Who attends Roundtable in your unit?

[gwd-scouter]

I attend every monthly roundtable for our Troop (I am SM). My husband, ASM, attends periodically and our former Committee Chair made it a couple of times.

 

Many troops and packs are not representated at all at our roundtables and I know this has been discussed in other threads. Mostly, those that do show up in our area are SM or CM.

 

I'd just like to find out from the forum folks of those units that do make it to roundtables, who attends? SM, ASM, Committee members, etc. Is attending roundtable a responsibility I could pass on to someone else in the Troop to help free up my time a bit?

 

 

[Cheerful Eagle]

I started attending (Cub Scout)roundtable because my best friend was a regular, and because satified a requirement for the den leader knot.

 

I made some friends, so I kept coming. Then I realized it was a great place for fighting mid-year burn out, and I started showing up early and hanging around to help with clean up.

 

Now, I'm moving to a new state, and I'm looking forward to the roundtable meetings to start making new friends.

 

Before the move, I was cubmaster, and I had planned to have my den leader/program planning meetings at an inexpensive resturant right before roundtable. There's so much roundtable offers, why not consolidate meeting nights and take full advantage of someone ELSE inventing the wheel? Maybe someone else can see if this would work.

 

In my eldest son's troop, usually one of the ASM's shows as well as the Com Chair. But the Scout reoundtable get's bigger numbers attending than the Cubs. I think more district business gets carried on there.

[EagleInKY]

I (SM) usually do. If I can't make it, I try to make sure an ASM attends. We've toyed with the idea of having an assigned committee person to always be there. That way I don't have to try and run someone down if I can't make it. That hasn't worked out as of yet.

 

Our RTs are a sad state of affairs. Few attend. I enjoy going to network with others and find out what other troops are doing.

[SWScouter]

The past three years I've been on Cub Roundtable staff. The first year I was a Den Leader and the next two a Webelos Den Leader. Normally I was the only person from the pack that attended roundtable. Every once in awhile the CC or another DL would show up but that was rare.

 

Currently I'm an SA. I'm looking forward to attending roundtable and not running a breakout. I'm also looking forward to running over to the OA chapter meeting (same time and place)

 

Usually the SM, an SA or two and the CC are at roundtable. It's a nice change from the pack.

 

SWScouter

[orennoah]

Little Ol' Scoutmaster, me.

 

- Oren

[t158sm]

In our previous district I (SM) always tried to attend. After our council consolidated with two others and districts were realigned no one attends as roundtables are now held on the same night as our meeting.

[John-in-KC]

I'm a COR. I attend.

 

I look for my Chairmen to attend. ... and they usually do.

 

I look for my Program Officers to attend ... and they usually do.

 

I look for my Life--->Eagle Coordinator to attend whenever a young man is going to the District Advancement Committee with a project for approval ... and he usually does.

 

I look for the Troop OATR to attend Chapter Meeting (part of our RT) ... sadly, he does not.

 

Annually, we have Life-Eagle 101. Lots of young men attend that month ... when I have a new L-E Coordi

[oldsm]

I attend, along with my CC.

 

When I was CM for the pack, I attended and found it to be a wonderful source if ideas and guidance to pass along to the den leaders. Earning beads for attendance/participation/etc was an incentive (who has the most?).

 

So when I became SM, of course I continued attending. It's very rare that I miss one. The same goes for my CC. Because of this, we are usually on the same page with what's going on. I've tried to get the SA's to attend, but very little luck here. Biggest problem: I got them to go about a year ago when the topic was safety (Safe Swim, Safety Afloat, Climb On Safely, Trek Safely). Unfortunately, it was a BIG BUST. The speaker/instructor simply read from a prepared PowerPoint slide show. Extremely boring. Can't get the SA's to attend any more, even though I've tried to explain that not all meeings are like that - in fact, most are pretty good (and the SA's would definitely benefit).

 

To compensate, we schedule an Adult Leaders Council (ALC) once a month on a non-troop-meeting night. This provides an opportunity for me to share some of what I got at RT, exchange ideas, etc. Still, I wish they would go to RT.

