District/Council/Area Events. Who is at the helm?

[qwazse]

The original topic was about multi unit events -- some of which sound insanely cool!

 

That leads me to ask the next question: Planning or implementation, youth led or adult led?

 

Folks in Laurel Highlands Council are welcome to chime in and disagree, but from what I've seen:

Venturing events: youth led with adult coaching where needed. If youth say "no", we don't do. Adults step up in terms of administration recruiting staff, etc ... at the pleasure of the VOA president.

OA events: youth+adult. Lodge chief has a big influence here.

Boy scout events: adult led. Period. Youth may or may not be staffing. However, the adults do seem to be getting feedback from their home units as they plan.

combined programs: adult led. By force of majority, Venturing would have little say, but to my knowledge they are never asked for input. However, when crews manage to have their own event-within-the-event, they are welcome to use existing infrastructure to pull it off.

 

 

How 'bout your council?

[sailingpj]

Sea Scout Events: It varies, but many are adult led, planned, and executed.

[lrsap]

Our Cub Scout events are adult led, adult and youth staffed. Boy Scout events are adult led and staffed.

 

One day I would love to have a Cub event led and executed by the lodge. Something tells me it would be great, especially for the Webelos.

[qwazse]

IR, I think it was our lodge chief's idea to invite cubs. He was an exceptional youth leader.

 

The challenge, of course, is finding those leaders every year, giving them an "iron in the fire" at every level in the council, and appropriately recognizing their commitment to scouting.

 

Wouldn't it be cool, for example, to plan a Cub-O-Ree by getting a bunch of denners in the same room and asking them what they would like to see/do? Give them the right amount of ice-cream and candy-bars and I bet you couldn't write their ideas down fast enough!

[Eamonn]

Hi,

"Folks in Laurel Highlands Council are welcome to chime in and disagree"

While I'm not from Folks in Laurel Highlands Council, but that other Council just down the road, I'm not sure what there is to agree or disagree with?

 

The Council that you serve is big -Very big!

Smaller Councils don't have the same large membership as to be able to do things the same way. - For example I'll bet that I could hold a meeting of all the Venturers in our Council in my dining room and still have room for more.

Wagion Lodge 6 has a very good reputation and as OA lodges go is second to none.

The Lodge is very much run by the youth. Not just because of who might be Chief but because there is a culture in place and that's the way it is done has been done and is expected to be done. More then just the Chief the committees take a lot if not most of the responsibility for what events and what the Lodge does.

We haven't had a Council Event for a good number of years. When we used to have them they were very much adult led and organized. Troops were given the opportunity to do their own thing working within the theme of the event.

I remember some years back walking around and visiting a Troop that was making rope and another that was making candles. The Scouts were doing the demos. But I don't know where the ideas came from or how involved the adults were?

I sat on the Area Committee and other than selecting people for the world jamboree, ensuring that there were qualified people to inspect summer camps. The committee didn't plan or organize any events.

Districts were and are responsible for District events and Camporee.

The only Cub Scout event is the District Pine Wood Derby, which is adult organized and led.

The Boy Scout First Aid competition is organized and led by adults.

We have tried inviting SPL's to the monthly Boy Scout R/T To help organize District Camporee. To be honest it just didn't work. There isn't a good way of communicating with Scouts from different Troops and a method of ensuring that the tasks that are set are being done.

Sometimes a Troop will offer to run and organize a District Camporee. This is normally based around something that the Troop is good at. Often they will use older Scouts as instructors or presenters, but as for who is at the helm? This depends on the Troop. Most of the communications go from the event organizer to the District Activities Chair and then on to the SM's.

The Ship has participated in some Sea Scout events many of these events have been around for a very long time and are organized by the adults.

Eamonn.