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Trek Selection - Council Contingent or Troop Contingent
The links below link to documents that support our trek selection process. This process originated as the Chester County Council Trek Selection process which is essentially step 1 today The process is designed to take what can be daunting task: attempting to make an intelligent choice among 35 possibilities for a once in a lifetime experience (for most of us) while taking into account the varied interests of the participants and achieving a result where the desires and abilities of the participants are addressed under the time pressures of risking missing out on your choices while deciding.
This process shouldn't be rushed, much angst will result under just about any scenario. The key for us to to deliberately and systematically determine what the crew cares about, what the crew doesn't care about and what the crew is capable of then to use that information to help narrow down and ultimately point us at that best itinerary options for that crew that year.
I've evolved this process to this point, and will continue to evolve it going forward. Steps 1-2 & 8 accurately describe our 2004 process; steps 3-7 were added for 2006. I'd like to do something to address the impact of difficulty preferences and perhaps terrain for the next time around (IWTGBTP!).
Step 1: January Crew Meeting
- An informal, but structured presentation on Philmont's programs, features, geography and topology as well as a discussion of Trek Difficulties their meaning (See TREKS book) by our council HA Chair independent of a Troop Contingent ('04) or a Council Contingent ('06). No props other than a map, not powerpoint, a discussion. Cass' commentary & the front matter from the previous year's treks book is left behind for the lead advisor.
- A Trek Selection Worksheet is filled out by each participant, but not advisors.
Result - Have a pretty good idea what the crew cares about and what they don't care about
Step 2: Between meetings
- The Trek Prefs Spreadsheet is created based on results from step 1
- www.danyoder.com is used to narrow in on potential treks. (Dan's site is excellent for this type of "what if" analysis).
- A criteria summary and an itinerary summary is created.
Result - Have the information necessary for the crew to be able to select specific itineraries.
Step 3: February Crew Meeting
- Distribute and review documents from step 2,
- Review Cass' Commentary, our Council HA Chair's opinion of the previous season's treks
- Participants ballot their top 5 choices, ranked in order.
Result - Know which specific treks are of interest to the crew individually and as a group.
Step 6: After the meeting the advisor(s) and
crew chief(s)
- Tabulate ballots. The spreadsheet gives rank additional weight in scoring to help determine the top five crew preferences
- Discuss crew abilities and general preferences - An example: The Mexican Dinner was a preference because it wasn't trail food, not because it was Mexican - so Chuck wagon Meals are suitable substitutions or in combination may create a greater demand for a trek with staff cooked (well not really) meals.
Result - Have a pretty good idea what the top five are and their order.
Wait for the Treks Book to Arrive Step 7: Crew Chief / Lead Advisor meeting
as soon as possible after the Treks
Books Arrive
- Consider difficulty/terrain preferences from step 1 and a subjective view of the abilities of the crew, as determined mainly by the crew chief (not the advisor)
- Consider the descriptions of the current years Treks Book as opposed to the trek descriptions from the previous year
- Consider other treks that have changed from the previous year and are better aligned to the crews wishes
Result - Fill out the trek selection card knowing that the choices fit the crew's needs & desires
Step 8: Lead Advisor copies & mails trek
selection card
