Give Your Summer Camp Staff EVERYTHING They Need to Succeed

It's all in the details -- no matter how small - so . Don't forget to allow time in your training to talk about their time off! Here's an idea to help them make the most of the time off they receive (it will also offer them positive suggestions of what to do with their time):

• Each day during Pre-Camp Rest Hour or Free Time, have a Senior Staff member drive a group of new staff members into the closest town (you will need to determine how many days you need to do this or if you need to send more than one vehicle at a time)
• If you are on an island or the closest little town or village is too far away to get there and back in the allotted time, you can simply put on your creative thinking caps and have your senior staff members simulate your town (don't forget costumes, signs, a pretend car, etc.)
• On this tour of the town, show your new staff members what is available to them: where the stores, banks and restaurants are located, where they can find the best places to shop, where to buy the best ice cream, etc.
• Explain to them everything you think they might need to know: what they need to take to town with them, how they can get there, what time taxis stop running, where to find taxi numbers, what restaurants deliver to camp, the location of the closest ATM, etc
• Have your senior staff member share other ideas of what other staff members do during time off (ex. learn to play guitar, work on practical skills at camp - with proper supervision, of course - go on hikes, swim across the lake, etc.)
• End off the tour at a stop for an ice cream cone or popsicle for everyone to enjoy on the ride home

At a time during pre-camp when you have all your staff together, go over your expectations of their behaviour during time off.  Be very specific.  Outline any items in your staff contract you want to be sure are perfectly clear.  Discuss ideas with them which would continue to further your positive relationship with the community.

It’s All in the Welcome

It is imperative to ensure everything is in place and that you have thoroughly thought through what you want staff members to understand before they arrive at Pre-Camp for Leadership Training.

(there's so much to share with this topic that we've had to break it down into shorter bits -- look for more in the weeks to come)

Lead by Example

• Have the Directors and Leadership Team members ready to welcome every individual car (both staff and parents) when they arrive for Training
• Do not have last minute things to run around and do (look prepared and excited)
• Have Leadership Team members help staff members with their belongings

Be Ready for Everyone

• Make staff members feel as though you are expecting them and that they are welcome
• Make up cabin lists ahead of time to intentionally mix up who bunks together
• Have all members of your senior staff serve as ‘counsellors’ for the training week
• Have these ‘counsellors’ prepare a theme for the week for their group and make a name tag for every bunk that corresponds to their theme
• Have welcome signs on every cabin/tent flap (with people’s names on them)
• Have a welcome banner hanging in a prominent place with the theme of your week on it
• Make sure all outside lights are turned on (if they are arriving in the evening)
• Have senior staff ‘counsellors’ walk staff members to their cabins and help carry luggage

The Importance of a First Impression

• Make sure your site is clean and everything looks as though you put an effort into it
• The leadership team and directors should be wearing camp uniforms (if you have them) and looking professional (unless, of course, you go for a theme-look and have everyone in costume!)
• Have manuals, songbooks (or whatever you give out to staff members) ready with their names on them (it shows staff members they were expected)
• Have staff mailboxes or ‘lovelines’ (we’ll explain these in a future post) ready in the staff lounge (be sure the senior staff ‘counsellors’ for the week have already placed a short note of welcome and encouragement into the mailboxes of the staff members in their cabin group
• Have tours available for parents dropping off new staff members (look for more ideas of what to do with staff parents on the first day of training in upcoming posts)

This is your chance to put your staff members into the right 'head space' for training. Use every opportunity you can to let them see and experience your camp philosophy and expectations.

How to Make the VERY most of your Pre-Camp Training

Explain EVERYTHING in your Staff Training

The best way to ensure that your summer staff members are fully prepared for their positions is to make sure to arm them with ALL the information they will need to succeed.

It will be up to you to decide what members of your staff need to know the information: is it just for new people, section heads, programme staff, counselors? If not everyone needs to know what you have to explain, you may want to use those already in the know to help you do the teaching.

During your time of staff training, it is your job to ensure you cover it all and that you do so in a way that helps your staff to remember.  So be creative!  Returning staff members love to get involved - just be sure to fully frontload your expectations so that returning staff understand their roles perfectly.

