A Process for Creating a Yearly Troop Calendar.
"Those that 'Fail to Plan', 'Plan to Fail'"
"The only 'wrong-way' to plan, is to have NO-PLAN."
"A Plan is only a standard to deviate from."
Planning is a 3-step process:
- Preparing for the "Planning Meeting"
- The "Planning Meeting"
- Executing the Plan
Preparing for the "Planning Meeting"
- NOTES:
- use a spreadsheet to lay out the calendar
- update the spreadsheet as you recieve new information
- calendar goes from: end-of-August to end-of-August
- weeks are laid out: Monday to Sunday
- Capture three (3) calendars, and block out appropriate dates on spreadsheet:
- School Calendar (usually available in March)
- vacations
- holidays
- time off ("Professional Development Days", etc.)
- Council Calendar (available during last Roundtable of year)
- Camporees
- Freeze-outs
- Merit Badge College
- Other: OA Weekends, RoundTables, Scouting-for-Food
- A Real Calendar
- Mother's Day
- Father's Day
- Patriot's Day
- Other Holidays
- Plug in standing activities:
- Troop Meetings (every Thursday, whenever school meets)
- Courts-of-Honor [COH] (3-4 per year)
- Board-of-Review [BOR] (2 meetings prior to each COH)
- Parties (Christmas, EOY, etc.)
- Rock Climbs
- Civic Duties (Memorial Day Parade, Veteran's Day, Band Concert, Town Meetings, etc.)
- Fund Raisers
- PLC Meetings (last Tuesday of the month)
- Committee Meetings (first Tuesday, every other month)
- Summer Camp
- Community Service Dates
- Council RoundTables (1st Monday of the Month)
The "Planning Meeting"
- NOTES:
- Ideally scheduled for the last PLC of the preceding year
- use a whiteboard or easel with large paper
- bring copies of the calendar thus far
- attendees include: PLC, SMs, committee members, interested adults
- Planning Meeting Agenda:
- Select Troop Activities (limit to 10: one activity per month)
- List "Statndard" Activities, E.G.
- Winter cabin camp
- Ski trip
- Ice Climb, Rumney NH
- EOY Rock Climb, Rumney NH
- List Other Previous Year's Activities, E.G.
- Wilderness Survival weekend, Townsend
- Webelos weekend, Townsend R&G club
- Rock Climb/Campout to Jockey's Cap, Freyburg ME
- USS Massachusetts, Fall River MA
- day Hike, Mt Cardigan NH
- Winter climb/camping Lonesome Lake Hut ,NH
- Day ski-trip (during Spring Break) Tuckerman's Ravine, NH
- day rock climb, Hammond Pond MA
- Bike/campout, Nickerson Sate Park, MA
- 3-day/2-night canoe trip, Nashua River MA
- Mt Watatic night Hike/EOY ice cream party (last meeting of year)
- List Prior Well-Received Activities, E.G.
- Canoe/Camping Trip, Beal Island ME
- Bike/Camping trip, Block Island RI
- Bike Trip, Coast Guard Beach MA
- "Dam Campout", Dudley MA
- Rock Climbing/Campout, Pawtuckaway State Park MA
- Canoe/Campout, Washburn Island, Cape Cod
- Backpack, Wilderness Trail, WMNF, NH
- Backpack, Mt Tom, NH
- Brainstorm New Activities, E.G.
- Urban Survival weekend, Boston MA
- Rock climb, Purgatory Chasm, MA
- Camp, White Mts, NH
- "Leave-No-Trace" (LNT) campout
- Valley Forge PA (during spring break)
- Camp on an aircraft carrier
- Camp on Boston Harbor Islands
- Camp on Nantucket
- 50-miler
- Philmont
- Vote on upcoming Activities (voting limited to PLC, each scout gets 3 votes)
- Tentatively Schedule the Activities
- try not to schedule consecutive weekends
- try not to schedule on school vacations
- watch out for 3-day weekends
- don't schedule: biking weekend in January or
ice climbing in September
- when is hunting season?
- is camping site available?
- look for "synergy" in campouts, E.G.
- biking & camping
- Pioneering & Webelos camping
- climbing & camping
- cabin camp & engineering
- the best campouts seem to be those with:
- an attainable goal
- provide some controlled "adventure"
- Set Troop Meeting Agendas
- Ideally: each activity should take 2 meetings
- Each Activity could leverage a Merit Badge (MB booklet provides a good outline for
what to cover during the meetings)
- Each Meeting Activity should be reinforced by a Troop Activity
- try to suggest varied activities, stuff the scouts wouldn't normally see.
- List the 'gottas', E.G.
- Winter Camping (as a prerequisite for winter camping)
- Intro to Rock Climbing (as a prerequisite for Rock Climbing trips)
- Wilderness Survival (as a prerequisite for Wilderness Survival trip)
- Care & Feeding of a Bicycle (as a prerequisite for Bike trip)
- Athletics (in preparation for Camporee)
- "Leave-No-Trace Camping (in preparation for LNT Campout)
- Rock Climbing MB (in preparation for EOY rock climb)
- Brainstorm New Activities, E.G.
- Engineering
- Model building
- 1st Aid & CPR
- Cooking
- Fly Fishing
- Shooting
- Robots
- Auto repair
- Vote on upcoming Activities (voting limited to PLC, each scout gets 3 votes)
- Tentatively Schedule the Activities
- is "tiering" necessary? (younger scouts & older scouts)
- look for "synergy" between weekend activities & troop meetings, E.G.
- biking sections precedes biking weekend
- athletics precedes Camporee weekend
- "eat off the Land" precedes Wilderness Survival
- cover campout prerequisites during troop meetings, E.G.
- offer Climbing MB before a big climbing trip
- cover winter camping/survival before January
Execution
- Program Chairman "Fine-Tunes" the schedule agreed to in Planning Meeting
- Program Chairman reformats "Activities Calendar"
- present "Activities Calendar" during EOY party/COH, solicits adult leader(s) per activity
During the Year:
- publish "Activities Calendar" at First Troop meeting of year
- PLC meetings review upcoming month's schedule:
- retool plan as needed
- insure instructors for Troop Meetings
- insure Activities are prepared for (E.G. pack gear, insure food, etc.)
- schedule other activities (E.G. games, patrol meetings, etc.)
- Committee meetings review upcoming 2 month's schedule:
- retool plan as needed
- review prerequisites for activities as needed
- insure leaders are:
- handling logistics, E.G.
- adequate adult supervision,
- qualified adults,
- drivers,
- special equipment needs E.G. canoes, et.c
- food responsibilities,
- reservations,
- prerequisites,
- trip announcements,
- permission slips,
- Tour Permit,
- Training Assistant Leaders for NEXT YEAR
- etc.
- scheduled
- YPT
- adhering to "Guide to Safe Scouting"
- know Duties and Responsibilties
- insure adequate support for trips/activities (E.G. equipment, supplies, etc)
- Publish the Activities Calendar:
- Newsletter
- Website: http://www.townsendbsa.org/