Ugly Beading Ceremony

[Ohanadad]

Agree with 2 Cub. Yes, 40 minutes is bad and unfortunately when I got beaded the WB SM did a long and drawn out speech which bored the heck out of my cubs. But, the one thing that the SM did that made the pain a little bearable was that she tied my tickets to how it benefited the pack (including the cubs). As many pointed out, know your audience, and with cubs, even 10 minutes could be too long.

But at the same time, for many WB is a major accomplishment in their scouting experience and shouldn't be overlooked. Many here assume that all scouter are motivated go-getters that are fully prepared to take on large scale projects. As Basements wrote, "Any Adult worth his salt should be able to complete an eagle project.....And only 7 in 18 months a piece of cake." That's like assuming that all adult leaders are Eagle scouts which is false. I've been on WB staff and seen some participants that could have taught the classes because of their past experience and many who WB was the first time they were taught concepts such as project management, importance of communication, etc. I've seen a lot of tickets that have improved units and districts that would not have happened without WB to jumpstart them. So when someone finishes their tickets, we should recognize the accomplishment. It's almost like not having an Eagle CoH. It's a major accomplishment and should be celebrated. I feel sad for Stosh getting his beads in the mail. Assuming he worked hard on his tickets, he should have a least been presented his beads. Even if you didn't want it, it would be a good message to other adults/scouts that hard work is rewarded.

My opinion, Are pack/troop meeting the place for beading ceremonies? Probably not unless you keep it around 1-5 minutes. What about RTs or Committee meetings? Maybe but keep it to 5-10 minutes. Best option? We had a WB reunion for the previous two courses. There was a mass beading (each person that got beaded had one sentence to sum up and highlight their tickets in order to keep it short). It was the perfect balance of recognition, comradely, and ceremony.

 

 

[Basementdweller]

What in the world are you talking about Sasha??? In looking at the thread, I am betting there was a deleted post in there.....

 

I remember a post that said If you hate it so much then why did you attend????

 

I attended because I was asked/obligated for my a patrol mate.

 

So OH.....You know adults that can't complete projects??????? Thats what we are talking about here. Lets face it an eagle project is a single job. for a boy it is daunting, for an adult it should be a piece of cake.(This message has been edited by Basementdweller)

[JMHawkins]

Best beading ceremonies I've seen were when WB course-mates got together late at night after the lads had gone to bed, shared a bit of camaraderie around a campfire, and enjoyed each other's company for a bit.

 

This was what the SM in our troop did. There were a total of four youth in attendence - his three sons and the Troop's SPL. The SPL was there because when he found out about the ceremony, he asked if he could cook dutch oven desserts for everyone (he loves to cook).

 

I just started working on my ticket. I figure I'll do one of two things for a ceremony. Either I'll do what our SM did so that my family can attend (as well as my troop mates and especially our Troop Guide who went to bat for me on a ticket item I really wanted to do but was way, way out of the box), or else I'll ask the SM to hand them to me in the middle of a week-long wilderness trip.

 

No way will it happen at Roundtable or any sort of District event. Those are for other things, I won't impose on them.

 

 

[eisely]

There is nothing wrong with promoting wood badge and public recognition of adults, but forty five minutes is obviously over the top and self defeating. This tendency of adults to stroke one another is not confined to wood badge or, for that matter, scouting. I happen to go to a concluding ceremony for a cub scout day camp several years ago. Most of that was taken up by the adult volunteers stroking one another and it was a turn off. They had put in a lot of effort and deserved some public recognition, but it has to be kept short and sweet or it becomes a negative.

[JFL49]

I use two versions of a the beading ceremony: a short version and a long version. The short version runs about 9 minutes and the long version about 11 minutes. It may run one or two minutes longer if there are multiple Scouters being recognized. If there are a good number Wood Badgers present, we'll sing the entire Gilwell song. Otherwise, we'll just sing the verses corresponding to the recipient's critters.

 

It is disrespectful to take up any more of the audience's time, whether it be a Camporee, Blue and Gold, Roundtable, or even our annual Council Wood Badge Dinner. Also, run a long beading ceremony at ANY event and you can be guaranteed that you'll never be invited back to that unit or District. Never.

[SSScout]

 

One's beading is much like an Eagle CoH. It can be as long and flowery as is desired, or short and sweet.

