Re: [Philmont]: What makes a good crew?

90 minutes ain't a lot of time to do an information dump. I hope you
don't lose half of it to Council administrivia. I also hope you'll have
at least one more meeting to cover more stuff in better detail as you
get a little closer.

One thing you don't want to do - unless necessary - is reinvent the
wheel. If your Council already has a program in the can, you probably
don't want to deviate from it too hard. Another suggestion is to use
multiple people for the different sub-programs - the changes in voice,
inflection, and emphasis, helps keep people focused. 90 minutes is not
a lot of time to present, but it is a lot of time to keep anyone's
attention, even adults.

Some suggestions (i.e., things that I do) that augment Wally's comments.
   These are based on my own experiences in dozens of such primer meetings.

First, you will be quite surprised that most of the audience has no real
firm grip on exactly what Philmont is. Some will come having no idea
even where Philmont is actually physically located. You've got to lay
out a solid background, using a map and an illustrative slide show or PP
presentation. Terrain, altitude, low humidity, etc. Everything else
has to come in the context of the participants and their parents knowing
what it is they are undertaking. If they don't know, then they fall
back on what knowledge they have, and assumptions they've made, and that
leads to all sorts of problems down the road. As Coop says, it ain't
summer camp, and it ain't a weekend backpacking trip either. Everyone
has to know that, up front and quite clearly.

The next critical item to explain is the concept of treks, and how
they're selected. Again, with few exceptions, this is like nothing else
these Scouts have ever encountered.

An unfortunate (but necessary) item I bring up is grounds for
termination, emphasizing that I don't give a rat how much money a family
has paid, I care about how much money everyone elses' families have
paid, and I will not allow one Scout (or adult) to ruin 11 other
trekkers' experiences. A great line from Wally that I have used on
multiple occasions is "I won't take your trek any more seriously than
you do". Let that sit there for a couple of seconds before moving on.
I discuss physical, mental, and emotional maturity. I hit on not
keeping secrets from the Advisors, especially medical and psychological
issues. Though (seemingly) harsh, people tend to pay closer attention,
and probably appreciate knowing this up front, as opposed to after the
problems have spun out of control.

Some accoutrements I bring to such meetings is a triple or quadruple set
of gear, plus some past photo albums. These are offered for perusal
AFTER the meeting is over, so that those who already know the drill
don't have their time wasted, but those who don't can stick around to
get an in-depth gear review, or a chance to review an album that is far
more detailed than the slide show. The "triple or quadruple set of
gear": Like anyone who has been doing high adventures for decades, I
too am a bit of a gear-head - but (as John Leblanc will be happy to
detail) you certainly don't need two thousand bucks worth of gear to
have a great trek at Philmont. If cotton kills, all of us who did
Philmont before 1980 would be long dead. So I show a variety of items
in each category, from "acceptable and reasonably inexpensive" to
"fabulous but take out a home equity loan to buy it all". Included in
this talk are many standard weight reduction hints, comments about
backpacks, boots, Coop and Wally's "critical items", how to pack a
backpack, and so on. Novice and inexperienced backpackers will be
attentive, and their parents will be greatly appreciative.

Again, this is all available as an option AFTER the meeting, so those
who don't need it can go home, and those that do need it don't end up
getting a mile-a-minute rush job during the actual meeting.

Moving on from the "termination talk", since this is a Council
contingent (presumably multiple provisional Crews), there needs to be a
discussion on Crew makeup. This was the topic of a thread not too long
ago, so no need to beat that to death again here. What are the
Advisors' roles? More importantly, if your Council has Advisor
selection criteria, that has to be explained in detail. Ditto on
waiting list policies - one key point I always make re waiting list
Scouts and Advisors (at least the first couple on the list) is that they
still MUST participate in all meetings and shakedown activities, as if
they were going - otherwise, they will be hopelessly unprepared if they
get called in April or May. That is a tough situation, because it's
hard to have to do all the prep when there's no guarantee of being able
to go. But if they're not willing to prep, they should be on the
waiting list in the first place.

Next up is a brief discussion of how you're going to and from Philmont,
and any special considerations or comments - for example (if
applicable), that families cannot use frequent flyer miles, and so on.

Next up is a discussion of the importance of physical training (esp. for
Advisors), and some comments on what constitutes proper physical
training. I include additional comments on altitude, and on trek
difficulty.

