BCS 101

The Commissioner Concept: An overview of commissioner service and the single most important resource – The Commissioner Fieldbook.

BCS 102

Unit Charter Renewal: Review a program plan for reregistering Scouting units on time with minimal loss in membership and leaders.  Learn the role of the commissioner to facilitate and achieve on-time charter renewal.

BCS 103

The Commissioner and the District:Interaction of the commissioner with the district executive and district committee. Understanding district and council operation.

BCS 104

Unit Visitation:Provides participants with insights on effective unit visits, what to look for, and how to be a help – not a hindrance.

BCS 105

Practical Solutions to Common Unit Needs: Helps commissioners understand how to respond to unit needs.  Become familiar with UC tools and Commissioner Helps for Packs, Troops and Crews.

BCS 106

A Commissioner's Priorities:  Suggests priorities for a unit commissioner’s Scouting time and energy, reviews steps in handling unit problems.

BCS 108

Effective Roundtables I:  Covers basic roundtable ingredients, planning cycle, and resource materials.  Designed for Roundtable commissioners and staff members.

BCS 109

Effective Roundtables II:  Designed as continuation for BCS 108.  Covers promotion and publicity, roundtable location, and a variety of morale builders.

BCS 110

Commissioner Style:  Presents important qualities of commissioner diplomacy, a concept of “exceptional service,” thoughts about “roots and wings,” service recovery, and explains how to remove a volunteer.

BCS 112

What Would You Do? :  A group participation/discussion session on 10 fascinating situations that commissioners might encounter.

BCS 115

The Commissioner and Diversity:  BSA’s leadership and membership reflects the demographic character of our nation.  Commissioners can use diversity to make Scouting stronger and more effective.

BCS 116

Using Unit Assessment Tools:  How commissioners facilitate a Self-Assessment meeting with a unit using the Unit Self-Assessment Tools and the Journey to Excellence Standards. How the commissioner guides the unit leader and unit chair through the assessment process.  How the self-assessment assists the unit to continually improve the program delivered to unit members.

BCS 118

Scouting for Youth with Special Needs (Disabilities) :  What a Commissioner needs to know to support a program that provides the scouting opportunity for youth with disabilities. Updates on programs, resources and materials available to provide a quality program for Cubs, Scouts and Crew members.  The course includes a brief history of the program with insight on helping Unit Leaders cope with a multitude of challenges. This course includes an explanation of the rules of membership and advancement.

BCS 119

Webelos-to-Scout Transition:  The transition of youth from Cub Scouts (Webelos) to Boy Scouts is vital to the health of Scouting.  This course will provide Commissioners with knowledge to share with unit leaders to they can assist their units in seamless transition of Webelos into Boy Scouts, by giving Webelos the opportunity to experience the fun and excitement of Boy Scouting.

BCS 201

The Pizzazz of Cub Roundtable Programs:  Keep unit leaders interested and excited about the next roundtable.  Tools and tricks to make roundtables vibrant, educational and fun!

BCS 203

Journey to Excellence for Commissioners:  This course discusses the role of commissioners in helping units implement the Journey to Excellence program. The emphasis is commissioners guiding their units to continually improve the quality of the program delivered to their members.  How to use regular J2E updates to track indicators of unit health.

MCS 302

Unit and Council Finance – Provides an overview of, who pays for Scouting from the unit to the council, the unit budget plan, successful unit money-earning projects, and how to help units with special financial needs.

MCS 303

Commissioner Lifesaving I - This session sets the stage for what commissioners can do to recognize and assist failing units early on and reviews the basic unit lifesaving steps.

MCS 304

Commissioner Lifesaving II - This is an in-depth continuation of MCS 303, dealing with the seven typical unit “hurry cases.” The ability to recognize and address these issues, will assist you in saving the unit and allowing it to continue on successfully.

MCS 308

Venturing and the Commissioner / "Older Scout Programs" – Stresses the importance of older Scout programs, explains how the venturing program works and suggests elements for commissioners to help these programs succeed.

MCS 309

Good Commissioners Need Both Head and Heart - The objective of this session is to review some of the important qualities of good commissioner service (the “head”) and to provide a variety of inspirational anecdotes and thought-provoking tips to share with unit adults as well as other commissioners (the “heart”).

MCS 311

All about ADC - ADCs can make or break a district’s ability to ensure that every unit receives competent commissioner service. This session emphasizes the ADCs importance, their responsibilities, effective ADC people skills, and the evaluation of their work.

