2011 RYLA Comments and Suggestions
(Greeley and Boulder Senior Counselors)
· 25th Anniversary celebration was well done and well attended; Great to acknowledge founding people and initial participants
· Overall great conference with significant impact on all who attended.
· 2011 RYLA was run very well and incorporated significant improvements from the last few years.
· JCs and SCs did a great job; “Sidekick” necessary position (Eric was above and beyond)
· Many thanks and much appreciation to all those who worked to put 2011 RYLA together- It was the best!
· Improve: Place more emphasis on group facilitation and how to lead a group; Include information on how to deal with difficult situations and people; Add discussion on sexual issues.
· Well Done: Registration very well organized and ran smooth.
· Improve: Have more SCs at Dorm to meet and greet parents; Too many SCs at Wilome.
· Well Done; Dividing into 4 SC presentations worked well; SCs did a good job of making it interesting to conferees.
· Improve: Have conferees say Four-Way Test at start with pledge; Keep banner up somewhere; Clearly communicate which SC is doing which talk; Consider giving out 4-Way Key Chain at start of conference.
· Improve: Clearly communicate the meeting room assignments to JCs and SCs at start of conference; Have JCs discuss evaluation sheet at start of session and discuss each item.
· Well Done: Meeting short and covered necessary information; Do not need evening meeting.
· Well Done: Well organized and effective; Setting JC bed time effective.
· Well Done: Well organized and effective.
Speakers
· Corey: Great, a keeper
· Rev: Good message; Concern on imposing on personal space of some of the conferees.
· Mike- Reach for Summit: Good message; Need to have emphasis on leadership qualities.
· True Colors: Great message; Need to provide more time; Include work sheet to determine your colors; Include colored stickers for each JC to use in wrap session.
· Charlene: Great, a keeper
· Polly: Great, a keeper.
· Heather: Great message but a bad time slot.
· Cassandra: Great, a keeper; Consider having only one long story.
Manual
· Improve: Do not allow changes without Board approval; Develop process to make changes; Require JC/SC evaluations be turned in by de-brief meeting.
New Activities
· Scene It: great activity; Suggest let teams pick own movie with Head JC approval.
· Eggspress: Improvement to previous approach; Suggest dropping about half of the team at the same time; Also start at a higher point to reduce time.
· RYLA Ball: Great activity; Consider eliminating kick ball or allowing more time for it; Consider kicking with ‘other foot”.
· RYLA Rumble: Great addition; Consider using an easier activity to reduce frustration; Consider shortening time allowed for activity or add another activity.
· Construction Projects: Great activity; Suggest having half of team do one while other half does the other (having half observe didn’t work for very long).
Old Activities (Suggest clearly indicating what JC can and can’t say; Suggest JC assign a new leader for each activity)
· Ebola: Great; No real issue with YRYLA conferees.
· Amazing: Great
· Traffic Jam: Great
· Flip the Mat: Great
· Traffic Jam: Great.
· Blind Squares: Great.
All Conference
· Improve: Start with demonstration and example response; Improve questions to have greater impact; Carefully word sexual abuse questions that may have legal implications.
MAD
· Improve: Provide JCs with training on leadership skills with small group.
Service Above Self
· Improve: Suggest a specific project be chosen ahead of time; Current approach not working.
Last Wrap Session
· Improve: Develop set of questions for team to discuss; reduce time to 1 hour 15 minutes.
Skits
· Well Done: Great; Having less props worked better.
American Flag
· Improve: Suggest we have a club donate a flag and stand and keep with supplies..
GENERAL COMMENTS
Things that Worked Well
· Pre-RYLA Training was very helpful especially having time to get the SC and JC to get to know each other: Sittin next to each other helped..
· Stopping the night Team Wrap session at 10pm (no exceptions) worked well.
· Setting lights out at 10:30pm and having hall patrols to encourage conferees to get to bed worked well.
