2021 National Jamboree—NOW CANCELLED

[HelpfulTracks]

 

1 minute ago, David CO said:

I hope her college doesn't see that post.  Considering the academic climate of political correctness nowadays, she might have some splaining to do!  

Sad, but true.

[T2Eagle]

1 hour ago, HelpfulTracks said:

Not really. The bulk of registrations come in the Spring after registration opens (in the Fall). All of the recruiting is done during Spring and Summer events; Camporees, Summer Camp etc. I am the Jambo Chair for my Council and I have talked to many families that were either waiting to see how Covid-19 shook out or were concerned about the financial impact (current and potential future) of Covid and had not yet registered. The Spring is also when we had planned to do several fundraising events for the Scouts to participate. Obviously, that did not happen.

With Jambo costing between $1,500 and $3,000 (depending on transportation cost), losing that much fund raising time was crippling. Particularly since we are seeing increase in Covid cases, putting Summer and Fall fundraising at risk. 

There was real concern that we could end up in a situation where would have far less than 10K Scouts at Jambo and that would be a financial disaster. 

I agree.

You can't separate out possible/probable problems caused by Covid with the financial implications of those problems.  A lot of money would need to be spent now and in the coming months, both at the local and national level, for an event that just doesn't look like it could safely be held a year from now.  

I'm also on my Council's Jambo committee, and have chaired it in the past.  We were way behind in recruitment compared to previous years, and I don't think we ever would have gotten to where we wanted to be in number of participants.

As a nation we need to get our act together sooner rather than later about this pandemic.

[John-in-KC]

My personal thoughts:

National is short the funds to make down payments when they sign the various contracts, and their bankruptcy masters refused to allow them to draw on debt.  I think Irving is hiding this reason from its customer base  

Covid is a concern.  We are talking about a small city, and that city would lack the spacing even an ordinary apartment provides. You’d need 4x the tent age for staff alone.  

Finally, not every vendor has a cancellation clause, indeed some have forfeiture clauses. 

[RememberSchiff]

Jamborees may be a money loser for BSA and the state (support expenditures for National Guard, police, fire, and medical) but for local businesses:

Postponement of the 2021 National Jamboree by Boy Scouts of America is expected to decrease tax revenue by an estimated $1.2 million and to cut 350 jobs, according to data supplied by Lisa Strader, executive director of Visit Southern West Virginia.

"It is, definitely, a major blow for 2021 for our region," said Strader. "But we know that planning for that large of an event begins so far in advance that they just don't have the luxury of waiting."

Strader cited a 2019 economic impact study by the West Virginia University Bureau of Business Economic Research that shows the National Jamboree has a $76 million impact on the economy. The National Jamboree happens every four years.

In years without a National Jamboree, The Summit Bechtel Reserve brings in some $28 million and supports 280 jobs, injecting $1 million into state and local tax coffers.*

...

Source:

https://www.timeswv.com/news/saturday_news/boy-scouts-jamboree-postponement-to-impact-w-va-businesses/article_39134a28-5baa-59d3-a121-b479bbf207f8.html

*Note: SBR is exempt from property tax. West Virginia has a state income and sales tax.

Some math fun. WV has 100% property evaluation, assessed at 60%. Fayette County tax rate 0.631%

Edited July 18, 2020 by RememberSchiff

[David CO]

19 hours ago, John-in-KC said:

You’d need 4x the tent age for staff alone.  

I'm not sure what the age of the tent has to do with it, but we have some old tents they could use, if that would help.

[qwazse]

This is primarily about the pandemic.
At the outset of this slow-motion train wreck, my pandemic guy said it would take 18 months to roll out a vaccine — assuming at least one manufacturer gets it right on the 1st try. The only advantage to a 2021 Jamboree from a public health perspective would be if the first batch of winning vaccine (assuming that at least one is effective) could easily be administered at one location. But, barely 2% of scouts and scouters participate, so it’s impact would be minimal.

There could be a national event with perhaps a fraction of the scouts (say, 0.1% of membership) allowing for much slower viral transmission. But, that would not be a Jamboree.

