Woodbadge is not for everyone.
If you are a scouter with several years of experience already, and were an active scout as a youth, and are an active and avid outdoorsperson, and have a decade or more of managerial and supervisory experience, have been through 7 Habits and Landmark training, and have advanced degrees in Management; then Woodbadge is probably not going to be worth it for you.
If only half or less of the above description fits you, then you will find Woodbadge to be of benefit and well worth the $200 and 6 days you invest in it (not counting your ticket work).
I'm not sure if it's a council or district thing or not; but inquiries to what benefits I would receive from Woodbadge training were met with very vague and non-specific answers. Fellow scouters who had been through the pre-2001 training were the vaguest; but even recent graduates and the promoters of the upcoming training I ran into at Round Tables weren't much help. I ended up finally ponying up to find out for myself. I found that I had already been through all the materials presented, at least several times in the past. By the end of the first weekend, I'd managed to also get the details on what was going to be presented and demonstrated on the second weekend and decided that, while I was having a pleasant time socializing with other scouters, this was not a cost effective activity for me in time and money, and I resigned from the training.
90% of the Staffers were well organized, well trained, and highly enthusiastic. There were however, several who were too focused on the objectives of the course, and failed to employ the concepts taught in the course to their own actions (i.e. their active, reflective listening skills needed severe improvement).
"I used to be an Owl, but I will Owl no more."
