What would you have at a POW WOW

[SctDad]

I would have spun this off of another thread, but I thought is would be easier to just make a new one.

 

What kind of classes for CS leaders would you like to see at a CS Pow Wow. I know a lot are going to say training, but what other types of things would you like to see. be vague or be specific. I am on the committee with Eagle 92 and I am on the training sub committee. So any help would be great.

 

(And for those of you who are windering, I am trained in all of my positions for the pack, BALOO, and I will be taking the train the trainer course in OCT)

[dg98adams]

You know, I have been an adult leader for several years (multiple positions from Cubs to Council and gotten lots of training and I go to RT regularly), and I still don't know where all the Troops in our district are (map location/chartering Org), let alone the council.

 

I mean I have a general idea, but a handout with a map of the districts (minimal detail) with location & contact info printed on it for Troops/Crews/Cubs.

 

Sorta "Where we are & how to find us" info session.

 

I hear about things Units are doing (Hi Adventure, Philmont, Sea Base, Hikes, out-of-council-events, etc....) where extra slots for events are available. But most times it's too late to get interest in the few older Scouts/Crew who could go.

 

[Twocubdad]

Answer the question, "Now that I'm trained to position, what do I actually do with the Scouts at den meetings?"

 

Include:

 

Skits

Songs

Crafts

Ceremonies

How to Teach ... (fill in the blank)

Flag Etiquette

Local "Go See It" ideas

Outdoor program ideas

Campfire stuff

Outdoor skills (age appropriate)

 

I think Baloo's Bugle has a section where they post the Pow Wow books from old Pow Wows -- basically a compilation of all the handouts from various Pow Wows.

[scoutldr]

THere are lots of examples of POWWOW books on the internet. That should give you lots of ideas. When I was a CS leader, the book was a treasured hand-out that everyone looked forward to. Examples of classes off the top of my head:

 

Crafts (usually the most popular, so schedule more than one session)

Uniforming

Religious Awards (maybe separate sessions for Catholic/Protestant)

Advancement

Fund Raising

Pack Management

Pinewood Derby Management (how to run double elimination, rules, etc)

Pack Camping (family camping)

Webelos-Scout Transition

 

 

[PACK15NISSAN]

Being a somewhat new leader with no real BS history to fall back on, I found that attending training and getting into a network of others leaders was really beneficial. Having a class that helps promote inter-Troop/Pack relations would be great. Especially at the Webelos level with so many activity badges, it gives a chance where one group has expertise and another doesn't.

 

Another good thing, maybe to add to Local "go see its", is community resources.

 

Fundraising seems to need some help for a lot of the Pack's around here.

 

Online Advancement

 

Recharter (online and paper)

 

 

 

[Beagle Scout]

I've always enjoyed the Cub Cooking session at our Pow Wow.

 

Also, consider sessions targeted at specific skills/awards: Whittling Chip, knots, map and compass, any of the Webelos activity pins.

 

[ScoutNut]

Consider a Pow Wow open to all branches of Scouting. Have classes aimed at Packs, Troops, Crews, Ships, and Teams. This broadens your customer base so that the odds of having to cancel due to lack of registrations goes down.

 

Some of the classes I can remember are -

 

Behaviour

Special Ceremonies

Trash to Treasure Crafts

Outdoor fun

Cooking

Dutch Oven

Dealing with disabilities

Merit Badge Counselor training

COR training

Safe Swim / Safety Afloat

Pack Performances

Flora & Fauna

Committee training

Tracking your unit

Awards / Advancement

LNT

Places to go - Things to do

Webelos to Scout

Science fun

First Aid

Derbies (space/pinewood/raingutter - please don't encourage elimination races)

Sparklers

Games

Songs

Skits

Campfires

 

 

[Lisabob]

Just some thoughts about some of the skill sessions. I'll use cooking as an example but I think this could apply more generally.

 

You might want to gear it to multiple levels. For example with cub leaders you will have people who have never cooked outdoors at all, people who only seem to know about eggs in a bag and foil dinners, and people who could feed the neighborhood 5 star meals over their campfires, in case of a power outage.

 

Another good session for cub leaders who are novice outdoor people would be a hands-on gear session. As a cub leader I'd never used a camp stove before and would have liked a class that would have allowed me to assemble/dismantle one, try out a backpacking stove, etc. Not show & tell where somebody stands in front of the room with the gadget - but real hands on so I'd have felt more comfortable using these with kids around. (same would be useful with tents/sleeping bags, various types of backpacks, etc. - esp. for Webelos leaders who want info to take back to the parents, as the kids get ready to move to boy scouts where they'll need a bunch of gear)

 

You should make sure that you think about whether you want each class to be mostly "how to do this" or whether you want them to be mostly "how to help kids learn to do this." These are not necessarily the same things.

 

Don't poach from existing trainings! I learned to do the biscuits in the orange peel thing umpteen times (and never liked it anyway).

 

Do raid the rank books. A class on cool ideas for Wolf/Bear arrow points could be good.