Your list of what to explain will include: all the rules, the location of everything, what time meals are, when free time is, when they are allowed to leave site, how to stay warm at night, what your camp words mean (all camps have their own lingo) and the list goes on (and on, and on).

Here are 2 examples of 'the location of everything':

#1 Your new staff members will need a complete site tour.  Even if they have been campers at your camp before, there will be areas where they have never been and it is important that they now see all areas of camp from a staff member's perspective:

• If you are able to drive around your site, get your camp bus or van ready (of course, if you don't have a vehicle, a walking tour is always in style)
• You may want to begin with a fun and creative announcement at the end of your first meal.  Have a senior member of staff dress as a bus driver and one as a tour guide, complete with clipboard and whistle.
• They can disrupt your announcement time and call forward all the new staff members.
• Have costumes ready for your new people to dress as "tacky tourists" (hawaiian shirts, old cameras, funny hats, bermuda shorts, socks with sandals - you get the idea).
• Put them on the camp bus and give them the guided tour. Amusing accents are always a nice touch!

OR

#2 This activity is for all staff members but, of course, allows the new people to see the site during the process:

• Ahead if time, take photos around your site of very small objects (ex. the padlock on your boat house, a plaque in your chapel, a mail slot in your office).  Take 3 or 4 of each object from a greater distance each time. The first photo and perhaps even the second may be difficult to determine but the third of fourth photos should be more obvious.
• Print out the photos - one set for each group (don't make the groups too big).
• Divide staff into well-mixed groups and have the groups begin at different starting points (you will know where each group should begin according to the order you will have determined for each group).
• Ahead of time, you will have numbered envelopes and put all the 'first' photos (except the very first one you will hand them at the start) at the appropriate spots so that each group has their next photo available to them when they find their object (like a treasure hunt).
• Be sure to only give them the 1st photo of their first object to start.
• Should they be unable to figure out the 'first' picture, they may come back to you (tell them where you can be found) for the next picture in the sequence of that particular object (which is larger). They may continue to return for the next larger picture until they figure it out and can move on to the next object.
• Have a race to see which group can figure out the identified objects first.  How  many objects you use will depend on the amount of time you would like to spend on this activity.
• During this activity, each group will be traveling your property so, before you begin, be sure to frontload that part of the exercise is to allow your new staff members to learn all about your site.
• Encourage conversations about your site from returning staff members on the way to each area that your groups are exploring.  This is their chance to explain what all the areas are used for and how they are used specifically at your camp.
• When you debrief at the end, you can ask to hear from your new staff members what and how much they learned and add points for the best 'explainers' too!

This is just to get your brains started. Every activity during your pre-camp training can be created to allow your staff members to truly experience the magic of camp.  We'd love to hear your creative ideas - please leave your suggestions in the 'comments' below!

Make the Most of your Pre-Camp Training

Show Your Summer Camp Staff The Ropes

Here are a few ideas to get your creative juices flowing:

• Greet them exactly as you would your campers on an Opening Day (include your 'welcome to camp speech' with each car, even if they have been on staff forever)
• Greet parents, should they be dropping off staff members, in the same way you greet camper parents throughout the summer
• In advance, divide your staff members into cabin groups with 'counselors' (members of your senior staff who have been well prepared for this day) - be sure to mix them together well so that you have a variety of ages and experience in your cabin groups
• Have your nurse or camp doctor in the spot he/she sits on your Opening Day and have them receive staff members in the same way (if your medical staff does not arrive until after Pre-Camp, have a qualified first aider do the job)
• Have members of your leadership team escort them to their cabins to meet their 'counselors' (don't forget to help carry the luggage!)
• Have their 'counselors' ready to meet and greet them in the same way campers are greeted on Opening Days (have the cabins clean and tidy, a welcome banner up, decorations for the theme of the week, a gift or welcome letter on each bunk, etc.)
• Have these senior staff "counselors" use the same lingo they would with campers (handshakes, introductions, helping set up bunks, etc.)
• Allow time for cabin groups to get to know each other with tours, backpocket games, crafts, etc. (this also allows senior staff to share their best secrets with the counselors) - be sure to have these senior staff members prepped ahead of time and frontload with them what you want your staff to get out of the experience
• Run swim tests with your staff if this is part of your Opening Day
• Have your cabin groups line up for dinner if this is something you do at your camp - encourage the 'counselors' to teach songs or cheers to their 'campers'
• Have the cabin groups sit together at dinner (prep your 'counselors' to share their best meal traditions with their 'campers' - ex. table games, how they teach and expect manners, songs)
• If you have sessions on this day, have the 'counselors' line their 'campers' up together, get them to be sure their 'campers' bring the appropriate supplies to sessions, have them count their 'campers' to be sure they are all present and accounted for
• If you are running an Evening Programme, choose an activity that encourages cabin group participation so that counselors can understand the importance of building group unity from the very night together
• At the end of the evening, have your 'counselors' put the 'campers' to bed (prep them ahead of time to share their best tricks of the trade for quieting campers down and making sure they have done something special with them to end off their night - ex. sing them songs, read them stories, do devotions if you are a religious camp)

