Roundtable
REMINDER: Roundtable Thursday
Thursday after general session, Andrew Linden will speak about promoting your unit using Social Media.
Please join us for general session at 6:30 pm with district-wide announcements and discussions followed by Andrew’s presentation.
Roundtable is held at Luke’s Lodge, the outbuilding on the Northeast corner of campus at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, 100 W 86th St, Indianapolis, IN 46260.
REMINDER: Roundtable Thursday
Just a quick reminder, our new Roundtable schedule has us meeting on the SECOND THURSDAY of each month at 6:30 pm at ST LUKE’S United Methodist Church.
We are currently confirming the room assignment. Watch this post for updates. We will be meeting in Luke’s Lodge, the outbuilding on the northeast corner of campus.
National Jamboree Presentation
This week we will have a general session on news from around the District and a presentation on the 2017 National Jamboree from one of the Council’s Jamboree Scoutmasters Michael Thyen. I met Mike this year when he served as my Wood Badge Troop Guide. For nearly 20 years, Mike has served continuously as the founding Scoutmaster of Del-Mi’s Troop 202 at St Elizabeth Seton Catholic Church in Carmel. Troop 202 is one of the largest and most successful troops in Del-Mi. He has attended National Jamborees before.
Please do not hesitate to bring your PLC members to the Roundtable to meet Mike and ask questions.
Mike’s presentation will be open to all scouters regardless whether serving in Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, or Venturing. The reason for this is that National Jamborees come around every 4 years. All scouters should be familiar with the program as part of the long term goal of keeping scouts of all ages engaged in scouting and dreaming of their future scouting experiences.
Cub Scout Leaders are welcome to serve on staff of a National Jamboree contingent or on the camp staff.
The National Jamboree will be held at its new permanent home at Bechtel Scout Reservation in West Virginia.
In addition, the BSA with Scouts Canada and Asociación de Scouts de México, A.C. will be co-hosting the 2019 World Jamboree at Bechtel Scout Reservation in West Virginia.
Break Out Sessions
Boy Scouts
North Star District Advancement Coordinator for Boy Scouts Jim Beck, Scoutmaster of Zionsville’s Troop 358, will be leading a break out session on the Boy Scout Advancement and brainstorming ideas on how to promote advancement in the District.
Here is a link that you might want to look at in preparation for the conversation.
Cub Scouts
District Commissioner Jeff Heck will be leading a discussion on how Blue and Gold banquet planning and cross-over ceremonies for Cub Scouts are critical for creating excitement for Tiger, Wolf, and Bear Scouts as well as completing a successful transition from Webelos to Scouts.
REMINDER: Change to District Committee Meetings
Just a quick reminder that the District Committee Meeting for January will take place THIS THURSDAY at 7:00 pm, as part of our new schedule of meetings. The meeting will take over our Roundtable time and location at Second Presbyterian.
The District Commissioner’s Staff will meet at 6 pm before the District Committee meeting. Same location.
The roundtable will be next week.
Changes to District Calendar for 2016
Over the past calendar year, North Star District has experimented with changing the District Committee and Roundtables’ times to increase attendance. It is now time to declare the experiment closed.
The new schedule will have District Committee meetings the first week of the month at 7:00 pm at Second Presbyterian Church (room was already scheduled for roundtables). The July meeting will be determined at a later date. The April meeting will be held regardless of Spring Break conflicts.
The District Commissioner’s Staff will meet at Second Presbyterian at 6:00 pm immediately before the Committee Meeting. It will be limited to one hour. This will cut down on the number meeting nights for several people.
The District Roundtable will be the second week of the month at 7:00 pm at St Luke’s United Methodist Church (change of location, too; scheduling confirmation pending).
The District Eagle Boards of Review will continue to be on the second Wednesday of each month.
Why the change?
In recent Council meetings, the basic monthly scheduling scheme was explained. Our 2015 district meetings conflict with that scheme.
Specifically, Council reserves the first two weeks of the month for district operations meetings. They do this by minimizing the number of council meetings in this time period. The last two weeks of the month are reserved for council meetings, with the implicit understanding that the number of district meeting should be kept to a minimum.
This reduces the risk of conflicts and allows a more predictable flow of information.
Council then uses the last two weeks of each month to prepare the necessary information and material for the coming district functions.
The expectation is that the district committees will meet the first week of the month, so committee information is given to the District Executives and Directors to be prepared for that week. The expectation is that Roundtables will be held the following week, because any district committee and council plans will be ready to go.
Failing to follow this schedule has caused information and material dissemination to be difficult for our District Executive Con Sullivan. As an example, he did not have access to supplies of rockets for membership drives at the right time, which required more effort from him and the receiving units.
Roundtable for December
A quick reminder that Roundtable is Thursday night at Second Presbyterian at 6:30 pm.
Sharla Merrick our Cub Roundtable Chair will have a session on “Making a Holiday Themed Woggle.” (If you don’t know what a “woggle” is British English for “Neckerchief Slide.”)
