There are as many ways to start a Council VOA as there are Councils. Some have begun as the result of a single Venturer, who just refuses to give up on the idea. Others have been organized by adult Venturing volunteers and professional staff who have a vision about what a VOA could offer youth. Still others have started as District gatherings of two or three Crews, and expanded to include the entire Council.

In surveying SR Councils, our Area Presidents have encountered four basic situations:
1) There is a strong VOA, which is having a real and positive impact on the Crews of the Council.
2) There is an effort well underway to organize a VOA.
3) Council folks said they wanted to start a VOA, and asked for help and advice.
4) There were Venturing units in the Council, but there was no VOA, and no movement from within the Council to start one.

The first things to consider in the third and fourth situations are the number of Crews and the physical size of the Council.

In a Council with 6 or fewer Crews, the Presidents and VPs of all the Crews might be included on the VOA, and they may want to choose the VOA officers from among themselves. It may be fairly easy to get a VOA going, once there is one interested person.
On the other hand, in a large “metro” Council, where there are dozens of Crews and Ships, it may be more practical to organize by Districts, and have all the District VOA presidents serve on the Council VOA. They could also choose the Council VOA officers from among themselves, or the VOA could hold Council wide elections to fill the Executive Committee officers.

If the Council area is so large (geographically) that a VOA couldn’t meet face to face, a “virtual VOA” is still a possibility. One example in the Southern Region is a Council that covers 49K square miles and takes 6.5 hours to drive across. Modern technology, such as the use of teleconferencing and online conferencing can make the miles simply melt away.

A third thing to consider is the balance of Crews in a Council. You may have to get creative in these situations. For example, a large Venturing-friendly university that registers hundreds of students in Venturing may need a Council-level VOA
of its own, with a separate VOA for the traditional Crews in the Council, so that everyone has equal representation on the VOA and equal opportunity to participate on the VOA. 

If you are interested in starting a VOA in your Council, or if you are in a leadership position, and might be asked about starting a Council VOA by someone in the Council, we have these suggestions:

1) Be prepared! Give some thought, now, to the benefits of having a VOA in a Council, even if (maybe especially if!) there are only a few Crews – if you have an “elevator speech” ready, you’ll be able to explain why a VOA is important, or help Council leaders who are already committed to starting a VOA to explain their decision to others. (An "elevator speech" is one you could give to anyone sharing the elevator with you in the time it takes to get to their floor.)
These benefits include leadership opportunities, multi-Crew activities that couldn’t be done as a single Crew, opportunities for Crew members to try activities with another Crew that their own might not be interested in, and having a voice on the Area VOA. You may think of others, and if you do, please post them on the discussion of the Southern Region Venturing group on Facebook.

2) Check with the Council professional for Venturing. Be sure there isn’t already a VOA
going, or plans for a VOA in progress. That person may actually be several district executives, or "field service" and program directors. Let them know that you are interested, or have been asked.

3) Instead of pushing your own wishes and plans on others, make time to ask questions, and ask them of as many Venturing-related (or potentially Venturing-related) people as you can reach. "Has there ever been a VOA in the Council? Do you know any adults who would be willing to advise a VOA if we put one together in our District?" Answering questions pushes people to think more about starting a VOA, and also lets them know that you care enough to be knowledgable and work with them.

4) Have some ideas in mind for starting a VOA, but don’t make suggestions so soon that you cut off the brainstorming of other people – others may know a lot about people, personalities, resources, etc., that could "make or break" a VOA

The Southern Region VOA is undertaking a survey of SR Council leaders and Council VOAs to try to determine the benchmarks of successful VOAs, and the best practices for getting to those points. When you are contacted, please give this effort your all. (If you would like to be interviewed, please contact Sarah Polan at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .)
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