National Annual Meeting NAM May 5-9, 2024 Orlanda

[skeptic]

4 hours ago, scoutldr said:

We are in a high military concentration area.  While the Scouts were gathering on the parking lot for our weekly meeting one summer evening, a young man stopped in, saying he was a Eagle Scout in the Navy and wanted to get back to Scouting.  Seemed nice enough.  I tried contacting his home Council (Caddo) SE and never got a response to verify his creds.  I had given him an app and explained that he couldn't participate until the background checks were done and he had council approval.  Never saw him after that.  I will always wonder if we dodged a bullet, or did we miss an opportunity.

Yes might be the answer to both or either.  We had a similar incident or two where once it was made clear to someone they were not allowed to work until cleared, other than with other adults they disappeared.  Follow the rules and it works most of the time.  

[RememberSchiff]

So far this appears to be the only direct, unfiltered presentation to us from NAM 2024.

Thank you and Scout Salute to Scouter Selby (note Assistant Scoutmaster patch)

 

[RememberSchiff]

Safeguarding Our Youth General Session presentation (46 min) with Glen Pounder whose job title Youth Protection Executive appears renamed and NEB member Frank Tsuru who also serves as Chair of the Youth Safeguarding Committee.

IMHO, presentation gets interesting starting at 19:00 when Mr. Tsuru talks about transparency and policy. Mr. Pounder continues and expands on that discussion.

Why NAM presentations can't be broadcast (live and archived) online to all of us remains a puzzle to me.  Better yet lets have a two-way dialog, maybe discuss pitfalls of perp profiling, the need for report tracking for both end-user and organizations...I am seeing some of the same failed solutions presented in a new tech suit. We have ideas and questions.

My $0.02.

 

Edited May 31 by RememberSchiff
add more cowbell

[SiouxRanger]

11 hours ago, RememberSchiff said:

Why NAM presentations can't be broadcast (live and archived) online to all of us remains a puzzle to me. 

Considering National has all manner of training available on line, the obvious gap are NAM presentations.  Which just happen to be the most current National policy and therefore the most important to disseminate widely.

But Noooooo!  

 

“Truth, is the most precious thing we have. Economise it.”  --Mark Twain

[Eagle1993]

Just one example of transparency.  UK Scout Association annual report attached. 

BSAs last report 2019 is here 

https://ar2019.scouting.org/

 

UK Scout Association has 3.7% youth and increasing vs Scouting USA has 1.2% and falling.

scouts-annual-report-2022-to-2023.pdf

[Jameson76]

On 6/1/2024 at 8:23 AM, Eagle1993 said:

Just one example of transparency.  UK Scout Association annual report attached. 

BSAs last report 2019 is here 

https://ar2019.scouting.org/

 

UK Scout Association has 3.7% youth and increasing vs Scouting USA has 1.2% and falling.

scouts-annual-report-2022-to-2023.pdf 6.44 MB · 7 downloads

Scouter - we will tell you what you need to know and when you need to know it....and be happy we are engaging with the peasant leaders at all

Signed

BSA National Leadership

[InquisitiveScouter]

5 hours ago, Jameson76 said:

Scouter - we will tell you what you need to know and when you need to know it....and be happy we are engaging with the peasant leaders at all

Signed

BSA National Leadership

If we wanted you to have an opinion, we'd give you ours 😜 

[swilliams]

25 minutes ago, InquisitiveScouter said:

If we wanted you to have an opinion, we'd give you ours 😜 

Didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so you get an upvote instead.

[Tron]

I think the presentation is good. I'm focusing on the improved YPT training, I think it was a real BIG statement when Glen Pounder pointed out that a council has had zero YPT reports (including near misses); moving to annual training is a big improvement, partnering with homeland security is a thing, right, there's resources there that Scouting America can use to keep kids safe. 

[RememberSchiff]

2024 National Annual Meeting Presentations:

Strengthen Our Financial Position 

Revitalize Our Brand and Broaden Our Appeal

Change the Way We Work Together

Be a National Leader in Safeguarding Our Youth

Opening General Session

https://nam.scouting.org/presentations/

[BinTharDunThat]

Thanks.  These are helpful and worrisome.

Revitalize Our Brand and Broaden Our Appeal

Says only 3 respondents were aware of abuse claims or bankruptcy. That raises questions of the value of the action plan.  We couldn’t watch television without hearing “were you abused in Scouting?”  The data seems unbelievable.  
 

