Open – are we?

Activity fair at CMC © Eelco Maljaars

Representatives from 17 different countries and 22 associations, representing 37 centres met for the 12th edition of the Centre Managers Conference which happened from 19th to 23rd October 2011. The Scouts and Guides de France national training centre in Jambville, France offered excellent facilities that inspired 66 participants.

It was great to be able to meet so many others who are involved in scouts centres across Europe and share experiences, it also provided an excellent opportunity to step out of the centre for a few days and gain some ideas and perspective for the future.

The aim of the Conference was to strengthen and develop co-operation among Guide/Scout Centres and to facilitate strong working relations between the staff of those Centres. The Planning Team, supported by guest speakers coming from different backgrounds, from Scout to environmental, provided an array of interesting information and initiated an exchange that gave a lot of new ideas to the participants.

The theme of the 12th CMC was ‘Open’. Through cornerstone sessions on Branding, Challenge and Change and small group work on preparing a promotional video, the theme provoked new views to operating Guide and Scout centres.

The visit to Versailles on a sunny day added a special glimpse to the Conference.

There are already three candidates for hosting the next Conference in 2013, and a completely new team that will make sure that it brings new opportunities for exchange that will inspire improvements.

CMC 2011 Group photo

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