Thank you for serving as an event chair for Garden State Council! Follow these steps as you plan your event
Event Approval
Meet with your Council Staff Adviser to set the goals, theme, date, location, and scope of your event. Your Council Staff Adviser will help you along the way to get all of the details together.
Budget and Timeline
Use our Budget Workbook to establish your budget and timeline to know what to buy, when to order it, how much to charge participants, and more. Your Staff Adviser will submit your event to Marketing for online registration and a promotion plan. Purchase Order forms are available at Council. Your Council Staff Advisor will submit all of your planned details to Council Marketing and Reservations. If your event is scheduled at one of the Council camps, contact that camp's Ranger one week prior to review your needs.
Build your Team
Recruit volunteers and specialists to assist you with every task area. Consult the BSA's Guide to Safe Scouting, if applicable to your event. And spread out the load! Your Staff Adviser can assist you in making the right connections.
Promote and Hold your Event
Spread the word of your event using the registration link and any marketing published by Council. Empower your volunteers to also promote the event through their social channels. Then, as the Event Coordinator, be available during the event to address unforeseen developments, and begin to record what works and what needs tweaking. Don't forget to use the tools available in the Council's event registration system to streamline on-site check-in and organization. Record everyone who attended in Council's registration system, including on-site registrations and volunteers. Note: Using email? See our Email Communications Guidelines, below.
Wrap-Up Report
Hold your wrap-up review within 3 weeks of the event with your Council Staff Adviser and as many event committee members as possible. Use our Activity Review Form, and close out your budget and online event registration. Compile all of your documents in a binder or cloud-based folder, and thank all of your volunteers!
Resources
BSA Brand Center
The BSA has great images, videos, and ready-made promotional items available for Scouters to use when promoting Scouting and Scouting events. When creating flyers, patches, and social media posts promoting District and Council events, be sure to submit your drafts to your Staff Adviser before taking it live to ensure consistent messaging.
Design Tools
Are you using Microsoft Word to make design your event flyers? Elevate your graphic design by using free, browser-based tools! Explore Canva and Adobe Express and give your ideas a modern platform! Both of these tools are free to use but do include some premium features. They are also each available as an app as well as a browser-based solution.
Email Communications Guidelines
Email is a major tool our Council can use to communicate with our members. The following are guidelines we have for the use of email addresses and email communications.
General Guidelines
Email communications should come from official BSA/Garden State Council accounts/addresses.
Email communications should be relevant to BSA/Garden State Council updates, programs, and activities.
Email communications should go through approved systems whenever possible, thereby avoiding the use of a volunteer’s personal email account.
Email communications should mask the recipient email addresses from the view of other recipients.
Volunteer Event Coordinators: Our event registration system includes an email tool. Event coordinators should use this tool to communicate event updates and details to participants. If a volunteer cannot access the system, they can send the content to their staff advisor.
District-Level Committee Volunteers: Volunteers who need to reach groups of members through email can send their message and information to their District Executive, so they can follow the above General Guidelines. If a volunteer’s position gives them access to members through other official systems (My.Scouting, Scoutbook, etc.), they can use those tools for communication as well.
Thank you for helping us protect our members’ personal data and thank you for your support of Scouting.
Questions? Contact the Council communications team: communications@gardenstatescouting.org.