I get the value of DEI, but that term seems to have become radioactive.  Is BSA behind the curve on how it characterizes increasing membership across all demographics?

Still, wholly agree that “If you don’t give the market the story to talk about, they’ll define your brand’s story for you.”  I haven’t seen much of the BSA story pushed into the market in the last 3 months (1 good, long video).  Have I missed something?

 

 

[AwakeEnergyScouter]

On 9/18/2024 at 9:18 PM, BinTharDunThat said:

Thanks.  These are helpful and worrisome.

Revitalize Our Brand and Broaden Our Appeal

Says only 3 respondents were aware of abuse claims or bankruptcy. That raises questions of the value of the action plan.  We couldn’t watch television without hearing “were you abused in Scouting?”  The data seems unbelievable.  

All the other data ring true, so my guess is that the abuse question data are also good. I have never seen an ad like that, but I'm also a cord-cutter, so I was never going to if they were only on TV. Online, we all experience very different ads, and parents who weren't in Scouts as youth obviously wouldn't be targeted by the lawyers, so... Maybe the TV ads weren't making as big an impression on parents of current youth as it might have seemed?

I just realized yesterday while selling popcorn that at last some of the people who think we're selling cookies literally do not know that Scouting America exists. I thought they had scouting so gendered in their minds that girls in any kind of scouting uniform=Girl Scouts=cookies, but apparently I'm not just telling people who didn't know that girls can be Scouting America members but also telling people that we exist. That took me aback a little, and I was wondering if that was just those two people, but after watching this video it would seem that really is a problem. They don't think about us at all.

That also explains why the boys also get asked if they're selling cookies. They don't think about us at all. 

I'm glad to hear what's in that presentation and it sounds like they get it. Relaunch the brand is exactly what's needed. People need to know who we are and what we do - accurately.

I have had to explain to more than one prospective or new parent that one does not have to be a Christian to join Scouting America. The truth is that out of the people who know we exist, a lot of people have an inaccurately narrow view of whom scouting is for. That also needs fixing if we want to grow, and I'm so glad that they seem to realize that.

[BinTharDunThat]

Agree with you.  The ads were television, and may have been only major market.  They were a running discussion for our city.

Still, four months after a rollout at NAM, a third of a year, we’re largely waiting for that high-profile brand relaunch.  Using Scouting America without a heavy brand awareness campaign introduces large uncertainty to an unaware public, who might as well wonder if this is a BSA competitor like Trail Life.  Just telling Councils and Units to start using a new logo is not a brand rollout of any significance.

Part of that nationwide, substantive brand awareness campaign, when finally provided (if ever) must be that this is not the BSA of 1924, it’s the BSA of 2024.  Every opportunity to inform the public and create goodwill should be sized.  For example, why was it not included on popcorn packaging sold in August, September, and October?

They may have drafted a great plan, but where’s the execution?

[AwakeEnergyScouter]

 

35 minutes ago, BinTharDunThat said:

Part of that nationwide, substantive brand awareness campaign, when finally provided (if ever) must be that this is not the BSA of 1924, it’s the BSA of 2024.  Every opportunity to inform the public and create goodwill should be sized.  For example, why was it not included on popcorn packaging sold in August, September, and October?

They may have drafted a great plan, but where’s the execution?

I agree completely, and wish I had a strong answer for that last question. 

[Tron]

On 9/22/2024 at 4:34 PM, BinTharDunThat said:

 

Agree with you.  The ads were television, and may have been only major market.  They were a running discussion for our city.

Still, four months after a rollout at NAM, a third of a year, we’re largely waiting for that high-profile brand relaunch.  Using Scouting America without a heavy brand awareness campaign introduces large uncertainty to an unaware public, who might as well wonder if this is a BSA competitor like Trail Life.  Just telling Councils and Units to start using a new logo is not a brand rollout of any significance.

Part of that nationwide, substantive brand awareness campaign, when finally provided (if ever) must be that this is not the BSA of 1924, it’s the BSA of 2024.  Every opportunity to inform the public and create goodwill should be sized.  For example, why was it not included on popcorn packaging sold in August, September, and October?

They may have drafted a great plan, but where’s the execution?

The brand rollout is a soft rollout starting in June 2024, the hard rollout with national media campaigns starts on B&G 2025. Nationals marketing department told us to start using SA instead of BSA but said the rebranding is really focused on starting in 2025.