Visit the troops night

[fred johnson]

Another thread has made me think about what some districts do and that ... I believe ... Girl Scouts do.

 

Why doesn't the district hold in Oct or Nov an evening at a central location where all the local troops come and Webelos can come to visit the troops?  Is it a numbers size that there are so many troops and so many cubs that it would overwhelm a gym?  Most schools will rent their gyms to non-profits at a very cheap price.  

 

Or is it a different issue?  Such as those running district activities are often tied to troops.  As such, things that might happen once or twice fall off the radar as the volunteers are not highly motivated to market all troops?  

 

I'm just sort of wondering.  I hear it is nice for Girl Scouts to go to one spot to form units.  Why not a true troop shopping night ???

Edited August 25, 2016 by fred johnson

[blw2]

Well, one guess is maybe its because of the way GS is structured very differently.  It seems like it's really more like a roundup effort to form new troops

 

From what I have seen with two daughters now in it, and a wife as a newly minted Daisy assistant leader

is that GS troops don't really recruit.

Recruiting is more on the council level. (or whatever their equivalent is)

 

a GS troop is more like our patrol, and it's normally formed either form a group of already existing friends (or gang in Baden Powell's words), or as a new throw together group from one of these recruiting night efforts at school.

 

Once the troop is formed, they may gain a few or loose a few along the way, but it's really just a journey with a definite end.  It's not like our troops which are more like a perpetuating thing, looking for the next generation

Edited August 25, 2016 by blw2

[SemperParatus]

Our district has over 25 troops and probably 50 packs or so. Finding a venue would be challenging, but my bigger concern would be the potential of it turning into a chaotic situation with too many people and choices (I envision the same anxiety I feel when looking for my toothpaste in a supermarket). Maybe a better approach would be a district directory that includes pertinent and current information relating to each troop (location, leadership, size, age/rank distribution, etc.) to give webelos a quick snapshot of troops in the area to better focus what troops they may want to visit. Sort of like the Princeton Review for colleges - when my children started looking at colleges I told them to go through the Review and pick 10 they were interested as a starting point.

[qwazse]

I think I we call that a camporee ...

Edited August 25, 2016 by qwazse

[mashmaster]

We do a Webelos Woods, but when I was visiting troops, I wanted to see the real meeting and drop in.  We also camped with several troops on regular campouts to get a good feel of the troop.

 

Doing it at a group setting it is hard to really understand the troop dynamics.

[jjlash]

We have a district Arrow Of Light ceremony.  Troops are invited to setup a table and Webelos/parents are encouraged to visit them.  Many Webelos have already made their choice by that time, but many have not.

[blw2]

As I think about this, I find the concept kinda funny.

 

In our case... just based on geography we have only three troops to choose from.... well four, but one of those is stretching the distance

 

Several of our webelos went to the troop that there older brothers in and that their dads are scouters in.

The other troop is at our pack's co, so the buildings and rooms are familiar, the people are familiar, the older scouts are familiar.

And the last troop was tied more closely to a different government school pack, so the place was unfamiliar, and our scouts didn't know any of the scouts or adults....and quite honestly they weren't really even friendly or welcoming when we visited

 

There really wasn't any shopping going on

I figure most boys will go

   a) where their friends go, and/or

   b) where their older brothers go, and/or

   c) to the one in a familiar location. (their school or church)

 

The rest of this, is by my estimation, and adult driven concept.

[JasonG172]

We do something like this in our Memphis Market.

 

We might have 4 Troops that are in the area of 2 school and what we'll do is arrange ALL troops in that are to meet that that school and setup a Table.

 

On that Table is a Schedule and the nights they meet. 

 

Pick the troops that fits your needs

[meyerc13]

This fall will be the third time our District has hosted this type of event.  The first year, it was a somewhat last minute idea that we threw together with a couple of months notice, holding it before Roundtable.  Out of forty something Troops, I would guess that a couple of dozen were present.  We had a good number of Cub Scout leaders attend, and a few Webelos and their families as well.  Last year, the event grew a bit more.  The Troops had a better idea of what to expect.  This year, my understanding is that the team planning it want it to be an even bigger event, with the Troops showing off some Scout skills (the past two years, some Troops had youth there, but many had just adult leaders).

 

Our District has just under 100 units (Packs, Troops, and a few Venturing and Varsity units), with the majority centered around a metro area in the Southeast portion of the District, and then a string of 1-2 units per town radiating North and West from there.  I'd have to do the analysis to give the exact breakdown of how many units are in the main metro area, but in reality it is those units that get the most out of an event like this, because if you live in one of the smaller towns/villages you don't generally have much choice in a unit unless you are willing to travel 10-20 miles to meetings and events.