In January 2019, fly south to the Florida Sea Base for a volunteer development conference

Escape the chill of winter while acquiring the latest tools to help your Scout unit succeed.

That’s the promise of a volunteer training conference at the Florida Sea Base. Pick from five weeklong conferences, each held in January 2019 at the BSA’s Florida home.

During your week in the Keys, you’ll learn new things and meet new people. The subject matter is excellent. The setting? Not too bad, either. You’ll have plenty of time to enjoy the beauty of this area and soak up the mid-January highs of 72 and lows of 65.

Which conference will you choose? Here’s a look at each one. When you’re ready, go here to register.

Week 1: Jan. 13 to 19, 2019

• The Council/District Training Committee
  • Who: Members of the district training committee and council training committee and trainers
  • What: The latest tools, techniques and best practices to help you increase the number of trained leaders while building a successful and sustainable training program. Additional topics include creative ways to reach the untrained leader; how to utilize unit trainers; and methods to recruit, train, and strengthen the district training team. Participants will also learn where to find, interpret, and act on council training data. The most current information on new and/or revised syllabuses for volunteer training courses will be shared.
• Second Century Service
  • Who: Anyone who serves a unit or serves as a roundtable or an administrative commissioner.
  • What: The conference will enable participants to strengthen the relationship between unit service and district operations while strengthening unit key 3 relationships. The conference will also provide ways for commissioners to extract data from Commissioner Tools and turn it into actionable information which will be the basis of the unit service plan. You will gain a better understanding of the methods commissioners use to help units better serve more youth through Scouting.
• DIVERSEability and DisABILITY: How to Apply Proper Methods in Scouting With Special Needs
  • Who: Scouters, professionals and parents who have a passion for helping Scouts with disAbilities become involved in all that Scouting has to offer.
  • What: This course will help you to start or strengthen a Disabilities Awareness Committee within your council and show Scout leaders proper procedures, modifications, resources and supports that can help our Scouts with special needs experience the outing in Scouting. See how you can help Scouts advance at all levels, experience programming, and feel included and empowered to make a difference in the lives of others along with helping their communities.

Week 2: Jan. 20 to 26, 2019

• Leading and Strengthening New Troops
  • Who: Scouters providing leadership to new troops and current troop leaders who want to discover the keys to establishing a successful and sustainable unit.
  • What: Available resources will be explored, and an emphasis will be placed on developing a program for the critical beginnings of a new troop. Scouters will learn best practices related to program planning, recruiting youth and adult leadership, and with troop administration. Current Cub pack leaders, especially Webelos den leaders, won’t want to miss this opportunity. This conference will give you the chance to interact in person with other new leaders from all around the country. Scoutmasters, assistant Scoutmasters, committee members, including new member coordinators, or anyone planning to organize a new troop will find this to be an invaluable experience.
• Conference on Education for Advancement Administrators (CEAA)
  • Who: Council and district volunteers and professionals who have some background in advancement
    and want to take their game to a new level.
  • What: Participants will receive lots of updates and changes to share with others, but of significance is that they will review and participate in the update or completion of advancement education tools that are used by units, districts, or councils across the country. Conferences will view and discuss various existing advancement materials and make recommendations for tools that should be developed for the future. Participants will begin to use some of those tools during this conference. This is your opportunity to be on the cutting edge of materials development and advance your education by learning through doing.

How much? How do I register?

The course costs $495 for participants and $350 for spouses who aren’t attending the conference. The fee includes housing, meals, snacks, bedding and towels, course materials, and a sunset cruise if weather permits.

Register at this link. You must register no later than Dec. 15, 2018.

How to get more info

• Learn more about each of these conferences in this flyer (PDF).
• For questions about the conference, call 817-430-5303
• For questions about Florida Sea Base facilities, call 305-393-7374

In January 2019, fly south to the Florida Sea Base for a volunteer development conference