Coucil events participation

[briantshore]

After 4 years as den leader, I have stepped up as Cubmaster. One of my goals have been to get better participation in District and Council activities over the year. In the past few years, I would guess we only get about 5% of the boys to a event except Day Camp. Last year we got about 40% to daycamp. It may be how we have sold the event. In the past it was a flyer, and a announcment that this is a event that parents can go to. My goal is to make them realise there is so much more than just there den and pack, but a whle new world out there.

One thought I have is to make a announcment that the (PACK) is going to this event. At Pack meetings, really pump it up about how great the event was, and this is what you missed out on. I would like to hear your thoughts.

[Gold Winger]

I think it would probably work better if the den leaders pitched it as a den activity with other dens along.

[Basementdweller]

Get the boys talking about the event. Remind them on a regular basis about that camp. I have event books I bring out and let the boys look thru them. PICTURES lots of pictures and especially action shots. I have about 100 pictures of the boys jumping into the pool at resident camp. About 5 of those were fantastic, open mouths, air born, having a blast kinda pictures.

 

Have the boys show off any crafts made at the outing at den and pack meetings. I also made a slide show of the outings that played during the Blue and Gold and the end of the year BBQ.

 

Let the boys sell it.

 

 

With that said, I had a few boys very upset they were not in the pictures. Well they didn't attend the events. I told them they needed to go to some of the events to be in the pictures, one of the parents said they couldn't afford camp, I was ready and handed her an application for a campership application for next year.

[Lisabob]

At the cub level, especially the littler guys, you need to sell the parents and leaders as much (more than) the kids. To do that, you need to have a solid understanding of why participation has been so low in the past. A few possible reasons:

 

1) They didn't know/insufficient lead time - In this case, your approach of hyping events may work pretty well.

2) They can't afford it - around here district and council events tend to be more expensive than pack/den events. If money is an issue, these may be among the first things to go. In this case no amount of hype is going to change things. On the other hand, showing parents how the pack's upcoming fundraisers will cover the cost of attendance might do the trick. If this is the issue then also make sure the fundraisers are set up so that kids without a big family network of donors/buyers of stuff can earn money. (Tap into community, do show& sells for the popcorn, etc.)

3) They don't feel it is a good value for the money - if true (ie, district is notorious for running disorganized, fly-by-the-seat-of-their-pants events) then you will be running against the tide here until your district gets its act together. If not true, you need to sell not just participation, but the benefits/merits of participation beyond just "fun."

4) Transportation is a hassle - our district daycamp used to be at a great facility, except it was 40 miles away and people didn't want to drive that twice a day, plus it didn't fit well with many people's work schedules. We overcame this by setting up carpools for the pack and attendance went up considerably, but there were many parents who couldn't/wouldn't have done the drive on their own.

 

Good luck to you!

 

[Docrwm]

I've found that the enthusiasm of the Adult Volunteers is a BIG plus in getting attendance at broader events. Also, knowledge is key. All too many of the events get nearly no advertising. Our Council website is pretty bad about this, I have to dig and dig to find Fliers and such on events that are on the calendar. When we go to sign up on the dates that they are said to be open for sign-up the website is in "test mode" frequently.

 

Organization of the ads and prep sends a good signal to parents that the event itself will be well organized. If its seen as well organized you will get two other impressions - safe & worthwhile.

 

When I put our Den packets together for this school year and our recruiting events I included fliers, when I could find them, from Council and when I could not find a pre-made flier I made one for those events that are Big Draws for many kids. We put a calendar together and tried to have a sign-up sheet and/or flier for each event for which that was possible this early in the year. Pictures help and, also where possible, I tried to include a positive pic of the boys at the event from last year so the new boys might recognize some of their friends having a great time.

 

I'm currently working on our Committee to push for Cub World that our Council runs in the fall at the scout reservation. My family were the only folks from our Pack there last year and we had a terrific time. I'm hoping that we can increase attendance this year by 100% ;->

[briantshore]

I understand Day Camp to some extent. 5 days and 50 miles round trip each day. I did work it out that I had 7 boys at Day Camp, and most parents were walkers for only 2 days. The only exception was a Tiger Mom. The events that I am talking mostly about are simple 1 day events, with a option for a overnight campout. Most of them are at our BSA summer camp. I want them to see the facility, and have the boys see what can be in there future if they stay in scouting. Unfortionaly, most of the boys just are aware of what goes on at Pack level. I want them to see that there is so much more.

[Lisabob]

Brian I understand your desire to help the boys gain a sense of what's possible for them. On the other hand though, I found that with cub scouts, a lot of the time the kids were very happy with what was available locally through the pack. That isn't to say bigger adventures can't happen, but rather that we need to be careful that we aren't putting our desire as adults for something "more" or "different" doesn't take over. What might seem a little dull to us (pack or den meeting close to home, for example), might still be a grand new adventure or experience for the young scouts.

 

I hope you won't take offense at that, as it is really difficult to tell via the web what the prevailing dynamic might be. I just know from experience that it is easy for leaders to get caught up in "big adventure" daydreams that the kids really have no particular interest in, or need/desire to do.

 

 

[Karen_216]

Well, I talked about resident camp and day camps and told everyone how much fun it was and had speakers come in. Still only had 4 cubs (from my own den) and 5 webelos (out of 20 possible). So your numbers are pretty good.

I find in the fall and spring sports conflict with lots of council events. I personlly will take my son out of 1 game to attend a great evetn but lots of families won't. So try as you might- we had a Dad dress up in revoluntionary gear to prmote and evetn (only 10 families went)- you may not always get great attendance at counicl evetns.

Some families also just aren't available weekends.

Our pack overnighteres are always very succesful. We get more that 50% attendance. I think our spring campout is close to 80-90%. Very few dont go on this.

We're trying to have scouts who went talk it up this year too. Maybe if the scout really wants to go....