How-To's
How-To: Open Channels and Direct Texts
Open Channels of Communication
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Create a group chat consisting only of parents and introduce them to the purpose, which is to share stories, pictures, achievements, etc. from an event or activity
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This should be separate from the direct text messaging, so the parents don’t mute the announcements/reminder group
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Below is a great video from the National Director of Cub Scouting that covers some useful tips on ways to improve communication
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Tips: 2:02-23:00​
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Direct Text Messages
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Gather the phone numbers of the parents and put them into a group chat
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If parents’ numbers are not already accessible, you’ll have to manually collect these and manually put them into a group chat (some options listed below)
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Send texts out for important information such as event dates, deadlines for RSVP, money dues, agenda for the following week, volunteer announcements, seasonal reminders, etc.
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Parents will have to opt out if they don’t want to receive these messages
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Group chat capacities for reference:
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iMessage group can have up to 32 participants
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SMS (green bubble) can have up to 10 participants
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GroupMe can have up to 5,000 participants
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WhatsApp, Telegram, and other international apps have significantly more space for participants (i.e., WhatsApp can have up to 1,024 participants)
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​In the same video from above:
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Text messages and their direct benefits (first-hand experience): 21:30-22:39​
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How-To: Incentives
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​Group Incentives
Individual Incentives
In the YouTube videos above they describe how individual and group incentives are beneficial and how they work.