There could also be a multi-multi-location (e.g. hundreds of camps simultaneously) national event that could involve a record number of scouts. It would hard to imagine how to recreate the intentional connectedness of a single location. But the right corporate sponsors might want to give it a try.

[Momleader]

It’s a shame but the risks and stakes are high. If my own kids were of the age to go I would have second thoughts unless there was a vaccine 

[John-in-KC]

On 7/18/2020 at 8:30 AM, David CO said:

I'm not sure what the age of the tent has to do with it, but we have some old tents they could use, if that would help.

If I have to treat you like a Bobcat Cub Scout I can. Please do me a favor and delete your reply. When i see you have, I will delete this. 

[David CO]

5 hours ago, John-in-KC said:

If I have to treat you like a Bobcat Cub Scout I can. Please do me a favor and delete your reply. When i see you have, I will delete this. 

It is a moderators privilege to treat members any way they like.

[qwazse]

5 hours ago, John-in-KC said:

If I have to treat you like a Bobcat Cub Scout I can. Please do me a favor and delete your reply. When i see you have, I will delete this. 

 

7 minutes ago, David CO said:

It is a moderators privilege to treat members any way they like.

If a scouter forum can’t countenance dumb scout jokes (now called dad jokes)  over the likely autocorrect of “tentage” to “tent age”, it’s probably not a forum that I’d continue following. Therefore I’d encourage moderators to tread lightly, in conference, and discretely.

[qwazse]

I posted the following on Bryan’s blog ...

Quote

 I would like to put forward a modest proposal:
Jambo at SBR has been cancelled for sound reasons. Simply put, scouts are trained to forestall death, and by not buying pre-registrations in large numbers, they've made that a clear priority. That does not, however, mean that scouts don't want to fellowship, they just want to do so in a way that mitigates harm to others.
So, instead of Jambo at SBR, can we attempt the first massively multi-site National Jamboree? This would entail:
- Reserving many camp properties across the nation for this Jambo week.
- Health officials at each property to coordinate pandemic mitigation.
- Deploying telecoms like never before. (Throw the gauntlet down to AT&T.)
- Activities that include interstate communication with patrols.
- Enabling next day camp-to-camp delivery to facilitate national patch exchanges. (Shipping companies could start accepting bids.)
- Break with tradition and invite GS/USA and other independent US scout organizations to host gatherings on their properties.

Think 500 properties nation-wide 200 scouts at each: it would be by far the largest scouting event ever attended. The fees might actually be greater, but the transportation costs might be less.

What would you think of a massively multisite national camporee? (Assuming tech sponsors would come on board to provide infrastructure.) Maybe call it a Panoree or Jambodemic.

[MattR]

You had me until jambodemic 🙂. I like it because a jamboree is out of my price range (not the event itself but the 5 fold council tax). Better yet, all scouts could participate. That would be nice. Getting every scout to camp the same week would be great, not to mention a great challenge.

My hunch is you'd have to think about the details. Getting the majority of scouts together at the same time would take a lot of space. Then there's the network required. That's not cheap.

But if you make it, it would be cool.

[SSScout]

As that old Belgium Scouter Hercule would say,  "Zee leetle graay cells , they are vibrating, n'est pas ? " 

I like the idea of a nation wide, virtual, eJambo.   Tent in your own back yard,  Social distance your Scouts.  How many customers in a ZOOM ?  There is a wonderful ZOOM choral concert that was built up https://ericwhitacre.com/the-virtual-choir  

MAYBE Irving can think to put their staff to work organizing such. 

[qwazse]

@MattR and @SSScout, let’s be clear that as far as fees go, Jambodemic would be as expensive. Good tech and reliable public health won’t be cheap. Transportation to a camp in a scout’s area would be less, but delivering a similar experience to isolated council camps may vary.

[mrjohns2]

Some other post asked how national could lose $3 million on a Jamboree. Pretty easy. Misjudge how much to charge or go over budget. If you misestimated by $50/participant and went over budget by $50/participant, that is a cool $3 million with 30,000 Scouts. Very easy to do.