What can summer camps learn from Toyota - CampHacker #46

Implementing a Lean productivity system at you camp.

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When Toyota wanted to find ways to save time and money in their manufacturing process they began to create a system that has come to be known as Lean.   In the Lean system you examine all areas of your business to make sure you are “creating more value for customers with fewer resources” (Lean.org).

It was our pleasure to have Jack Schott with us for this discussion.  Jack was the program director at Camp Stella Maris last summer and he and Laura Kriegel are spending their time touring and volunteering at camps this fall and winter.

We were inspired to start this discussion because of a cool YouTube video that I had seen on inventory management at a Hospital.

Jack was invaluable in the discussion because his education has focussed on industrial systems.  He was able to give us some background and talk through ways of implementing the system at camps.

Check out this inspirational video:

St Clair is a large community hospital just outside Pittsburgh, PA, that has committed to using Toyota/Lean principles and methods for continuous improvement. We just spent 10 months in 2011-12 converting from a par system for replenishing nursing supplies to a two-bin system.

In what ways have you changed systems at your camp to save time and money?

 

Tool of the Week – Make yourself a better Camp Director

Travis: Kanban Flow - task management 
Joe: Rubber Maid Bins - clear top and clear sides - teambuilding equipment storage
Dan: Wiffle Ball stadium @ Camp Jewell
Gab: Ted Talk: Why we have too few women leaders
Jack: Grout Sponges

 

Your Hosts:

Thanks for the evening, friends.

 

 

Making Campers Global Citizens - CampHacker #45

Summer Camp Lessons for the Rest of Your Life

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Like many of you, camp changed by life.  I have often talked on the show about how I changed from a very nerdy kid into a nerdy adult with social skills. I do believe that one of the best moments of my life was when my counsellor Ian took me aside and said “Travis, you will make a great camp counsellor”.

There were other impacts of camp ask I got older, too.   I know that my environmental and social justice thinking comes directly from my camp director, Bob Faris, and the counsellors that worked for him.  Even my motto “Consume Less and Create More” can be traced back to lessons I learned while a camper at Kintail.

In this week’s show David, Gab and Joe share some brilliant ideas of how they inspire their campers to be great global citizens.  Listen in for some concrete examples that you can start to implement for next summer.

How to you inspire your campers to think of others outside of their camp and home communities?

Tool of the Week – Make yourself a better Camp Director

Travis: Yes! 50 scientifically proven ways to be persuasive 
Gab: - GoPro Camera App
Joe: Book - Gold Nuggets - Readings for Experiential Education
David: Google Drive

Your Hosts:

Thanks for the evening, friends.

Camperships - CampHacker #44

Financial Aid for Summer Camp

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Winter is coming...

But so is next summer and so we thought we should take some time to talk about how we support families who can not afford to send their children to camp.

We all have different names for our programs that help cover the cost of camp: campership, scholarship, bursary, financial aid; but we are united in purpose.  We want camp to be available for all kids.
In this week’s CampHacker podcast we talk about the criteria that we use to give out the funds and creative ideas for raising the money.
As a campership kid, myself, I know that support from my church to attend Camp Kintail has led me to truly appreciate the camp opportunities that I have been given.

We are please to welcome back Jacqui Raill from Camp Ouareau and Paul Sheridan from Four Winds.  It was wonderful to have their perspective on Campership.

Do you have a creative way of raising money to assist families with sending their children to camp?

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

Paul: Magic the Gathering (nerd alert!)
Jacqui: Online Postage Service, Paperless Post
Travis: Secure Director to Staff Texting, Remind 101
Joe: Campership Conference, Buckeye Leadership Workshop
&
Smartphone Podcast Application, Stitcher

Your Hosts:

Thanks for the evening, friends.

Planning Perfect Programs - CampHacker #43

Evaluating Your Summer Camp Programs

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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

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