Troop Open House.

[Sentinel947]

My Troop has an open house in a few weeks. Where Webelos and their Parents can come visit the Troop. The Scouts put on some activities for the Webelos, and the parents are brought to a conference room at the CO. I was asked by the Committee Chair to give a talk about The transition from Cubs to Boy Scouts, and what Boy Scouting is all about. I've got maybe 5-10 minutes to talk.

 

I was wondering if anybody had done something like this before and had suggestions about topics to include.

 

Sentinel947

[desertrat77]

Sentinel, excellent idea. I have one thing that jumps to mind, and it is seared there because of a particular experience: the scouts need to be instructed that this event is NOT the time to chit-chat and visit with fellow scouts, but actively engage in conversation with parents and potential scouts. It may be out of their comfort zone, but this is the time to learn to mingle. Look people in the eye, firm handshake, speak clearly, be polite.

 

I was a UC in my previous district, and a unit had a open house. The youth that showed up received zero interaction from the scouts. They sat there, isolated and kind of off balance, while the scouts yakked and hooted and laughed with each other, and ignored the visiting youth from start to finish. The unit leaders did nothing about it. Nothing I tried could induce any of the scouts or scouters to show any attention to the visitors. I felt horrible, and still do. Needless to say, zero recruits that night.

 

Same dynamic in other organizations as well. During a deployment several years ago, we'd host local national civic leaders now and again at our location. I can still hear the commander telling the staff "I better not see any two of you talking to each other during this event, it's about the guests!" Even then, there were times when birds of a feather did indeed flock together, as humans will in socially challenging situations. The commander or his vice would ease by and quietly say "break it up!"

[Sentinel947]

I agree, the Scouts normally do an excellent job of that. I'm more specifically asking for help with discussion topics on the transition from Cubs to Boy Scouts and what being a Boy Scout is all about. Since this group is mostly parents, they won't be as knowledgeable as the people we have here on Scouter.com, and I'm wondering what the basic essential topics are and how to slim them down.

[scoutergipper]

I would suggest about half philosophy and half mechanics. Boy Scouts is not Cub Scouts. Explain the Aims and Methods and the ultimate goal of Scouting. Let them know the Troop is boy-led and the level of involvement you expect from Parents (as opposed to Adult Leaders). The other half can be about Dues, when you meet, how often and where you camp, etc.

 

If you have an articulate older Scout, you might consider giving him a minute or two to talk about his Scouting experience in the Troop.

[SeattlePioneer]

While most Boy Scout come through Cub Scouts, your open house would be a goodpportunity to invite boys who are 5th and sixth graders and not in Cub Scouts to come visit.

 

The best way to do that is to visit schools with those grade levels and talk to 5th and sixth graders while they are having lunch. Have a flyer inviting them to your open house.

 

 

You can efficiently go from table to table and talk about your troop program of hiking and camping and ask who would be interested in visiting your troop and finding out how to join your program.

 

 

Many schools will welcome such visits --- some wont. Talk to your DE about how welcome schools in your area would be to this kind of approach.

[eagle90]

If you email me I can send you a "script" I use for this very thing, emphasizing the major differences betwen Cubs and Scouts. I emphasize that the parents usually have more trouble transitioning than the boys do!

 

eagle90bsa@att.net

 

Dale

[Sentinel947]

Ealge90, I sent you an email.

[Sidney Porter]

Might be something better presented by the SPL with the SM there for support.

[LeCastor]

Hosting an open house was one of my Wood Badge ticket items. I assigned specific stations to Scouts who had shown proficiency in a certain area: camping, cooking, electronics, etc. Also, I made it clear to the younger Scouts that this would be an excellent opportunity for them to invite their non-Scout buddies--and fulfill one of the 1st Class requirements. It went very well and one of our Scouts showed some guests how to do a Native American dance.

 

There were several Webelos who were integrated into the fold with the Scouts while the moms and dads got an ear-full from our Assistant Scoutmasters. I was able to just sit back and enjoy the awesome show!

 

We didn't get any immediate recruits but those Cubbies remember our Troop and we also made some good contacts in our neighborhood. This open house, coupled with our annual chili supper, is how we reach out to the local community and let them know we are here. I have asked the PLC if they would like to do it again sometime...I'll be a pleasure to see them take off and plan it themselves!

[SeattlePioneer]

<<

We didn't get any immediate recruits >>

 

 

Unfortunately, recruiting new Boy Scouts other than through Cub Scouts is tough.

 

The school visits I described earlier are the best way to make contact with interested boys in my experience.

 

The best attended Boy Scout recruiting event I ever staged was "Computer Game Night"! We probably had twenty NEW BOYS attend that we'd never seen before!

 

 

Unfortunately, we never saw any of them AGAIN, either!

[Stosh]

With 3 feeder packs in the area, we do not do any Open Houses. It was suggested to the boys to request an invite to attend on of their den meetings and do a demo/presentation kinda thingy. The boys generally like doing it because it allows them a chance to plan what they want to do and they have skin in the game and there is no Scouts milling about not doing anything, they all tend to be involved. With multiple patrols we could cover multiple dens if they happened to have a den meeting on the same night.

 

Then when we invite them to our winter cabin camping, we do invite the Webelos boys from all the packs and just add water to the soup to adjust if a large group shows up.

 

That makes two contacts with the Web II boys before they decide what troop they wish to join. When the boys show up at Blue Gold with neckers/books for the cross over, generally the SPL/PL's know the boys by name and have started some kind of discussion with them. The boys get a lesson if they wish on how to "Schmooze the Room," as well.

 

Stosh

[bluecat]

One piece of advice is to put yourself in the shoes of the parent coming to listen to you. What they REALLY want to know is how your troop is different than the other troops they are visiting and why they should settle or not settle on your troop. So, although your talk is interesting to those who are new to scouting, the Webelos parents probably already know most of the generic differences (or have heard it before from other troops).

 

In fact, you are not selling them on scouting, you are selling them (if that's the word) on your troop. This is your chance to set your troop apart.