Communication Merit Badge

What this page is

The Communication merit badge, laid out so you can see which parts need other people. It is not a copy of the requirements: each step is a short label with a link to the official requirements, which are what actually governs and which change from year to year.

How a merit badge is earned at all is a separate page, How to Earn a Merit Badge.

Requirement 8 is the one to start first

It reads as a single line and it is the biggest thing on the page. You plan a court of honour, a campfire programme or an interfaith worship service; the patrol leaders' council has to approve it; then you write the script, prepare the programme, and serve as master of ceremonies on the night.

That is a meeting to get on an agenda, an event to get in the calendar, and a role to perform in front of your unit. A Scout who leaves it until the end finds the badge waiting on the next court of honour.

Four things that need somebody else

• Requirement 3: a five-minute speech, given at a meeting of a group.
• Requirement 5: a public meeting, attended in person, approved by your counselor, where several points of view are actually expressed.
• Requirement 6: teach a person a skill and then find out whether they learned it.
• Requirement 8: the court of honour above.

Where you choose

Three requirements are "do one of the following", and the questions above the plan narrow them to yours:

• Requirement 1: one of four ways to look at your own communication.
• Requirement 2: describe yourself creatively, or sell your counselor something.
• Requirement 7: a letter to an editor, a webpage or blog, or a printed newsletter. Answer nothing and you see all nine branches, marked as ones that may not apply to you. Nothing is hidden because you have not spoken.