Well, the votes are in for all 11 Projectoree events. The following scale was based on 1 = Great, 2 = Pretty Good, 3 = OK, 4 = Poor, and 5 = Terrible. 14 Patrols turned in evaluations, out of 33 Patrols participating, so I will call the results "statistically valid." Scores and some comments:

On the actual running of the Projectoree, as I have previously stated, I was as happy as a perfectionist will ever get, and the overall comments from numerous emails was very positive (to say the least.) In fact, other than the previously detailed complaints about Adults attempting to influence Patrol scores through argument or intimidation, there weren't any really negative comments from anyone.

On the Adminstrative side of the house, however, we had lots of problems, fortunately most of them quite minor. Many of these were in Projectoree "B," and were a combination of first-time growing pains and from missing important points amidst a mountain of email. Hopefully, we can do better on this next year. In no particular order of importance:

1) Three Projectoree B Troops paid in cash. In all, over $150 in cash was turned in - this despite numerous requests for checks only. The problem with cash is that there were no receipts generated (we had no mechanism to do so), so this is essentially untracked money outside the audit loop. That is asking for trouble, folks, and also opens me up to further criticism by my numerous Council detractors concerning our independent finances. Considering that "checks only" was repeatedly stressed, it is hard to understand why 3 Units paid in cold, hard Presidents.

2) Eight Troops (2 in A and 6 in B) failed to turn in a Tour Permit. Two of the four B Troops that did turn in a Tour Permit did not have it signed, dated or stamped by Council; that is, they just filled it out but never submitted it for Council approval. Again, although we are all within 50 miles of our Chartered Partners while at Camp Wilson, the request for a completed, approved Tour Permit is a PARK REGULATION, not a BSA regulation. However, regardless of the distance, I must say that I am astonished that any Troop would go camping in our present lawsuit-happy environment without having that precious piece of paper in hand.

3) Eleven Troops (2 in A and 9 in B) did not turn in a Troop Roster. Several Troops that did turn in a roster only turned in a handwritten version with names only on it, no other data. Again, rosters are part of our safety net in case of emergencies, and are maintained on-file through the weekend by the First Aid Coordinator. In order to be useful, we need phone numbers, not just names. In a real emergency, we might not have the time or ability to track you down for personal contact information (that is, parent's home phone numbers.)

4) One Troop in A and four Troops in B forgot their Troop Flags. Despite a reminder from Brad Jones an hour ahead of time, 9 out of 10 Troops in B forgot to send a micro-Scout down to the Closing Campfire for the Flag Retirement Ceremony (which is why we were scrambling at the last second to put it together), and several of the A Troops sent Scouts not in Complete Uniform, which is clearly unacceptable.

5) Several of the A Troops and most of the B Troops left their vehicles parked in their campsites, despite specific requests (including a large sign) to not do so. While I can appreciate that the problems with vandalism at the Patawomeck District Camporees encourages keeping "Big Bertha" close to home, it is also important to note that we are camping in an unstable wooded environment, and having 50 or 60 vehicles in close proximity to a dozen campfires is begging for trouble, in addition to providing another 50 or 60 targets of opportunity for our toppling pine trees. Careful placements of tents can avoid most widowmakers, but that's tough to do with cars with very limited parking space. I guess we'll need to pancake a couple of $40,000 Suburban Assault Vehicles before this lesson hits home. Finally, although we were able to avoid crowding by spacing Troops out into Group Camping areas B and C, if we had not been allowed to do this, the available space would have been wholly inadequate with all the vehicles crowding in - and would have been a real mess for the late arriving Troops. Something to consider if we run a combined Projectoree next year. For the record, to my knowledge, we have not had a single instance of vehicle vandalism in any of the six Projectorees.

6) Finally, as I have previously mentioned, the lack of accurate and timely responses to (repeated) requests for information was highly frustrating to me, and resulted in an excessive number of followup emails and numerous phone calls to try and compensate. All when I already had tons of other things to do. I am clueless as to how to address this problem, but it's going to have to be solved before this Winter, and that's a fact.

That's pretty much it for me - as noted above, nothing critical, and the running of the Projectoree was pretty much transparent to each of these issues. If you have any suggestions in followup to this evaluation, please either email me or bring them to the Projectoree Debriefing meeting on Sunday, May 30th.

YiS - Dr. Bob, SM-111, RTC-Chain Bridge

Projectoree 99 Page.
1 June 1999