A Recipe for a World Jamboree.
Adventure, Friendship, Service, Sustainability, and Leadership are all wonderful ingredients on their own. Put them together and they form a truly unforgettable meal. We asked Willy Xiao, a member of the Jamboree planning team known as The Dream Team, to share with us his recipe for a World Scout Jamboree.
Ingredient list:
There are three aisles of the market from which you’ll want to get your ingredients.
Aisle 1: Friendship
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- Staff, participants, and IST (50,000) ( Make sure these are diverse – bring them from over 200 countries and territories around the world – make sure many languages and religions are represented in this mix)
Aisle 2: Experience
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- Staples to World Scout Jamborees:
- A global development village (1)
- International food tents (many)
- Young correspondents (many)
- Spices:
- A full-fledged model UN (1)
- The Centro Mondial (1)
- A program designed specifically for IST (1)
- A program designed specifically for leadership development (1)
- Staples to World Scout Jamborees:
Aisle 3: Adventure
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- Adventure Programs (45) (if you can, try to find a site that’s already had two National Jamborees each with over 30,000 people on-site. This will make sure it’s smooth)
- Ziplines (1 x one of the longest in the world)
- Canopy course (1 x longest in the USA)
- Man-made outdoor climbing facility (1 x largest in the USA)
Steps:
1. Start with a vision. Realize that if you want to make a World Scout Jamboree in 2019, you’ll have to bid for the rights to do it at the World Scout Conference in 2011. Think about how the World Jamboree hasn’t been hosted in North America since 1987. At this point, the site for the future Jamboree hasn’t even been built yet. Remember that the 1975 Jamboree was hosted by 5 countries jointly and wonder if you can do the same. Put this vision together and communicate it. For the first iteration, see this bid video from 2011.
2. Recruit great people. You can’t do this yourself. Get three countries to host it together. Find amazing co-chairs from each of them. Get three young adult representatives from each of the three host countries. Call them the Dream Team. All throughout your org chart find great people, align visions, and let them do their job. #MeetTheTeamMondays
3. Focus on those coming. At the end of the day your goal is to put together the best experience for the participants and IST coming to the Jamboree. So you think deeply about ways to make their experience better. Plan to revolutionize the IST experience by creating a program specifically for IST. Ensure there will be leadership development for the participants, a model UN, adventure elements, and everything amazing about a World Jamboree. This is the most exciting part about the Jamboree and the part which matters the most.
4. Execute. This is the hardest part. You’ll need to go to meetings at the Jamboree site many times. Meet in Canada, in the United States, and in Mexico. Visit Japan for the 23rd World Scout Jamboree. Engage in project management and determine best practices. Find ports of entry in the USA. Think about transportation and feeding the Jamboree, and market the Jamboree at major World Events.
5. Put it in the oven and let it bake at 22ºC (average temperature at the Summit in July) for
Day(s)
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Hour(s)
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Minute(s)
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Second(s)
And when all is said in done, on July 22, 2019, you can take the Jamboree out and reflect on everything that you’ve put in it. You can smell it. You can breathe the crisp morning air of the countryside of West Virginia. You sit down. You might say the Summit Grace. And you take a hearty serving of this Jamboree with 50,000 new friends from all around the world.
For those who want seconds, you’ll just have to wait till 2023 🙂
*Disclaimer: putting together a World Jamboree, while impressive, won’t earn you a Cooking Merit Badge.
The post was originally posted on October 2, 2017 by
Willy Xiao
Member, Dream Team 2
The post was originally posted on October 2, 2017 by
Willy Xiao
Member, Dream Team 2