A few days ago I heard the sad news that Stoughton area Scouter Dan Walters has died. Dan was known in Southern Wisconsin and beyond as Mr Rope. He would go around to different events and Scout Meetings and do his “Rope Show.” Dan was a regular instructor at the All Scouter Pow Wow. He was one of the few instructors that had a two-hour class because he couldn’t cover everything in just one hour. This is back when the All Scouter Pow Wow was in January. Now they have moved it to November and changed the name to the University of Scouting. This was also back when we held the All Scouter Pow Wow at the Madison Area Technical College. Dan wanted a room where he could set up some rope pioneering projects. We couldn’t give him a room like that, but instead we gave him a room on the second floor of MATC where there was a concourse. The concourse was an extra wide hallway where there was plenty of room to set up some pioneering projects.
But, I am getting a little ahead of myself. There is a backstory to this event. Back then Scouting Pow Wows were usually Cub Scout Leader Events. Pow Wows are events with several different classes geared toward different Scouting subjects. Back then, the Four Lakes Council (now the Glacier’s Edge Council) decided on having an event for all Scout Leaders including Cub Scouts, Boys Scouts, and Venturing Crew Leaders. Instead of having 20 classes available geared towards Cub Scout Leaders, this Pow Wow had 55 classes covering all the different BSA Units. This was a new concept, and the All Scouter Pow Wow was the first of its kind in the Midwest and one of a handful of such events in the country. Now, they are more common. Some Councils call them “Super Saturdays” and dropped the name “Pow Wow.” But we called our event the “All Scouter Pow Wow.”
We had been doing the All Scouter Pow Wow for about 5 years and this particular year we had some new Co-Chairs for the event. One of the Co-Chairs was new to the event. She had been on the staff of other events so it was thought she would be a good Co-Chair. It was decided that she would be the Co-Chair in charge of Programing and the other Co-Chair would be in charge of Administration (Registration, Facilities, etc.) My job on the committee was to do Graphic Design. The main item I had to do was the 4 page newspaper brochure for the event. I needed to have the 4 page design done by October 1st so it could be printed in the November Council Newspaper Newsletter.
Usually, the All Scouter Pow Wow Committee would start having monthly meetings in June. But this year, June passed and we didn’t have a meeting. So did July. I was getting a little nervous, so I sent an email to the Co-Chairs asking when we were going to have a meeting because I need to get the brochure done. They mulled it over and decided on having a meeting in early September. I thought this was cutting it a little close, but it was doable.
So, I went to the meeting. The Co-Chair of Programing had a friend at the meeting that was going to be her assistant. This person had absolutely no background in Scouting. Then, during the meeting, the Co-Chair of Programing explained to us how we are going to “start from the beginning and re-imagine the All Scouter Pow Wow.” Well, at the end of her long winded talk, I just came out and said we really don’t have time to “reimagine” the event, we need to decide on the classes as soon as possible so that I can do the brochure. If she wanted to do all this reimagining stuff, she should have started doing that back in June. Besides, the ASPW was a hit, and it really didn’t need to be “re-imagined.” I told her we needed to have another meeting as soon as possible and get the classes and their descriptions decided upon. She wasn’t too happy with me, but I had a deadline.
To make a long story short, this was the worst time I ever had designing a brochure. We had a second meeting which was somewhat helpful, but after that we were just exchanging information by email. I wasn’t able to get the brochure done until Oct 10. The Scout Office wasn’t very happy because it held up their newsletter. After that, at the next Committee Meeting it was decided that the Programing Co-Chair and her assistant would be contacting all of the instructors. This was usually done by the whole committee. If I knew an instructor well, then I would be the person contacting that instructor, etc. But, this time, they wanted to contact the instructors.
So, How did Dan Walters Save Pow Wow? Yes, you have received enough backstory, now let’s get to the nitty gritty part.
About a week before the All Scouter Pow Wow we heard the news that a writer from “Scouting Magazine” would be coming to the event to write an article. After all, the All Scouter Pow Wow was one of the first events of its kind in the Midwest. It was a new concept and we were innovators. Scouting Magazine is the main Magazine where Scout Leaders get information. There is also “Boys Life” but that is mainly focused on the youth.
The day of Pow Wow came and Dan Walters arrived early to start setting up his Pioneering Projects ahead of his class. In some cases the projects were half sized so they could fit in the space. The female writer for Scouting Magazine arrived and the two Co-Chairs took her around for a tour after the Grand Opening. When she was taking the tour she saw Dan’s Pioneering Projects. The Writer immediately started talking with Dan asking him questions about the Pioneering.
Meanwhile, back at the All Scouter Headquarters Room, all hell was breaking out. For the most part, the instructors showed up to teach their class, but we had a some classes where the instructor didn’t show up, and yet a couple more cases where two instructors showed up to teach the same class. Usually, every year we had one instructor not show up because of a last minute emergency. It’s to be expected. But to have several classes be screwed up was unprecedented. The Co-Chair of Programing came back to the Headquarters Room and the committee started to figure out what instructors were actually in the Building. By 3rd Hour we had the situation somewhat stabilized. For the Instructors that were not in the Building, we got backups just in case. Most of the instructors showed up. Some arrived later in the day because they knew their class was in the afternoon. All during this process the Co-Chair of Programing had a “deer in the headlights” look on her face. It was clear that she was in a little over her head. Yes, she had been the chair of some other events, but the All Scouter Pow Wow with over 55 classes proved to be in a different league than those other events.
Meanwhile, being the flamboyant character that Dan was, he answered questions and gave demonstrations to the writer for 30 minutes. Dan’s class started on Second Hour, so he had plenty of time to talk to the writer about Pioneering. The Writer took photos of Dan and his projects. Then she gathered more information about the All Scouter Pow Wow with the Administration Co-Chair for another hour or so. Then she determined she had enough information for the article and departed. The Writer never knew that the event was in disarray.
I think most of the people at the event didn’t know there were problems. The only people that had a hint were the people in the classes that were screwed up. For the classes that didn’t have an instructor we simply apologized and asked them to go to the Midway Area where there were exhibits. For the classes that had two instructors, the instructors figured it out and taught the class together. But there was one case where the two instructors were disagreeing on stuff. And we found out afterwards that there were other classes where the instructors were competent on their subject, but they were not Scout people so they didn’t really know the exact rules for Scouting. There were a few other things screwed up too, because the Programing Co-Chair had a tendency to “wing it” instead of actually being prepared.
After the end of the All Scouter Pow Wow that day, the Training Chair wanted to talk with me. The Training Chair and Training Committee oversee all the Training Events in the Council. The Training Chair said he wanted me to stay on the All Scouter Pow Wow Committee and do the brochure for the next year. He said there would be new chair people for the next year. We already knew it would be the last year for the Co-Chair in charge of Administration, because he was moving on. But, the Programing Co-Chair was also out, which was news to me. I said I would stay on and do the brochure.
About six months later I received the issue of Scouting Magazine in the mail that had the article. The writer wrote a positive article about the All Scouter Pow Wow and Dan Walters was the star of the article. I had previously congratulated Dan on the great job he did with the Writer, but I think Dan never knew that he occupied the writer long enough so she didn’t find out the event was screwed up.
My condolences go out to the Walters Family. He truly was a Scouter that was passionate about the subject he loved.