Allison Marino is a high school teacher and troop volunteer for Troop 166 in Kingsport. She has been leading virtual meetings since April. Here are her pro-tips that she has learned and recommends for other volunteers:

I hope this will be helpful to other troops to keep the girls engaged and offer enriching activities during troop Zoom meetings. The planning and prep work is a little different than for an in-person meeting, but it’s do-able. I was already familiar with Zoom from graduate school, but the volunteers who were using it for the first time caught on quickly.  

When using Zoom, I avoid “Join before host” and I also avoid the “waiting room.” I don’t want them in the meeting before me, because that starts the timer ticking on the free 40 minutes, and I also don’t want to forget them in the waiting room!  It’s also best if you can have two adults on the meet— one as the “host” who can manage (mute) participants, and the other as a participant with screen-sharing privileges to actually run the meeting. A Google Slides presentation including all the activities for the meeting is very helpful so you don’t forget anything. I found some by searching online, and I put together a couple myself.  

As with any type of meeting, it is important to explain the norms/rules for the meeting so every girl has a chance to be heard and no one gets overwhelmed. Our troop has Brownies, Juniors, and Cadettes, so sometimes we meet all together virtually, and sometimes we separate the groups, just like if we were meeting in person.

One thing I had to let go of was the urge to finish a badge all in one meeting.  I had to accept that it is ok to stop after 40 minutes and pick up on the badge next time, especially now that school has started. On the other hand, sometimes the girls wanted to just chat at the end of the meeting, so we sometimes log right back on and start another 40 minutes just to hang out!

The virtual format was great for activities like coding and for discussion-type meetings to plan the year. A couple of organizations to check out if your girls are interested in coding are CodeSpeakLabs through leadersconnectingleaders.com ($15 per girl, 4 girl minimum) and TechGirlz (free).

I think that the ability to do virtual meetings is something all troop leaders could benefit from.  Even when things are back to normal, I could see the troop having virtual meetings during busy times of the year (back-to-school, holidays, etc), on snow days, and during flu season.  It was kind of nice to not have to rush around to my children’s various lessons and meetings for the past several months, but they were still able to participate in activities in some form.  Hybrid extra-curriculars could give us parents a reprieve from the rat-race we are so often running!

Here are links to some Google Slides presentations I used:

Very Simple Back-to-Troop Planning Meeting

Juliette Gordon Low Patch 

Juliette Sews Patch

Outdoor Art Badge and Art Inspired by Nature (from local art teacher)

Girl Scout Way Badge

Council Note: Girl Scouts at Home offers tons of free resources and activities for girls and troops of all ages!