Communication presentation prepared for Wood Badge Course S5-420-17. Designed to be printed and used as a flip book for patrol presentation as Troop Guide.

1. Communicatio
n
Patrol Presentation
Wood Badge Course S5-420-17
John Green

2. Speaker
Notes
Time Allowed: 50 minutes
Learning Objectives:
•Use Communication Traps Game to show basic principles of
communication.
•Understand how listening can be an important part of
communication.
•Develop Strategies to overcome barriers to communication.
•Practice some skills of effective instruction.

3. Communication Traps Game
Objective:
Get as many members through the corridor as possible in 5 minutes.

4. Communication Traps Game
Before every great team reaches success,
there are often many setbacks. Proper
communication is key to overcoming these
barriers.
You goal is to move as many patrol
members as possible through the corridor
of obstacles in five minutes.

5. Communication Traps Rules
• Choose a Primary Communicator.
• Primary Communicator stands at one end of the communication
corridor, Patrol lines up on the opposite end of corridor.
• Each Patrol member will be blindfolded for his or her turn.
• Primary Communicator will guide patrol through maze:
– Avoid “setbacks” – 30 second penalty
– If you navigate to phone, you may remove blindfold, and
discuss strategy for 30 seconds
• Patrol members that complete the maze must stay with Primary
Communicator, but may help other team-mates navigate maze.

6. Communication Traps Rules
One patrol member will be the primary communicator, while the other
members will be blindfolded and guided through this task. Members of the
team can only talk to the communicator by using the special cellphone in
the course.
When you step on an obstacle, you get a 30 penalty. If the primary
communicator is able to guide you to the cellphone in the middle, you can,
while standing still, remove your blindfold and discuss strategy with the
primary communicator for 30 seconds. At the end of 30 seconds, you
must put the blindfold back on and continue the challenge.
Once you have made it through the corridor, you may remove your
blindfold and assist in helping the rest of your teammates navigate
through the maze of traps. You may not, however, re-enter the corridor
but must stay at the end with the primary communicator.

7. Reflection on Game
What did you just
experience in
Communication
Traps?
Let’s discuss some
questions about it.

8. Communication Traps Reflection- Speaker
Notes
1. What communication challenges did your team face?
2. How did the game simulate a team situation?
3. Did you trust your leader?
4. What sorts of barriers to success could the squeaky toys represent?
5. What types of communication did you use?
6. How could you have communicated more clearly?

9. Forms of Communication

10. Forms of Communication
Remember non-verbal communication from Listening
to Learn.
What messages do they convey? Are they effective?
• Gilwell Song
• The Circle with Dot
– BPs gravestone – trail symbol for “I have gone
home”
• BSA Uniforms, patches, Wood Badge Beads
• Wood Badge Icon
• Gilwell Gazette, including agenda of the day

11. What Makes Oral Communication
Effective?
Consider John F. Kennedy’s “We Choose to Go to the
Moon” and Martin Luther King, Jr’s “I have a Dream.”
What qualities made these speeches effective?

12. What Makes Oral Communication
Effective?
In Values, Mission and Vision, you saw President John F. Kennedy
and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. deliver speeches – using oral
communication.
What were some things that made these speeches effective?
• Messages were important
• Messages presented visions that could affect lives of listeners
• The speakers established themselves as authorities - sense that
they knew what they were talking about.
• Speakers believed what they were presenting
• Speakers got to the point and did not waste the listener’s time
You can use these same techniques whenever you communicate.

13. Effective Communication
A Scout runs up to your group and delivers this message:

14. Effective Communication
A Scout runs up to your group and delivers this message:
First Aid Medical Emergency
Linville Gorge Camping - 8 Scouts, 2 adults
Bear attack — two Scouts mauled
One hour ago
Need emergency medical assistance
Pretend for the moment that this message is real.
•What is its impact?
•Does it grab your attention, why?
•What are its strengths as a form of communication?

15. Basic Blueprint of
Communication
Aristotle provided the 1st
model of
communication
Message
Sender Receive
r
MaSeR

16. Basic Blueprint of Communication
Aristotle broke down communication into three parts:
•sender
•message
•receiver
True 2,000 years ago, and still is today. All forms of communication:
spoken, written, music, film, even pantomime.
It even applies to the Zulu Toss game from this morning. Balls =
messages. The senders are trying to toss their messages to the
receivers.
Same model of communication used in NYLT. They use the acronym
MASER to capture this principle of message, sender, and receiver.

17. Effective Listening as a
Communication Tool
Good communication begins with good
listening, both on part of the receiver and the
sender.

18. Effective Listening as a Communication Tool
Effective listening is active and empathetic.
Communication begins listening. “Listening to Learn,” showed the
importance of paying attention to what others are saying, their body
language, their emotions.
Listeners need to engage their minds. Doing so engages the mind of
the senders. Whether 1 person or a 1,000, listen to your audiences by
paying attention to the spoken and unspoken message.
Communication is a two-way process. Both the sender and the receiver
have responsibilities to make it happen. Feedback from the receiver
helps guide the sender.

