Troop Meeting Planning

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” Benjamin Franklin

A good troop meeting doesn't just happen, it is planned ahead of time. A well planned meeting keeps everyone on task, having fun, learning, and ready to come back next week. Because of this, the BSA provides a lot of resources to help plan the troop meeting. A good place to start:

http://troopleader.org/troop-meetings/

This link will describe how to put together an agenda for the meeting and has links that describe all the different parts of the troop meeting. Once you understand these parts, you can branch out on the planning cycle. Just remember, you don't need to go at this alone. The ASPL, Patrol Leaders, Older Scouts, and Scoutmasters are all potential resources for advice.

Theme Planning

If you already have a theme picked out for the meeting, chances are the BSA already has a troop meeting agenda for you. Take a look at the Program Features on the Troop Leader website. Lets try this out!

For our example, lets pick Caving as the theme for the month: http://troopleader.org/program-feature-caving/

The first page provides a video and overview, how nice. The good stuff is found with the links along the top and bottom of the page. The Information link can give you some good insight into what what caving is about, and what you should be concerned with. These are good talking points during the meeting. 

"But we are here to plan a troop meeting." 

Right you are! Follow the Troop Meetings link and there are suggestions for what should occur in the meeting. So now you have all the resources you need to plan a month of Troop Meetings with a caving theme. 

Ad-Hoc Planning

There will be a number of times where your theme doesn't exist on Troop Leader or you may not have a theme. Don't worry, we've got you covered. They BSA provides some good  Program Resources just for this purpose. This site has A LOT of information. Don't get lost or overwhelmed! Remember your purpose, watch some videos, review some activities, get some ideas.

Write it Down!

Hopefully you aren't creating a meeting plan 15 minutes before the meeting starts. Once you have your ideas for a meeting figured out, create the agenda. Use the online Meeting Agenda Form for this purpose. Once you have the agenda, email it to your Scoutmaster for review. They may have some good tips on how to make your idea a reality.

Finalizing the Plan

At this point, your plan is just a plan. To put it into action, you need to pull in instructors, work with patrol leaders and scoutmasters, and take this plan from an idea to reality. Answer the Who, What, Where, When, and How questions:

• Verify that the people you need will be present on the night you need them. 

• Verify the meeting place will be free, especially if you want to meet somewhere besides the weekly troop meeting place.

• Verify that you will have the equipment you need.

• Working towards a merit badge? Verify that you are covering what needs to be covered. Get your merit badge counselor involved in the planning.

• Have a plan for things to go wrong. What happens if...

  • A key instructor is sick

  • The location you were to meet is outdoors and it is raining

  • The Popcorn Kickoff has taken over half you meeting

  • etc.

Once your plan is finalized, you can breathe a sigh of relief. When the troop meeting comes around, just follow the plan and all will go well!