Join Night...Now What

[Cito]

So we've got everything lined up for a couple join nights in about a week. We're holding them on two different nights to maximize the opportunities. Emails have gone out to schools, flyers are going home with boys, rooms are reserved at the elementary schools and the DE's are going into the schools to talk to boys...

 

Now what do we actually do at the join nights besides take names and talk to the parents about cub scouting being a family program? I'd really like this to be a method for getting both boys and new adult volunteers, especially for the incoming tigers.

 

Our DE has encouraged me to push signing up for the cub camp programs, which I think is a great idea. I'm also planning to push the scout show that happens on the following Saturday.

[SeattlePioneer]

This year I did an egg drop for our recruiting night.

 

 

At the dollar store I got a set of egg dyes of various colors.

 

As boys arrived they and their families signed in and got a fresh chicken egg at that time.

 

At some tables boys and their parents first decorated their egg, dyeing it and then using felt pens and such to decorate it any way they wished.

 

The egg dye kits came with some eyes and mouth that could stick on the eggs to look like a face.

 

Once decorated, boys picked from a selection of boxes and packaging materials and packaged their eggs to resist being dropped.

 

If a balcony or other elevated area is available, boys walked to that area and dropped their package onto the concrete. If no such high area is available, I brought an A frame ladder that boys could climb, be handed their box and drop it off.

 

Boys kept their egg if it didn't break. If it did, they could package it and try again the next week.

 

 

That worked well.

 

If you decide to do this, decorate eggs and boxes for the DEs to take into thew schools. SHOWING boys what they will be able to do at the recruiting night is a powerful incentive to attend.

[Brewmeister]

I think it is a mistake to push for adult leaders at a new cub recruiting night. Also I think hitting them with camp signup is too much info.

 

That's not to say you can't mention it, and certainly have adult apps on hand.

 

Our recruiting nights focus on recruiting boys. So on one hand we have animated sideshows of the stuff our pack has done (we use Animoto), then we send the boys off for a quick game.

 

While the boys are playing we talk to the adults about what Cub Scouting IS. Try to think back to when you were a new, overwhelmed Tiger parent. And a lot of families know nothing about scouting.

 

While we don't ask for adult leaders at that time, we do stress that cub scouting is a family program. We do literally tell parents that this is not little league...you cannot drop and run and you are required to be at pack meetings with your son, and all meetings if you are a tiger parent.

 

(We also run the first tiger den meeting and turn the next one over to the parents and a "coordinator." Often that coordinator becomes the DL.)

 

Waiting a bit before you push for leaders works for us because people are not scared off at the roundup night, and because it gives time for a leader to percolate up from the crowd, rather than just being a warm body who reluctantly raised his or her hand.(This message has been edited by Brewmeister)

[Cito]

Thanks for the quick suggestions. The art of getting both the boys excited about the program and the parents excited about volunteering is my big question I suppose.

[SeattlePioneer]

Hello Brewmeister,

 

 

The advantage of doing an activity like the egg drop I described is that boys and parents are DOING a quality family activity. You don't have to explain it after they've just had the practical and emotional experience of that themselves.

 

The second advantage is that having something like the egg and packaging I described for the DE going into the school allows them to show and explain the activity to the boys.

 

My experience is that young boys often have a limited ability to understand "Cub Scouts" as an abstration when you talk to them. But they usually can understand smashing eggs, and usually relate pretty strongly to an idea like that!

 

The best ever recruiting night activity I've identified is making stomp bottle rockets. I'll be doing that for our initial recruiting night and pack meeting in the fall.

 

Again, being able to show boys in schools the rockets they can make and launch at the recruiting night produces a great turnout of interested boys.

 

[Brewmeister]

SP,

 

I'm definitely not dismissing your egg drop idea, and we have also done the stomp rockets.

 

I think there is value to both of those ideas and gets the idea out there that "cub scouting is about spending time with your Scout," versus "Cub scouting is about dropping your kid off for practice."

