Hey there! Congratulations on being a champion for one of our trips. This is a fun job, because you will get to tailor the trip however you like, but it can also be difficult because you need to organize things and communicate with adults as well as our troop. This doc will provide you with an idea of what to expect, and step by step instructions.
What do I do as Champion?
Your jobs and expectations are to:
- Be present ON the outing, so if you can’t make it, this one’s not for you
- Check in with one of our troop guides or lead instructor to see what requirements the scouts on the trip need to work on, and figure out how to incorporate some of these requirements into the plan if possible (often there is some down time on overnights). Scouts and their parents should know about these advancement opportunities, so make sure you include this information in the emails you send out and the announcements.
- Most simple scout through first class requirements can easily be completed on trips! Make sure you include information about them in your email. This makes going more appealing for scouts determined to rank up and also increases parent motivation to send their scouts.
- REMEMBER TO TAKE LOTS OF PHOTOS OR DESIGNATE SOMEONE WHO CAN. Asking any registered adult who comes with you to take photos is great, but its even better when not just one person takes photos. We need photos for our trip slideshows during the COH’s (Court of Honors) and for the troop photo album/Facebook
PERMISSION SLIPS
- Receive permission slip from the Scribe (6 weeks in advance) and send to Troop via email (4, 3, 2, 1 week in advance)
- Bring Permission Slips to the meetings and ask people if they are able to go. Sometimes asking someone directly if they want to go on a fun trip is more convincing than an email or announcement!
LOTS AND LOTS of COMMUNICATION
- Emails, early and often, we expect the first email for a trip to go out at least FOUR Tuesdays before the trip. If you have never emailed our troop the address is troop24berkeley@googlegroups.com
- The first email doesn’t need to have EVERY detail, but it should have an explanation and a link for the permission slip so people begin to sign up. Make sure people send their permission slips to the Scribe.
- There should then be at least 2 emails in the next couple weeks to get people to sign up, and a final email the week of the trip with the sign ups and drivers so there is no confusion
- Additionally, starting 4 Tuesdays before the trip, begin announcing it at meetings. This does NOT mean we need you to bore us with numbers and dates (that’s for the emails)-instead just excite us by telling us why you recommend going on this trip!
Agenda Example
This is a link to the agenda which was created for a camporee practice trip. We had an ambitious plan, with a stacked agenda, so some of our trip did not go exactly according to plan. Because we had the agenda it mostly worked and when things changed, we were able to adjust accordingly. Another key thing is to actually announce the agenda to everyone in the morning, as scouts enjoy it more when they know what to expect.
This job might seem scary, but if you remember to ask for help along the way it won’t be too much–we are here for you! Good luck!
