From: jim.speirs@canrem.com (Jim Speirs) To: dannys@iis.ee.ethz.ch (Danny Schwendener) Subject: Working with... Ideas Summary: Running out of ideas for your program? Here are a collection of starters which you can develop into good programs. Article #R157. ============== Working with... Ideas David Goss The Leader, March 1978 How often have you heard Scouters muttering that they've run out of ideas suitable for their boys? Or have you said the same thing to yourself at some point in the past few months? Well, to be honest, I believe every leader comes to the same conclusion sooner or later. Unfortunately, some Scouters come to it sooner than others, and the program loses good men and women who could make a real contribution to the country's youth. I firmly believe that, as long as a man has an idea to try, or a program he's sure will work, he will remain a leader. But once he thinks he has no more to offer his boys, they won't be his boys much longer, but will be under the direction of some other leader, or worse still, will be disbanded. This is one of the reasons I undertook to write these monthly columns, because I found great enjoyment from many troop programs we ran with the 21st St. George's Group, and I know you fellows (and gals too) reading this, can have equal or greater fun with the same or modified ideas. After I had been involved in a leadership role for some years, I began to notice that much of what we were doing had been done before. Now this is fine (and in fact quite necessary with a turnover of boys), but in order to keep me interested, I had to find something new to add on a regular basis. Some people will tell you there's nothing new under the sun. Don't believe them. When you take an old idea and adapt it to your needs, and the needs of the group you're working with, then it's a new idea. And when you carry out your "new idea" and see it succeed, there is a great feeling of satisfaction that is difficult to describe in mere words. So this column will take a couple of old ideas and show their possibility of becoming your ideas. And at the finish, I'll give you a few one line ideas to see if you can develop them into good programs. Hopefully, I might even hear from one or two of you who might try them out. The oldest resource book available to Scouters is Baden-Powell's own Scouting For Boys. Many of you may never have read the book. It's still useful despite the passage of nearly 70 years since Baden-Powell first conceived the ideas between its covers. And most of the ideas are still solid program material you may have overlooked. Take Baden-Powell's yarn #4, which, among other subjects, deals briefly with play acting. Plays, skits, stunts and songs are old hat to the Scouting Movement, but try this idea sometime, and see if you don't have an enjoyable evening: The boys arrive at the troop meeting and, before the opening or anything else happens, they are handed the following notice: "We have just received word that channel 6 (or your local cablevision station) has selected our troop for a documentary about Scouting to be shown next week. They want a display of real Scouting as it happens each week, not a puffed up, specially prepared, glossy job --just a look at the program as you see it. They want to see some 'action' and some 'fun' as well as some of the usual program content we use every week, such as 'openings', 'prayers', 'patrol council', etc. Your patrol has half an hour to prepare a 10 minute presentation which will answer the questions below. At 7.30 pm all preparations will stop: the Owl patrol will be filmed and they can involve as many of the troop members as they wish. Then the Fox patrol will be filmed, followed by the Cougars. At about 8 O'clock,the cable TV technician will play back the three 10 minute presentations, and the troop will vote on which one they feel should be shown on TV. Your presentation should answer the following questions: A. Why do boys join Scouting? B. What activities do boys enjoy in Scouting, with a demonstration of some of them? C. How do boys learn in Scouts? D. What are Scout leaders like? Are they too strict, or not strict enough? Are they fun to be with or just doing their job? E. Demonstrate a Scout skill you have learned this past year. In your presentation you must ensure that-- 1. Every boy in your patrol has a part, and will be seen on TV. 2. A commentator explains what is going on. 3. There are no lapses in the program, uncontrolled tittering or anything off-colour presented. Obviously if you can arrange for your local cable station to cooperate in this project, that is a plus for your idea.But if not, go ahead anyway with someone who has a video tape recorder system. (Try your local university, high school, swim club or sports groups who use these for training aids, to locate video tape equipment.) I used this before video and cable were