Troop Scribe

Preparing the PLC Meeting Agenda

The PLC meets once a month, and it works about a month ahead (for example, the PLC meeting in November is where the troop plans everything that happens in December). Your agenda is what makes that time productive instead of a conversation that wanders.

BSA PLC Meeting Agenda (explains each part of the meeting and what it’s for)

Some parts of the agenda are the same every time, and you can simply carry them over.

The rest you build:

Event and meeting planning. List out every event and troop meeting in the month being planned, each as its own line. Pull them from the troop calendar so nothing gets missed. This is usually the longest part of the meeting.

Old business. Anything that was raised at the last PLC but not conclusively decided and put into action. You prepare this section by reading your notes from the last meeting. If an item doesn’t get resolved this time either, it stays on the list for next month.

New business. Anything that needs to be brought up and doesn’t fit in the other sections — a proposal to buy new gear, an idea for changing how troop meetings run, a request for help at an upcoming service project. Anyone on the PLC can propose an item.

Putting It Together

1. A few days before the meeting, email the PLC with a call for agenda items. Ask anyone who can’t attend to send you their report ahead of time.
2. Build the agenda from the calendar, your notes from last month, and the items people sent you.
3. Send it to the ASPL for approval.
4. Share the approved agenda with the whole PLC before the meeting, and bring printed copies.

Tip

Keep every agenda and every set of notes in one place, so you can find them again. Your notes from last month are the raw material for this month’s agenda.

Example Agenda

Troop 1607 Patrol Leaders’ Council

November 17, 7:00pm, VFW

1. Call to order; Scout Oath and Law
2. Roll call
3. Old Business / Scribe’s Report: action items from the October PLC
4. December planning
   • Dec 1, 8, 15 troop meetings — program, and who runs each one
   • Dec 5–7 winter campout — departure time, drivers, menu deadline, cold-weather gear check
   • Dec 22 Holiday party — setup crew, activity prep assignments, food
5. New business
   • Coffee Patrol: request to buy a new dining fly
   • SPL: proposal to rotate which patrol opens each troop meeting
6. Patrol Leader reports
7. Assignments and action item review
8. Scoutmaster’s minute; closing

During the PLC Meeting

You are taking notes, not a transcript. Nobody needs a record of every word in the discussion — they need a record of what was decided. For each decision, write down three things:

• what was decided
• who is doing it
• when it’s due

Get the details exactly right as you go. Dates, start and end times, locations, costs, and deadlines all end up on the calendar and in announcements, so confirm them out loud at the meeting rather than guessing afterward.

It’s also your job to notice when a plan isn’t finished. You’re the one person in the room reading the whole plan back, so ask the questions nobody else thought of:

• What time are we leaving, and from where?
• Who’s telling the parents?
• When is the signup deadline?
• Do we have the supplies?

When something gets tabled without a decision, write it down as an action item, and bring it back up as Old Business for the next meeting.

After the PLC Meeting

Write up your notes while the meeting is still fresh — that night or the next day — and get them out within a few days. Notes that show up a week later are no help to anyone trying to prepare.

Your notes should contain:

• the decisions that were made
• open action items, with the person responsible and the due date for each
• anything else left unresolved, which becomes old business next month
• the date of the next PLC meeting

Then:

1. Send the notes to the PLC, and post them where the rest of the troop can read them.
2. Update the troop calendar with everything that was decided.
3. Send out any announcements the SPL or ASPL asked for.
4. Keep your action item list somewhere you’ll actually check it, and follow up before the next meeting.

Maintaining the Troop Calendar

The troop calendar is the authoritative source on all of the goings-on in the troop. That means it’s very important for information there to be complete and up-to-date.

You are the only scout in the troop who can edit the calendar. As plans get made or changed, you’ll need to update the calendar to reflect them.

How to add and manage events on the troop website

As you edit each event, consider what information people may want to know, like:

• start/end date + time
• event location and pickup/dropoff location
• the activities that are happening
• schedule of events (e.g. what time is the hike?)
• special prep needed (tickets, waivers, certain gear or clothing?)
• the signup deadline, and who to contact with questions

Tip

When you write the description of the activities that are happening, make it sound appealing! If you talk up the exciting/fun parts, the opportunities to get requirements done, etc, more people will attend!

Sending Announcements

The SPL and ASPL will ask you to send announcements and reminders to the troop. Ask the ASPL how each one should go out — most go by email through the troop website, and some are better made in person at a troop meeting.

A good announcement:

• covers one subject. Two topics in one email means the second one gets missed.
• says what’s happening, when, where, and what the reader needs to do about it.
• puts the deadline up front, not buried in the last paragraph.
• links to the event page on the calendar instead of retyping every detail.
• says who to contact with questions.
• is short. Long emails get skimmed.

Send it early enough that people can actually act on it, and send one reminder as the deadline gets close. Before you hit send, check the dates and times against the calendar and read it through once for spelling.

Tip

Imagine someone reads only your subject line and your first sentence. Do they know what they have to do, and by when? If not, rewrite it.

Resources

PLC Meeting Agenda Info

Campout Agenda Template

Meeting Agenda Template

Managing events on the troop website

Calendar and Signups Information