Call out suggestions for large events

[skeptic]

At camporee, with around 500+ attendees, a lot of call outs were made; think they indicated close to 50. They culled them out one at a time from a huge circle, and took forever. After a full day of events in warm weather, as well as the dust and pollen from the pastureland, it seemed like it was far too long, and soon lost its impact on the rest.

 

Any ideas how they might do it a bit quicker in large events? I think they could do an entire troop together, using proper number of guides needed and simply take them as a group for the actual Tap Out before exiting the area. Would likely cut time in half.

 

 

[Eagle92]

Don't know if this will speed it up or not, but here is an idea.

 

1) After the Call Out team is assembled and start explaining the OA, Let them ask that ALL ARROWMEN come forward and form a line behind the fire. This does a few things, A) gets visibility B) forms an impressive backdrop, and C) Preps for the next step.

 

2) Instead of having principles get the candidates, get the members form the backdrop to get candidates from their units and present them to the chief. This A) makes sure that no one get's left behind B) speeds up the getting of candidates.

[Twocubdad]

DON'T

 

IMHO, call outs, especially long boring ones, do more to damage the OA than anything else. Non-Arrowmen have no idea what the indian stuff is about. If you think about it, all the symbolism is explained during the Ordeal. To most of the rank and file, its just a boring ceremony by a bunch of guys in indian costumes speaking in really bad monotones.

 

Personally, I thing the whole call out thing needs to be re-thought. I'd never do it on more than a troop level. On a camporee, send teams OA reps to each troop's campsite and recognize the new candidates in front of their troop (where it counts). Escourt them to a central location for a small reception and info meeting -- or, if you must, a more traditional OA ceremony.

[shortridge]

There should be no such thing as a long, boring callout. There's a way to do it right, educating the general population about the OA and getting folks interested, without putting them to sleep.

 

None of the callout ceremonies I ever ran or participated in lasted more than a few minutes - in some cases, shorter than the average campfire skit. A brief explanation of the OA, its purpose, some peppy patter and chatter, calling the candidates, and leading them out of the campfire circle to a brief meeting, and your mission is accomplished.

 

For a really large group of candidates (the size of the overall attendee pool really doesn't matter), I'd suggest a modified version of Eagle92's suggestion. Have the ceremony leaders stand on stage and call out the names - not one at a time, but all at once, in a list. Don't wait for each candidate to come to the front before calling the next. Instead, designate an OA member from each troop to stand in the audience escort the candidate to the front the moment his or her name is called. That way you get everyone up to the front very quickly. By positioning the escorts in the audience, you reduce the time it takes for someone to walk down from the stage, into the audience, and back up to the stage.

 

One note: There should really be NO explanation of the symbolism during the call-out ceremony. The teams should all be very aware of the importance of symbolic progression in the inductions process. Don't spoil the mystery.

[SeattlePioneer]

Our district does callouts at Camporee. The callout team goes from troop to troop and does the callout before the assembled troop members.

 

Effective, and just takes a few minutes.

[SR540Beaver]

Well, I'm going to go against the conventional wisdom of this thread. Our chapter was one of those that had a team stand on stage at the end of campfire and call out names to then lead them off to a short meeting. Talk about dull, boring, meaningless and dry! Everyone thought it was a huge waste of time. Over the past three years, we have gone to a more traditional call out ceremony and it is well received by the troops.

 

Now, we do it a little different because our district swapped Webelos Woods and Camporee around where Camporee is in the fall and WEbelos Woods is in the spring. We do the callout on Friday night after the troops get in camp and get set up. The campfire is designed for the Webelos, so we keep the callout seperate. We do a Brotherhood ceremony after campfire.