If your unit has already updated it's BeAScout pin, please disregard this notice.That's right! The BSA has put Scouting on the map all across
the nation! In time for Join Scouting 2010, the Boy Scouts of America
now has its own joining Web page,
www.BeAScout.org, with information on
Scouting, plus an actual
Google map application that will help potential Scouts
and their parents find packs, troops, and crews in their communities and
neighborhoods right here in the Knox Trail Council. It's here now!
How will it work? In a nutshell, unit leaders will be able
to update their unit's Google "pin" - the bubble you see on Google maps -
through MyScouting. They can add their unit meeting time, location, phone
number, unit Web site address if they have one, as well as a contact name for
the unit.
It's easy, but it's up to your unit to be sure the information is correct! The Google Pin. The information in the "pins" will be tied
to unit records in the BSA's data-base.
Unit leaders will have the ability to
update this information to keep it accurate and up to date. They will be able
to edit it as often as they like.
"Ask Us! We can help." A new feature allows people interested
in a particular unit to e-mail questions to the unit leaders. For instance, say
a potential Scout parent wants to know, "What night does your den meet?" The parent would click on the "For More
Information" link. The site will open up a "blind" email window (the sender
never sees the actual email address). He or she types the question and presses
Enter. The leader receives the question and can respond.
BeAScout keeps a
record of the question and the person requesting the information and whether or
not they receive a response.
Contact People are the glue! Recruiting campaigns depend on
personal contact for success. It's important to not only make the contact but
to also follow up on all your leads.
In BeAScout, both councils and units can
be notified when a parent makes contact with a unit. So both unit leaders and
district executives can be contacts and receive e-mails from interested
parents.
Pin Management and Unit Contacts. A unit leader can set
contact information using Pin Management (available from My-Scouting >
BeAScout link). Initially the Pin Management screen can be accessed by the: top
unit leader, unit committee chairperson, & chartered organization
representative. These leaders can change the pin from council information to
(unit) contact person mode and designate unit leaders to be contacts -- one
primary and two alternate contacts (either themselves or other registered
leaders of that unit). These primary and alternate contacts will also have
access to Pin Management, and they will receive e-mails from leads.
Set your Google pin information now, and with the contacts
that will help to make your
BeAScout campaign a success!
BeAScout resources are available on our website under the Council Resources tab > Membership and Marketing or
click here.
Be sure to check out all the recruiting resources and incentives being offered this fall!