Remember to sign up for JOTA–JOTI 2023

If you’re hosting an event in your Scout meeting place, make sure everyone’s fed and watered. If possible, it can be handy to find a dedicated ‘catering crew’ to help you stay focused on the activities.

Remember to check for allergies, eating problems or dietary requirements, then adapt and adjust the recipe as needed. This may include making sure there’s no cross-contamination during food preparation, too.

If you’re using digital video platforms, such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams or even WhatsApp, make sure to look at the guidance for staying safe online. 

We know you’re excited and want to jump straight in, but before taking part, make sure you’ve completed a risk assessment for the event. We've included some safety information on this page.

You’ll need a licensed operator to run the radios, even for amateur radio use, such as JOTA. Unless there’s someone in your group who’s licensed, the best thing to do is find your local Amateur Radio Club and see if they’ve the membership and the equipment to help run the radio station for you.

You can also speak to a representative at the Radio Society of Great Britain, who’ll be able to help you find an appropriate club for the event nearby.

Many radio clubs get together in local communities, so some places may already have aerials installed. Perhaps you could have a combined JOTA station with another Scout group in your area, or maybe even a District station.

The Amateur Radio Scout Active Support Unit can also offer support. They exist to support Groups, Districts, Counties, Areas and Regions, as well as Scout events of all sizes, with running amateur radio and electronics based activities. They've a special focus on helping with JOTA stations across the country.

As well as speaking to Scouts on the other side of the world, see if you can reach out to other UK-based or locally based Scout groups and speak to them throughout the weekend. There’s a chance the young people might have friends in the other group they can speak to.

If you’ve a radio operator on each radio or someone helping run an online video call, they don’t usually have much chance to explain what’s going on. Try to find someone that can answer questions or explain what’s going on for all ages, including how everything works and why it works.

They could even give a guided tour or run a questions desk. It might be worth having some answers ready for questions that might come up, such as ‘How does the signal get around the world?’

It might be good to have a set of questions to ask the Scouts you meet. Chat about what you might want to find out as a group and have a place for people down their ideas, such as on a big sheet of paper.

As you speak to each place, could then plot a map of where you’ve spoken to can produce a nice visual record of your weekend. You could ask generic questions, such as ‘What’s the weather like there?’ or ‘Do you have any pets?’

We’ve so many activities to keep you busy throughout JOTA–JOTI weekend. Take a look at our JOTA–JOTI activities via the Scouts Activity Finder.

Remember to have other activities ready to go in case there’s a quiet period and make sure there are enough activities for all the young people taking part. You could make them JOTA-JOTI related too, such as:

• finding out the phonetic alphabet
• having a go at sending morse code
• making a paper cup telephone
• learning about internet safety
• practising saying hello in another language

Give your entire weekend an international theme by including activities from all around the world.

As well as speaking to other Scouts internationally during JOTA-JOTI, you could try foods from other countries, identify flags, play a game from another country, learn to say ‘hello’ in different languages, or see what Scouts is like in another country.

Decide how long you want to run your station for. While a lot of activity takes place during the day, different parts of the world are available at different times.

You might want to run the event as a sleepover, so you can contact some of the more remote locations during the evening. This’ll depend on whether you’re able to support this or not, though! 

If you’re thinking about this, make sure you have a Nights away permit and plan appropriately.

If you have several radios running at once, alongside other activities, it can get very noisy, very quickly. It’s better to have a headphone splitter box and several pairs of headphones with each radio or supervised video calls happening in different rooms, always following the Yellow Card.

This means it’s quieter for the people taking part to concentrate on what’s being said. It also creates a sense of intrigue in those who aren’t on that particular radio, as they want to start picking up headphones and having a listen.

If it’s too noisy and there’s someone who doesn’t like the noise, you may want to have ear defenders for people to use. Shutting doors and windows can help to reduce external sounds, too.

It’s great to set up some dedicated quieter spaces for people to take a break if they’re overwhelmed. You could have colouring in, cuddly toys, sensory and fidget toys, soft seats or some books.

The needs of your group may help influence if you run a JOTA event or a JOTI event. For example, a JOTI event may be better for an individual with hearing loss, so they can clearly see the person speaking, as they may find it helpful to read lips or body language.

Remember that listening skills aren’t the same for all young people. ‘Sitting still’ can make listening more difficult. Try to build movement breaks into your activities to help people who may struggling sitting and listening for long periods.

Consider having a sensory box with fidget toys, having pens and paper to doodle while listening, or playing active games between JOTA-JOTI sessions.

People should only speak to other groups online or on the radio if they're happy and comfortable to. Not everyone has to speak to other groups, some people may enjoy watching or may just want to listen and that’s OK.

If you’re helping people answer questions, closed choice can be easier to make than an open question, as people can nod or shake their head in response. You could also give people cards to hold up, show a number using their fingers, or have whiteboards for people to write on and hold up their response. Remember to not speak on behalf of the young person.