Rock Climbing en masse … a story of how to achieve “critical mass”
Kintaro Venturers recently went to an indoor Rock Climbing facility for an evening activity. The Venturers were really keen to give it a go, so rang up and found out the cost. Now we are a small unit and it was going to cost us $25.00 per person, a little prohibitive. I suggested they ask how
much for a group discount, and how many people did we need for that? The answer: 20 people or more at $15.00 per person, a lot cheaper, but now we had to find 20 people to fill the spaces, a little tricky for a small unit. Okay, lets think about it, we want to do this fantastic activity, and
we want it to be as cost effective as possible what is the answer? Invite other units to come along….what a great idea!
So that’s what we did, rather than sit back and ponder what may have been a great activity, we went out and did a great activity. We approached Colonel Light Gardens/Centennial Park/Somerton Park Venturers and the Pine Forest Rover Crew. All of which said yes, we ended up with our 20
participants, got the cheap price and had a fantastic time.
This exercise provided us with many benefits, some more obvious than others.
- most obviously we got to do Rock Climbing at a much reduced price,
- the Venturers learnt that asking for a group discount is OK, you only get a cheaper price if you ask for one,
- we forged links with a Rover Crew, this has advantages for Rovers as they are promoting themselves just by being there, and for Venturers because they can see there is life after Venturers,
- we starting making friends with other Venturers, from other units, and thereby achieving critical mass in our Venturing activities,
- we had fun!!!
So next time it looks like an activity might be beyond the capacity of your unit, remember to ask around. Contact other scout groups, other Venturer leaders, your District Venturer Leader or District Commissioner, they may be able to give you some contact names. Or contact me, chances are I may have contacts with other small units that I know would like to do activities with other units. Being in Venturers is about getting out and about and meeting other Venturers, its about doing fantastic activities and its about making friends. So do it, get out and enjoy some new activities, learn some new skills and do Venturing en masse.
__________________
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
