Annual Picnic, or other recreational event ideas??

[Woodsy]

My local squadron has 30-something seniors on the roster. About half of them we never see, and half of the other half only shows up for missions and monthly safety briefings.

The squadron has gone through a rough patch the past few years and has lost a lot of members.  The cadet side has not been affected as much...  Most of the issues were senior member politics, taking sides, and stuff like that.   While many have renewed and are still on the roster, they're not active.  Things have changed the past several months under a new commander, and the squadron is really turning around.  I'm looking for ideas of a fun, social event for seniors, cadets, families, friends, etc to bring everyone, especially the members who not been active, together for some fun.  A "coming out party" if you will, to re-engage the inactive members and show them things have changed. 

Being in Florida and close to the beach, my initial idea is to reserve a picnic shelter at one of the beach-front city parks.  Do it in the spring when the water is warm, and have everyone out for a cookout, swimming, games, etc.  Kind of like a "spring fling" type office party.  Make it an annual squadron event.

My question for you regulation nazis is how to proceed with this.  Since it'll be a casual event with lots of non-CAP members (families) as well, and it will be a non-uniform event (likely swim trunks and athletic wear for swimming, beach volleyball, etc.) can we make this an "official" squadron event?  Do we need to do an ops order, designate a safety officer, and other things like that?  Or can we simply make up a flier, pass it out and say "meet here at X time and day."

I'd love to hear what other squadrons do for an annual event like this.

[LGM30GMCC]

Yes it can be an 'official event'. I don't know what requirements in your local area for an 'ops order' there may or may not be. But like any event, doing some planning for it isn't a bad thing. And sometimes an 'ops order' for these things can be pretty funny while still being a legitimate planning tool.

As for safety officer...your squadron has one, right? If they can make it...done. Safety briefing 'Hey everyone, I'm Sq/CC Awesomesauce. I want to thank everyone for coming out today...blarghity blah. While we're having fun try to be careful. It's warm out here so remember to drink some water and apply sunscreen. If anything comes up please let me know...Blarighty blah fun stuff'



It doesn't need a full-up IAP or something like that. Safety briefings don't need to be dry, ridiculously long and painful affairs. But it should still be fully planned in terms of money, time, responsibility for cookies, etc.

[Stonewall]

Woodsy,

Let's chat next week at the meeting about this.  I'd spend some time now or this weekend, but as soon as I punch out of work I'm headed to the field with the Guard.

Real quick, though, I've been in this position before and at home I have some things saved that may help.  One is a letter, yes, a LETTER, that I sent via snail mail to all inactive members (cadets & seniors) basically saying "under new management, and boy are we taking off".

I'll do a quick search here on CT, I may have posted it somewhere.  In the letter, give a date for a squadron open house that invites both new/potential members as well as the inactive folks.  Conduct a quick orientation and demo of our CAPabilities, and then mingle as you sip fruit punch and eat chips and cake.

This has worked both times I've done this at two different squadrons.  My issue with a separate "party" or picnic, is that we want to save free days for CAP activities that provide us with either training or something tangible we get credit for.  My biggest challenge as a CC or DCC was limiting the number of outside (non meeting night) activities.

As a side note, I lined up every cadet in order of rank, highest to lowest, and sort of restructured the flight (not permanently, just as an example) last night.  Then I had a serious heart to heart with them.  This was my 4th meeting since November (missed 2 due to holidays) and I explained that from my outside observation, things need to get organized.  3, yes THREE, cadets came up to me after the meeting and said "thanks, we needed to hear that".

Edit to add:  Found the link from 2007.  Click here.

[Woodsy]

Woodsy,

Let's chat next week at the meeting about this.  I'd spend some time now or this weekend, but as soon as I punch out of work I'm headed to the field with the Guard.

Real quick, though, I've been in this position before and at home I have some things saved that may help.  One is a letter, yes, a LETTER, that I sent via snail mail to all inactive members (cadets & seniors) basically saying "under new management, and boy are we taking off".

I'll do a quick search here on CT, I may have posted it somewhere.  In the letter, give a date for a squadron open house that invites both new/potential members as well as the inactive folks.  Conduct a quick orientation and demo of our CAPabilities, and then mingle as you sip fruit punch and eat chips and cake.

This has worked both times I've done this at two different squadrons.  My issue with a separate "party" or picnic, is that we want to save free days for CAP activities that provide us with either training or something tangible we get credit for.  My biggest challenge as a CC or DCC was limiting the number of outside (non meeting night) activities.

As a side note, I lined up every cadet in order of rank, highest to lowest, and sort of restructured the flight (not permanently, just as an example) last night.  Then I had a serious heart to heart with them.  This was my 4th meeting since November (missed 2 due to holidays) and I explained that from my outside observation, things need to get organized.  3, yes THREE, cadets came up to me after the meeting and said "thanks, we needed to hear that".

Edit to add:  Found the link from 2007.  Click here.

You're doing a great job with the cadets!  We talked about a picnic type event last night at the senior meeting while you were outside with the cadets, seems to be quite a bit of interest.  I see what you're saying about using weekends for training, but I think once a year is OK. 

[MajorPayne]

 Woodsy,

   In my 18 months in CAP, I can honestly say that some of the most fun I have had were at squadron get-togethers. Each year, at Christmas time, my squadron has our anual holiday party. I know its far a way, but it is a great event for cadets and seniors alike, and also serves as a great way to get to know parents and family members.

[rjfoxx]

My squadron is holding its annual "Holiday" party this Thursday at a local pizza restaurant. I expect to have about 30 of my 40 members present.  Those members who are frequent "No Shows" were politely invited "Not to Attend".  We've done a pizza party yearly since I took command in December 2011.  I do a brief safety talk at the beginning and as the party is done on a meeting night, everyone is asked to sign an attendance sheet. 

[a2capt]

Those members who are frequent "No Shows" were politely invited "Not to Attend". 

Interesting .. I can see the viewpoint, OTOH, I usually do try to encourage participation. Even if that means using off-meeting opportunities to get people to know others, and get them interested.

[Майор Хаткевич]

Those members who are frequent "No Shows" were politely invited "Not to Attend". 

Interesting .. I can see the viewpoint, OTOH, I usually do try to encourage participation. Even if that means using off-meeting opportunities to get people to know others, and get them interested.

I think it's mainly for flakes or resume builders.

[Woodsy]

Those members who are frequent "No Shows" were politely invited "Not to Attend". 

Interesting .. I can see the viewpoint, OTOH, I usually do try to encourage participation. Even if that means using off-meeting opportunities to get people to know others, and get them interested.

One of the main reasons for doing this is to get the non-active members involved.  Of course there are always the people who join and are never involved, but we have quite a few member who has been very active but have dropped off the radar for one reason or another.  We want to show them that the squadron is back and better than ever.