WB can bs directed at the Unit, or the District or council, I guess. So too, the ceremony can be directed to the desired audience. I chose to have mine at my home Troop's CoH. It was the last thing on the program, listed as "Special Award". My WBSM and TG came, I invited some extra Scout friends to witness, and it took maybe 10 minutes. The WBSM spoke of the history and tradition, I ducked down for the necker and woggle and bead lanyard (WBSM is much altitudinally challenged) and sang the song and then closed the CoH with flags and "Great Scoutmaster..." and then to the punch and cookies.

It served three purposes: closure for me, some education for the Troop (hadn't been a WBer there in a long time) and encouragement for others to help the Troop along.

I think that if the WBer had the history with the CS group (?District event?) and he/she wanted to share that happy occasion there, that was appropriate and wonderful. But 45 minutes? Bad show, old boy , definitely bad form, eh wot? A learning moment, shall we say.

Longest I have seen was at a District Award Dinner. Big crowd of 95% adults, lots of accolades, and 28 WBers getting their beads and neckers. Lots of harmonious Gilwell that night, and it was about, oh, say 15 maybe 20 minutes for that part of the festivities.

[BDPT00]

Personal opinion: I think that 30 people getting their beads all at once is a complete waste of time, and rather insulting to the recipients.

BDPT00

[Tokala]

Previous course directors to me would spend 20-30 minutes presenting beads. Didn't matter if it was a Roundtable, Troop CoH or a Pack B&G. When I was course director, I cut it down to about 10 minutes. That gave plenty of time to recognize the person and do some promotion for the training without boring the youth present. I would stay around a while after the bead ceremony to answer any questons that people might have concerning the next course or the training.

[Momleader]

Wow after reading this I'm definately having my beading as an adult event....with my own kids there....just leaders and patrol member and family.....now to figure out how to make a fox shaped cake!

 

I do think it is sad and disrespectful when we try to present training awards to leaders at a pack meeting and parents who don't volunteer at all get huffy about it. our cubs think its neat the leaders earn stuff too and have even tried to trade for some of the patch awards!

[Oak Tree]

In reading Twocub's post, I realized that everything depends. I do recognize adults at troop courts of honor. I think it's good to do that, and it works well where everyone knows each other and the audience appreciates what the person has done. You can also try to make it fun.

 

But I was at a council camporee where they just went on and on, huge audience, nobody knew the people who did the work. Big long description of thanks for the guy who designed the camporee patch, etc, etc. No one item was really terrible, but when they just went on one after another, with a different person coming up to say thanks to some other person we didn't know, well, it got old.

[AnniePoo]

I got my beads in the mail, with no ceremony anywhere, just the way I wanted it.

[frankpalazzi]

40 minutes for a beading ceremony?? Our ECOHs last 45 minutes! These types of things are best done at a Pack/Troop meeting/COH, not a district Cub event! As far as "baubled peacocks," I won't wear the bling, even with 30+ years in. I just wear my li'l old service stars. The best bauble I ever receive is when a former Scout who I meet years later as an adult gives a handshake or hug and says "Thank You for all you've done." That's an award that's worn on the INSIDE. No one sees it, but a lot of people know you have it.

 

Not to say WB is not a worthwhile program. It is EXCELLENT training. We've had two SMs go through it in the last several years and it made a difference. But extended ceremonies at a Cub function where very few even understand the significance?

Think about it.(This message has been edited by FrankScout)

[Ohanadad]

Basement,

As for your statement, "So OH.....You know adults that can't complete projects???????"

 

Why yes, I see it all the time. The parent that volunteered to put on the best PWD of all times and then couldn't even get started so the pack committee had to take it over (a really good reason to have activity chairs give in-progress reports to the pack committee). My coworker that would start projects and only finish about half of them. The two parents that couldn't resolve an issue (and didn't want to talke to each other) and about tore the den apart until the CM came in and got them to talk to one another. I could go on and on. In my pack, I have the range from military officers to single moms (who are sometimes more orgnaized ). Each has their own level of experience and knowledge to do and complete projects. To say that every adult leader can complete projects such as a PWD or WB ticket would be false. That's why we have training. While some people don't get a lot from it, there are probably way more that are now quality leaders because of the training they received.

[Basementdweller]

OH....in all honesty I have seen it too........But typically in my area it is poor folks.....there is a reason they are poor....Organization and follow thru is a problem.

 

[ccjj]

I received my beads this past summer at our Webelos Resident Camp. I am the Camp Director and after our Saturday night campfire, I let the campers and adults know what was going to happen. I gave them the choice to stay and watch or head back to our dining hall and we would be there in about 1/2 hour. Most of them chose to stay and watch. They had the choice and it was a short but meaningful ceremony for myself and one of my staff.