Key Man: Day 2

As of Sunday, the 25th annual Key Man Conference began, and the campers started a week long experience that will change their outlook on the DeMolay world.

When the Key Men first arrived they were quickly introduced to the concept of "Reality KMC" and were split up into the conference Chapters. These new Chapters will be their family for the week as they work through the experiences a normal Chapter would have to face. One of the first tasks for the the attendees was to pick a name for their Chapter. Many interesting and clever names emerged after the Chapters turned in their decisions. We now have Dibbs, Les Frères, Thunda Squirrel, The Legit, Wombat, Wolfpack, and Indecisive Chapter.

Each Chapter has duties at Key Man that they must carry out as well, such as prayers at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and the daily raising and lowering of the flags. All the Key Men are adapting to their vigorous Key Man routine of waking up early and working hard. The young men are bettering themselves and becoming leaders in their chapters. Tune in tomorrow for another Key Man update!

Bro. Chris Labaw
Team Leader of Jurisdictional Officer (JO) Team 3

Key Man 2010 Begins!

It has started! The first "key" men and women (our all-volunteer staff) arrived on Friday and Saturday, and spent much of Saturday meeting, organizing and preparing for the arrival of the DeMolay participants on Sunday. This is a significant contribution of time and effort to the program! Without our volunteers, some of whom have traveled in from long distance, we couldn't do this, so here's a "shout out" to Greg Schaeffer (New York), Dave Berry, Rodney Boyce, Ernie Loiselle (Ontario, Canada), John Slade (Alberta, Canada), Deb Vanek, Mike Larkin, Steve Lancaster (Utah), Rick Freedman, Mark Rauschenberger (Illinois), Eric Ullom, Sally Specht, Zack Panitzke (Virginia), Bruce Neubauer, Jan Harms, Nanette Blaisdell, Scott Tressler, Joe Pullin, Lou Grow, Lee Cram, Jeanine Larkin, Seth Anthony, Rich Whitman and of course, Sam Williamson!

I can't believe it has been 25 years! This was supposed to be a temporary replacement program for the DeMolay International Leadership Training Conferences that were cancelled due to budgetary complications. Its success and value has far exceeded our initial expectatations, largely due to the quality of volunteers who design and staff the program each year. Neither Sam nor I saw this as a long-term thing-- it was just to bridge the gap, until D.I. got its act together. Well, that took longer than we had expected, and by the time they had righted the ship, we had a tradition of excellence going that was unstoppable.

This year we are working under the leadership of our Youth Director, Bro. Jake Palo, PSMC of PA, and Conference Director, "Dad" Greg Schaeffer of PA and NY, who has many years of experience with the program. Past Directors who have contributed to the program include Tom Moberly (CA), Keith Klein (IN), Dave Glattly (NJ), Dave Lovatt (NJ), Rich Auerbach (NJ), Mark Ashman (NJ), Ray Flynn (NJ), Rick Freedman (PA), Kurt Duryea (PA), Len VanderHorn (NJ), Allen Moyer (PA), Brent Richards (PA), Dave Berry (PA) and Greg Schaeffer (PA/NY). Each Director has put his own stamp on the program, and what we do today is a conglomeration of all of their contributions.

A lot of changes have happened over the years. The program of today resembles, but is significantly different from the past. As we go through the week, I will be posting some photos and videos of both the current and previous Key Man Conferences. You'll see some of the differences, I am certain. Much of our early history is tied up in slides-- digital cameras weren't available in the "old" days. But a fair amount of video archives have survived, and we are digitizing them for future reference.

Here is a flavor of one of our earliest Conferences-- 1988-- when a "nightly news" cast was a key part of the program...


And here's the scene following Sunday's worship service

It's late, we're tired. Enjoy this, and we'll share more on Monday!

--Tom Labagh, EO & (a 25-Year Key Man Survivor)

WIFFM Round 3!

Another WIIFM week has gone by, but sadly our winner from last week, Jarred, never got back to me with his information. So, this week I have decided to annouce two WIFFM winners!

The winners for Friday, August 6, 2010 are "Mom" Suzanne Locke of New Castle Builders Chapter and Bro. Danny Perlman of Friendship-Bray Chapter!

Since I already have the address for these folks, your patches are in the mail!

