Pioneer District September Roundtable

Well I had my first meeting as Cub Scout Roundtable Commissioner last night. I think I had fun... I say that because it all went by in a blur. I remember getting to the meeting hall and setting up, then before I knew it I was packing my things!!!

If you know me at all, you know that I have spent most of my life talking, teaching and performing to crowds. I was in theatre, BSA camp staff, a teacher, corporate trainer, professional presenter, ASM, Cubmaster and general goof. With all of that behind me, man was I nervous last night!!!

With the help of my great staff, I was able to muddle my way through it all and I think we put on a good meeting. We are not done evolving our Roundtable meetings and will be working on incorporating your feedback and some fresh ideas over the coming months.

Attendance

There are around 60 Cub Scout packs in Pioneer District. Some packs are big some are small. Even with a conservative estimate of the number of registered leaders that means there are somewhere in the order of 1,000+ Cub Scout leaders in our district. Not counting the staff, we had 9 Cub Leaders this month. I see we have our work cut out for us!!!! :-)

In order to bolster attendance, I think we need two major items.

1. Good word of mouth! Buzz, buzz, buzz!!! We intend to do that with our reenergizing of Roundtable!

2. Communication, Communication, Communication! Don't worry, we have a plan for this and it is already in the works!

Getting the message out to new leaders won't be too hard. For the veteran leaders out there, I'd love to hear your thoughts on what would bring you back!

What Did I Miss This Month?

If you were not able to attend, here is a recap of what you missed:

Giveaways and Door Prizes!!!

All first time Roundtable attendees receive welcome gifts and their own personal Roundtable binder!

Also, we started door prizes!!!! Each month we will raffle off door prizes for all those who attend! This month was a BSA Long Sleeve Action Shirt and a magnet wand activity kit for 20 scouts!

Commissioner's Song!

Songs are nothing new to Roundtable or Scouting. However, my take on songs for scouts is slightly different than many. My philosophy on singing: if you pass out a song sheet, your song has already failed! I only pick songs that give the audience something to so. Fun, goofy things.

I will give a full presentation on Kid's Music vs. Children's Music in an upcoming meeting. At some point I will also dedicate a blog post to singing and music in Scouting. Just remember the three rules of BSA Singing:

1. Be loud and proud!

2. Have fun and let yourself go!

3. See rules #1 and #2

There is no rule regarding singing in tune or being perfect! Longtime Roundtable staff member and general Cub Scout champion Walt Stephenson had a great line last night that I will now steal and use as my own. Walt said, "I always sing in the key of me!"

The song last night was Billy the Cub Scout, sung to the tune of Minnie the Moocher. Once we get our Roundtable website up an running, I will post Roundtable handouts online.

Although I have always loved to sing in the BSA, I learned a TON from George Stachnik. If you ever get a chance to take is class at University of Scouting, don't pass it up!!!

Cub Scout 2010 Program

Roundtable staff member Dennis Conte gave us a great presentation on the reenergizing of the Cub Scout program that begins this month. As he explained to us the Cub Scout Program is not really changing much, but we have an entirely new delivery method!

If you have not taken a look at it yet, it is never too late. You can find the details by going to the BSA Den & Pack Meeting Resource Guide page on Scouting.org. There is a hard copy book you can purchase in the Scout Shop, but the BSA has also made the entire book available for download in PDF format.

September Core Value: Cooperation & October Core Value: Responsibility

Roundtable Staff Member Cynthia Porter talked to us about the themes for both September and October. She focused on some fun games that work well with the September and October Core Values.

October is also National Fire Prevention Month and that can fit really well with the Responsibility Core Value.

Outing in Scouting Board

I am sure that you have noticed that "Outing" is part of the word "Scouting." Go See Its, Camping, Day Hikes and more are all part of our wonderful family program. One of our goals at Roundtable is to ask you to share your ideas and experiences getting your scouts O-U-T!

Cynthia Porter introduced the Outing in Scouting Board this month. Each month we would like to pin to it an idea for Cub Scout Outings. We would love ideas that fit into the Core Value's throughout the year, but they don't have to be. One of the great aspects of Roundtable is leaders sharing ideas with other leaders.

The Roundtable staff will help come up with outing suggestions, but we really want cub leaders to bring in their own ideas. Pamphlets, brochures, newspaper & magazine clippings, pack fliers, hand written notes and more. We will also spend time discussing new ideas each month.

Also, there may be times when packs want to open their event to others. This can especially be helpful to small packs when some places require minimum numbers.

Breakout Sessions

One of the pieces of feedback that we heard loud and clear was that we should not even dream of removing cub leader breakout sessions! FYI, we had no intention of doing that! This month we broke into three groups. Here were our sessions:

- Tiger, Wolf & Bear Leaders: What do new leaders need? Ideas for starting your program year. The importance of Cooperation, helping leaders out during their first Den meeting and ensuring they are aware of Pack Resources.

- Webelos Leaders: Fall Troop Visits, Outings with a Troop and more. How do we prepare for the Webelos to Boy Scout transition now.

- Cubmasters & Committee Members: Recognition Ceremony ideas. They are not just for the boys. Adult recognition (not just leaders) is very important.

We squeezed a few smaller items into this months meeting as well.

After we get our Roundtable website launched, we will post upcoming agendas, handout downloads, Outing in Scouting ideas and more!

I hope you can join us next month!

Roundtable, you don't know what you're missing!

If you have any suggestions/requests for breakout session topics, outside speakers, or any other ideas. Please drop me a line. Feel free to comment on this post or send me suggestions/concerns directly. Soon I will have a Roundtable email address. Until then, feel free to use: cubmaster@batescentral.com