National Jamborees - Are they worth the effort?

[Eamonn]

I really have enjoyed the Jamborees that I have attended.

From what I see the big problem seem to be the size of them.

Accommodating 45,000 Scouts then adding in all the visitors and special guests seems to be a lot of hard work.

Finding a new site (If that's what is going to happen??)and spending the money that would be needed for an event that only comes along every four years? Just doesn't seem to go hand in hand with a Scout is thrifty.

I know all the Scouts I have talked with who have attended a Jamboree look back on it as being a high point.

Still I wonder if maybe the time has come to look at smaller Jamborees done at the Regional level, making use of sites that Councils own and operate.

Of course one high point for me was seeing a vast ocean of Boy Scouts all in uniform at the arena.

I couldn't help but wish the people who keep on about "The youth of to-day" were there!!

Eamonn.

[troutmaster]

If you review the information listed on the CIEC site in regard to the questionaire, you will note that one of the items of concern is if the site would have usefulness during non Jamboree years, either as some type of training facility, optional weekend and summer programs, or even another high adventure location. So, that issue appears to be one that they have recognized.

 

 

[packsaddle]

There are several ways to view the Jamborees and their future. Viewed strictly as a market activity (the best way to view it), if they were not subsidized by whatever sources, these events would tend to happen where there was the most demand at the least cost. A robust market assessment would take into account investments and costs of time, energy, environmental impact, and all other such factors.

However, all of those factors are in question if these events are funded by the event itself, not through the subsidies, because the factors vary with time and location. This is the real dilemma and it would have been expressed for earlier jamborees if the participants had had to bear the full cost of the event in the past. They didn't. Now it looks like the jamboree will experience a little more of the magic of the free market.

 

It is possible that circumstances such as energy costs will make the idea of a single centralized jamboree too expensive. It is possible that under those circumstances, regional events would be more cost effective. I would find it very interesting to see a careful study of these costs and benefits comparatively across a variety of scales, from the national or international level down even to the council level (such as camporees). I wonder if any such study has ever been performed. Anyone know?

[AvidSM]

I agree that the national jamboree could be scaled down without losing any benefits to the scouts. But the BSA would lose the benefit of showcasing scouting once every four years. It's free advertising at the national level! I don't think a regional jamboree would reach that level of press. New Jersey had a jamboree in 1998 and I only know about it because I was there along with 10,000 other people. It may have gotten noticed locally, but nothing on the national level.

 

So, the real question is whether the funds, time and material spent on the national jamboree is worth the value of the free advertising it generates. Does national see an aggregate increase in new scout applications following a jamboree? Is there any increase in retention?

[Eamonn]

While I haven't visited or seen the information listed on the CIEC site.

I really can't see how a site that is built to manage the vast number of Scouts that attend a Jamboree for two weeks every four years, hopes to be cost effective in the times when there isn't a Jamboree going on.

If my memory isn't too far out of whack? I think when President Bush attended the 2005 Jamboree there were 70,000 people in the arena.

Philmont only has about 20,000 Scouts, Venturers, and advisors attend Philmont backcountry programs each year.

Of course there has been talk of another national high adventure base to be located somewhere in the NE for some time.

As far as the PR that Jamborees generate?

I seen nothing about the World Jamboree that just ended in any of the papers I read or on the news. I could and did read about it because I made the effort to look for it.

While the papers that serve the area close to AP Hill did cover the 2005 Jamboree. Sadly most of the other media coverage wasn't what might be termed PR.

There was the coverage of the tragic accident and the number of Scouts who suffered from the heat.

Eamonn.

 

 

 

[local1400]

E, what do you know about a N.E. National High Adventure Base? National dumped Maine H.A. in the 80's and it is now operated by the Katahdin Area Council. Where would they propose another one? As for the thread, I have never been to, but always wanted to, attend a National Jamboree. Maybe someday. I often see on e-bay memorabilia from different Jambos of the past held at different locations around the country, and I think that would be great. This is a big country, and I could imagine a tent city of 50,000 or more popping up for 10 days or whatever in the hills of New Mexico or the fields of Iowa, or even the forests of Oregon or Maine. Get around, see something new, have fun.