Remember, there are still 7 weeks left in the WIIFM contest, and anyone who becomes an official "Follower" of the blog can be a winner! So, click that "Follow" link up in the top right hand corner and next week your name could be here!

Frat!~"Dad" Seth Anthony

P.S. - Beginning on Sunday, August 8, 2010, the PA DeMolay Blog will be taken over by the attendees of the Key Man Conference. The "Key Men" and Jurisdictional Officers will be posting daily updates from the conference. Regular (i.e. "Dad" Anthony's boring and rambling posts) will resume on Monday the 16th. Carry on!

Convention Feedback Thoughts

As many of you know, I moonlight as the Director of Convention for PA DeMolay, and we recently just finished up that event for 2010. In general, I feel like the event was a success, but I'm always open to constructive criticism, as well as hearing about ways to improve the program. I'm also all for transparency in what we do, so I'm going to share the results, along with my conclusions, so that you can see how the feedback we receive will impact future events.

After Convention this year, I created a survey that was posted on the PA DeMolay website, as well as sent via e-mail to all of the participants that provided one. You can see the survey here, but it basically asks about the major components of the program, and asks attendees to rate them on a 1 to 5 scale. Pretty simple!

Well, I've gotten 43 surveys back (which is just under 25% of the attendees) and I feel that I have a good representative sample. I received a good mix of active DeMolays (18 total) and adult Advisors (25 total), and the results were certainly enlightening! Below you'll find a graph that shows the average score for each event.


So, what conclusions am I making from this information? Let's first look at the average "Overall" score versus the "Composite" overall score. The average "Overall" score represents the average points given by each person when asked how he / she would rate their overall experience. The "Composite" score is an average of all the scores from each event. The "Overall" average score was 4.09, whereas the "Composite" score was a 3.69. That's a difference of .40 between the scores. This tells me that when asked about the event as a whole, people were more forgiving than when asked about individual events. This could also mean that other, non-rated, factors could be boosting their overall satisfaction (such as a quality hospitality suite, etc.) This is a pretty significant disconnect, and I put more faith in the "Composite" score because of this. Still, a 3.69 out of 5 isn't bad. I'm of the mind that a 3 out of 5 is average, so if we scored above that, it means that we were above average (even if just by a bit.)

The "Composite" average also gives me a baseline to work from when deciding if a particular event was scored above or below average. The first event score, Paintball, was a real shock to me. I heard nothing but good things about paintball at the event, so for it to score the lowest of all of the items was a real conundrum. I inquired a little further with some active DeMolays who I knew that took part and therein I found my answer. The two major complaints, which lowered that score, were the issue of "field paint" only and scheduling. As Convention staff there isn't much control we have about the rules of the facility. The fact that the paint had to be purchased at the field was in boldface letters on the registration, so I'm not sure how we could have made it clearer. I understand that it was a frustrating problem for those on-site, but rules are rules, and we have to comply with the facility. As for the scheduling, I understand that the safety briefing took far too long. When you couple that with the ritual team needing to leave early to practice, I can see why some weren't happy with the event. In my mind the score is low because of scheduling, not because it wasn't fun. If that's not the case, I encourage you to drop me a line and tell me, so that I can know whether or not to plan paintball as a Convention activity for the future.

Fun Fore All averaged a 4 out of 5, which is fantastic. It seems that everyone had an excellent time there, and that the unlimited package that we purchased was the right value for us. I'm going to keep an eye out for these kinds of facilities in the future.

Kennywood averaged a 3.75 total. Again, I think this is a fine score. I also want to remind everyone that Kennywood was chosen over Sand Castle by the participants at Spring Leadership weekend, so the choice was made by the young men. I understand that the buses that we used for transport were warm, and that school buses aren't the most comfortable rides available. Again, to provide transparency, I can tell you that those buses cost us around $11.50 a person. Some people asked why I didn't get coach buses instead. Had I gone with coaches the price would have doubled, and that would have been an added cost for each participant. I guess the question is: are you willing to pay $23.00 a person for an hour and half on a bus? That seems like a lot to me, and I am of the mind that the lower price is preferred to a little extra comfort. Amusement parks tend to do well with our group, and this year was no exception. I intend to keep this in mind in coming years.

