Avery CaseThe convicted actively seeks additional forensic tests to help undermine the conviction . Syed CaseThe convicted actively puts a hold on efforts to obtain forensic tests which could help to undermine the conviction . <| sep |> Because I ' m short and fat and women don ' t like that . Even when I was younger and wasn ' t fat I never got dates . Most common reply I don ' t date guys that are shorter than me . <| sep |> I have the same issue in my Troop and I ' m also an SPL the other guys don ' t seem to want to get rid of so I ' ll throw my hat in the ring here . After the opening , I let the boys , especially the younger ones , let out all their giddiness . About 510 minutes of talking about whatever to get it out of their system . This can easily get out of hand , but hopefully your boys know when to stop messing around . Then I reel them back in with the help of a couple older boys and announce the plan for that meeting . Usually , we ' ll have one topicpoint of interest to discuss and work on . Maybe the citizenship requirements , or first aid , or if we ' re working on a merit badge as a troop we focus on that . But no matter what , have something to do . Hopefully your troop has patrols that are established . If the boys don ' t know what patrol they ' re in , or even their leader , fix that right away . Even in my troop , which is 13 your size on a good night , it helps A LOT . Patrols of no more than 12 are ideal to get stuff done efficiently , unless you have a really good patrol leader who can handle more . Maybe this is better in small troops , but I try and keep the vibe during meetings a bit relaxed . Yes , you have to get requirements done and actually be doing work , but nobody during the meeting is pestering you . The boys need to have initiative , and some have it more than others . If you can build that , or keep it going , your meetings will go well . Finally , I can only echo what the people above have said . Work with your ASPL and Patrol Leaders . Engage your adult leaders , or find new ones in the other parents if you have to . final storytime I taught myself Spanish to better engage some of the parents , and it ' s worked wonders . Not sure if it applies to your troop , but anyway you can get them involved , do it ! Best of luck in your journey as SPL !