Meetings: Be Prepared!

One of the things that I have struggled with over the past year is feeling prepared for meetings with my troop. Shocking, I know.

Back in the day, aka Brownie days, it was simpler for me. At the beginning of the year, the girls chose the badges we would complete by marking them on a sheet. I would tally up the votes and then assign them to the meeting where they would work the best. I would make a list of supplies and gather them up, haul them with me, unload, set up, and walk to the school across the street to meet them to walk back to the church. Oh! The good ol' days. Sort of. I also remember lugging 12 scrapbook albums back and forth for each meeting for 8 months because I had a brilliant idea of a time filler... wow... I was ambitious!

Now, the girls are Freshman... which means they are Senior Girl Scouts. Telling someone outside the scouting world you have Seniors is so confusing, btw. The girls still plan their badges for the year at the beginning of the year, but in a different way using the House Method. Then, they assign the badges or call dibs on the badges they want to lead. They rotate through the months who will be the one to put together the plan and supplies list. Then, I review the plan to make sure they are meeting the requirements and gather the supplies (sort of). We are holding meetings at my home now and that is where my problem is coming in. I find myself procrastinating about getting supplies gathered, because it's "here" and I can just grab it if we need it. Yeah... which means I spend at least an hour making a bazillion trips up and down the hallway to get "just one more thing".

I'm telling you this because I need you to be my judge and jury. I want you to help keep tabs on me. I hope to improve my preparedness for meetings... starting with tonight!  I have a plan. I'm going to share it with you so you can keep tabs on me and maybe glean something for yourself, too.

Whether you meet at a place where all your supplies are or whether you are carting them back and forth, I hope this will help you and me improve.

Over the next few weeks, you can look forward to posts about the following. I'll update this post with links as soon as they are done and posted, too. Stay tuned!!

1. Get your Leader Binder together
2. Set up an Essentials Bag
3. Put together a "This meeting only" kit
4. Plan for "extra time"