Opinions 3 Comments 
delegate, facebook, governance, leadership, national delegate
You know how Facebook randomly shows timeline photos or posts from however many years ago? This one came up from an image I shared from the GSUSA Are You Listening? Facebook page two years ago, and it’s still relevant. I suppose it always will be!
National Operations, Opinions 10 Comments blue book, cei, councils, dead horses, democratic process, farthest north council, gsusa, j-low, membership dues, national board, national council, national delegate, strongly worded letter, volunteers, vtk
This is a topic that’s been beaten to death everywhere else, but I’ve never gotten around to it here on the GSWAC (not a council) blog.* And that is the word…
Customer.
Yes, the dreaded and hated word of volunteers and GS alumnae everywhere. And as featured in the title of the ubiquitous Customer Engagement Initiative (CEI). If you aren’t sure what CEI is all about, it’s basically a web-based technology developed by GSUSA. The components we see as volunteers are the website framework, the online membership registration system known as MyGS, an Opportunity Catalog in which parents can search to see what troops are available and have openings in their area, and a troop management system called Volunteer Toolkit (as featured in many inane videos on this blog). Almost every council in the United States including Overseas is on CEI at this point with the exception of the rogue councils Farthest North and Middle Tennessee.
When GSUSA and councils began to use the word customer a few years ago, volunteers everywhere got a strange look on their face and thought, “Huh? Who are they referring to?” Later on we realized, “Wait… WE’RE the customers?” Continue reading
Random Things That Don't Fit Anywhere Else Kinda Like Me No Comments badges we don't need no stinkin badges, cats, history, the 80s
A friend of mine the other day sent me a picture of a retired badge and said she thought of me when she saw it:
I told her, “I earned that badge growing up!” and took a picture of it on my patch blanket:
National Governance 9 Comments farthest north council, governance, gsusa, membership dues, national board, national convention, national council
Well, there is no Judge Judy Sheindlin in Fairbanks, AK, but there is a Judge Bethany Harbison, and she ruled in favor of GSUSA rather than the Farthest North council on May 1st, 2018:
Delegate Duties 1 Comment board of directors, councils, delegate, governance, roberts rules
So say you’re a delegate, and you’re pretty frustrated because you feel like all you do at annual meetings is sit and listen to presentations given by the board and your council leadership. You have complained many times about the lack of delegate input but to no avail. Q&A sessions, if you even have one, are short and are cut off due to “running out of time.” You might even have to submit your questions ahead of time. How unfair is that? What if you have a question about one of the presentations?
Reminiscing No Comments backpacking, history, jenny, national center west, patches, trip out west, troop 20
A few months ago, fellow Troop 20 member Jenny and I reconnected and went through a lot of her scrapbook stuff from our time together. I took some of it back home in order to document it. She even saved permission slips!
First is a copy of the smaller National Center West map that each of us received when we got there. Of course I lost mine, but Jenny to the rescue! A few years ago, I was able to track down a copy of the larger and more detailed topo map on ebay and pieced it together in one graphic but I was hoping to find a copy of the smaller map too. Continue reading
