Scoutmaster Podcast 46

Comments

1. Larry Geiger says

   December 6, 2010 at 10:18 pm

   Hi Clarke
   Great show. Just a process? Sounds so simple 🙂
   “Scouts don’t behave like a product.” That’s classic!
   You’ll know that it’s working when mom comes to you and says, “What happened to my little boy. He has been so mature and grown up since he started Scouting.”
   Re: The guy who wanted stuff about Courts of Honor.
   Always end with the major awards. No announcements. No FOS presentations. No Scoutmaster blabbing away at the end. A COH should build from minor things to major things.
   a. Opening – SPL
   b. Invocation, etc (Chaplain/Pastor)
   c. Committee, announcements, etc (short, short, SHORT!) – Committee Chair or representative. Only ONE person!
   d. Fun stuff – jokes, ceremonies, slides from camp, etc. (SHORT!) – PLC
   d. Scout misc. awards – PLC certificates, plaques, certificates, and stuff – SPL or EMCee.
   e. Merit badges and minor awards – SPL/EMCee
   f. Ranks, from lowest to highest – SPL/EMCee
   g. SM Minute. A minute. Maybe two. NOT three!!!!! Fully prepared ahead of time. NO announcements!! A little bit of inspiration and outta there!!!!!!!
   h. Closing – SPL
   Adults are never up front except for:
   1. Committee chair (try not to do this if possible) – 2 to 5 minutes MAX.
   2. SM or ASM for ranks (sometimes) and usually for Star/Life. I sometimes talk about how the Scouts are practicing for their Eagle COH when they pin the rank pin on their mom. I sort of chat along while the SPL or EMCee (a Scout) is presenting the awards and helping the Scouts pin things on and shake the parents hands, etc. This is not necessary and I don’t do it with some SPLs. I probably shouldn’t do it at all, but I do.
   3. SM for SM Minute.
   Adults are never up front if they don’t need to be. Ever.
   An average COH should be over in 30 to 40 minutes. A medium to large troop might go a little longer for the summer COH after camp. If your COH always runs towards an hour or more, fix it. Generally, the only thing that extends a COH is adults up front. Scouts will get their stuff done and move on.
   A Boy Scout COH is NOT a Pack meeting. We move out of our normal meeting room and have ours in the church sanctuary. We clean up and get a little bit more formal, though not stuffy. Scouts bring the flags in from the back. EMCees use the lectern up front. We put slides up on the big projector screens up front. Not long slide shows with music, just a few appropriate ones during the COH.
   The PLC usually lets one of the more dramtically oriented Scouts write the program up and EMCee. It’s always fun and works just fine. I haven’t looked at or read the last five or six troop COHs or the last two Eagle COHs.
   One of the ROTC Scouts trains the younger Scouts to be Color Guard. He really gets into it and they get pretty precise. Have fun. YMMV.