A food score of 3.79 is fantastic. One of our biggest challenges each year is to find food options that are both affordable and filling, while maintaining taste (which is a real problem with banquet food.) I think the options this year were well received. Again, to pull back the curtain, the taco's on Friday evening were the most expensive meal. The base price was $18.00 a person, plus 6% tax and 18% gratuity. After factoring in those numbers, the meal suddenly cost us over $22.00 a person. Let it be known, hotel banquet food isn't cheap, but that's the cost of having the event at a nice facility. For upcoming events I am going to continue to try to find interesting and fun food options.

"Dad" Bean's workshop scored slightly below average at 2.92. This was the first time "Dad" Bean had done this sort of workshop, and that average probably reflects that a bit. I am, however, satisfied with this score. I went out on a limb with "Dad" Bean to try and bring in someone different to talk to the members, and it seems to have worked. I've already begun inquiring about other outside speakers for future Conventions.

Finally, we come to the Dinner / Lunch / Business session. A score of 4.07 is outstanding! This is an area where we traditionally struggle, but appears we've finally tapped into the right mix. Things kept moving, and the electronic balloting system once again proved to be a huge time saver. We will be tweaking this in coming years, but I anticipate that the setup we had this year will remain the model for the next few Conventions.

That was a lot to digest! But, we're not done yet. I also want to address some of the comments I received, so that I can explain some other ideas, and help dispel some myths about the Convention program. First, there is a lot of talk about the purpose of Convention (both inside and outside the PA DeMolay office.) There are generally two schools of thought. The first school believes that Convention should be focused on the election, learning more about DeMolay, and doing more fraternal things, like Induction ceremonies and such. The other view is that Convention should generally be a fun event, with the elections and other stuff thrown in for good measure.

I personally believe more in the second theory. We, as a jurisdiction, do very little that is purely fun. Sports tournaments are competitive, and Spring Leadership Weekend is for learning, but Convention is the only pure "fun" weekend we have, and I'm okay with that. I'm not opposed to adding in educational events, but I don't want to see that be the main component of the event. I also don't think it's a place for guys just to get together and "hang out." This is often referred to as "fellowship" time. However, I've learned that having this kind of time is a bad idea. I don't like having guys running around a hotel with nothing specific to do, as this often leads to behavior issues and damages, which we certainly don't want. Also, one of our biggest complaints has been Advisors not keeping track of their members, and this so-called "fellowship" time is where the lack of supervision tends to be the worst.

The topic I'll touch on is issues with the facilities that we use. Over the last few years I've had many people come to me after the events and complain about something. While I appreciate knowing about the issue, this is often much too late for me to try to get it fixed or have the hotel compensate us appropriately. If you have an issue, please let us know about it right away, and we'll do our best to fix it!

Whew! We're almost done! The final burning question is "where is Convention going to be for the next few years?" I'm leading an expedition to the Mt. Laurel hotel in the Poconos in late August. They've come through with a fabulous rate, and some great activities, and I have a good feeling that's where we will be next year. In September I am attending a gathering at the Eisenhower Inn in Gettysburg, at which time I hope to scout out that facility for use as a possible site for 2012. I'm very excited by the prospect of Gettysburg, as it's somewhere we haven't been in many years, so keep your fingers crossed! Lastly, I have a meeting today with a sales person from the Sheraton / Bay Front Convention Center in Erie. This is my home town, and I want to provide a great experience in 2013, and I think this new facility can do that!

There you have it! Convention in a (rather large) nutshell! As always, I'm available for comments and feedback via this blog or at scanthony@pademolay.org!

Frat!~"Dad" Seth Anthony

Knights and Damsels

***It's come to my attention that some people are having issues viewing the punctuation in this post when it is viewed as part of the PA DeMolay website. This appears to be an Internet Explorer issue, generally related to version 7. If you are running this version, and are having trouble viewing the punctuation, I encourage you to either update your browser or view the posting on the original feed at demolaypa.blogspot.com. I apologize for any inconvenience.***

I’m always on the look out for interesting articles that relate to DeMolay and what we stand for. Every DeMolay knows the story of Jacques DeMolay, at least to some extent. They know he was a knight, they know he was brave, and they know he died while keeping the faith of his brothers. In DeMolay we’ve become especially attached to the idea of knighthood. There are very few young boys out there who haven’t, at least once, dreamed of donning a fanciful cuirass and riding into battle atop a well barded destrier (Yes, I know. Young guys have no idea what a “cuirass” or “destrier” is. This is one of those “teachable moments.” If you don’t know what those words mean, go look them up!)