 

 

[SSScout]

Lots of good ideas.

Does your Council sponsor a Scout University? Try not to duplicate that, encourage Cub Leaders to attend that.

 

Howzabout a workshop on Cub Day Camp?

 

 

[SctDad]

Thanks for all the great ideas. I am glad that there is a lot of feed back.

 

Yes our council has a UofS in the Spring Time. I was thinking about the CS Pow Wow because there is so much that can be taught in the CS level that I feel that it would be beneficial and that there could be more than just the standard training sessions.

 

I like what people are saying about the crafts, and the Local Go See Its. Those are the type of things that I am talking about when I was looking for the courses.

 

Has anyone tried model rocketry? What was your success with that.

 

Keep the ideas coming.

[Lisabob]

I don't understand. If you already have a UofS, why would you want a pow wow? U of S includes cub scout leaders and all of what has been discussed here could be offered as part of your existing U of S. Putting on this sort of program is pretty labor intensive. Getting people to participate and not burning them out ("Yet another one of these trainings they want me to go to! When does it end?!") is a challenge.

 

Duplication doesn't appear to make much sense here. Is this a good use of your limited resources?

 

 

By the way, I think a model rocketry class would be a lot of fun for your cub leaders, in whatever venue you do it.(This message has been edited by lisabob)

[GKlose]

Our district did a modified Pow-Wow this last year (there was a cub event going on simultaneously with an adult training event, so parents could get more information about Scouting in general, while their Cubs were occupied otherwise).

 

The adults were split up into smaller groups, and rotated among five or six sessions. I can't recall all of the sessions, but I led one of them (it was called "Trail to Eagle").

 

Two other sessions I remember were a boiled down (to an hour) New Leader Essentials, and another one focused on games and fun activities for Cubs.

 

In my session, I felt I had plenty of time, so I first showed a brief Power Point presentation on the history of Scouting. It was a PPT that I originally found online, then edited a bit, to show at a Blue and Gold Banquet.

 

"Trail to Eagle" was also another PPT presentation that another Scouter had sketched out. I edited it quite a bit to tighten it up. It was an overview of the entire spectrum of Scout advancement, starting with Tiger Cubs heading to post-Eagle. I tried to emphasize differences in the Cub and Boy Scout programs (I don't think most Cub parents understand the major differences), and highlighted the Webelos transition part.

 

I "borrowed" a concept that I learned on this forum -- progressive skills development. I took an example of a Cub Scout learning to fix a cut on a finger and how first aid skills are stepped up every year until you get to T, 2C, 1C requirements, and finally First Aid merit badge. Then I pointed out there were similar progressions in camping, hiking, cooking, etc.

 

Overall, it seemed like my session went well. It was fairly lively with plenty of questions as I went along. I repeated it five or six times that day, so I got plenty of experience with it.

 

This year, if the event is repeated, I'd like to pass off that session to someone else because I'd like to do a single session just concentrating on Webelos. Experienced Webelos Den Leaders know the drill, but other parents and other unit leaders don't necessarily grasp everything that is going on. At our University of Scouting, they do two entire sessions on Webelos-to-Scout transition (one from Cub point of view, one from Boy Scout point of view) and my idea is slightly different than that. Reduce the transition part, but also do any overview of activity badges, timelines, local council events (Webelos Woods, Arrow of Light Weekend), etc.

 

Guy

 

[ghermanno]

SctDad,

 

The list given are great. Some confuse BS with CS but that's OK. The biggest thing I remember about the old PowWow's was the books. You can't possibly attend ALL the courses offered but you get the book with the info (just not the hands-on) anyway. They were/are worth their weight in gold when you need a craft or need to hel another leader with something.

 

Ensure to offer multiple classes at the same time, some classes will only run once or twice (cooking for example) as the materiel needed for the class may need refrigeration or be high cost per person (possibly one of the Webelos Craft items).

 

Try to keep cost moderate which will be difficult unless you have someone (business) offer to print manuals cheap/free and your patches are inexpensive (remember these are for adults so no need to get too fancy). You want maximum participation so giving leadership classes (NLE, specifics,...) should be based on when you have it and how well trained the majority of your adults are. If you have training, have the training. Do NOT pare it down.

 

Mostly, HAVE FUN. KISSMIF

 

YiS,

 

Rick

[SctDad]

Lisa

 

I was thinking about the Pow Wow because teh UofS is held in the spring, and it is usually the same weekend as other cubscouting and boy scouting events. So it makes it hard for leaders to attend. I was thinking about the Pow Wow in the fall to make it available when the leaders are fresh with the new job. Not when they are getting ready to stop for the summer. Might make for a more beneficial taining.

[ScoutNut]

If it is so hard for leaders to attend your UofS why not simply move that to a better date instead of adding another event.

 

Leaders only have so much free time, and training events have to have enough people register to cover the costs to put them on.

 

One event, which has great attendance, is MUCH better than 2 events that are both poorly attended.