May 2011 Jamboree Committee Meeting Recap

Attendance:

Matt Becker, John Clawson, Roger Denton, Dennis Draper, Mike Eisenhauer, Larry Grantham, Randy Hager, Steven Rosenak

The Pony Express Council’s National Jamboree Committee met for the fourth time on Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011 to discuss plans for the upcoming 2013 National Scout Jamboree; scheduled to be held from July 15th-July 24th, 2013 in West Virginia.

Using the new agenda format the group split off into their subcommittees at the beginning of the meeting for roughly 35 minutes to discuss the pertinent items that they plan to focus on throughout this planning process. This gave each group enough time to work in their area of focus to continue to develop and see out their plan of action. Attendance was slightly lighter at this meeting, and even though every subcommittee wasn’t represented, a lot was accomplished during the meeting.

The major focus for the promotions committee was to begin the development of the banners to be used at Camp Geiger this summer, and at other events throughout the coming years. The group came up with 2 ideas for the banners, with the first being a banner advertising just the Summit. The second would promote the various jamboree events that the Summit will have to spark interest in the youth. The plan is to get these finished before the Mic-O-Say Tribal Feast on June 4th, which marks the start to the summer camping season at Camp Geiger. The banners will be placed in high traffic areas at camp such as the Headquarters building, and at the Trading Post. Once a design gets approved the images will show up here on the blog as well. Another item that this committee is working on is to set up a video loop of the promotional video that was released at the last committee meeting, during Wednesday night at Camp Geiger.

The finance subcommittee is still working on creating a budget for the event to establish a final trip cost for the participants. Talks with World Strides, the touring company, to acquire a final cost from that portion of the trip has slowed down the process of finalizing a total cost. Although not present, it is my understanding that Ken Siemens has agreed to sit on this subcommittee to help in this process as well. Fundraising options are still being tossed around to help assist the boys in paying their own way. With the goal of giving every interested boy the opportunity to attend, this will be a major focus as time progresses.

Registration for the Jamboree is not currently open (Late Spring 2011); but the recruiting committee has already developed an excellent plan to get participants to sign up. Talks of Wednesday night flyer distribution at Camp Geiger, as well as Tribal Council assistance should prove to fill up the slots quickly. The subcommittee also moved to develop a youth interest form similar to the adult interest form used for leadership positions. That form will be posted on the council website and right here as well, as soon as it is completed. The youth form will be for both the Boy Scout Troop and Venturing Patrol. While on the subject of interest forms, the adult forms have been collected and reviewed, and interviews will need to take place to make a final decision on the troop leadership. The committee received 10 applications, and will be hosting the interviews at the Tribal Feast on June 4th, 2011. The committee will also be releasing another adult interest form tailored to finding 2 adults for the venturing patrol. Both the adult and youth forms will be available before the Venturing Event at Camp Geiger on May 21st, 2011.

The first shakedown has been scheduled for October 20-21st, 2012 at Camp Geiger. Plans for the weekend are being put together and new information will be released as it becomes available.

Everyone was encouraged to read the recently released Mandatory Terms for Participation, which could cause problems with the amount of gear the boys will be allowed to take.

The next meeting has been set for Tuesday, June 7th, 2011 at 7 PM. The group will be meeting again in the Herzog Lodge to discuss progress and any new information. The agenda will be emailed out at a later date and posted on the Jamboree Blog.

Picture Source: Summit Bechtel Reserve Flickr Collection