Commissioner’s Staff will have an open discussion of the new Boy Scout Requirements for 2016. Come prepared with questions!
Thursday Roundtable
This Thursday we will hold a Boy Scout and Cub Scout roundtable. We will meet on the fourth floor of second Presbyterian church as always. The general session and district news will begin at 6:30 PM with breakout sessions beginning at 7 PM.
Merit Badge Counselor Registration Open Forum
The Boy Scout round table will focus on merit badge counseling registration, education, troop counselor list maintenance, and related troubleshooting. The district merit badge counselor registrar Mike Yates will lead the conversation. We will focus on identifying problems, solutions, and procedures for maintaining a reliable District Roster of Merit Badge Counselors and their Badges going forward.
Cub Scout New Program Review
The Cub Scout roundtable will focus on “the New Advancement Program: How’s It Going So Far?” The discussion will focus on how to improve and clarify understandings.
Roundtable is coming! Roundtable is coming!
(UPDATED 8/31/15: Major changes to agenda. Old agenda deleted as appropriate.)
At Roundtable on Thursday, September 3rd, 6:30 pm, we will be very busy.
Cubs will be talking about planning for District Rocket Launch on Saturday, September 12th. It is tentatively scheduled for Camp Belzer. The Pack leaders will receive their rocket engines at the Roundtable. We will have our Launchmaster present to discuss the protocols and processes for the morning.
Scouts will be discussing the upcoming Camporee.
June Roundtable Agenda
Our June Roundtable will be held, as always, beginning at 6:30 p.m. at Second Presbyterian Church, 7700 N Meridian St, 4th Floor, Indianapolis. RSVPs are welcome, but not required.
We plan on introducing our new District Executive Con Sullivan. He will be asked to give a few remarks.
The opening general session will be “Maximizing Council Resources for Your Unit” by District Commissioner Jeff Heck.
We will then break into Cub Roundtables and Scout Roundtables.
Sharla Merrick our Cub Roundtable Commissioner will host a conversation on Cub Recruitment, with a special emphasis on what will be happening in July, August, and September this year.
Jeff Heck will host a conversation about planning high adventure and using fellow district members as resources. We will discuss BSA bases and non-BSA trip ideas, planning cycles, and problems to watch out for.
Please be sure to invite any and all adults from your units. It is very important to get as many membership coordinators from all of our units to participate in Sharla’s discussion. Cub Recruiting this year is going to require Boy Scout Troops’ help, so please have your membership coordinator attend.
– Jeff Heck
Article about Importance of Roundtable Attendance
There are a handful of very valuable websites for adult scouters outside of the official BSA websites. One that should be a special focus for Unit Committee Members is Bobwhite Blather. This is recent written by a long-time Troop Committee Chair.
In a recent article, Bobwhite Blather talks about the important of Roundtable attendance and its effect on the unit.
I would recommend sharing the article with all of your adult leaders in your Pack, Troop, or Crew.
May 2015 Roundtable Thank You
On May 7, 2015, Darin Steindl our Council Assistant Director of Field Services talked to our attendees about the next six months in scouting. With Back to School Night, the new recruiting marketing campaign, popcorn sales, and council programming activities, Darin had a full offering. We had a wonderful turn out to take the message back to their units.
I would like to thank the following people for taking time out of their personal schedule and away from their units to continue their education about what council and district is scheduled to do to help improve their units. Thank you to
| Name | Unit |
| Greg Hoyes | Troop 804 |
| Thomas Petersen | Troop 804 |
| Kurt Thomas | Troop 73 |
| Vince Hernly | Troop 73 |
| Mike Yates | Troop 56 |
| Don Bievenour | Troop 56 |
| Mike Rodriguez | Troop 514 |
| Tom Sugar | Troop 358 |
| Ron Wells | Troop 343 |
| Brian Crow | Troop 343 |
| John Ruggles | Troop 343 |
| Andrew Himebaugh | Troop 343 |
| Dan Ramsey | Troop 18 |
| Edward Spahr | Troop 174 |
| Patrick Sweeney | Pack 514 |
| Mario Clarizia | Pack 358 |
| Jason des Bordes | Pack 18 |
| Eric Hernandez | Pack 175/ Troop 174 |
| Justin Scott | Ass’t District Comm’r for training |
I believe a few people arrived late and we did not get them the sign-in sheet. If you know anyone whom I may have inadvertently omitted, please put it in the comments below so that they get the credit they deserve.
Thank you to Darin for having a lively and thorough discussion of the topics. Darin told us that he will make himself available to units who want to hear the same presentation. Please contact him at the council office for additional information.
Thank you to Rob Hemmelgarn, Darin’s boss and the district’s key advisor during our reorganization, for taking the time in a hectic evening schedule for making time for North Star.
Additional information that Darin provided on popcorn sales and cub scout recruiting have been added to the previous blog posts. New blog posts about the effects on scouts with the new cub marketing, advancement programs, rocket launches, pack/family overnight campout opportunities, and new Journey to Excellence rules will be in later blog posts.
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