Continue from Physical Training into the purpose (and importance) of
Shakedowns. Break everyone immediately of the thought that Shakedowns
are physical training. As you now well know, they are unrelated.
Discuss a *typical* Crew training/shakedown calendar. If your Council
does 50-Miler Award service projects, that should be discussed here also.

Give out a bunch of handouts - Equipment Lists, Contingent Calendars,
How to (rationally) Select a Trek, Philmont Challenge Index, Contingent
contact names and #'s, and so on. Everyone should walk out with some
useful resources.

Finally, discuss future communications; Upcoming meetings.

Give 10 minutes minuimum for Questions and Answers. Emphasize that only
questions of general interest should be asked - people with specific
issues should discuss them with you after the meeting or via email.
Don't let one Scout's mom monopolize the Q&A discussing her son's
specific problems.

Hope you find some useful ideas here.

- Dr. Bob

Pete Swiggum wrote:
> Dr. Bob and others,
> This meeting is for Scouts, crew advisors and parents. The purpose of
> the meeting is to offer practical advice and answer gear, itinerary and
> logistics questions related to the trip out, the experience at Philmont
> and the trip home. We'll discuss trek planning, practice and shakedown
> hikes, as well as crew and advisor responsibilities.
>
> We'll also be covering all travel, as well as sharing a comprehensive
> gear review on what is, and what isn't, needed on the trail.
>
> The meeting will last about one and a half hours.
>
> Any important words of wisdom will be greatly appreciated, probably
> moreso than information related to gear and trek logistics.
>
> An example of something I'll be sharing with the group is "Expedition
> Behavior" by Howard Tomb. It was something I got off this forum prior
> to our trip last summer. It's the one that begins with Rule #1: "Get
> the heck out of bed!" I think information like this can be more helpful
> than the gear and trek information.
>
> Pete Swiggum
> Troop 1173
> Green Bay
> Peter.Swiggum(at)sbcglobal(dot)net
> Philmont 2005
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dr. Bob Klein" <drbob@troop111.org>
> To: "Multiple recipients of list philmont" <philmont@troop47.com>
> Sent: Monday, December 19, 2005 9:31 PM
> Subject: Re: [Philmont]: What makes a good crew?
>
>
>> How long a meeting? How much time will YOU get, and how much will be
>> dedicated to administrivia? Is this the ONLY meeting, or just one of
>> several (and if so, how many)?
>>
>> The more details on the parameters, the better advice you'll get....
>>
>>
>>
>> Pete Swiggum wrote:
>>
>>> This is an email primarily for Coop, but if anyone else has something
>>> to add, I'd welcome it wholeheartedly.
>>> In January, I'll be leading the parent / crew meeting for our
>>> council's Philmont contingents for 2006. Although I was an advisor
>>> for one of our Philmont crews this past summer, I'm clearly not as
>>> experienced as many of you. I'm just someone willing and able to
>>> lead the meeting in order to help properly prepare the crews and
>>> parents for next summer's trip to Philmont.
>>> Coop, according to your message below from last April, you have a
>>> training session entitled "Avoiding One Year Wonder Crews". If you
>>> would be so kind as to forward any information related to that
>>> training session, I would appreciate it greatly.
>>> To anyone else on the list who's done the same thing I'm about to do
>>> in January, any program outlines and thoughts on what to cover would
>>> be appreciated. I have an outline that our council has done over the
>>> last few years and it's certainly a good one. I'm just looking to
>>> share as much pertinent information as possible and your thoughts are
>>> important to me.
>>> Thanks in advance.
>>> Pete Swiggum
>>> Troop 1173
>>> Green Bay
>>> Peter.Swiggum@sbcglobal.net <mailto:Peter.Swiggum@sbcglobal.net>
>>> Philmont 2005
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: CoopWright@aol.com <mailto:CoopWright@aol.com>
>>> To: Multiple recipients of list philmont
>>> <mailto:philmont@troop47.com>
>>> Sent: Friday, April 08, 2005 10:20 AM
>>> Subject: Re: [Philmont]: What makes a good crew?
>>>
>>> I have a session entitled "Avoiding One Year Wonder Crews" that I
>>> put together for the Northeast Region's Venture Quest that will be
>>> held in Dillsburg, PA, May 6-8, that I would be happy to send out to
>>> folks that wanted to see it.
>>>
>>> Cooper Wright
>>> Associate Advisor, Crew 1519
>>> Warrenton, VA

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Received on Tue Dec 20 22:06:55 2005