The more you can SHOW your staff members and allow them to EXPERIENCE, the more they will understand the importance of the job ahead of them. Remember...prepping your senior staff to be amazing 'counselors' is a very important step in this process. And enjoy watching your staff members as they get to be 'campers' again; it will help to get them pumped up for the summer to come!

Great Camp Slideshows - Part 2

We are excited to share with you a short series about Slideshows, a great alternative marketing technique for summer camps that was introduced to us on CampHacker 8: Why Go to Camp Fairs? by our 5th Chair guest host, Paul Sheridan.

Here are some tips on how to host successful slideshows.  Please keep in mind that I’ve come up with all of these based on trial and error, and none of them are written in stone.  If you decide to give this a try, I encourage you to tweak, make these more appropriate to your own camp community, and go through your own process of trial and error.

• Pick your slideshow locations based on the momentum you have going in a particular community, and the enthusiasm of the family that’s going to host. We have our core cities, like most Camps do.  For us, it’s basically the big cities on the West Coast.  We host slideshows in those cities every year.  The second criteria I use for picking slideshow locations is the enthusiasm of the family that’s hosting.  If they’re jazzed to host, chances are it will be a successful show.  If not, you’re running the risk of a dud.Every year, we pick a couple of what I think of as “satellite cities.”  These are cities where we don’t have a big presence, but we have a few kids and a motivated host.  Montreal probably seems like it doesn’t fit in the list of cities above, but we have a motivated host there who is hooked into a school and can put 30 people in a room who want to hear about Four Winds.  I’ll fly to almost anywhere to talk to that crowd.If you are a Camp that’s just starting out with slideshows, in fact, I would recommend using the enthusiasm of the host family as the first criteria for selecting your locations.  Don’t twist someone’s arm to host just because it’s your biggest city.  And certainly don’t try to schedule 18 shows in your first year.  Pick two or three excited families and build from there.

• Give your host families good information about what you expect of them, and take as much off their plate as you can.These families are busy, and they’re doing you a favor.  Make it easy on them.  We ask our host families to put out a few snacks and drinks and invite people they know.  We even send them pre-stamped postcards to use as invitations.  We take care of everything else.  We also don’t post the families’ addresses on our website or other public internet forums – we ask people to call our office.  This sets the host families at ease that their house isn’t going to be overrun.

• Invite, invite, invite. You’ve got to let people know these shows are happening.  Send postcards, announce them on your website and social networking feeds.  Tell people on the phone and over email.  Invite prospective families, current families, counselors, alums, everybody.  That interaction is what you’re looking for. You probably have amazing counselors.  This is an opportunity for prospective families to see that first hand.

• When it comes to AV needs, be totally self-contained.We learned this one quickly.  Audio video setups are easy when you know what to expect.  We travel with a computer, projector, speakers, and a screen that folds up and goes in a ski case for travel on the plane.  We have a bag of wires and adapters that can work in any configuration.  We have an adapter that lets three prong plugs work in two prong outlets (I learned that one after my first time doing a show in an old house).  We even bring our own extension cord.  Your show will always work, you’ll impress the host family, and you won’t be stressed out all the time.

