Project complete! A Scout guide to Email signature customisation for Outlook

After multiple requests, I have completed a mini project to creating a resource for scouters to customize their email signatures using the new Scout Association Branding guides.

Coming from a strong corporate background I understand how important it is to project a cohesive professional image internally and externally. So, I have designed a number of custom email signatures in line with the Scouting association’s new branding initiative. If you would like to suggest any alterations or want to share any custom designs of your own I would love to see them.

You may note the guide is only for Outlook but you can do the same in Hotmail, Gmail and many other mail applications.


Download the .doc (word Ver. 97-2003 ): http://www.mediafire.com/?ymcmowhmczg

Extract from Scouting Development report March 2010

SNEAK PEAK- here is a sneak peek at part of the submission to our Scouting
leadership on the topic "Scouting development an overview"

In my humble opinion there are three pillars to a successful scouting
organisation.

Exciting program attracts and retains adults and youth participants alike.
Exciting and challenging activities, camping program, volunteering,
community work and so on is at the HEART of the scouting method and delivers
on the scouting promise.

Formal Recognition for achievements is an integral part of scouting
tradition in for the youth participants and Adult volunteers. But
recognition isn't just about rewards it's also a kind word of thanks or the
appreciation & recognition by your peers for your contribution.

The Scout association has a long and proud history of training and support
for it youth and adult leadership. We have a comprehensive system of
training already in place and have adopted some of the latest online
training technology to improve technique and effectiveness of delivery.

The pillars that support healthy scouting, and scouting development strategy

All my efforts as a Development officer are ultimately designed to support
the effectiveness of these three key scouting systems. All the projects I
have designed and all work MUST contribute in a meaningful way to supporting
one of these areas otherwise I immediately question the value of the
activity.

Teamwork
The Scout association is all about teams, leadership and responsibility. We
encourage our staff, our participants and our volunteers to work together,
lead by example and take responsibility for themselves, their environment
and their community. In line with this approach the development team will
depend heavily on inspiring the formation of a number of teams to complete
on its objectives.

The topic of District development teams has already been discussed with all
the DC's in early interviews with the LDO. A Corporate engagement team is
forming with input from the national office along with ICT, VRM, ASK, viral
project teams. Many of these projects will engage both internal and external
volunteers along with paid professionals for specialist consulting.

Our National sponsors can bring tremendous resources to bear, including
cash, but also marketing muscle, employee enthusiasm, networks, and other
valuable services. There is a number of volunteer sources, local govt.
support and other channels for funding and volunteers we have available to
us. It is in the best interest of The Scout Association and GLMW alike to
harness these resources effectively and professionally to maximise their
impact on scouting.

Three areas of focus for development in GLMW:
1) Find and streamline volunteer sources (Find)
2) New & Existing volunteer support and training (Engage)
3) Maximise retention of volunteers (Retain)

_____ for the full proposal email me - ldo@glmwscouting.org.uk_____

The Big Adventure. gets some fantastic results

---  Fantastic 48% attendees become Volunteers. Corporate partnering for a national event really works ---

 

This is an initiative that was launched last year to great success.  Partnering was thorough Sainsbury’s and it was promoted heavily but generated little buy-in from scouting units. I hope that there is a lot more effective marketing this year. The results published by national were AWESOME – I mean 48% uptake from visiting a one off event! WOW.

 

Insider scoop:

I have meet already with our National Corporate relationships manager to work together on meeting Sainsbury’s again to firstly capitalise on the success of the first “Big Adventure” and hopefully sign them to a “Big BBQ” concept (not their best “out of the box thinking” here it more a case of the same again rebranded but with a more program like focus on good eating)  I am working on addressing a more rounded approach to corporate engagement with volunteer management program, volunteering initiative or resource sharing or more unit branding rather than the “give us some cash and you can use our brand and network” approach.  Email me is you want to be part of this project.

 

From the Chief Scout:

The Big Adventure is a recruitment initiative which sought to encourage Leaders to invite
parents to be part of the leadership team for their camp or residential experience,
with the aim of encouraging those parents to volunteer in Scouting.

In 2009, the first year of this 3 year project, an estimated 1,218 Big Adventures took
place, involving around 8,166 parents. Feedback from Leaders suggests that 48% of these will become more involved in Scouting.

We have also listened to feedback and a number of ways to improve The Big Adventure in 2010 and 2011 have been incorporated, especially earlier timescales and communication, improvement to the content of resources, and a more effective way of collecting feedback from participants.

 

http://www.scouts.org.uk/big_adventure/cms.php?pageid=2620

The Big Adventure is back and this time there’s a brilliant cooking theme to help you give parents and other adults a taste of volunteering for Scouting.
From Saturday 1 May until Tuesday 31 August any camp or event can be part of The Big Adventure, simply by inviting parents and other adults to get involved. It’s an ideal way to target new adult volunteers.

Welcome

Welcome, this is the first of hopefully many useful posts about professional scouting. I want to start by saying that I don’t profess to be an expert, I just want to share my insights, tips and tricks that I have and will continue to learn in this dynamic profession. I invite comment and hope that these posts may initiate discussion and projects in my readers own scout constituency. All I ask is that if you find anything particularly useful, drop me an email or post a comment, I would love to know I made an impact.

Yours in Scouting,
Matthew Black