By now, hopefully your Pack has set your initial Join Scout Night (JSN) date and started sharing that opportunity with prospective new families.

Back in July, you attend the Join Scout Night Training as well as picked up your materials which included Bring a Friend cards, yard signs, posters and more.

One of the best strategies to get those materials out of your car or sitting next to your desk (or wherever you stashed them for the last month), is to set a 'Blitz Day' with some help from other leaders/parents in your Pack! Your spouse will want those JSN resources out of your house and in the community even more than you do!

If you are anything like me, you get more work accomplished when you can get together with a couple other parents/leaders in your Pack to punch out things on your 'to-do list'. Schedule a couple of hours with some helpers to use that thick marker and write your JSN details on the yard signs and posters, strategically place them around your community. Great places to put them are at the school(s) you will be recruiting from, your charter organization, near entrances to populated communities with lots of kids, in the town square and intersections where people will be stopped (not driving by at 40 mph).

Make sure you blitz day is at least 2 weeks before your JSN so it gets the visibility in your community to drive attendance to your signup. So if you haven't already, get that 'blitz day' in your calendar and have some fun while you are at it!

Congrats to our weekly #ScoutSHARE winners. Keep sharing your Scouting adventures on social media and encouraging others in your Pack to do the same. Believe me, people you are connected with on social media recognize the fun and adventures you have and will be much more likely to join your Pack if their child can get those same opportunities.

Many Scouts have started back to school, others will be headed back in some fashion over the next couple of weeks. Start advertising with your Pack (via email/social media/text message) that their Scout should wear their uniform to school on #ScoutSHARE Day on Thursday, September 10. Obviously, we know that date won't work for everyone, so do your best to pick a day that week where everyone can participate who is attending school in-person. And your leaders should also participate by wearing their uniform to work too! For more info go to http://www.gocubscouts.com/scoutshare/.

One frequent question received from Packs preparing for Join Scout Night is about how to handle their fees this year.

As most of you know by know, the Boy Scouts of America National Council increased fees last November (which was after JSN season last fall) and then again in June this summer, which included a brand new "joining fee". For more details and FAQs click here. Just a side note, the $5.50 insurance fee from Dan Beard Council remains the same and is only paid at the time of recharter.

The vast majority of Packs as for payment that covers Pack dues and BSA registration for the remainder of the calendar year (thru December 31, 2020) AND the following year, so you don't have to collect additional $ at reacharter time. This covers the Scouting year with BSA which typically follows the school year plus summer activities, then collect dues again in the fall. With a large increase in BSA registration this year and the addition of the one time joining fee, there may be some sticker shock of the cost of Scouting compared to previous years.

The FAQs form the national BSA are often going to be more for current members/parents rather than brand new recruits, meaning that our current families will want to know and see why there is an increase in fees. New recruits will not know there is a difference this year compared to previous years. Scouting is STILL a great value, especially when you compare to the cost of other extra curricular activities/sports in your community (mostly for just a season, not year round).

So here are some strategies for your JSN for fees. Most important is to set your annual dues for your Pack ahead of time. At the JSN, give new recruits multiple payment options:

Families who come to a Join Scout Night anticipate a cost when the come to the event. "Be prepared' with options that will work for the vast majority of families and be ready to share fundraising opportunities so they can help pay their way and how to request Financial Assistance if needed.

The BSA is setting up Facebook events for all Join Scout Nights in Dan Beard Council this fall. These Facebook events will have location sensitive advertising to appear on Facebook feeds for parents of Cub Scout aged kids. The advertising will be within a few miles of the location of the Join Scout Night.

So, now that the event is created and showing up for neighbors of the JSN location (school, charter organization, etc), what next?

You should find that event on Facebook, RSVP as GOING or INTERESTED and then share away! Click the Invite button and send to families you know with Cub Scout aged kids. Have ALL of the parents in your Pack do the same thing. Share the event on neighborhood Facebook groups, church or kids ministry Facebook groups or the community groups where you live. The more interactions, the more visible and attention the Facebook event will get.

How do you find your Pack (or school) Join Scout Night Facebook Event?

Over the past couple of months, the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America has hosted several webinars to aid and assist Packs throughout the country to prepare for fall recruitment. There are resources, best practices and innovative ideas that Scouters all over the country have done to prepare for this unique and challenging recruitment season.

Videos and slide decks are available for many webinars including Tech Edition - BeAScout, Invitation Manager, Scoutbook 101, Who's Zooming Who?, Geofencing, Search, Social Media, How to Use Family Fun Fest to Recruit and VIP Tour of the BSA Brand Center and MORE.

Check out these webinars and many other resources to help with your recruitment the BSA's Marketing and Membership Hub.

The Boy Scouts of America had more than 110K views of the first Family Fun Fest held on Saturday, August 8 and reached more than 320K people on Facebook with Scouting messages. To keep that momentum going, we're already moving forward with the plans for the September 12 edition of Family Fun Fest and we hope to generate even more attention and interest in the fun of Scouting!

One of the purposes of this event is to share this with families who may not be currently registered in Scouting, but give them a taste

of what we do AND generate leads in www.beascout.org for families to learn more about YOUR Pack!

It’s outdoor adventure you can have online! This FREE virtual event via Facebook Live is for all Scouts, their family, neighbors, friends and anyone who would like to find out about all the fun and cool things Scouts do. It’s always more fun with friends, so invite some of yours to join you online for Family Fun Fest!

Click here to register!