suweekend

Service Unit Weekends/Events are normally held to bring the SU and troops closer together. An event like this is used as a rentention tool also. Depending on the size of your Council and the availability of camp space you might find that you can only hold this event every other year, or every three years. Also because of the amount of time it takes to plan and excute such an event I strongly recommend that you hold this type of an event once every three years.

As with any other event you do in your service unit the major problem you will have is that you are probably a leader of a troop as well as everyone you ask to be on the committee. Wanting to be with your troop at this event makes it very hard when you sit on the committee. So how do you solve this problem?

Ask a neighboring service unit to run the actual event and in turn you run their event. Still let the committee do the planning, purchasing, etc. Have someone from the other SU attend the meetings so they will be aware of how much help they will need to recruit, what kind of activities they will be responsible for teaching etc.

PLANNING THE EVENT

Form a committee about 1 year prior to the date you would like to have this event. Find help for the following positions:

Chairman
Co-Chairman
Site Chairman
Program Coordinator
Craft Coordinator
Registrar
Treasurer
Food Coordinator
Council Staff Advisor
Liaison from SU that will help at the event

Once the committee has been formed the first thing that needs to be is to determine the type of event that you will having such as a weekend event, day event, overnight event. Once this is decided a date and site must be secured immediately. If a cook/caterer is needed she must be book as quickly as possible also. It is important to do all the above immediately so you can be assured that the event is set in stone. Remember when using a Girl Scout Camp that there might be deadlines that must be met to get the month you want.

After the above has been set then it is time to come up with a theme and a preliminary budget. Once a theme has been set then more in-depth planning can start. Your program and crafts can now be decided using the theme for ideas.

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

Cost of the Event	You want to keep this event as cheap as possible to assure that as many can attend as possible. Hopefully you know at least a year out that your SU has scheduled this event so maybe the SU could do a fundraiser to help minimize the cost.
Time/Length of the Event	It is important that consideration is given to the type of community you live in. For example if you live in an area where most of the leaders work out of the home, having a day event would probably be better attending then a weekend event. If you live in a rural area and camping would appeal to your group than a weekend campout would be right up their alley. An overnight at a church or a local community center is a happy medium.
Size of the Event	If you are a large service unit having it at camp might be your only choice. Try not to limit attendance, so make sure to pick a location that would cover the numbers that you could potential have.
How to make it fun	Contests, funny thank you, cute crafts, free time and Guest Speakers
Delegate	I can not stress enough the importance of getting an outside group of volunteers to help run the actually event. Even if you do not realize it right now you will resent the fact that you did not get to spend the same quality time with your troop as everyone else did.

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BACK TO SERVICE UNIT EVENTS

	GENERAL HELP FOR SERVICE UNIT WEEKEND/EVENT
	THEME IDEAS WITH SCHEDULES