Scouting

I found a link important enough to post, it's about Boy Scouts of America and their stance on HBT.

Another great post from PresentationZen: Storytelling lessons from Bill Cosby

Go read it.

PresentationZen has a great post called The need for participation, compassion, & community in the classroom (and lecture hall) . Go read it now.

Ken Robbinson talks and thoughts are scout leader essentials if you ask me. Here´s another one, but this time an illustrated remix.

Remember, BP wanted to change school but instead we got scouting. I suppose as long as out educational system doesn't get it (or we scouts fail to get it in the future), scouting will have important contributions to make.

In the quest of using the web as a marketing tool, I have now compiled the web statistics for my scout group Årsta Scoutkår for the whole 2009.

This year Google Analytics is used, so there are more details available for those who seek.

Key findings are that traffic has stopped to grow and that outdorr and game are very important themes for our visitors.

Who doesn't love TED talks? These are a few popular TED talks which - depending on you view - convey important thoughts touching on how we can build Scouting of tomorrow.

Over the years I have published links to a substantial number of news articles on our deteriorating environment, and especially the state of the Baltic Sea.

10 Questions for Neil deGrasse Tyson to contemplate over.

In the quest of using the web as a marketing tool for my scout group Årsta Scoutkår, I have now compiled the web statistics of our site for the second half of 2008 and analyzed the traffic.

Key findings from previous analysis remains. The biggest change is that I have started to use Google Analytics this autumn, so next report will look a little different.

Playing, game and creativity are important concepts and tools in scouting.

David Allen, great speaker and founder of GTD (Get Things Done) methodology on WorkFastTv.

This is an important video featuring Hans Rosling on "Watch the end of poverty". A must for anyone trying to improve the world.

It's not that every scout should learn programming, it's just that being forbidden to improve the world we live in and share it for the benefits of other is contrary to our life style.

In the quest of using the web as a marketing tool for my scout group Årsta scoutkår, I have now compiled the web statistics of our site for the first half of 2008 and analysed the traffic.

My key finding is that we really ought to be more environmentally progressive and increase the focus on outdoor activities.

Personal productivity expert David Allen on the usage of mind mapping tools on the computer.

I just ran across this article in the National Post on the Wal-Mart response to Hurricane Katarina. A reminder for us all and we scouts in particular that decentralized emergency response rooted in knowledge on local conditions works best.

As 2008 comes to an end it was again time to analyse the impact and usage of the Årsta Scoutkår website.

An introduction to risk management and deciding on priorities.

Hard data showing the web is a major strategic tool for scout recruitment.

Now updated with latest web stat.

The toolbox is full yet it's empty.

For our recruitment day each year, we give potential new scouts the opportunity to apply for the recruitment evening using a variety of means: phone, e-mail, tree-mail, WAP, SMS and the web.

Guess the preferred channel.

Today I came across two semingly unrelated papers: the suggested program for the first semester for scouts ages 13-15 by the Swedish Scout Council (SSR) and Clay Shirky's A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy .

A few things about the state of the scout movment in Sweden and the group I belong to has puzzled me lately. How come we are so many enlisted but still so few involved in core activities?

All round the world and here in Vässarö, Sweden, at sunrise scouts swore the scout oath marking the beginning of the next 100 years of scouting on our beloved planet.

Lessons learned while preparing for Jiingijamborii.

To make room for improvement, we must stop doing what doesen't 'work' and stop doing what doesen't deliver 'value'.

One can recognize things that doesen't deliver 'value' by asking the question "how much better will things get if I do twice as much of this?" For example: "How much more will our scouts learn if I carry around the same amount of things twice as long for twice as long time?"

The answear is left as an exercise for the reader. The rest of this article will continue to explore what we can do to stop carrying things around.

Yet another Turbogears web tool online. This time it's a simple tool enabling prospect scouts and their parents to sign up for trial scout meeting in early autumn.

http://www.arstascouterna.org/scoutanmalan/index2?scout_kar_id=1

I was recently asked why I spend time being a scout. Here is my attempt to answear that question using a reasonable amount of words.

Finally Svenska Scoutförbunet http://www.ssf.scout.se throw out their old homepage and launched a new one. Here's whats good and bad in my opinion with the new solution.

Here's a good practice I've learned the last couple of months: throw away stuff that works. But why? Beacues raw material is flesh for fantasy.

Thinking Just In Time or sometimes Just-in-Time means Just-What-We-Need

Kaizen - continous improvment - is an important activity, not because we have a need to be perfect as scouts but because it results in challenges for our selves and a constant questioning of the way we do things. In scouting we improve our abillities (we just don't call it Kaizen). If you aren't working on improving you abillities - especially the social ones - the scout leadership is not for you.

Remember: as scout leaders we lead by setting an example, so don't expect the scout you lead to improve their abillities if you yourself refuse.

Scouting started 100 years ago from other peoples ideas. If our past can forsee our future, our success in the next 100 years will be the result of our abillity to adopt and explore new ideas from other people.

I'm planning on writing a series of articles based on ideas and proven best practices from other organizations in order to show how we can achieve much more as scout leaders.

The main concepts which will be repeated many times over will be:

• Constant improvement
• Removing waste
• If you do what you always do you get the result you always get
• Imitate winners
• Visual leadership