 

A question for all: It seems to me that many of the things that are discussed at RT really should be directed to the SPL. Some are program ideas, some are camporee promotions, etc. Some great information that they boys could use but that's hard to pass along to an SPL second-hand. Does anyone have any thoughts about this?

[briantshore]

I have for the last 2 years (Webelos I Leader) I have tried to get the others to go from the Pack without luck. I still try. They just do not seem to understand what they are missing.

[Jeffrey H]

Usually the Cubmaster and Myself (ACM) attends as reps for our Pack. We don't expect all our Pack leaders to attend. We encourage it, but we don't push it. Our RT's are boring and it's hard to sell to your leaders to come to a boring meeting. That said, RT's are still the most effective way to obtain material and information about upcoming events and training (that's basically what keeps people coming and the "knot" requirement).

 

The good side of RT is networking with other Scouts in the district and developing new scouting friendships. This always renews my energy when I see others dedicated to the same goals as I am.

 

 

[jr56]

The SM attends, he is on roundtable staff for the cub scouts.

I also attend, I am the CC, I am also the roundtable commissioner for the boy scout side.

[bt01]

As Boy Scout Roundtable Commissioner; I invent any one hwho is involved in the troop.

 

Who should come? Unit Leaders, Committee Members, Parents.

[scout470]

I am the troop committee chair and I attend all the Roundtables.

 

I have tried to get other committee members to attend as well as the SM. That usually triggers a diatribe from the SM about how worthless council/district/roundtable meetings are and how the council staff are all idots. So - I go so I can find about district and council events we should be involved in, but I don't even mention going to the SM.

[eagle-pete]

gwd-scouter

 

In answer to your questions -

First, we encourage all our leaders in our unit to attend roundtables. That being said, the only positions which list attending roundtable as one of their responsibilities (from the SM Handbook and Cub Scout Leader book) are the unit leaders, their assistants, and Cub Scout Den Leaders. These leaders in particular we do more than just suggest they attend. We let them know it is one of their responsibilites to attend. Committee Chairs and members, COR, Pack Trainer and volunteer parents are made aware of the purpose and meeting times of monthly roundtables, but we don't "push" them too much to go.

 

I do attend monthly roundtables, primarily because it is something I have been doing for many years. I am one of the ASM's over the 11 Yr Old Scouts.

 

As a side note (for those of us who have experienced less than quality roundtables), when I was a Cub Master a couple years ago, I attended rountables and found them to be less than satisfying. Instead of whining about it and spreading negative messages to other leaders, I volunteered to be on roundtable staff and help out. I can't say that I, alone, turned around our cub Scout roundtables, but I did notice an increase in attendance and we had fun. Perhaps just volunteering to help lifted some moral on the staff, I don't know. I felt better about that then just complaining about it, though.

 

Eagle Pete

[SSScout]

When I became CM, I went to R/T. Boy it was fun! The fellow (I'll call him J) ran it like a CubScout Pack meeting! And we had refreshments and beads and you made a Totem if you were new to the R/T. The BS R/T was equally active. Cheers, program (astonomy one night, animal tracking, camp cooking, why THIS is poison Ivy and THESE three leaves aren't, etc)done by expert trainers,, Scout business too. J made it fun. And then J moved away for his work. Some other District got him. The next fellow (call him K) who took on R/T Commish didn't quite have the idea. No more donuts. What are beads? That's a Totem? never heard of that, humm, let's get down to business now here are the announcements... Attendance dropped. And the poor man just couldn't make it work. Unfortunately, no one else could recreate the R/T that J had, but we all knew(those of us that kept coming) that that was what was missing. We are still working on it...

When my boy moved on to BSA, I became ASM. And lo, no one from the Troop went to R/T. It was like they never heard of it. So I kept going, and brought stuff back for the Troop Com to hear and for the PLC to hear, and for the SM to digest.Does anyone else WANT to go? Nope. Still as the reputation and "hey, I can get all this stuff off the website, right?" I have a hard time convincing them that it is a GOOD idea.

It is still a good Scout mixer, just don't have all the ingredients.

 

YiS(This message has been edited by SSScout)