Combined Woodbadge and Eagle Ceremony

[Twocubdad]

Oh come on folks, this is a father and son. I'm guessing they are capable of deciding how they want to do this. This shouldn't be an opportunity to impose your feelings on Wood Badge on them.

 

The questions is how to transition between the ceremonies. You have the SPL or SM or whoever is acting as emcee say, "and now we come to the next item, the presentation of the Eagle Scout Award." and keep right on going.

[desertrat77]

I've seen a couple WB beading ceremonies. The first, and probably the best, was at the end of my first COH as a scout. My SM received his beads after a speech by someone from the WB staff. Beads presented, here's your neckerchief, round of applause, ladies and gentlemen, please join us for cake and punch.

 

Compare/contrast...the latest was in my previous council...kudu horns blowing, critter songs, inside jokes, long speeches by three different adults about the wonderment of WB, etc. Then "Will all WBers please come up and sing with us." Middle age men and women giggling, bellowing out the songs. The vibe in the audience was mixed, but mostly "what the heck.....?"

 

It completely overshadowed the two young folks who each got the Venture Silver Award a few moments earlier in a very disorganized, too-brief part of the evening. I'd seen totenchips presented with more flair.

 

I agree with Twocubdad, let father and son figure it out. But I'd offer this: ensure the WB stuff doesn't overshadow the Eagle part....(This message has been edited by desertrat77)

[SeattlePioneer]

>

 

 

My worry is the opposite, that an overenthusiatic band of WoodBadgers will take over and dominate the evening, just as describe in desertrat's previous post.

 

 

[BDPT00]

Interesting comments. Sounds like there are some pretty negative feelings about Wood Badge beading ceremonies. I get that. I've seen some good ones and plenty of pretty lousy ones.

One posted here sounds really bad. SSScout wrote something regarding "Is it time? and Time to go back." I wouldn't want to be there for that. In that same breif description, the secret cord flip was mentioned. What is that?

I don't think it's a great idea. But if it's going to be done, maybe do the beading at the reception, and have the new Eagle present the neckerchief, just like his dad had done earlier.

BDPT00

 

[FScouter]

It might be a good idea to add in an FOS presentation too. You know, like kill three birds with one stone - be efficient with folk's limited time... and don't forget some announcements too.

[SeattlePioneer]

Ouhhhhhhhh.... F Scouter! You are The Devil today!(This message has been edited by seattlepioneer)

[desertrat77]

FScouter, you provided a much needed chuckle.

[lrsap]

moosetracker,

 

Yep, around these parts any beading is closed by the song, all 8 critters plus "Staffer" verse sung. This is whether or not it is one or twenty people being beaded. No matter where, Roundtable, Unit meetings, Pack meetings, Court of Honor.......

 

And Twocub, I'm not anti-WB. I just believe there are places where the song is just not appropriate. Like any situation that most of the people in the room could care less.

[fred8033]

Second guessing this again. I didn't want to suggest yeh or neh.

 

But during our last COH, we were burnt by a council staffer promoting the 2013 Jamboree. He asked for five minutes and took 20+. He was by far the longest piece of the COH by a factor of four. It delayed the proceedings. And it was not a fun presentation. People listened out of politeness, but it was not why we were there. We were not happy with him. And, I think promoting Jamboree was one of his Woodbadge tickets. We blew it by not reinforcing the time limit and not pulling him out when his time was up.

 

Same thing happened six months earlier in the pack with a FOS presenter. Presenter asked for five minutes. Took 15+ minutes. Our fault for being lazy. It saved us effort because we didn't need to do the presentation.

 

Woodbadge beading is the same. The beading itself is fast. But the promotion can drone on. Your event is at risk unless you know the speaker will respect your time. Or unless your willing to end his presentation when time is up.

 

I've come to doubt inviting anyone to do any presentation. It's out of your control. Especially at a COH. Ideally, I think we'll be all our own announcements for jamboree, FOS, camps, etc.

[SeattlePioneer]

Hello Fred,

 

This is all too common of a problem.

 

I'd let people know they will be interrupted after their agreed amount of time is up, and I'd give them hand signals from the back letting them know how many minutes they have left.

 

Increasingly vigorous waving indicates your time is up. And I'd be waving as I walked toward the front of the meeting room to go on with the meeting if the presenter was ignoring the message.

 

The quickest way to poor meeting attendance is to have over long or boring meetings. My usual standard for meetings is NO MORE than an hour, and I aim to police that goal for the sake of future attendance.

(This message has been edited by seattlepioneer)

[jdsmerud]

If the ECOH, involves other Scouts and Scouter's awards of course WB beading's are included. If the ECOH solely involves the boys recieving their Eagle than let it be about them. If it's just a father and son than its easy, ask them. If it involves multiple Eagles and the Troop than let those Eagles and the SPL give direction to the event. If I ever see a FOS presentation getting pushed into an Eagle only COH it's gonna be a bad day for that DE.

[nywhits]

OK, So really didn't think this topic would generate this much discussion. So what I've learned is that ECOH to some are somewhat of a holy time. It should only be for that purpose. I also see that people are tired of the long drawn out WB beading ceremonies and that they tend to be more of a advertisement for future WB courses. Oh yea, the final thing I noted is that FOS presenters had better stay far away from any scouting awards ceremony.

 

This event is only for my son and I. If there was going to be others awarded... no I would not do it this way.

 

The plan is that the WB ceremony will last in the range of 20 minutes. I've been to many done by this WB staff and they do a quality, to the point ceremony with no advertisements. Yes, they describe the purpose of WB to those that don't understand or know, but they keep it short when asked. The song will be skipped. We never have an issue of singing as we know who is there and who isn't. If we're short, everyone joins in on the missing critters. We'll skip the song though to keep the serious spirit of the event.

 

Next we'll segway into the opening of the ECOH and run through the ceremony.

 

At the end, we eat cake, cookie, and punch. DONE!

Thank-you for all the lively discussions. This generated a lot of interesting thoughts.

 

 

[ScoutNut]

Sounds like you and your son have it all figured out fine.

 

Congratulations to both of you!

[desertrat77]

Agreed, congratulations and have fun!

[SSScout]

Yes, excellent plan.

 

Mucho Congrats to you both.

 

By the way, I vote for apple spice cake with cream icing ;-).