If you are beginning to work on Communication merit badge, here is some guidance on some of the requirements.

Most of the requirements can be done on your own, and then the results presented to me when you're ready. The only one that really relies on troop activity is the campfire program (Req. 8). We need a campout to accomplish that.

Requirement 3. Write a five-minute speech. Give it at a meeting of a group.

You do not need special permission to give your speech. You can choose a subject that you are knowledgeable about and have an interest in. Some tips: Write your speech beforehand, deciding what you want to say. Practice reading it out loud. Memorize it the best you can. When you give your speech, do not read it directly from a paper. The best way is to have some index cards or a paper with some important bullet points from your speech. You can refer to those to keep you on track for when you're talking. Be clear and confident with what you're saying. Make eye contact with everyone in the group, don't just focus on one person. Although the requirement doesn't specify, I would recommend having an attendance sheet with your name, the date, the subject of your speech, and who attended. This will serve as proof of completion of the requirement.

For requirement 5, you need to attend a public meeting and see how differing opinions are presented. Possible meetings to attend are City Council or the School Board. I know that the River Edge City Council records their meetings and puts them online, so you can watch one of those and then take notes to present to me when you're ready.

Requirement 7 gives you the option of writing a letter to the editor of a local paper, creating a web page, or creating a pamphlet/flyer/brochure. I have seen the first and third ones done more than the second. If you have an opinion on something that you would want to share with a newspaper's audience (good or bad), then write a letter stating your opinion. If you want to be creative and make a flyer, go for that. It can be about a club you're in, a church group, a sports team fan association or something else. It could be a pamphlet about the troop, but it definitely doesn't have to be. If you feel like a little bit of a challenge, try your hand at making a web page. Keep in mind what the requirement calls for with a web page - links, images, etc.

For requirement 6, you can teach anything to anyone. However, it would be best if you are teaching something NEW to someone that doesn't already know it. For example, you shouldn't teach knots to a Boy Scout, but you can teach knots to a cousin that is not in scouts. You can teach a card game to another scout or scouts, provided they don't already know the game. You make the choice for what you teach, but you should know the material well enough to teach it.

Last advice for now is, keep records. In other words, for example, when you do Req 6, write down what you taught, who you taught it to, and when you taught it. Keeping records is the only way you can prove you did what you say you did.