! Give leaders more and more reasons to come to RT. Our standard modules that we integrate into RT night are:

- YP training

- New Leader Essentials Common Core

- Professional Staff table (access to our DD, SDE, and DE)

- Commissioners table (access to our DC and/or his designated ADC)

- Membership table (district membership chair with access for apps, recharter issues, and so on)

- Eagle Project Review

- OA Chapter meeting

 

2) Then we have special activity support:

- GTFA gets a table every month

- Recharter gets tables in Jan and Feb (our council has all districts recharter in the same month each year)

- Camporee and Klondike get tables "in season."

 

3) Then we get on to program:

- We're working one month ahead right now, we'd like to make it two.

- We regularly have two program packages dedicated to the monthly theme: In February, we will have Pioneering Review (by our immediate past DC) and First Aid for trauma and burns (some Scout somewhere is going to have a log fall on his arm, or get a rope burn ... sad but true).

- We try to have something for the committee as well as the program. In January, our membership chair is teaching: Maintaining unit files with Troopmaster.

- WE HAVE FOOD. Too many folks these days work too many hours. We sell food as a fundraiser for the goodies we'll door prize at June program fair.

- We have units do Flag Openings, and we give prizes for best Troop annually. We also give a special Patriotic epaulet for the field uniform (red/white/blue) after Scouts come to three RT flag openings.

 

4) Finally, we are horizontally integrated across the District: Cub/Boy RTs and Venturing Huddle all happen on one night ... one stop service.

 

Hope all this helps

(This message has been edited by John-in-KC)(This message has been edited by John-in-KC)