A Scoutmaster's Blog

Roundtables need to meet a few requirements if you want Scout leaders to attend them. They need to be informative. They need to offer worthwhile training. They need to offer a wide variety of topics, not just the same old thing year after year. They need to offer something for the new leaders, and something for the experienced crowd. But most of all, they need to be fun!

I have attended many good roundtables, and many boring ones. Any meeting that expects me to sit there for ninety minutes listening to a lecture is NOT a good meeting in my book. If that speaker is someone with a monotone voice that likes to drone on and on then I will be fidgeting in my seat.

I know the national office publishes meeting suggestions for roundtables. I also know that not every roundtable staff uses them. Sometimes the national suggestions are not compatible with a district’s agenda. It does not matter if the staff uses the nation book or makes their own agendas, but they need to make the meetings worthwhile for adult leaders to take the time out of their own busy schedules. Otherwise do not expect people to show up to fill those chairs. Here are my suggestions for a decent roundtable.

First of all, have an opening and a closing ceremony. Use different ones every month. Give the pack and troop leaders new ideas to take back to their units. Keep in mind that when you use and opening and closing ceremonies you “actually” bring the meeting to a start and an end just like a troop meeting.

Try to offer at least two topics per monthly meeting, something for the new leaders and something for the old timers. You can either break the meeting into two halves, each half covering one topic, or break the group into two groups, one covering each topic. Be sure to invite speakers who are knowledgeable in the topic.

Play a game part way through the meeting. Yeah, that is right. A game! Expecting men to sit there for ninety minutes is the equivalent of torture. A short ten minute game lets everyone get up, stretch, and burn a few calories. It clears the cobwebs that may have started to form in the mind. Keep the game simple and something that could be used during a troop or pack meeting with the boys. Remember, we are at the roundtable to learn things to take back to the troops. Oh, and make sure the game is fun!

Before the closing ceremony spend a few minutes with any announcements. And do not forget to recognize any accomplishments achieved since the last roundtable. Yes, adults like to be recognized also, just like the boys, even if the recognition may be for something silly.

There, now you have my recommendations for a good roundtable. After these three entries about roundtables you can look forward to a new topic next time.

In the 1980’s, when I began attending monthly training meetings, the district had a great roundtable staff. They were well trained, prepared for the subjects, and they made the roundtables fun.

Paul was the roundtable commissioner. He had sons of his own in the Scouting program and had held several positions within Scouting, including scoutmaster. He seemed to be very knowledgeable about every aspect of the Scouting program. Paul was a Scouter that I looked up to. Over the next few years he became my mentor and one of my best friends in Scouting.

Once I had attended roundtables for a few years Paul invited me to join his staff. I was in my mid-twenties and did not feel very comfortable about training men and women who would be older then myself. I think Paul saw something in me that I did not see in myself.

During the next few years, under Paul’s guidance, I began refining my Scouting skills as an adult leader. One trick that Paul loved to do to me was to place me in charge of a subject for the next roundtable that I did not know a lot about. So, I had one month to learn about it. The trick worked very well, although at the time I did not always appreciate it. I learned a lot under Paul’s instruction. He soon encouraged me to be a staff member for the Scouting University and the weekend scoutmaster training sessions. We even experimented one year with a junior leader roundtable.

I soon became more comfortable speaking in front of groups of people, something I had hated doing in high school. My voice started cracking less and less, my palms became less sweaty, and I did not shake quite as much as I used to. I began to become more confident in myself as my knowledge in Scouting increased.

As adult leaders we always like to brag about how Scouting can help our boys, but I think we also need to remember what Scouting offers adults who are willing to apply themselves to the program. I, for one, have grown more as a Scout leader then I ever did as a Boy Scout. I am sure that I am not the only one out there who can make that claim.

Twenty years after those roundtable staffer days, I received the council’s highest award, the Silver Beaver. I invited my parents to the award ceremony. (I am not married so there was not a wife to invite.) I also asked my old roundtable commissioner, mentor, and friend to attend the dinner and be the person who would present the award to me. Both Paul and I were grinning wide as he placed the Silver Beaver award around my neck.

Should you attend your monthly roundtable meetings? You bet you should! And apply yourself to the leadership roles you have accepted. After all, look where it got me.

I began attending monthly district roundtable training meetings shortly after becoming an assistant scoutmaster in 1980. I was a firm believer that this ninety minute training session would help me in my new position. I still attend many roundtables, even though I have been in Scouting long enough to conduct the meetings myself. I still pick up a couple things here and there that are useful.

Those first years of roundtables were critical in my leadership training. Oh yes, I did also attend the weekend scout leader training session and the yearly Scouting University, but it was during the roundtables that I really got to know the other Scout leaders in my area.

I live in Melrose, a city of approximately 3000 people. Nearby cities are 6-7 miles apart with a lot of farm land between them. Interstate 94 runs through the south portion of Melrose. The Central Minnesota Council office is located in St. Cloud, thirty five miles from my home. A couple leaders from neighboring cities and I would carpool to the meetings. During that 30 minute drive we would discuss various Scouting topics and sometimes talk about current problems we had within our troops. The same thing would happen on the way home, although the meeting may have given us a new topic to discuss.

One advantage in attending these monthly meetings was forming new friendships with my fellow Scouters. I am pretty shy by nature so it was great to be able to share experiences and to have them there to help solve problems.

The members of the carpool soon decided to stop for supper after the roundtables since we did not have the time to eat properly between getting home from work and getting to the meeting. We made a habit of going to Bonanza in St. Cloud. These “after-roundtable roundtables, as I liked to call them, became another important element of my training and friendship making. It did not take long for other Scouters to discover our after-roundtable roundtables. There were times when we would have eight to ten leaders, in Scout uniform, sitting at a table in Bonanza, shooting the breeze and solving all of the problems in Scouting. We had a great time.

Currently, I am the only member of those early roundtable years that is still involved in Scouting, at least locally. Most of those guys have retired from Scouting or moved on to other locations. I, however, am still making new friends at the roundtables. A couple months ago, four of us stopped at a local dining place after the meeting for some snacks and something to drink. We talked about Scouts, the Order of the Arrow, and the council’s camp.

Who knows… Maybe the after-roundtable roundtables will become popular once again.