NSJ 2010 December 2008 Bulletin

Jamboree Tours

Anything the Boy Scouts of America does requires promotional effort. Often, council and district activities are successful and well-attended, but many people register late and often try to register “at the door.” That seems to be common in our movement. Unfortunately, there is no “at the door” registration for the 2010 National Scout Jamboree.

Almost 11,880 youth members have signed up to join us at Fort A.P. Hill in 2010 for our 100th Anniversary Jamboree. That’s almost one-third of our 2010 allocation for youth members. We expect 925 troops, each with 36 youth members and four adult leaders. Encourage those interested to go online now and register.

Once again, the biggest issue with the jamboree application process is the way the MyScouting accounts are being created. As it states on the log-in page of MyScouting, all jamboree applications must be submitted from the account of a parent or guardian. (MyScouting accounts may be created by parents/guardians even if they are not registered with the BSA.) Some accounts are mistakenly being created with the youth’s BSA member ID number in the profile. This will result in an “invalid member ID number” error.

While some councils are close to completing their recruiting efforts, most have not. Council recruiting success stories often revolve around some type of jamboree rally to recruit new participants; however, nothing takes the place of recruiting “one on one” by jamboree adult leaders. The following are some ideas your council may want to use to promote the jamboree.
Use the jamboree promotion video. It’s short, has great pictures of the 2005 Jamboree, and is ideal for use at troop meetings and summer camp. In the video, Boys’ Life’s own Pee Wee Harris is talking to his friend about the jamboree while video highlights of the 2005 Jamboree are being shown. These DVDs were sent to councils in July.

Display or distribute the 2010 Jamboree brochures that were sent to councils in July. Give them to those individuals or parents interested in having their son participate in this great event.
Publish a monthly jamboree newsletter on your council Web page. Each Scout and troop leader should have timely communication about the jamboree. This way, each participant will be well-informed and be the best possible representative of your council and Scouting.

Emphasize program features of the jamboree. Talk about the 100th Anniversary program and how it ties in with the 2010 National Scout Jamboree. “Celebrate 100 years of Scouting.”

To quote Pee Wee Harris: “Come with me Dude! We’ll have a blast!

Information borrow from BSA Jamboree Website.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
JASM
Troop 1616