| The year's Roundtable program is planned at an annual
planning conference presided over by the Roundtable Commissioner and
attended by the Roundtable staff, Assistant District Commissioner for
Roundtables, and the District Executive. The annual planning
conference usually is held in the late spring, soon after the Cub and
Boy Scout Roundtable Program Planning Guides for the coming year
arrives. Preparation for the annual planning conference is
essential, for the annual plan produced will only be as good as the
preparation which went into the planning conference.
A good place to begin preparation for the conference is the Roundtable itself. Your annual Roundtable plan should reflect the needs and characteristics of the units in the District, and the best way to find this out is to give the unit leaders a chance to tell you. Ask them at a Roundtable program to help evaluate the Roundtable programs for the past year; what worked, what didn't and why, what their unit's needs are, what ideas they have for improvement of the Roundtable, and what was so much fun that they want to do it again? Don't over look the Unit Commissioners who can help you get a handle on the needs and characteristics of the District. Other essential preparations for the annual planning conference include having on hand the recommended monthly themes, the District, Council, community and school calendars, and any written evaluations of monthly Roundtable programs. The Roundtable Program Planning Guides for both Cub and Boy Scout Leader Roundtables are good starting places for your planning process, and they are good resources, but don't limit your planning to the suggestions found there.
With these preparations and resources, the annual planning conference establishes an annual Roundtable plan of monthly Roundtable emphasis and a general program outline. The Annual Roundtable Planning forms serve as a useful guide to the annual planning conference process, and the filled-in form will serve as an example of a written annual plan, which can be distributed to all staff members, Commissioners, and unit leaders. When reviewing the suggested program theme in Program Helps, it may be obvious that a particular theme should be modified to give emphasis to specific needs or characteristics of your District. For instance, if your District is a backpacking one, a suggested program theme on basic hiking skills will not held the interest of you Scoutmasters and SPLs. The theme could be modified to feature backpacking skills, tailored to the needs of your units. You will know what these needs are because you asked the leaders earlier. Don't stop by merely acknowledging the various suggested monthly program themes, or even with modifying or tailoring a few for your District's needs. Go ahead and brainstorm for the best people to present each Roundtable program. Make a list of prospects to be the "Program Theme Manager" for each program, then ask your first choice for each theme to lead your Roundtable program theme session for the appropriate month. A sample form letter of invitation to serve as Program Theme Manager may be found here. But - this letter is NOT enough. It is merely a preliminary for personal contact with the prospective program theme manager. Think about it, there are only twelve monthly program theme managers to recruit, and when you and your staff have recruited them, you will have your whole year's Roundtable program lined up! And if one of your program theme managers moves away, or otherwise becomes unavailable, you still have a list of other possibilities. Be sure to crank into your annual Roundtable plan as many of the other unit needs as you can, add relevant units of training, and seasonal celebrations which will create enthusiasm, build unity and morale, and cause Roundtable to be FUN! When your annual plan is smoothed up, distribute copies to your staff, District Commissioner, District Executive and to the unit leaders. It will set a great example for annual planning in units, and inspire confidence in your Roundtable program. Another resource is Scouting magazine, especially the May-June issue, in which we will find segments of what was formerly known as Boy Scout Program Helps, now called Troop Program Features. This is help for the troop yearly program planning. Out of six issues of Scouting Magazine, five contain segments of Troop Program Features. Scoutmasters and Assistant Scoutmasters receive them. It helps them to plan their annual troop program. The same goes for Cubmasters, Assistant Cubmasters, Den Leaders and WEBELOS Den Leaders. They receive segments for Cub Scout Program Helps, which they are able to use in their annual pack planning. Find out from your unit leaders if they are following the recommended monthly themes. This will help you and your staff to plan your annual Roundtable calendar. |