Planning Perfect Programs - CampHacker #43

Evaluating Your Summer Camp Programs

How do you know if your programs are working?  What would make you add a new program that you hadn’t considered before?

In this week’s CampHacker podcast we talked about summer camp program areas and how we know if they are working or if we need to change them.   

I really appreciated Gab’s story of how Ouareau came to add Crossfit to their program.   Listen to the show for details.

The last segment of our discussion revolved around trends that we are seeing that we think could be come big camp activities in the future.

What interesting trends are you keeping your eye on and thinking of for camp activities?
Please leave us a note in the comments below or tweet us @CampHacker with your suggestion.

Tool of the Week – make yourself a better Camp Director

Dan: ACACamps.org: "The Dollar$ and Cents of Operating a Camp" by M. Deborah Bialeschki, PhD
Joe: Six Person Crokinole - Boards from Willard: http://www.crokinolegame.ca/
Travis: MyDlink camera
Gab: Organization can be fun: Action Method

(please note: Amazon products are affiliate links)

• Travis Allison, Summer Camp Consultant - CampHacker.org
• Joe Richards, Executive Director - Pearce Williams Christian Centre
• Dan Weir, Director of Camping Services - Frost Valley YMCA
• Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau

Thanks for the evening, friends.

Site Surprises - CampHacker #42

Maintenance and Upkeep of Your Summer Camp.

No one likes a surprise... when it comes in the form of a hurricane, a septic implosion or a building roof falling in.

In this week’s CampHacker Podcast, Dan, Joe and Travis talk about some of their biggest site surprises.   Of course, Frost Valley takes the cake with the destruction that hurricane Irene brought to their property Labour Day 2011.

We have a few ideas to share:  Pearce Williams has just done a huge site evaluation to determine their site needs for the foreseeable future, Frost Valley is getting better and better at understanding the depreciation of their site and working hard to keep it’s value.

If you are interested you can download the Lifecycle Report that I mentioned in the show.  It’s a tool to keep track of the your major buildings and programs and plan for their eventual replacement.

What can we do to inspire our staff to become even better in the second half of the summer? 
How do you keep a record of your building and program depreciation?

Tool of the Week – make yourself a better Camp Director

Dan: Yearbook (Adobe InDesign & a printer) 
Joe: Getting Things Done - Workshops & supplies
Travis: Smoke Machine - on sale

(please note: Amazon products are affiliate links)

Your Hosts:

• Travis Allison, Summer Camp Consultant - CampHacker.org
• Joe Richards, Executive Director - Pearce Williams Christian Centre
• Dan Weir, Director of Camping Services - Frost Valley YMCA

Thanks for the evening, friends.

Setting the tone for next year - CampHacker #41

Improve next summer’s camp, now.

We are tired.

At the end of a LOOOONG camp season all we want to do is crawl into bed and watch a great new series on DVD (I must remember to ask Dan what his “catch up” show was this summer).  

However, this is the best time to sit down with your favourite warm beverage, a note pad and your best pen.  Some of you may choose to do this with camper surveys and notes from your senior staff but I think that might be unnecessary.  Take a solid block of time to mentally scan your whole camp and note the things that you want to change for next season.   

Dan and Gab had some great ideas on how they reflect on the past summer and find the changes that they want to make.  Summer 2013 starts now!

Dan has shared with us the Frost Valley Camper Survey from 2012 (click here) and you can download the pdf of their registration form from this link.

What can we do to inspire our staff to become even better in the second half of the summer? Please leave us a note in the comments below or tweet us @CampHacker with your suggestion.

Tool of the Week – make yourself a better Camp Director

Dan: GSI Outdoors Telescoping Spatula & Spoon
Gab: Design Deals, Mighty Deals
Travis: Logitech HD Webcam

(please note: Amazon products are affiliate links)

Your Hosts:

• Travis Allison, Summer Camp Consultant - CampHacker.org
• Dan Weir, Director of Camping Services - Frost Valley YMCA
• Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau

Thanks for the evening, friends.

Inspire Staff to Greatness - CampHacker #40

Pushing your staff to be excellent summer camp counsellors

It seems to be way easier to start a summer well than finish it that way.    We had a great discussion this afternoon about finding ways to inspire your staff to finish a summer with the same enthusiasm as they began it.

It was great to have Beth back on the show and to welcome Chantal "Match" Jackson to the program for the first time! 

What can we do to inspire our staff to become even better in the second half of the summer? Please leave us a note in the comments below or tweet us @CampHacker with your suggestion.

Tool of the Week – make yourself a better Camp Director

• Gab: Fun camp blog for staff: All I do is camp

• Joe: Photo/Video Production Staff Member
• Travis: Hennessey hammock
• Chantal: Dining Hall Meal Dance Flash Mob
• Beth: Susan Fee’s website and newsletter

(please note: Amazon products are affiliate links)

Your Hosts:

• Travis Allison, Summer Camp Consultant - CampHacker.org
• Joe Richards, Executive Director - Pearce Williams Christian Centre
• Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau
• Beth Allison, Summer Camp Consultant -CampHacker.org
• Chantal “Match” Jackson - Camp Director - Cairn Presbyterian Camps & Retreat Centres

Thanks for the evening, friends.