Adult talks
Getting a bunch of adults in a room and talking to them about the fun we have at Scouts can be incredibly powerful and effective
Quick links
What’s it all about?
Adult talks are short presentations which volunteers can deliver to potential volunteers, motivating them to consider joining in the fun week after week or whenever-they-can. They might host one after a weekly session, at an open evening or taster event, at a family camp or during a Group get-together. Check out the short video below which tells you all about Adult Talks.
To watch in full screen, double click the video
How does it work?
To host a talk:
- Think about who to invite – your friends, your family, volunteers’ friends and family, your local running club, your yoga teacher, your work colleagues, your neighbours; the options are endless!
- Invite the adults via letter, email, text, or phone
- Gather everyone together safely, online or in person
- Talk about volunteering for less than an hour – sharing information on what Scouts is all about, as suggested below
- Don’t get into the detail of training and appointments at this stage – the aim is just to give people an overview
- Have a look at the session plan below for inspiration
Talk to potential volunteers about:
- How they can become part of the team on their own terms – whether that’s through a leadership role, a place on the executive committee or an offer to help out occasionally
- The amount of time needed to be a volunteer – focussing on flexibility
- Tasks you need help with, not roles you need to fill
Below is a video you can “click and go” to show potential volunteers to tell them a bit more about Scouts and volunteering with us, to help you make “the ask” and hopefully get them involved. Double click to make it full screen.
To watch in full screen, double click the video
Online Adult talks
These can also be done online through hosting a quick webinar or video call for the adults in your group. You would still use the same format and language.
Remember to catch-up with the attendees face to face a few days after the session too.
Resources
Check out our guidance and tools for delivering adult talks
Top Tips
- Use inclusive language, talking about ‘adults’ rather than ‘parents’
- Keep the focus on all of the amazing benefits of volunteering
- Don’t worry about how many people turn up – it’s all about the quality of the conversations you have, not the quantity of people in the room.
- Don’t forget: you’re looking for people to do tasks that fit within their skill-set, not to take on specific roles.
- Always follow up – people forget things pretty quickly, so it’s worth giving them a call or dropping them a message afterwards.
- Could you use a parent champion? If you have an adult who is already helping and knows other parents and carers, ask them to spread the word about the meeting to encourage them to join.
- Look for the adult that often ‘hangs around’ in the background to see what is happening. If you have a photo of an evening/activity happening this is a great one to use on slide 6 of the presentation.
- Try the 4-week challenge. This is a great opportunity to get the adults involved delivering our programme. Find out more information.
- Send out skills audit to figure out who can help with what. Find out more information (hyperlinks)
- Adult rotas are a great way of getting more people involved. Find out more information.
- Support can come in many forms - one-off project-based support, a handful of adults to support on an adult rota or some adults to help with events.
- It’s important to start off by keeping it simple, ask them to do to one or two tasks.
Other methods to help you find the right fit
Generating a list of who could do the task