Has organizing taken over your troop? Have you ever wanted to shut down Facebook, spreadsheets, photo apps and just go into the woods with a group of 13 girls? Ok, well maybe not that. Forget tuning up the spreadsheets and polling participants. For those leaders who want to spend their limited time scouting instead of organizing – going on field trips, learning new skills like robotics (which by the way badge activity booklets are available in shop) , volunteering, seeing girls grow, you can easily get your troop involved and get back to what matters: the girls.
If you are looking for a interesting new way to make that happen check out Groopit which allows you to direct the action of the group (you know as the leader) in a safe, socially-inspired format.
Don’t just take my word for it here is some insight from another girl leader. Her name is Jenny H, a troop leader from Seattle, and she says, “it’s a game changer.” Here’s how she directed the action.
“Capture our badge earning, learning, and fun moments.”
You can share your troops special moments right when they happen and keep everyone in the know about all the fun and cool activities. As Jenny says, “I’m having so much fun posting. I like how I can just tap on a name to add it — Brilliant.”
“Make a plan and have people sign-up”
Did the [fill in cool place] visit get canceled because of reply all or maybe reply none? Groopit makes it easy for everyone to participate and let the whole troop be in the know, without a barrage of email or posts. Right in the social-inspired feed you can post a signup, make announcements, see who will drive, who is coming and who isn’t (so they can get their response in gear). As Jenny says “the sign-ups are easy to make. I feel like organizing drivers and carpool in the past has really bogged us down…[groopit] has so much of what we need and I love the ease of use.”
“Record every badge earned” Keep track of badges, awards, and participation
Badges are fun to earn, but unfun to manage. You just want to make sure that the right girls got the right badges and Groopit makes that easy too! Just choose a badge from the list and tag who in the troop earned it. Then when you order badges or track progress, you will have the information right at your fingertips (in a spreadsheet). Cookies sales can also be tracked during the season eliminating the thousands of “in search of thin mint” emails. Track the number of boxes your scouts sell, manage cookie booth sign-ups, post when cookies are needed and share the photos of the fun along the way.
How Do I Get Started?
Are you feeling inspired, ready for being mostly about the scouting and not about the organizing? Get started with 3 easy steps.
1) Visit https://www.letsgroopit.com/ex/girl-scout-troop
2) Click on start a troop and you are off and running.
3) Email [email protected] and tells us you heard about us on Leader Connecting Leaders website and we will upgrade you to the professional version with 2 leaders and all the scouts you have. Groopit is free for one leader and as many scouts you have.
If you like planning on paper…Organize Your Troop This Year with a 25+ page Leader Planner
This Leader Planner is from another amazing blogger named Jen her blog is called “I am StrawjenBerry” With the help of Jen I wrote a blog post explaining everything you will get in this planner. It has everything you need to plan your troop year. The planner contains your calendar, meeting planners, rosters and badge trackers in one safe place for when you need it. Read more