 

In our experience, we have found it very helpful to split the boys from the parents so we can go over the nitty gritty with the parents (where to buy the uniform, how much will this cost, etc.). Likewise we have found it better in the long run to find leaders after the roundup, which was a question asked by the OP.

 

Beyond that, our best recruiters are existing scouts with full red vests who get up and talk about the fun they had at summer camp, and our best visual aids are the 5-minute slideshow one of our leaders created to a high-energy soundtrack.

 

In other words, the activity is a good "hook," but the boys need to see the breadth of the program in visuals, and the parents need to get enough info to understand it.

 

YMMV....(This message has been edited by brewmeister)

[Scoutfish]

I guess things are different in different places.

 

Our DE goes to school during the day to get the boys psyched up. A week later, we have the sign up nights where the DE tells te parents how the program works ( yawn....).

 

Then the DE lets reps from each of the 4 or 5 packs attending, speak.

 

THis is where we sell what OUR pack does. What night we met on, why they may like us.

 

Now, this is anot a "beat the other packs" contest. WE want people to choose the pack they like best, are more likely to go to and at their convienence.

 

The idea is to get the boys in scouting.

 

I usually help get the boys riled up by singing a few audience participation songs and doing something to make the boys get up, jump and run.

 

 

Personally, I do not push the camping, selling popcorn or buying t-shirts and uniforms until the parents have had time to settle in and get used to going to scouts weekely.

 

Don't want to scare them off before they even get started.

 

Always remeber that it can be overwhelming to a new parent and scout.

 

 

Good luck!

 

[SeattlePioneer]

Hello Brewmeister,

 

The conventional wisdom is to do just what you suggest --- splitting boys off from parents to do an activity while parents are given a sales job on Scouting and encouraged to complete an application and pay dues.

 

The main reason for that is so District Executives can collect applications and dues and go on to the next recruiting night.

 

At our rocket launch and egg drop recruiting nights, parents were engaged enough with the activities that splitting them off to get applications signed can be difficult. On the other hand, if you've just done a fun activity with your kid, a big sales job may not be necessary.

 

You don't have to TALK about Scouting if you've just been EXPERIENCING a quality Scouting activity. Which is likely to be more appealing?

 

Actually, signups the day of the recruiting event usually are kind of disappointing. But families are invited back to participate in our Bobcat Den (starting tonight) where the new boys and parents are together to learn about Cub Scouting together for a few weeks before they get their Bobcat award at our June 2-3 overnight camp.

 

So tonight they will make their own Bobcat Den flag, decide on a Bobcat Den cheer, make a neckerchief slide with their name on it, be awarded a neckerchief to go with their slide so they will be "in uniform," learn about the Cub Scout Promise and get to light several of the eight candles on our "Bobcat trophy" showing their progress towards earning the Bobcat award.

 

 

Saturday is our Bobcat hike, where we meet for a library tour then hike to a farm for a tour and do a hot dog roast.

 

Parents will be encouraged to complete an application tonight if they want to do the hike Saturday. They will also be asked to complete a parent inventory telling us about things they are good at doing or things they would like to do to help the pack. If they don't complete those tonight, they can turn them in the day of the hike.

 

My aim is to have a SERIES of high quality Cub Scout experiences one after another that will impress both the boys and their parents, and draw both into participating with the pack.

 

Our parent meeting this month is April 30th. I am planning to give new parents a written invitation to the parent meeting and to use the parent meeting in part as a reception for the new parents to give them a friendly experience to get acquainted with pack parents and vice versa.

 

I've been perfecting this approach for four years now. It seems to work especially well in drawing new parents into helping with pack leadership right away --- a critical issue for many packs.

 

I think too many packs more or less ignore new families for a period of weeks or months. My aim is to give people a high quality program RIGHT AWAY which gives them an incentive to help support that program right away.

 

 

That's my theory anyway. Perhaps some people may see elements of that they'd like to try even if my whole grand strategy seems daunting.

 

As our district Membership Chair since 2004, I've been trying to come up with recruiting methods that are more effective than the conventional strategy commonly pushed by District Executives.

[Brewmeister]

Good ideas, SP; I like the way you think...