potential hornaday publicity ideas

8/7/2019 Potential Hornaday Publicity Ideas

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Potential William T. Hornday Award Publicity Ideas

William O’Brochta

BRMC Conservation Committee1/19/10

Objective:I think that more Scouts and Scouters would be interested in earning a Hornaday award if

they were aware that the award existed. It is extremely difficult to find information about

this award online and no one (with the exception of this committee) knows anythingabout the awards program. Dr. Shiner indicated that some work was done on this in the

past, but has asked me to help, having earned the Silver Medal.

Potential Solutions:

Conservation Advisors:

There seem to be few available Conservation Advisors in the Council. This makes it

difficult to start a project. Now that Mr. McDaniel has moved, it may be appropriate tofind a full time Conservation Advisor who could field all questions regarding Hornaday

Scout awards.

Difficulty/Time: Would require effort from various members and a continued time

commitment by the chosen Advisors. Could be difficult to locate a willing advisor.

Roundtable Promotion:

Each district hosts a roundtable meeting each month where anyone who is interested in

goings on can attend. From the makeup of the Committee, most districts are probablyrepresented. If members gave short presentations about the Hornaday awards and offered

to answer any questions at one roundtable meeting, this could help spread awareness. Iknow that this was discussed in 2005, but am not sure how effective this effort ended upbeing.

Difficulty/Time: Would take a coordinated effort by members in all districts and a fewmonths to implement.

OA Chapter Meeting Promotion:

Many of the more motivated and conservation minded Scouts are involved and attend OAmeetings. Since chapters meet once a month and usually have little to do, a presentation

in this venue could be welcome. Same format as the roundtable presentations, short, but

informative. This could also be done at the OA lodge meeting, where a wide audiencewould be reached.

Difficulty/Time: Easy to do at a lodge meeting, would take more time commitment to doat each chapter and coordinated effort by some members of the Committee.

Promotional Video:

This was also discussed in 2005, but I am not sure if it was completed. It would be useful



to create such a video that could be uploaded to the Council website, shown at the

roundtable meetings, and potentially presented at camp. The format would have to be

discussed, but I could likely contribute to this effort.

Difficulty/Time: The most difficult and time-consuming idea. Committee would need to

agree on material for video and assign one person to shoot and edit the presentation.

Camp Presentation:

A camp presentation each week would reach a wide audience, though attention span of Scouts may be short. Mr. Garst could do these, if he is willing and available at camp (I

know he works the nature lodge usually). The above video idea could be presented in lieu

of a talk, which may be a better attention grabber.

Difficulty/Time: Requires some preparation and a few minutes each week for a

presentation.

Eagle Awareness:Each Eagle Scout receives a letter from the Council president congratulating them for

their achievement. Included in this envelope or mailed separately could be a flyer aboutthe Hornaday awards. Most Scouts do not have time to complete a Hornaday project until

they have achieved Eagle, so this would be a good time to get interested Scouts.

Difficulty/Time: Easy to write an informational flyer for this purpose.

Council Website:

Some information could be posted on the Council website pertaining to Hornadayawards. This could be on the homepage for at least some time. It is difficult to find the

information on the Conservation Committee Website, so a duplicate copy here could be

beneficial.

Difficulty/Time: Easy to write something for the website, may be difficult to decide

where to place the information.

Ridgerunner/ Conservation Corner:

A few years ago there was a Conservation Corner portion of the Ridgerunner that Dr.

Shiner wrote. That item could be brought back for someone to write, thus increasingconservation awareness and also mentioning the Hornaday awards. The same article

could be published monthly in the district Bugle newsletters.

Difficulty/Time: Time required each month. If members alternated the responsibility for

writing this document, it would be easier.

Court of Honor Presentations:

This is likely the most involved suggestion. It would require Committee members to

travel to Troops in their districts during Court of Honor’s and either show the prepared

video or give a little talk. This is done for Friends of Scouting and we could collaborate



with them to get the schedules for Court of Honor’s.

Difficulty/Time: Would require planning and a lot of time to implement. However, thisresponsibility could be split up and done over an extended period of months.

Create a Guide:This would not help publicize the awards, but help people that are working on earning it.

The idea here would be that if the process were easy to follow, Scouts that complete the

awards are likely to recommend others to earn a Hornaday medal. The guide couldcontain information about Conservation Advisors, required approval, general project

guidelines, and example projects.

Difficulty/Time: Would require coordination between members of the Committee and afair amount of time to complete.

Notification of Merit Badge Counselors:

Counselors for select Merit Badges could be informed via e-mail or phone about theawards. When a Scout earned their Merit Badge, the counselor could suggest that he look

into earning a Hornaday award because of his interest in that Merit Badge. PotentialMerit Badges could include those required for Hornaday. Ms. Hardy at the Scout Office

has counselor e-mail information.

Difficulty/Time: Easy to write and implement.

Notification of Scoutmasters:

A simple e-mail sent to Scoutmasters in the Council with information about the awardsmay be the easiest way to spread the word. This communication could be very similar to

the Merit Badge Counselor notification. Ms. Hardy at the Scout Office should have the e-

mail addresses of all the Scoutmasters in the Council.


Notification of District Executives:

If the District Executives are aware of the awards, they may choose to spread the word to

the troops in their district. Again, the same communication that was used for Merit Badge

Counselors and Scoutmasters could be used.


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