Ugly Beading Ceremony

[frankpalazzi]

ANY adult contribution toward Scouting is admirable and should be appreciated, regardless of time or monetary value.

[Jay K]

We used to have regalia presentation ceremonies at the Wood Badge Breakfast, at Wood Badge courses, and at special, dedicated regalia presentation events, but it was decided, and not by me, that they should be done, instead, at Roundtables, Courts of Honor, and Blue and Gold banquets, so that other involved, no Wood Badge adults would "see" the presentation, and perhaps get interested in attending the course.

40 minutes is just bizarre.

[SeattlePioneer]

>

 

 

Unfortunately, this is just the kind of Wood Badge marketing effort I've come to not like, because I've seen it so many times. Wood Badge is 'way over promoted, in my opinion.

 

At its worst, you have the ugly beading ceremony described in the opening post of this thread.

 

Let's save most of the promotion for Scouting events for youth, OK?

[BDPT00]

I've seen bead presentations during a course. I think it's a terrible idea.

I've also seen presentations at breakfast. The worst was 35 people getting beads at the same time. It was an absolute mess, and it eliminated that concept from future breakfasts. I agree.

BDPT00

[BDPT00]

I've seen bead presentations during a course. I think it's a terrible idea.

I've also seen presentations at breakfast. The worst was 35 people getting beads at the same time. It was an absolute mess, and that practice has been discontinued. I agree.

BDPT00

[danbrew]

I like what Twocubdad has to say about recognizing the adults and thanking them for their contribution to Scouting. On the other hand, I agree that Scouting is for the boys and all "thank you events" should be designed to focus on their achievements and to recognize their successes - many of which are significant for a youth. There's a world of difference in recognizing achievements in an adult and a youth.

 

Having said that, though, I was one of those guys that had my beading ceremony at a Pack Blue & Gold. Myself and another leader planned it at the Blue & Gold for a reason - it was a dysfunctional pack and there had been a tremendous amount of drama in the last year or two with lots of families questioning the value of Scouting and whether they would continue their membership. The message I wanted to communicate to the parents was that there were leaders there that cared, that made investments in the Pack, that there were adults that were doing all they could to put on a good program that led to a better environment for the members of the Pack. The event was planned at the end of the Blue & Gold and should have been a 20-minute thing. Of course it went longer and there were some (maybe many) that were wondering what it was all about and were eager to hit the road after the B&G.

 

I would do it differently today. It's hard to separate the pomp & circumstance that many districts infuse into the beading ceremonies - just as it is hard to communicate in a brief amount of time what Wood Badge is really all about and how it leads to a stronger unit with well trained leaders. At the end of the day it's about cheerful and selfless service to the youth we serve. You don't necessarily need to have a grand public recognition ceremony to highlight "look at me, look what I did". If I'm honest with myself, I'll confess that I did have some of those thoughts when planning the beading ceremony at the Blue & Gold. Looking back at it I believe that simply using the knowledge gained (and, for me, networking and getting to know some great Scouters outside of my immediate circle) through the Wood Badge experience would be better applied by putting on a great program for the Pack/Troop through new skills.

 

On a somewhat related topic, I'm a big believer in adults wearing the beads and the knots and all that - just as we know that a boy wearing Life or Eagle rank has demonstrated a significant investment in Scouting, so do the regalia of an adult.

[Donnavon]

Here the ceremonies are sad, 3 minutes ill prepared speached and not even the song is sung, so it goes both ways

[BobWhiteVA]

we had our beading ceremony this week. The WB SM looked over at our SPL at the start of the ceremony and asked "how long do I have?" He kept the whole thing to less than 10 minutes, including the song. The kids seemed to get a kick out of it, and we hopefully recruited 2 more adults to go through the program.

[fred8033]

"I've been to one "beading" ceremony - my father's. It was at a Troop Court of Honor and took all of 1 minute - he was called up, congratulated, had the beads slipped over his head, shook a couple hands, and sat back down."

 

That's the way all adult recognitions should be. A Big Thank You, Recognition, and all within the space of one to two mintues. As a Cubmaster, I know first-hand that the boys and parents like to see leaders be recognized but I also realize adult recognitions can become boring very fast.

 

Well said.

[Basementdweller]

Woodbadge is kinda like amway.....your tasked to get the next level of the pyramid......

 

 

 

There is no reason for woodbadge other than council fundraising.......Let me see 40 staff at $150 each.....50-100 participants at $250 each......

 

Yep a huge fundraiser.

 

Far as the 3 minute beading ceremony that was a good length and the proper perspective as to where Woodbadge belongs in the scouting program.

 

 

[jr56]

I agree that beading ceremonies should be for the benfit of the Woodbadgers. Making Cub Scouts and their families sit through 40 minutes of that is just plain wrong.

[Brewmeister]

I requested, and received, no beading ceremony. I simply picked up my beads from my ticket counselor.

 

My counselor protested and I said I simply don't want the attention. Then my counselor said, "think about your units, and what it means for them to see XYZ, etc etc."

 

So then I said, wait a minute, all through training we were hit over the head with "This is all about ME." Well, if this is about ME, I do not want a ceremony! So that put the end to that.

 

Woodbadge is a training program, nothing more. No need for a big pompous ceremony to tell everybody you got something done, unless you're into the whole self-aggrandization thing.

 

[SSScout]

Test the Owl test