Parents are People, Too - CampHacker #7

In this week's podcast we talk about developing a positive attitude in your staff (and yourself!) when dealing with parents.

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This week we are excited to have with us Nathan Brant from the South Mountain Y in Pennsylvania.   Nathan runs a residential camp and a day camp there as well as outdoor education and family programs.   Nathan is just about to release a free book of essays on the state of the summer camp called Trail Heads.  Dan and I both have essays in the book and I have had a chance to read the proof - it's awesome.  We'll post a link to the book when it has it's official release.  You should also check out Nathan's Summer Camp Source blog - he wrote a great piece about our discussion here today.

Have you seen staff members roll their eyes when they get a call from a camper's parents? What do you do to train your staff to understand the parent's side of things?

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New Sources of Revenue for Summer Camps - CampHacker #6

How do you grow your camp business in the non-summer seasons?

Happy New Year, Everyone!.  Dan, Joe, Gab and I talk this week about ways that camps can increase their revenue out side of the summer camp months.  It was great to hear each perspective: Dan's camps run year round with a major Outdoor Ed. component, Joe's camp uses rental group revenue to subsidize their summer program and at Gab's they ran Outdoor Ed. for 5 years and then decided that it wasn't the right program for Ouareau.

What does your camp do that no others do to bring in extra revenue?

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Year End Business Review for Summer Camps - CampHacker #5

What will happen this summer at camp?

In this week's podcast we talk about the developments we saw in the summer camp world over 2010.

We were sorry to miss Gab this week - she is busy with exams and finishing up her design course in England.  Dan, Joe and I had a really great time talking about some of the things we noticed looking back on this year.

Have you noticed any changes in camping in the past year or so?

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Accredited Summer Camps - CampHacker #4

Getting Accredited by the American Camps Association (or you local association)

It was a great pleasure to chat today with Dave Bell from CampLeadership.org about the value of camp association accreditation - for the camps and for the visitors themselves.

We missed having Dan, Gab and Joe on this episode and I look forward to our last recording before taking some time off for Christmas.

Is your camp accredited?   Have you found that process a help or a hinderance to being a better summer camp?

Leave us an answer in the comments below.

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Thanks for the evening, friends.