I recently finished a novel called “A Storm of Swords.” It’s the third novel, in a much larger series, known as “The Song of Ice and Fire,” which was written by George R.R. Martin. The series comprises a tale of knights and heroes, battles and murders, and general medieval type stuff. One of the recurring themes of the book is how the dreams of the younger characters rarely come true. One little boy has his heart set on being a knight, but he falls out of a window at the age of 8, and never regains use of his legs. Another character, this time a young girl, dreams of being a high born lady and perhaps even queen, but she is later married to a very conniving, and some would say dishonorable, man.

So, what do these two things have in common? Why, another piece of literature of course! Some of you may have read the “Song of Roland” in high school or college. It’s a piece of 12th century French literature that details the Battle of Roncevaux Pass, which occurred in the year 778. More importantly, however, it gives us one of the few complete lists of what was called the “Code of Chivalry,” dated to a period when it was actually being used.

In the “Song of Roland” there are laid out the following components of the knightly code:
1. To fear God and maintain His Church
2. To serve the liege lord in valor and faith
3. To protect the weak and defenseless
4. To give succor to widows and orphans
5. To refrain from the wanton giving of offence
6. To live by honor and for glory
7. To despise pecuniary reward
8. To fight for the welfare of all
9. To obey those placed in authority
10. To guard the honor of fellow knights
11. To eschew unfairness, meanness and deceit
12. To keep faith
13. At all times to speak the truth
14. To persevere to the end in any enterprise begun
15. To respect the honor of women
16. Never to refuse a challenge from an equal
17. Never to turn the back upon a foe

Let’s take a harder look at this. Of the 17 aspects listed, 12 of them relate to how one should act when not on the field of battle. Three of them deal with honor, while three others deal with faith. Six of the tenets deal with protecting or defending other people, while several more deal with truth and doing what is right. Now, let’s take those 17 rules and see how they match up to the 7 Cardinal Virtues.

• Filial Love
o To give succor to widows and orphans

• Reverence for Sacred Things
o To fear God and maintain His Church
o To keep faith

• Courtesy
o To eschew unfairness, meanness and deceit
o To respect the honor of women

• Comradeship
o To guard the honor of fellow knights
o Never to refuse a challenge from an equal
o Never to turn the back upon a foe

• Fidelity
o To despise pecuniary reward
o To fight for the welfare of all
o To obey those placed in authority
o At all times to speak the truth
o To persevere to the end in any enterprise begun

• Cleanness
o To refrain from the wanton giving of offence
o To live by honor and for glory

• Patriotism
o To serve the liege lord in valor and faith
o To protect the weak and defenseless

Well, now look at that! Funny how all of those old ideas of Chivalry just happen to match up to DeMolay ideals, huh? Let’s take a closer look, shall we?

Filial Love, to DeMolays, means loving one's parents. However, in this case, I also believe that it means giving honor to people who are parents themselves, especially widows and orphans, who may not have anyone to help them in a time of need. Reverence for Sacred Things reminds us to have respect for that which is holy, and in the same way, the knights of old were encouraged to be faithful to their church and maintain its teachings. A knight, like a DeMolay, also practiced Courtesy, by being slow to anger, never letting vengeance become a goal, and honoring the fairer sex. They were also strong Comrades, who believed that each knight was a brother, to be protected and listened to, and that even a worthy foe deserved respect. Fidelity, as is apparent, was the key belief of any knight, and therefore of any DeMolay. Knights and DeMolays do what they do without hope for reward, fight the good fight, obey authority, speak the truth, and never quit. Both groups also tried to live clean lives, abhorring offensive things and living for honor and glory rather than for worldly pleasures. Finally, both DeMolays and knights enjoy a sense of patriotism, protecting the weak, and defending their country.

As DeMolays we have a long history of trying to emulate knightly behavior. As men, most of us also have a yearning to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. What you must realize is that the moment a young man becomes a DeMolay he has already found something bigger, and has been “knighted” into a brotherhood of character. It then becomes his responsibility to live up to those standards to the best of his ability, just like the knights of old!

Frat! ~ ”Dad” Seth Anthony