https://youtu.be/NfCcKbrHRaU
Communication in the unit can be hard boys and girls today don’t communicate the same way they did back in the 2000s and 90s the 80s and before. Lets talk about communication in this ScoutmasterDave video.
Transcript:
Communication in the unit can be hard boys and girls today don’t communicate the same way they did back in the 2000s and 90s the 80s and before.
It used to be relatively simple a lot of the communication with the boys used to be done via a printed form. I myself can remember when we first joined scouting that you would get a whole packet at your round table and then you could sign up for various events and there was a 2 plus week.
That you had to have it in if you wanted to attend it was all done via mail or you would have to drop it off at the council office. Nowadays there really isn’t that kind of lead time for events. There’s a lot more just in time communication going on I can’t say this is better but it is what it is.
Communicating out with the boys and girls can be challenging you can send an e-mail but emails are usually ignore nowadays it leads more to communicating via like text applications Which can have its own challenges.
There’s a great app that I’ve been using called remind. Remind lets you send out communications to a large group of people. It’s actually designed for schools but you can subvert this for scouting activities as well.
One of the great things about remind is it lets you schedule things so you can put all these activities out there and have them send text messages a week before and then the day before to bring in various forms so they can sign up for trips.
Much of the communication between each other also happens via text messaging. While it’s not ideal we have one patrol that holds patrol meetings all through text.
E-mail communication can still be effective especially if you’re sending it to an older generation like their parents. One of the keys to this kind of communication is simplicity. You can’t load up an e-mail with three months worth of information and expect it to be understood.
At most you should focus on two to three maximum issues. For example you can talk about our next meeting and what they are going to be doing, and then talk about the trip in 2-weeks. And to bring in the permission slip and of course add the form to the e-mail.
The most important part of this is cadence. If you want people to respond, you need to do it in a way that they are prepared to receive the message.
Don’t send it out right before the meeting and expect good results and don’t send it out a month and 1/2 before the meeting and expect good results. We all get lots of emails so if you’re expecting something on Thursday send it out on a Monday or Tuesday that way it stays high in their e-mail box and this will give you your best chance for getting your messages across.
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I’m Scoutmaster Dave, and this was a bit on communication.
