Our Presentation both to our Scout Troops (2nd Onchan Phoenix, 2nd Onchan TT and 1st Douglas) and to an invited audience involved a lot of planning that needed much thinking about on our part.

When we started the Chief Scout’s Challenge we decided on a venue for our Presentation and booked it. The place we thought of was 1st Douglas Scout Headquarters. This would be useful as it is a large hall with lots of space for displays and seating.

While we were cycling the Coast to Coast and visiting mines we collected a lot of information and stones for the Presentation. Some of the things we collected include books, pamphlets, post cards and a selection of old metals and rocks.

We had to plan what we had to say and how we were going to say it. We also had to show slides produced from all the photographs. We considered how to present our slide shows which ran into several sections of our talk.

Everything had to be thought of - from lighting and power points to refreshments after the Presentation. We also decided to produce coasters with our team logo on. When we arrived at our venue we made a rough plan of the area and chairs and tables were counted. Luckily there were more than enough.

On the day of the Presentation we bought all our displays, scripts and anything else we needed. We spent the whole day from 9 o’clock to 4 o’clock setting up the hall and doing a full rehearsal. We then went home for a break and returned at 6 o’clock in full uniform to welcome all our guests. The Presentation started at 7.30 p.m. and was expected to last until 9.30 p.m.