available in the Maritimes. Instead of a cameraman, I invited a drama critic to comment on the boys' performances. This worked well, but I'm sure the video or cable would be a great improvement on my original idea. Where can such a program idea lead? Ours led to the rehearsal and performance of a one act play in conjunction with the Guide company. With the addition of some stunts, songs and individual talent, we arranged a nice show called "Talent Time" which helped fund our programs for 3 or 4 years, until that group grew out of the Movement. We also performed for senior citizens, adult clubs and Cub packs, all as a result of one program idea that we built on. Some other ideas you might try with video tape--all involving a fair amount of work by the boys, but all rewarding, include- - Tape a Folk Fest--with a local guitarist providing music for a sing- a-long. - Do a TV quiz game--either straight quizzes or a Bob Barker type program involving physical stunts. - Hold a "Gong Show", with invited participants and some really poor talent thrown in by the troop, just for laughs. Scouters who like to get the troop outdoors might find this idea more to their liking. It's called "Celebration of Spring", and it consists of a mixture of outdoor ideas you have seen and heard before, lumped together to form the focus for a special day. It begins by announcing to your community that the Anytown Scout Troop is sponsoring a "Celebration of Spring", and anyone who is glad that spring has arrived can attend at a certain time, date and place. The program consists of a number of stations, set up in suitable outdoor locations, where the participants are encouraged to try- Sand castle building Cooking on a solar cooker Wood chopping contest Making a sun symbol wall Plaster casting Plaque from old dry tree limbs Log sawing contest Trying stilt walking Obstacle course Marbles Fitness trail Flying a kite Skipping Hopscotch Of course, it will be up to you to make sure that sand is available, someone knows how to do plaster casts, and that wood is on hand for chopping and logs for sawing, plus seeing that all the other activities are set up. Which means you have two or more troop meetings plus a few spare hours your boys might have, to get ready for such a program. And should you really not want to involve the community, then invite several troops, packs and companies to participate. These details I'll leave to you and will rest, quite assured, that some of you will be holding a Spring Celebration in the next few weeks which I'll hear about. Now, finally, for the one line ideas that you can develop into your programs. Almost all of these have come from the newspaper, which being a chronicle of the daily happenings in this crazy world, often contains stories of offbeat events that never fail to interest Scouts. Sometimes we tend to glance through our home town newspaper, and really miss a lot because we're looking for the familiar section we enjoy reading. I solve this by buying an out-of-town newspaper regularly and reading it carefully. It's amazing how many good programs have been developed from one line ideas or photographs, like the following-- - One lad at the local skating rink on Saturday didn't have a pair of skates, so he improvised a pair from two hardwood sticks. - Hungarian born pianist Balint Vazsonyi has completed a two day performance of all 32 Beethoven's sonatas, in a recital marking the 150th anniversary of the composer's death. - Students trying to break the world record, sailed their 1836 sq. ft. cubic box kite, of aluminum and nylon construction, above the ocean here for all of 10 seconds. - Henry Parsons, 78, who says he began hollerin' in 1915, has won the 7th Annual National Hollerin' Contest, held annually in Spivey's Corner, N.C. - Debbie Baxter, a grade 12 student at Simonds High shows a food kit she sent to World Vision, which will be used in their starvation relief program. - A local man has broken the world penny snatching record after stacking 63 pennies on his elbow, snapping his arm throwing the pennies into the air, and then quickly grabbing them before any could fall to the floor. - Jack Palmer won the Globe's "Clowning Around" contest when he showed up with the best made-up face and costume, at the contest held over the weekend. - Jan Newel of Norwall, fastens a prize to her Jack-O-Lantern, which won first place in the annual pumpkin contest, at the King's Mall. And next time you catch someone grumbling, or are feeling a bit of a grumble coming on yourself, think of this "Two thousand London schoolgirls played a game of musical chairs in a park recently. As the music stopped they rushed to sit down on 1000 chairs, thereby breaking the world record for the biggest number of participants in a single game of musical chairs." Surely this gives you an idea, but if not, it's sure to give you a chuckle.