· Stopping the JC night Wrap session at a specific time helped give the JC more time to sleep worked well
· Setting a specific time and duration for JCs and SCs to meet after Team Wrap helped make it happen consistently.
· Cell phone policy worked well with use only after Team Wrap sessions; Positive approach effective and very few violations.
· JCs did a great job with ice breakers while conferees registered.
· JC Skit was fun and a good ice breaker.
· Having a sign up sheet for available conference rooms for Team Wrap sessions instead of a first come basis worked well and was fair.
· Assigning JCs and SCs to a ‘Make A Difference’ breakout groups well before start of conference allowed them to help facilitate discussions.
· Putting each conferee’s name and team number on water bottle helped kept them from getting lost.
· Eliminating all forms of head coverings in Wilome Hall worked well.
· Much improvement in the emphasis that was placed on leadership skills
o Training such as at pre-RYLA sessions for JCs and SCs was helpful to give them the tools they needed.
o Speakers and JCs were aware of the need to emphasize leadership skills.
o Providing scheduled (5-10 minutes) de-brief time after selected team activities to discuss leadership issues was effective.
· All Conference Activity worked well with everyone participating at the same time so all could hear and see.
· Words of Focus discussion by several JCs was powerful and effective; All were short (<5 minutes) which worked well.
· Hikes well organized with JCs and SCs in front and back; Water use was encouraged effectively.
· Olympics well organized with JCs handling stations and SCs going with teams; Having water availability at a central location worked well.
· Make A Difference Breakout Groups were effective and beneficial; Having two sessions worked well to allow time for preparation.
· Team Wrap Sessions- Proudest Achievements still one of the most beneficial activities.
· Encouraging Teams to eat lunch and dinner together helped them come together faster.
· Having JCs and SCs building internet groups for “Facebook” style communication working well.
· Location of JC/SC ‘Warm Fussy Bags’ in lobby area worked well.
· Providing specific time set aside for flag and skit preparation worked well.
· Visitors were handled well by SCs when they arrived and were directed to home club SC if present.
· Suggest that selection process for RYLA participants by different Rotary Clubs be made more consistent with scheduled interviews; Develop protocol for clubs to follow.
· Suggest that RYLA Head be selected a year in advance similar to Rotary Club presidents; Need formal checklist of required activities.
· Suggest that SC and JC partners be assigned as early as possible to allow time to both to meet prior to pre-RYLA training and after so they can get to know each other better.
· Suggest that an SC and JC alternative be available in case someone drops out at the last minute.
· Suggest that a formal Job Description be prepared for Junior and Senior Counselors so each knows their roles and responsibilities; Consider updating information prepared in past and distributing at training.
· Suggest that the Four-Way Test be given more emphasis:
o Consider using a few Four-Way Test scenarios as an activity
o Continue encouraging JCs and SCs to use Test in discussions where appropriate
· Continue working to keep speakers to their time limit with warning signal and stop signal similar to team skits (It continue to work better each year)
· Suggest that a contingency plan be ready to put in place in case a speaker is very late or doesn’t show up (i.e., Rotary DVD, etc.)
· Suggest that certain activities be scaled back since they do not include a majority of the team members.
o Team Flag: Assign to several members to complete after input from team; Also suggest that there is no need to select a winner.
o Skit: Assign to several members to complete after input from team; Also suggest that there is no need to select a winner.
· Suggest that we encourage conferees to take notes.
· Suggest that training information be made available for JCs and SCs on how to handle difficult people and difficult situations; Consider adding page with 1-800 contact numbers for support organizations.
· Suggest that group picture be better organized and designed to take less time. Placing the numbered cones on the field helped get teams to the right spot. Consider having everyone just sit down within a roped area.
· Suggest that an activity be added on Friday morning to give conferees direction on what is expected of them when they give a presentation at sponsoring Rotary Club.
Bill Grady
Bev Stewart
Norm Lyster
Bill Rubin
Bill Hertneky