BSA Camporee - Advice from experts

[DBasi]

Hi all,

I know there is a lot of information on the site. I know I have seen pictures and such of how to hang hammocks. Also, what better place to go to get advice than right here at this forum.

My situation: I was asked by a very good friend of mine to do 30 minute sessions on hammock camping for our county parks camporee on 30 April, 2011. I have some ideas of how to present it in 30 minutes to get the scouts interested and I would also like to give them something to take with them. Any ideas? I have also thought about purchasing a scout hammock but need to make sure the funds will allow it (we just had our seventh child). I will be hanging several different styles of hammocks for demo's and to let the scouts try out by laying in them.

Questions:
How would you present to the scouts to get their interest?
What would you give them to take home? Flyer, pamphlet, etc.
Do you know any manufacturers that may donate a hammock for a giveaway?

Thanks for any advice you can give. After the camporee I will be sure to post pictures.

[PapaSmurf]

Do you know any manufacturers that may donate a hammock for a giveaway?

Yes I do.
Contact me and we can work out details.

[wirerat123]

Questions:
How would you present to the scouts to get their interest?
What would you give them to take home? Flyer, pamphlet, etc.
Do you know any manufacturers that may donate a hammock for a giveaway?

Thanks for any advice you can give. After the camporee I will be sure to post pictures.

Just get there early, find a nice spot with plenty of good trees and set them all up, full setups with tarps, everything from just an open hammock with a small tarp to a netted winter setup with under quilt, top quilt and doors on the tarp. I would also put up an info board with what is included in the setup. Type of suspension and any knots used for it, type of tarp, ridgeline info, type of hammock, etc. If you can find a clothing shop with a couple of spare mannequins to demonstrate proper lie or get a couple of people to demonstrate it.

In one area I would have 4 or 5 hammocks, and 3 or 4 different tarp setups sitting around with different suspension types and do an instructional of setting each one up, and allow the scouts to try the setup and lay in it once up.

Make a DIY instructional booklet on making your own hammock setup, nothing fancy, just use Powerpoint or something to make a slide show, then print out many copies and staple them together, include a URL to the online instructions on the cover or something as well as the URL to Hammock Forums. Include in the back a list of manufacturers URLs they can use if they want to purchase a setup rather than make one.

Well, I don't know about getting a donated give away, but you will be best served contacting several of these companies and cottage manufacturers and just ask for them to donate a raffle item in return for a logo spot on some of the setup boards, or pamphlet cover. Worst case scenario they say "We can't.". Best case scenario, you get more than one company to donate raffle items. In turn you should include the manufacturers that do include give away items a logo spot on some of the setup boards, or on the pamphlet. Kind of like a sponsorship deal.

You never know, if you explain your plans, some of these manufacturers may include both a display hammock with an information board and a give away hammock for raffle. This wouldn't be a bad deal for them if this is a large Camporee. New exposure to hundreds of potential buyers is always a safe investment. Just keep in mind, do NOT show favorites to any setup, treat them all as equals if you get deals from the manufacturers.

[chickenwing]

This link ---> Right Here <---- has a great illustration of the basic set up of a hammock
while this link ----> Yes this one <---- has an equally great illustration for choosing and setting up a tarp. all illustrations by dejoha

I'm sure these would make great flyers!

[wirerat123]

This link ---> Right Here <---- has a great illustration of the basic set up of a hammock
while this link ----> Yes this one <---- has an equally great illustration for choosing and setting up a tarp. all illustrations by dejoha

I'm sure these would make great flyers!

Yeah, those would be excellent to include as the first couple of pages in a booklet or something. Pamphlets are cool because some may just want certain pieces of info, but I also find they tend to get tossed on the ground and fly around in the breeze. Booklets are better because people are much more likely to hold onto them.

[Alamosa]

30 minutes is going to be a pretty short time for a demo - especially given scout time, where everyone shows up late and takes a little bit to get focused. Depending on how many scouts are there, it may be harder for them to have any hands (backs) on time

My recommendation would be to keep it very simple. If you have extra hammocks and setups available, by all means set them up and allow people to look at them. Talk about the pieces of a hammock system - Hammock, Tarp, Suspension, and Quilts. Do a couple of WOW demos. In this category, I would say using Whoopie Slings is a great attention grabber.

I think an information board is a great idea and the brochure on that board would be great. My personal recommendation would be to NOT hand out the brochure. They tend to end up in the trash (or field). I think it will add to your effort and costs without a lot of benefit.

Having a few handouts and the links different vendor sites might be nice for people who come up after the demo with questions, but I wouldn't try having handouts for everyone.

This sounds like a great idea and I may propose it for one of our camporees.

[Oxblood]

Do you know any manufacturers that may donate a hammock for a giveaway?

You should also contact Hennessy. They are a big supporter of the Scouting movement. Here's the link to their Scouting page: http://hennessyhammock.com/sp-scout.html

[DBasi]

Thank you all for the great advice. I have taken the advice and contacted several companies. I knew that this forum would provide great ideas for a scout camporee presentation. Thank you again.

[DBasi]

Hi all,

The camporee went really well. We had a great turn-out of scouts for the weekend. I want to give a big Thank You to several great companies. In no particular order: Hammock Forums, Hennessy, Warbonnet, Trek Light Gear, and myDIYgear (PapaSmurf). You have made some long-term customers over the weekend.

Please support the companies on Hammock Forums, they are truly great companies.

[TrekLightGear]

Glad to hear the event was went well!