National Annual Meeting - May 28, 2010

The master of ceremonies for the Americanism Breakfast was Theodore Roosevelt reinactor Joe Wiegand to did a fantastic job of not only playing TR, but working in a number or relationships with the BSA.

The speaker at the breakfast was Steve Holcomb, Eagle Scout and Olympic Gold Medal driver of the Night Train, USA 1 Bobsled.

Some other information from the meeting:

- There have been questions about how to register 18-20 year olds in a troop with the upcoming training requirements.  There is a registration category of "College Reserve" that can be used for those new adults that does not have particular training requirements.

- A new "Be A Scout" program will be rolled out this summer which works with Google to put a Cub Scout, Boy Scout, or Venturing logo for a pin on Google Maps so someone looking for a unit in your area can find out where all the units are in the area.

- I heard that the Scouting Community is no longer working on any updates or modifications.  Nothing on what the future plans are.

- A new quality program is being developed for next year that should be out this fall.  It will take the place of the Centennial Quality program which ends this year.

- The national strategic plan was presented.  The plan has seven pillars with objectives under each and goals under each objective.  The seven pillars are: Impact & Participation, Resources & Finances, Building our  Brand, Dynamic & Relevant, Innovation & Technology, Advocacy & Relationships, and Leadership & Culture.

National Annual Meeting - May 27, 2010

The opening day of the National Annual Meeting started with John Gottschalk opened the meeting wearing a hat from Lord Baden Powell University.

The session covered an update of the 100th Anniversary activities, Hispanic Initiative, BSA Motorsports, and a financial report.

I made progress on several things.  Made contact with the group that has the Coyne Racing to see if we can get one or more of the Indy racing cars out to Aircamp.

I met with the national relationships person and got a copy of the Diabetes video to him to view and see if the BSA would be willing to help with the distribution.

Below is a map of The Summit, the new Jamboree site.

The sessions I attended today included the use of Eagle data being gathered by Harris Connect and the strategic planning tools.

I also got to meet with the national person responsible for relationships to give him a copy of the Diabetes video to see if the BSA will help with distribution.

BSA National Annual Meeting, May 26, 2010

Arrived today at the National Annual Meeting and went to the exhibit hall after checking in.  Don Kinney is in the center of this display.

The copy of the new BSA Indy Car is on display in the Exhibit Hall.

Took a trip to the National Scouting Museum in Irving.

It has a lot of great exhibits including a lot of Norman Rockwell paintings.

We got some good information today.  Including some material on the historical merit badges.  The Signalling MB is not as difficult at first expected.  The BSA is clarifying that the scouts only need to be able to send messages at 35 characters per minute and send 35 words in total.  The BSA words are not the five character words that the ham radio operators use, but can be any number of letters.

Wood Badge, Tour de Blackhawk, Camp Properties Workshop, Training, Jamboree

Lots of activity this past weekend.  On Friday Ed and I were at the Wood Badge Staff Development held at the Boeger Leadership Lodge to practice our presentation on Scouting Generations.  A new session that deals with understanding the differences between the various generations represented by our volunteers.

Saturday morning I had breakfast with John Wurtzel to discuss the stage show for the Tour de Blackhawk on June 11-13.  It should be a good show.  If you haven't signed up yet you'll want to get your units registered at http://www.blackhawkscouting.org/2010Events/TourDeBlackhawk/TourDeBlackhawk.htm.  Besides having rides available from 8 to 100 miles there are three bike rodeos planned along the trials for Cub Scouts to participate in.

Next was a session at Pecatonica High School to plan the future of our camps.  We are gathering information to update our strategic plan as well as other plans for the camps.  We had over 30 volunteers participate in the session which lasted into the afternoon.  Thanks to Bob Gingras for organizing the session.

Then it was back to Camp Lowden where I got to stop by and visit with a large group that was taking the BALOO (Basic Adult Leader Outdoor Orientation) and WLOT (Webelos Leader Outdoor Training) and with some of our Jamboree participants.  The big event was the Wood Badge Reunion Dinner that saw 100 of our past and future Wood Badge trained volunteers come out to catch up with one another at the Boeger Leadership Lodge.

Adventure Base 100 & Canyon Camp Work Day

Another busy weekend last week.  It started with a bus ride into Chicago to support the Adventure Base 100 stop at Douglas Park.  Steve James helped organize the Blackhawk Area Council contingent.  We received compliments from the Chicago Area Council staff both the number of volunteers and how we handled things.  I received an email that showed the Chicago stop had the second highest turnout behind only the Pasedena Rose Parade stop over New Years.  There was just shy of 13k visitors.  Great job by everyone involved.

As it turns out the requirements for another new merit badge, Scouting Heritage, were just released and a visit to Adventure Base 100 meets one of the requirements.  So those Boy Scouts that came out to visit or help have a start on earning that merit badge.

Last weekend was also the Canyon Camp work day sponsored by the Monroe Kiwanis.  I was out on Sunday and helped finish up the new tent platforms that were started on Saturday.  They had over 50 people out on Saturday and got a lot of work done.

This weekend is also a busy weekend with the Camp Properties Workshop, BALOO & WLOT training sessions, Jamboree Shakedown, and the Wood Badge Reunion Dinner.  I hope to see some of you around.