These are some useful (I think) points to remember when getting ready for a campfire, especially one for a lot of people. Whatever you do, remember to have fun otherwise no-one else will.


1) Get someone else to build and look after the campfire itself.

2) Write down, in order, a list of the songs you want to do. Include items by other people and spread them out to give yourself a break from leading songs

3) Check the content of their item in advance so you know what's coming and can edit anything 'unsuitable'.

4) Gain the audience's attention and establish your role as "LEADER OF THE CAMPFIRE", but be nice about it.

5) Make introductions and welcome visitors.

6) Light the fire dramatically if possible. Use a flaming arrow or torches (but remember safety)

7) Start the audience clapping and singing and leaping around as soon as you can.

8) Make sure that anyone who performs an item gets a positive response no matter how bad they really are

9) Try and limit the number of songs of the same type.

10) Action songs keep the audience awake.

11) Allow 12 to 14 songs per hour. (roughly)

12) Be flexible and have a few too many songs on your list.

13) Don't go on too long no matter how much fun YOU are having. Be aware of the audience especially when dealing with younger age groups like beavers as they will start to loose interest quicker than older groups.

14) Cheat, and plant singers in the audience to help it along. Give them a verse each for songs like The QM stores. THey can also help keep order.

15) Try not to go too mad at the start so you lose your voice. Pace yourself a little bit. Personally speaking I never listen to this piece of good advice and always end up hoarse after the first song.

16)  Make sure you know the words to the songs. A few times I've crashed and burned by leading a song I wasn't 100% sure of. Sometimes I cheat and have a small card with all the words or key words on it in my hand.