National Annual Meeting 2017 Spark Sessons

[RememberSchiff 3671]

http://nam.scouting.org/

2017 National Annual Meeting, May 24–26, at the Marriott Orlando World Center in Orlando, Florida.

 

For those attending,

 

All Thursday and Friday Spark Sessions are designed in tracks around the BSA Game Plan (Membership, Finance, People, IT Infrastructure, Culture, and High Adventure Bases). The BSA Game Plan is a tactical course of action that has been developed to align and focus our efforts to support meaningful organization growth within the Boy Scouts of America.

The Spark Sessions will be offered as panel discussions with diverse perspectives from subject matter experts. Each elective promises to be dynamic and dialogue driven. Facilitators have been listed to help you select the most valuable presentation for your Scouting position. The electives are designed to be “for the field†and “by the field†with great learning and discussion to be enjoyed by everyone.

 

Here's the list:

 

http://nam.scouting.org/Activities/Spark_Sessions.aspx

[NJCubScouter 1389]

There sure is a lot of business jargon in those "spark session" descriptions.

 

I have never been quite clear on who goes to the national annual meeting.  I know that only specific council representatives as well as regional and national-type people get to vote at the "business meeting".  The session descriptions seem to be mostly, though not exclusively, aimed at the council level.  Do other people go as well?  Is anyone here going this year?  Or have gone in the past?  And if so, in what capacity, if any?

[CherokeeScouter 32]

Seems pretty council-centric

[NJCubScouter 1389]

Seems pretty council-centric

 

Parts of it seemed kind of geared toward professionals as well, though I assume most of those attending are not professionals.

 

On the other hand, based on the presenters of the various seminars, it almost seems like the BSA is flying the entire staff at Irving to Florida and putting them up in a hotel.  Your registration fees at work?

[4CouncilsScouter 25]

@@NJCubScouter

 

I went to NAM in 2015 when it was in Atlanta. For the most the part, NAM is really just a gathering of council Key 3 and the "gold shoulders". In theory, any volunteer, professional, youth member, and family of a volunteer/professional could attend. In practice, the majority of attendees are council Key 3 members, and area, region, and national members. There's also few up-and-coming district/council professionals and national/region youth officers that attend.

 

For the most part, just about every session is an option for attendees to attend. There's a few business meetings or receptions that are restricted. All in all, I thought it was a great conference! I got the new information on Cub Scouting for the packs in my district, and I got some clarifications on "hard-set council policies" that really shouldn't be hard-set!

 

If you don't mind the travel and fees, I'd recommend attending.

[NJCubScouter 1389]

@@NJCubScouter

 

I went to NAM in 2015 when it was in Atlanta. For the most the part, NAM is really just a gathering of council Key 3 and the "gold shoulders". In theory, any volunteer, professional, youth member, and family of a volunteer/professional could attend. In practice, the majority of attendees are council Key 3 members, and area, region, and national members. There's also few up-and-coming district/council professionals and national/region youth officers that attend.

 

For the most part, just about every session is an option for attendees to attend. There's a few business meetings or receptions that are restricted. All in all, I thought it was a great conference! I got the new information on Cub Scouting for the packs in my district, and I got some clarifications on "hard-set council policies" that really shouldn't be hard-set!

 

If you don't mind the travel and fees, I'd recommend attending.

 

Thanks for the information.  I'm going to Roundtable tonight in the next town over, that will have to do for now.    I'll have to skip Atlanta, even though I see our illustrious fellow forum member @@RichardB is running two of the sessions.