MCS 312

Recruiting New Commissioners - Quality programs flourish and membership grows in a Scouting district when there is a complete team of quality commissioners. This session for all administrative commissioners covers the steps of recruiting commissioners, group recruiting techniques, and sources of prospects.

MCS 314

Administration of Roundtable Staff - An advanced seminar for roundtable commissioners and staff and other administrative commissioners. Includes roundtable staff recruitment, roundtable evaluation, and roundtable finance. Also reviews several important fine points for roundtable success, including how to support your staff.

MCS 315

Effective Unit Service in Low-Income Urban Communities - Emphasizes the importance of Scouting for low-income urban communities and suggests practical methods for recruiting local unit adults, helping units with special financial needs, and providing effective commissioner help.

MCS 317

How to Remove a Volunteer - This session will focus on the ineffective volunteer - the person who just isn’t working out. It will provide a variety of practical guidelines on this sensitive topic in an open discussion format.

MCS 319

District Commissioner Basics - The district commissioner recruits, trains, and directs an adequate team of commissioners (UCs, ADCs, and RTCs) to assure that all scout units in the district have a quality program. An experienced and highly accomplished district commissioner will guide you through how to do it all. 

MCS 321

New-unit Service - New units are a tremendous factor in membership growth. The commissioner plays a vital role not only in the creation of new units, but in ensuring their continued growth and success.

MCS 323

Mining UVTS Data for Gold- Visiting units and logging them into UVTS are primary functions of Unit Commissioners. This class will demonstrate how to mine UVTS data to assess the standard of performance for unit visitation for your district, individual units and Unit Commissioners including how to determine District JTE Gold standard for unit visitations.

MCS 403

Making the LDS system work for non-LDS members - Learn how non-LDS commissioners can effectively serve LDS programs and units.  Understand how LDS unit organization and programs compare and contrast with non-LDS Scouting units.

MCS 405

What is Troop Youth Leadership Training: This session will examine the role the Scoutmaster plays in preparing youth leaders to lead their troop starting with a review of the Youth Training Continuum from troop level to Philmont advanced youth leadership opportunities. The course will review the training outline of the new Troop Leadership Training for youth leaders and the National Youth Leadership Training course. The session will include a discussion of effective ways for commissioners to promote and support the youth leader training programs in their assigned units.

MCS 406

The Spectrum of Training - Part of a commissioner's job is to ensure unit leaders are properly trained. Learn more about “This is Scouting,” position specific training, Pow Wow, BCOLS, Powder Horn, University of Scouting, Wood Badge, and other training opportunities. This class will provide commissioners with the big picture of what is offered in adult leader training and how it all fits together.

MCS 408

How Youth Develop - How Scouting Helps Compensate for Boys' Lack of Organizational Skills - This course explores brain studies in the last ten years and how Scouting helps boys learn and grow despite poor organizational skills.

DCS 501/502

Selecting a Thesis/Research Project Topic & Limiting the Scope - Introduces the thesis project, discusses what constitutes a good thesis or research topic, and helps you select your general thesis topic.  Receive help in reducing the topic to reasonable size and ideas.

DCS 503

Developing the Thesis Outline and Writing the Report - Covers the thesis outline and a variety of suggestions for writing and revising the report.

DCS 508

Advanced Commissioner Lifesaving - This session examines the hard-to-solve cases when even experienced commissioners may feel at a loss to save a unit.  Participants share recommended strategies for heroic unit lifesaving measures.

DCS 514

Beyond BCS114: The Commissioner and Professional ­− A Working Relationship - Learn more about you professional's job and how together you can provide quality service to units.

DCS 515

District Journey to Excellence - Learn about the elements of District Journey to Excellence and what it takes to ensure success in every area. Identify the key categories of performance, explore how the commissioner staff affects JTE performance, and identify resources to help improve JTE performance.

DCS 520

Assessing District Health - Learn about the resources available to assess a district’s ability to provide quality unit service. Learn how to use the resources available to assist in identifying strengths and bring improvements to weaknesses found in the district. Review the district operations structure, discuss how goal setting helps in guiding success, and identify other resources to help set and meet district goals

DCS 601/602

Considering Your Spouse and Family/Preventing Burnout - This course is intended to assist commissioners in understanding and strengthening their family relationships so that Scouting increases family and personal happiness and extends your tenure as a commissioner. Participants will also explore strategies to keep interested, active and excited about unit and district service, and how to see the signs when a change in responsibilities may be considered.