Scout Zone: New BSA Recruiting Kit

[Kudu]

I received a new recruiting DVD from the BSA this week. The package is called "In the Scout Zone."

 

The DVD consists of five videos:

 

1) Scout Zone Music Video ("Scouts can show their friends this high-energy video of Scouting activities to encourage them to join").

2) Recruit a Friend ("This video on boy-to-boy recruiting will help young Scouts know what to say to their friends about their adventures in Scouting").

3) Troop Open House ("This presentation on the best methods of conducting a troop open house will help you sell the "outing" in Scouting").

4) Webelos to Scout Transition ("This program focuses on the importance of Webelos to Scout transition").

5) What Patents Say ("Show these testimonials to parents of prospective Scouts to help explain the value of Scouting for their boys").

 

The Music Video is pretty good. It consists of non-stop outdoor action, no talking.

 

The "Recruit a Friend" video has that Ned Flanders quality that religious conservatives exhibit when trying to be hip, but it consists of role-playing scenarios that are reasonably realistic. The basic idea is to

 

a) talk about what you do on campouts, and then

b) invite them to a meeting.

 

I always tell my Scouts NOT to ask their friends "Do you want to join Boy Scouts?" The correct question is "Do you like to go camping?" Then tell them that you go camping once a month, then tell them what you have done in the last couple months, THEN tell them that you camp with a Scout troop (after they ask).

 

The bulk of this video correctly concentrates on anticipating "objections." These include:

 

a) Not enough time to be a Scout

b) Its kind of nerdy / Isn't Scouts really strict?

c) The uniform (with the suggestion "Tell them we just wear it for meetings")

d) It costs too much

e) Not so sure ("Tell them they can come to 'the Scout Zone' as a guest, and they can come along on a weekend trip before they sign up")

 

One of the Scouts (the one whose eyes follow the tele-prompter and moves his lips as the other one talks) appears to be wearing the new "Boy Scout Action Shirt" which is basically a breathable nylon-blend version of the "class A" shirt but without the patches. I had only seen photos of this on the BSA Website, and I did NOT realize how close the actual color is to the indoor "field" uniform!

 

https://scoutnet.scouting.org/BSASupply/default.aspx?ctgy=PRODUCTS&C2=APPAREL&C3=ASHIRTS&C4=&LV=3

 

The most interesting video to me was the third one, "Troop Open House." This consists of three stages:

 

Step 1: The Troop Rally

Step 2: Personal Phone Call

Step 3: The Open House

 

Step 1: The Troop Rally

 

The potential recruits first "answer questions" on the "High Adventure Survey." This looks like a checklist with photos showing high-adventure activities in which they may be interested, with spaces for their addresses, etc. The video reports that up to 60% of the boys who fill out the survey indicate a positive interest in joining a Scout troop!

 

Skeptics will point out that those who are not interested will not fill it out, making the 60% figure artificially high. However, my experience is that 50% of the 6th grade audiences for my own recruiting presentation usually take the time to sign a list after the presentation. The cliche that Scouting is not interesting to "modern day kids" simply is not true IF you present Scouting as high adventure.

 

The Troop Rally is different from my recruiting presentation in that the high-adventure toys are set up outside of the school (or other youth venue). This theoretically allows the Scouts to get some hands-on experience with the equipment IF you have enough adults and Scouts free during the day. The video portrays about six potential Scouts and at least the same number of adults at the various outdoor activity stations, but the real ratio outside a school would probably be closer to 50:1, unless you can somehow limit it only to 6th-grade boys.

 

The video also pictures the adults and Scouts conducting the Troop Rally WITHOUT Scout Uniforms. Some of them wear olive-drab nylon shorts (as I suggest) but we always wear the BSA Scout shirt (minus the dress-designer red shoulder loops).

 

There seems to be a conscious decision throughout the videos in this recruiting package that the dorky BSA uniform hurts recruiting efforts. Of course the BSA still remains clueless that the answer lies in using the uniform as a recruiting tool by designing it for high adventure OUTDOOR WEAR, as William Hillcourt always suggested. This could be as easy as allowing patches on the new official BSA tan "lightweight, breathable, button-down collar 'Action Shirts' with wicking capabilities and a bi-swing back with mesh inserts." Something this good must have come from Philmont.

 

Step 2: Personal Phone Call

 

This, I think, is the most important step of the process. If you don't call the parents, it doesn't matter how much the potential recruits enjoyed the presentation: they will NOT show up to your next troop meeting.

