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Tony Vogl

Tony Vogl
Member since : Oct-20-2008 (Verified)
9 Ideas, 13 Comments, 17 Votes

User Activity Stream

Ideas Posted

Every Council has a newsletter of some sort, whether it be print, electronic or social. It would be helpful if there was a central database of national news items (i.e. new handbook, requirements, factoids, etc.) that could be cut and pasted into Council newsletters. This would most likely be a function of Brand Management. Sort of an AP for BSA.
Again, I'd like to suggest that the Benefits Handbook for the coming year be available while we're making choices for our own benefits, even if the changes are or could be minor.

A link is there and all that comes up is a one page PDF file that says "The 2010 BSA Benefits Handbook is not yet available."
I've had the same password for my e-mail account since I started working for the BSA about eight years ago. I can't think of any other password that I don't change or update on a regular basis.

There ought to be a mechanism whereby executives can update their passwords. Have the system force them to create something that isn't too simple like "password" or "boyscouts."
Could District Advancement chairs be given an account to the Internet Advancement system where they could learn about the system themselves, as well as potentially monitor unit-level advancement? The current ScoutNet reports are cumbersome and hard to understand for a volunteer and don't give too much detail. This could be a great tool in a volunteer's hands as we try to ensure that every boy is advancing in Scouting.
Moderator Comments
4/1/09
From: Bill Evans, Youth Development Team Leader

When I got a briefing from ISD on Internet Advancement (which is actually more than advancement-it is unit management sofeware), I asked tom Ritchey this same question. I thought this would be a wonderful district management tool along with training records, awards and recognition, and participation in events. Tom said it was just a matter of $ adding that to the program plus management would need to make a decision about what degree of information we would allow to be shared with districts.

On another similar track, the Minsi Trails council has just developed den tracking software for den leaders that tracks individual attendance at den meetings, pack meetings, day camps, etc. When a boy becomes inactive, the software sends a red flag warning to the pack and district. Managing down to each youth is definitely the way we need to go if we want to insure every youth has a quality experience and stays for at least five years.
Let’s make this happen sooner than later. We also are starting a study of mandatory internet advancement.
How about posting the 2009 Benefits Handbook before we select our benefit enrollments?
Moderator Comments
12/1/08
From: Jim Brown, Benefits Team Leader

While we try to post a BSA Employee Benefit Handbook on the BSA Benefits Web site prior to each plan year, the 2008 Employee Benefit Handbook fully describes the benefits offered in 2009, with no changes from 2008. In the event substantive changes occur that could impact anyone’s benefit decision for the next year, we will always provide employees with those changes prior to or during the annual enrollment period.
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Can there be a way to update your own profile on this site? Would be interesting to view responses in the context of age and/or Scouting position.
Moderator Comments
3/10/09
From: Rani Monson, Innovation Team Leader

Thank you for your suggestion. That feature is currently not available.
Has any Councils used cell phone fundraising? Several organizations have adopted this as a means of generating additional revenue. After doing some research, it appears that for every $5 donation thru a text, the charity will receive about $2.50, but this could be worth doing, especially around an appeal like camperships or to help a troop recoup lost equipment or something like that. I know that the American Red Cross does this often around emergencies and Barack Obama asks me for a pledge too.

Seems like this might be one more opportunity to generate revenue.
Moderator Comments
This idea has been assigned to the Innovation Team. We will include this suggestion in one of our upcoming team meetings and will keep you posted on the results.
As I speak with more and more teens, e-mail is a passing fad. They are more likely to read and respond to a text message on their cell phone than they are to an e-mail message. National could be a huge help by getting a big, bulk rate to assist Councils in sending out mass text messages to our membership for events, activities, promotions, stunts, etc. Or perhaps advising on proper etiquette and/or usage.

There is a big potential out there that we can harness if we provide training to our staff. Maybe AT&T could advise.

This might be something to add to the Scout application as well. Cell Phone field.
There are a LOT of BSA photos and logos. While I believe they're all listed in the Photo and Logos site, it is not in any sort of order or categories that seem to make sense. Perhaps updating the keywords or finding some other manner to organize them would be very helpful, especially for marketing purposes.
Moderator Comments
1/13/09
From: Dan Buckhout, Media Studio Team Leader

Please visit the link provided and gives us the feedback we are needing to begin working on changes.
*You will need to copy and paste the link into your browser*
https://scoutnet.scouting.org/survey/cgi-bin/qwebcorporate.dll?idx=2YNKQ9
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Comments Posted

Tony Vogl 3 months ago
They can also pay their FOS pledge online using kintera.
Tony Vogl 4 months ago
Found it. Oddly enough the search engine didn't turn up ProSpeak video which is under Resources, and you can get to ProSpeak from that point.
Tony Vogl 4 months ago
For the life of me I can't remember where it is stored either. A search of MyBSA comes up with nothing.
Tony Vogl 4 months ago
There's nothing wrong with otping out of these messages. Many people live/die by their cell phones these days and would be very interested in a simple text saying "camporee cancelled" or "last chance to sign up" or whatever it may be. There's also the option of donating via text and adding $5 to your phone bill to go to your organization.
Tony Vogl 8 months ago
A terrific idea. Either that, or National posts the fonts perhaps through their photo repository website that councils can download and use.
Tony Vogl 9 months ago
I find it very interesting that apparently we're against changing passwords. Considering all the sensitive information that is stored in ScoutNet, I would think it would be common sense for our passwords to be changed on a regular basis. My office phone even knows when to tell me to change it.
Tony Vogl 9 months ago
Great idea to have multiple sites, especially for those who don't know what "Cub Scouting" is.
Tony Vogl 1 year ago
My point is that if you go to the website and click the link, it brings up a PDF that says "The 2009 BSA Benefits Handbook is not yet available."
Tony Vogl 1 year ago
On the flip side, it would be helpful if the Comments RSS feed would include the title. I get both the suggestions and comments as RSS feeds and it's often difficult to see what subject comments are responding to.
Tony Vogl 1 year ago
Who is going to police the BSA's online community? We're trying to streamline things, not add responsibilities. I'd rather work with something existing and tried, then get a whole new learning curve.
Tony Vogl 1 year ago
What makes Facebook work (and I'm sure MySpace probably falls into the category too) is that it is self-regulating. If the content is not appropriate, someone will report it. This is what these sites do for a living. I refer to Facebook more because their reputation, IMHO, is better than MySpace. Perhaps they learned from MySpace's missteps.
Tony Vogl 1 year ago
All for social networking, although we ought to consider maximizing what is already working, rather than asking volunteers to move to a new system for scout purposes. Facebook and possibly MySpace, already offer great things that we can utilize.
Tony Vogl 1 year ago
We should be communicating with our constituents on their medium, not ours.