Helping little old ladies across the road?

[Lisabob]

"It frustrates me that there are people like that - whether they are CEOs, foundation board members or parents of scouts who won't give to FOS. "

 

Maybe those parents feel they've already given what they can. Being the parent of a scout is not always a cheap endeavor and not everybody has the extra cash on hand.

 

 

[Kudu]

dan writes:

 

This maybe just me and my communication style but I cannot seem to explain to people who know nothing about scouting what it is about and why I do it.

 

I have tried

Scouting teaches these boys on how to be leaders...

Scouting teaches these boys to make ethical decisions...

camping and hiking is just the tool we use to teach with...

 

Could this be part of the issue, it is to hard to explain what scouting is and is not so that it is understood?

 

It is hard to explain because you are spouting false propaganda that nobody buys unless they have been to BSA training.

 

When we say that camping and hiking is just the tool we use to teach boys management hyped as "leadership" we are making a pubic affirmation that we drink the Kool-Aid that destroyed the overwhelming popularity of Scouting before that fake leadership was invented.

 

dan writes:

 

Has anyone found a good way to explain what scouting is, in a short time frame?

 

If you explain that Scouting IS camping and hiking, 66% of sixth grade boys who are not already in Scouting will (in front of their peers) sign a list asking you to call their parents so that they can be a Boy Scout.

 

See:

 

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

 

It is interesting to note that in the last ten years everyone (except OGE) who has ever commented on the presentation has liked it but as far as I know, out of the tens of thousands of volunteers who have read it, not one of them has ever actually ever tried it.

 

The reason, I think, is that most volunteers have been trained to really believe that "Scouting teaches these boys on how to be leaders...Scouting teaches these boys to make ethical decisions...camping and hiking is just the tool we use to teach with..." and if they got in front of an assembly of sixth grade boys and lied about camping and hiking being anything more than "just the tool we use to teach" them fake leadership, the boys would know they are lying and hoot them off the stage.

 

Why else would people who pretend they want to increase the number of Boy Scouts not be interested in old-fashioned Scouting that still makes 66% of the sixth grade boys not in Scouting want to join?

 

It is because most people who have been to BSA training know in their hearts that the "Promise of Scouting" is just a cheap trick we use to lure them into business manager school, and they really agree with the Chief Scout Executive that a more "modern" promise of computers, aerospace, or soccer would work better.

 

To understand BSA "leadership" and "ethical choices" in action, one Council actually went to the trouble to cut and paste my presentation onto their official BSA Website and then wrote the following fake introduction:

 

"A long time ago a TAC Scouter (Dan Wolboldt) and I were facing a distinct lack of enthusiasm among 6th grade boys to join scouting. Dan put on a wonderful presentation"

 

I would not have noticed it, except that they also cut and pasted the html page description from my Website, so when I Googled my page, their fake "Dan Wolboldt" version outranked mine!

 

Kudu

 

[Eamonn]

Kudu

While maybe the link you posted could be useful in recruiting youth members?

Some of the "Executive Types" I was talking with did think that Scouts and Scouting was just a camping club. With this as their mindset they didn't really see a need to donate large amounts of money.

Eamonn.

[NEPAScouter]

>>The problem, as I see it, is that we don't promote our actions. Scouts aren't highly visible in many communities anymore. I think we need to be more visible.

[dan]

Kudu

I also was talking about explaining it to adults not for recruiting.

 

Are you saying your version of scouting does not teach youth to be leaders or to make ethical decisions?

 

No, I did not go to your link. Better things to do.

 

 

[Pack212Scouter]

In our area Scout-O-Rama is supposed to be such an expo, but it doesn't seem to get well publicized as such. The Council also charges admission. As a result hardly anyone from the public comes in and it has mostly become another campout with events.

[Lisabob]

There was a district in our council that used to do a big scout-o-rama as a fundraiser. Apparently they made a good deal of money (which suggests to me that they brought in a lot of outside, non-scouting people), but for a reason I don't understand, the council frowned on this and I think they no longer do it.

 

 

[Eagle92]

I actually looked at Kudu's link. Not a bad idea for recruiting if possible, and in fact I did use some of the stuff mentioned, i.e. backpack full of gear, tent, flyers, and my personal scrap book. Couldn't do someof the stuff b/c of school regs.

 

As to trying to bring the word out, Scout shows do help. We've done one in the past at the mall and local Walmart, but sometimes restrictions are in place. Also we had poor attendance from the packs and troops. We are gonna try again, this time to kick off Round Up and at the local park that has the new baseball stadium and soccer fields. Hopefully we will get some more attention. In addtion to the normal scout show stuff, we are also having a rocket launch.

 

 

[Eagledad]

>>In our area Scout-O-Rama is supposed to be such an expo, but it doesn't seem to get well publicized as such. The Council also charges admission. As a result hardly anyone from the public comes in and it has mostly become another campout with events