19. Engaging the Receiver
I want this
presentation to
be a success!
What do you
want?

20. Engaging the Receiver
“I want this presentation to be a success. If it doesn’t seem to be going well,
could you let me know? If it’s not working, let’s do something about it and try to
make it better.”
Hdo you respond to that? How does it make you feel as a listener/receiver?
Uncomfortable? Included? More engaged?
Ever heard that? Teacher or a Boss, or anyone? Probably not. Like most
people - Speakers, Teachers, Scout Leaders, etc., have a preconceived notion
of how we will be heard. We’re going to push through it no matter what.
“What do you want?” is the most important question in communication. We
Want: knowledge, to learn a skill, to understand something.
A speaker may not ask “What Do You Want?”. But by having the question
in mind, the speaker will be more aware of how the receiver is responding.
The speaker can open up an honest dialogue and adjust to better fit the needs
of the receivers.

21. Effective Communication Must Be Two
Way
What Do You Want?
An unusual question for adults – but a rare one for youth.
Too often we make decisions, certain we know what is best, but forget to
consider our audience: The Youth.
Start, Stop, and Continue is an important assessment and feedback tool
that harnesses Two Way Communication.

22. Effective Communication Must Be Two-
Way
“What do you want?” - unusual question for speakers to ask adults,
extremely rare for us to ask youth. We are so sure we know what is best for
them - we forge ahead without taking notice of the audience—the Youth in our
units, the young people in our lives.
Effective communication must be two-way.
Don’t know what they want? Impossible for you to provide what they need.
Getting feedback from Youth can be like herding cats. How do we get feedback?
Teach our youth how to use an assessment and feedback tool called Start,
Stop, and Continue.
What would you start doing? What should you stop doing? What should you
continue doing? Ends with a focus on the positive.
You will use Start, Stop, and Continue as a part of your daily assessments and
as a way to deliver feedback to each other. You don’t always have to have a
Start or a Stop. If nothing is wrong, don’t try to fix it!

23. Barriers to Effective Communication
• Lack of common
ground
• Lack of sincerity
• Lack of authority
• Lack of clarity
• Poor presentation
skills
• Lack of receptiveness
• Environment

24. Barriers to Effective Communication
We have all received calls from telemarketers trying to sell something
But why? What are the barriers that they must overcome?
•Lack of common Ground – The caller knows nothing about you – no shared
interests, except the fact you have a phone and a credit card.
•Lack of sincerity – He is interested only interested in making a sale – not
about your long term satisfaction with product or service.
•Lack of authority – they are calling using a script and probably can’t even
answer questions about the product.
•Lack of clarity – The caller may blur the truth, exaggerate, or fail to mention
problems with the product.
•Poor presentation skills – Callers may be bored, distracted, or harassing.
•Lack of receptiveness – Any talk that isn’t leading to a sale is wasted time.
They aren’t receptive to your needs.
•Environment – Callers disrupt your time & meals.
Despite these drawbacks – companies invest millions in telemarketing. Think of
how powerful communication can be when people overcome these barriers.

25. Ways to Assure Good
Communication
Four key factors ensure good communication:
1.Common Ground
2.Sincerity
3.Authority
4.Clarity

26. Ways to Assure Good Communication – 4 Key
Factors
1. Common Ground - The Who, Me? Game last night helped you
learn about your patrol. The more we know about one another, the
greater the common experience we share, and the easier
communication becomes.
2. Sincerity - A speaker must care about the message and care
about the receiver of that message. Otherwise, there is no point in
passing it along.
3. Authority - Speaker should know what they are talking about. But
doesn’t have to be an expert – but they must have the willingness to
learn along with a group. A Scout leader who knows nothing about
plant identification can use an app like LeafSnap to maintain
authority while engaging Scouts in an interesting and worthwhile
learning experience.
4. Clarity - Speakers who care about their messages and care about
their audiences communicate with clarity. Trying to hide part of a
message or twist the truth leads to misunderstanding and confusion.

27. Effective Communication
and the Teaching of
Skills
Was it an effective skill
session?
How could it have been
improved?
What teaching methods
were used?
How do you feel about Woggle
tying?

28. Effective Communication and the Teaching of
Skills
Yesterday, someone taught you how to tie a woggle. Was it an
effective skill session? How could it have been improved? What
teaching methods were used? ~ group discussion ~
• It was hands-on. Everyone was actively involved.
• A finished woggle helped participants to see the goal
• Handout with diagrams
• A leader demonstrated the process, as participants followed
along.
• Verbal, visual, and tactile.

29. Four Steps to Teaching a Skill
1.Explain how to do the skill.
2.Demonstrate how to do the skill.
3.Guide others to do the skill.
4.Enable others to use the skill.

30. Four Steps to Teaching a
Skill
1. Explain how to do the skill.
2. Demonstrate how to do the skill.
3. Guide others to do the skills, providing ongoing feedback.
4. Enable others to use the skill, providing them with the time,
materials, and opportunity to use the skill successfully.
Explain, Demonstrate, Guide, Enable ... the first letters of those words
spell EDGE.
This teaching method is called the Teaching EDGE. The Teaching
EDGE is how we teach every skills in Scouting.

31. Communication Summary
Great Leaders are Great Communicators
• Communication is a tool of leadership.
• Communication is essential to effective teams.
• Communication happens on common ground.
• Communication should be clear and concise.
• Sender and receiver consider each other
• Communication is written, verbal, and nonverbal.
• Feedback is a gift.

32. Communication
Summary
Great Leaders are Great Communicators
•Communication is a tool of leadership.
•Communication is essential to effective teams.
•Communication happens on common ground.
•Communication should be clear and concise.
•Sender and receiver consider each other
•Communication is written, verbal, and nonverbal.
•Feedback is a gift.