Long Award Ceremonies
I belong to a Pack that recently grew to 90 scouts. During every Pack Meeting each den is called up to the front, and any awards any scout has earned since the previous Pack Meeting are handed out to each scout. This includes Rank Advanements, Belt Loops & Pins, and any additional awards or patches. As you can imagine this is very exciting for a boy when it is his turn to be acknowkledged for his hard work and efforts; however, it often takes 30 to 45 minutes and ends with many bored and ancy scouts (especially the Tigers and their parents). I believe it is important for the boys to be acknowledged and awarded for their hard work and skills, and to practice being in front of a large audience. I also know that it is a long time to expect some 6 to 8 year olds to quietly sit still, and I have more than once heard many a parent talk about how the "awards drag on and on and it is realy hard to not get bored/get up and take their son home because it is 8:30 pm and the meeting is still going on".
How do some of you break this long segment of the Pack Meeting up? I have heard of some Packs that assign 2 to 3 dens a month to receive awards on stage, and the remaining dens either receive their awards during a den meeting (not Rank Advancement) or wait until their assigned months.
THANKS for your suggestions.
Our Pack has 88 boys.
We only give out awards on a quarterly basis at the Pack meeting. It is up to the Dens to pick up the other months.
During the Pack meeting, to expedite the process, the entire Den comes on stage. The Den leader reads off the Scouts name and what awards he has earned in past quarter. Applause are given then they take a seat. The Awards Chair has all Scout awards sorted by Den and waiting for pick up by the Den Leader.
This process was decided upon by the parents and has worked very well.
Good Luck.
My first reaction when you mentioned that you have 90 boys in the pack, is that the pack needs to be divided. However, you're obviously having success and given the difficulty in finding another group of leaders as successful as your current group may be difficult. Having said this here's a couple of options.
First of all, since the problem you're having effects everyone, I'd suggest a parent meeting sometime to discuss what would be acceptable to all.
1) Do only the rank advancements on stage during the pack meeting. Then just announce the names of the boys who earned other awards and what that award was. Don't ask the boy to come up front just have them stand where they are.
2) Work up a schedule as you suggested where dens would be given exposure to receiving recognition on stage on a quarterly basis and the balance of the time they would stand in place and be recognized and not come on stage. Awards for those who don't come onto stage could be handed out at a den meeting.
3) If several boys are getting the same award, read the name of the award first, followed by the names of the boys. The boys can stand in place and not be on stage. This would go much fast than reading the names of each boy followed by the award.
Whatever your course of action keep in mind that the boys must be given some recognition for what they do. If we limit our appreciation to too little, the boys may lose their desire to perform.