• Be open to each slideshow having a different feel, and ultimately a different purpose.I’ve done shows with 50 people and with 3.  I’ve done shows where there were only alums and currently families – not a single prospective.  I’ve done shows with the opposite – only prospective families.  Every show is a little different, and in the over 100 that I’ve done, I can only think of a handful that weren’t worth doing.  They’re all an opportunity to connect with people about Camp, and that’s always good.  No interaction with someone who cares about Camp is wasted.Stay flexible in your presentation.  My 10-minute talk is directed at new families.  If it’s all returners, I drop it and we just hang out and watch the slideshow.

• Make sure your slideshow (or video) is evocative of what it feels like to be at your camp.I don’t imagine that every Camp director reading this will copy my format, and you shouldn’t.  You should find one that works for you.  But most of these things will involve some variation of video or photos projected onto a screen or shown on a TV.  That’s an opportunity to appeal to a part of a person’s brain that can’t be accessed in a purely verbal presentation.  Don’t waste it.  If you’re not good at these things, chances are someone on your summer staff is.  Give them a hundred bucks to put together something that feels like Camp.

• Keep your presentation tight.This is another one we learned the hard way.  We’ve found we get better attendance on school nights than on Fridays or weekends (your mileage may vary), but we have to keep things moving so people can get home at a reasonable hour.  Set up your night so you have an informal time after the formal presentation, so people who want to linger can and people who want to get home can do so without being awkward.

• Sell the benefit.I learned this one from Steve Jobs.  If you’ve ever noticed in his keynotes for Apple, he’s always telling you about how much better your life is going to be if you buy his latest device.  He sticks to this principle even to the detriment of skipping over some of the details of the device.  The Mac-obsessed blogs fill in the details after the fact.Same deal with a Camp slideshow.  Your Camp has very cool activities, cabins, and details of program, but people love it because it’s changed their lives, or their kids’ lives.  A kid can learn to sail at Four Winds, or the local yacht club.  At Four Winds, he’s also going to feel that he’s a part of something bigger than himself, he’s going to make friends for life, and he’s going to be surrounded by amazing role models.  That’s what I want parents to walk away with after the slideshow.  Details can be filled in with the Q&A, informal conversations afterwards, literature, or your website.

• Follow up. Call prospective families to check in with them a week or so after the show, and send the host family a handwritten card thanking them.  You’ll leave a good impression.

• Adjust every year.If we hang out at a conference, I’ll tell you all the mistakes I’ve made to arrive at these pearls of wisdom.  We tweak things a bit every year, and you should too.  You have to figure out what works for you, and what works for your community.  Every year that I’ve done this, I think we’ve done a better job of putting our best foot forward.

We in the summer camp business have a challenge that the people that write the checks usually don’t get to experience the magic of Camp directly.  At slideshows, they get to feel it a little bit.

Good luck!

Writer Paul Sheridan is the Director at Four Winds * Westward Ho Camp on the San Juan Islands of Washington state.  These days you can find him cramped in coach, flying to another slideshow.

Only Camps That Teach Will Succeed

​Will Your Summer Camp Win The Competition For Parents' Dollars?

I believe that selling parents on the educational value of what we do as summer camps is essential to success.

Families are focussing their children's activities based on the future "success" that activity will bring.

That means:

• We need to understand the very real educational value of what we do
• We learn to sell summer camp as great teaching experience
• "Camp is FUN!" holds less and less value as a marketing tool**

Check out this video for the book Teaching 2030.   Although written about education, I think this video can help us examine the skills that we provide and tell our story better.

Speaking of telling stories (a major element of my Social Media Marketing Summer Camps presentations), I love the illustrative style of this presentation.  You staff will learn better if you carefully consider your presentation style.  Time to abandon "TITLE, Bullet Points" in your Powerpoints. Seriously.  No one learns when they are bored.

What do YOU do to show parents what YOU can teach their kids?

**Don't get me wrong.  Camp is fun and should stay that way. In fact, it's an essential part of what we do.   I just don't think it works in marketing what we do.