 

What the video does not tell you is that even though 50-60% of the boys will indicate that they are interested in joining Scouts, getting through their parents' answering machines and resistance can be a brick wall. My experience is that I lose at least half of my potential recruits at this stage.

 

If you don't hold your recruiting presentation as soon as possible after school starts in the autumn, the loss will be much higher, with the usual objection (if you can get past the answering machine) being that their son's first report card has caused them to limit his extra-curricular activities. If you miss September, consider holding it for both 5th and 6th graders just before school lets out for the summer.

 

Step 3: The Open House

 

The video shows the troop going all-out with photographs and various presentations. This looks like a good idea. We usually just have our SPL give a "what to bring to camp next week" presentation. My experience is that if you get them to the meeting, they will all usually sign up.

 

HOWEVER, when the parents are present it is NOT a good idea to show off all of the expensive toys again. Last November I lost a few potential Scouts during this presentation when their parents decided that Scouting would be too expensive.

 

Since then I have been shopping in thrift stores and I have purchased a complete set of second-hand boots, non-cotton clothes (including polar fleece), and camping equipment. To each one I have affixed an over-sized price tag with the actual cost (usually $3 - $5). The message should be "wear whatever you already own to your first campouts, but when you decide to buy stuff, this is what you can get real cheap."

 

The video also suggests what I have found to be very important: schedule a campout within a week of the "rally." Get them out in the woods right away.

 

The DVD package also includes a new 3" round "Recruiter" patch. I suggest that you stock up on the out-going 3" recruiter patches so that you have three different patches, which you can tier as follows:

 

Recruiter Strip = for recruiting one new Scout

Old 3" round Recruiter Patch = for recruiting a total of two new Scouts

New 3" round Recruiter Patch = for recruiting a total of three new Scouts

Patrol Leader Badge = for recruiting a total of four new Scouts

 

That may motivate your patch collectors and natural leaders, but I have found out that the real "coin of the realm" is Reeses Cups! When a Scout brings a friend to one of our meetings or a campout they each get a Reeses Cup. They don't have to be serious about joining, but if they do, the whole Patrol gets an additional Reeses Cup, because after all, it takes a village :-/

 

For a proven INDOOR recruiting presentation, see The Inquiry Net:

 

http://www.inquiry.net/adult/recruiting.htm

 

Kudu

[nutz4scouting]

And your in scouting,why? Too just bash the uniforms, & insult the program? What are YOU doing to help recruit in your council.

I've got the same kit as you, so I know what you're talking about,

& what your trying to do. Quit complaining if your sitting on the bench, & quarterback for awhile.

[nutz4scouting]

And your in scouting,why? Too just bash the uniforms, & insult the program? What are YOU doing to help recruit in your council.

I've got the same kit as you, so I know what you're talking about,

& what your trying to do. Quit complaining if your sitting on the bench, & quarterback for awhile.

[Kudu]

> And your in scouting,why? Too just bash the uniforms, & insult the

> program?

 

Perhaps my review was too complicated to be of any practical use for most readers. At any rate, it was my version of a gushingly positive evaluation :-/

 

As far as bashing the uniform goes, I would divide those who debate the issue into two camps: those who see the BSA uniform as a symbol and therefore a moral issue; and those of us who view the uniform as a practical method of Scouting which reinforces the other methods (patrol badge, rank badge, leadership position badge, outdoor event temporary badges, etc.).

 

Most people in the moral camp make a virtue of necessity and claim that the proper place for a Scout uniform is indoors.

 

Those of us in the practical method camp believe that most of the problems with the uniform are a result of the fact that it was designed by a dress designer, and not as functional high adventure clothing for the outdoors, where all true Scouting takes place.

 

I also suggested that the new "Boy Scout Action Shirt" appears to be a step in the right direction. See:

 

http://tinyurl.com/7zuj8

 

At any rate my point was that the "Scout Zone" recruiting videos CLEARLY indicate that the BSA now views their uniform as a hindrance to recruiting. The DVD tells Scouts that if their friends object to the uniform, "Tell them we just wear it for meetings. . . .When we're on trips, we wear regular outdoor clothes."

 

Likewise, the adults and the Scouts conducting the suggested troop recruiting rally are intentionally pictured NOT wearing their BSA uniforms.

 

> What are YOU doing to help recruit in your council.

 

See: http://www.inquiry.net/adult/recruiting.htm

 

> I've got the same kit as you, so I know what you're talking about,

> & what your trying to do.

 

Obviously not.