Low turnout on activities

[CNYScouter 46]

In the thread on Requiring "Virtual" Patrols at District Events the discussion turned to "combining" patrols on activities.

 

I just seem to meet Troop after Troop that is having to combine patrols as they are getting only one or two scouts from each patrol to attend an activity.

 

During this it was said, "...if the troop is only seeing 20% participation at monthly activities, there are probably bigger issues ..."

 

and

 

Juggling boys around to come up with a pseudo-patrol is not a solution. Too often we take actions that do more to mask the problem than to solve it. The real solution (though more of a challenge) is to fix the attendance problem.

 

OK, if we are having this problem, what are the bigger issues that we should be looking for?

How to we fix the attendance problem?

 

[ljnrsu 10]

Somethings to look at are: Who is chosing the activity? Is it a few scouts or adults who decide what to do.

 

Who choses where the activity is? It could be the scouts are bored with going to the same place all the time.

 

Are the dates of activities being checked against school calendar for conflicts with school activities? This is a concern in the Troop I serve in. Middle school has a few activities that take place on weekends. We also have atleast 4 Scouts every year who are HS band members. In 12 years only once was the SPL not a band member.

 

Are camping trips so organized that there is no fun/down time for the boys to be boys? Or worse they are so disorganized that the Scouts are left up to their device to keep themselves occupied.

 

Someone needs to ask the Scouts who are not going on activities why they are not going. From those answers or reasons can you find out what the problems are.

 

You need to know from the Scouts what the problems are with activities before you can fix anything. Boys do not always think like adults. What they see as a problem might not seem to be a problem to an adult.

 

 

 

 

[funscout 11]

That's a good idea to check with the school district's scedule of acitvities. Our district tends to have sport and/or music activities EVERY weekend, so there is never a weekend when ALL scouts can attend a scout activity. But, we do steer clear of the Big school activities, which helps.

 

Just this morning I had to take my son to a band recital in our town, and then had him change clothes in the car (I know, bad Mom!) so he wouldn't miss too much of the First Aid Merit badge clinic that he had signed up for in a neighboring town. (okay, I know that's ironic that I would let him risk injury while we were on the way to a First Aid clinic!)

 

Our troop makes sure to offer some camp-outs close to home so the boys who have school activity conflicts can attend at least part of the camp-out. I personally think our school district goes overbaord with the Sports and Music programs, but they don't listen to me!

[Eamonn 61]

I agree with the points that ljnrsu has made about planning and communication.

Some time back in these forums someone used the term "More carrot less stick". I really like the idea that our activities should have a carrot, something that no one wants to miss or miss out on. Having the Scouts want to attend is at least half the battle. Having those who do attend come back saying how great it was is also a big help.

You might also want to look at the size of your patrols.

While with the younger Scouts you can all most bet that they will turn up to just about anything, once they get older and into other activities, you also know that chances are only so many are going to make it.

I really like small Patrols of six, but if it seemed only half of them wold turn up for events I would think about maybe enlarging the Patrols.

You might also want to take a look at the make up of the Patrols:

Is it better to have Patrols of the same age? Knowing that the younger guys are going to be there as a Patrol? And knowing that in your troop maybe the older Lads are all going to be busy? This might be something that the PLC might want to take a look at.

Eamonn.

 

[Lisabob 13]

One thing I've noticed is that turnout varies depending on the activity in question. If that's true for your troop then it might help to compare a well-attended event with a poorly-attended one. What differences are there that might explain the divergent trend. For example: maybe the high attendance activities are new events, while the ones with low attendance are "troop tradition" (maybe "troop tradition" is really more interesting to the adults than the boys). But as several others have said, asking the boys for input is key. Don't assume.

 

Lisa'bob

[OldGreyEagle 5]

I have to get back to why the events are scheduled, becaise the boys want them or the adults, boy scouts is for the boys, cant be the adults or dislikes, its what the boys want to do (within the guidelines, no sod surfing)

[Hubert01 10]

Hello,

I am the Jr. Ast. Scoutmaster for my troop. We have two patrols, The Flamming Phoenix and The Nightelves. (Dont ask because I have no idea) But we have no SPL. The patrols switch off each week as the "Senior Patrol" and they have to plan the meeting, and maybe an outimg. They run the meeting and report to me and I report to the Scoutmaster. They tell me their plans and I either approve or disapprove what they want to do. But this has put participation efforts through the roof, all the boys participate in carrying out the meeting, between opening and closing, and the scout skills that they need to teach. I hope this helps.

J. Habbershaw Troop 129

[EagleInKY 14]

One key is to publish dates as early as possible. We publish an annual plan at the first of the year and then revise it in the summer. What this means is we have about nine months of activities planned in detail. So, our families already know the dates of all activities firm up through August. From that point on, the dates are tentative. As the school year schedule starts to come out, those dates get solidified. In the summer we do another plan, where we plan out through the end of the school year. The dates through December or January are pretty firm. The dates beyond that are tentative. This allows families to constantly keep a long-term calendar in mind.

 

The second key is to make sure that you are doing what they want to do. Our PLC does a good job of listening to the boys. They do surveys to find out what they like and didn't like about each activity. They have brainstorming sessions and take surveys before the annual planning session. "Sacred traditions" are sometimes stopped because guys have lost interest.

 

Finally, for the things that are really important, we stress at every opportunity. We have two campouts that we see as "mandatory". These are the first campout after crossover (we call our "Tenderfoot Weekend") and Summer Camp. I see these as non-negotiables. (Although we certainly have had to negotiate issues at times). If you stress their importance, you are much more likely to get participation.

 

Finally, we are flexible. If we have a firm date only to find out 1/2 of the guys are out because of a band event, a soccer tournament and a church retreat, we will look at shifting the schedule. We don't always do it, but we'll consider it if it's a big deal.