17 New Tips for Your Staff Training - CampHacker #70

Our Best Ideas for Leadership Training Your Camp Counsellors

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Now that is how it's done!  Dan, Gab & I just had a 25 minute LIGHTNING ROUND of great ideas.  They were coming fast & furious.

On today's show we talked about ways to make sure you have a great Staff Training Week.  Each of us shared 3 or 4 of our best ideas - the things that we know will have an impact on how your camp runs this summer.

Listen in for the details but here's our list:

  1. Know your audience
  2. Put on your Leadership Glasses
  3. Do it with intention
  4. Develop (and teach) the Clientele Mindset
  5. Give them bathroom reading
  6. Change it up
  7. Make "how-to" videos
  8. Show videos of interviews with camp parents
  9. Break up the style of your presentation (did you know that at Ouareau they are limited to only 15 minutes of lecture-style delivery before they must change it up?)
  10. Develop Duty Ditties
  11. Write your question down
  12. Create a Theme for the week.  One of Frost Valley Y's was Build Strong
  13. Embrace your history.  Gab also suggested we highlight the shifts that the camp directors have make to keep camp growing
  14. Create a manual people will look at (check out this Camp Code podcast: Staff Manuals: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly)
  15. At each area have 2 signs: What do Campers Need to Know? What do Staff Need to Know?
  16. Show your enthusiasm
  17. Create a culture that values sleep (thanks Dr. G!)  [Click to Tweet This!]

Tool of the Week – Make Yourself a Better Camp Director

Travis - Replace your broken iPad or phone screen your self - kit
Dan - The Way of the Seal (book)
Gab - Big Stock

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WOW Camp Parents With Last Minute Communication - CampHacker #69

Surprise and Delight Your Summer Camp Parents

Giving camp parents an experience that they will remember and recommend to their friends is one of the most important aspects of our job.  There are many opportunities to give them a “WOW”.

Perhaps one point of contact with parents that we don’t put enough effort into is our final communications with them.   Our last calls and emails before a camp session starts help parents get a feel for how seriously we take our job.   It’s a chance for us to show them who the #CampPros are.

I know I say each of the podcasts was awesome… because it’s true!  This one is no different.  Listen in to hear Marc Cooper (Camp Tamarack director) blow our minds with some projects from Fiverr!

What are you going to do to surprise and delight your camp families before summer starts?

Tool of the Week – Make Yourself a Better Camp Director

Travis - Unroll.me
Joe -  Brinno time lapse camera
Marc - Imagechef.com

Marc was last on the show for our Happy Kitchen, Happy Camp episode.  It's great to have him back!

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Preparing Summer Camp Senior Staff - CampHacker #68

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Teaching Counsellors and Staff to Take on Bigger Roles

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                  Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes | Stitcher App

Getting one summer’s staff ready for the next summer is a job that takes about a year and a half. As we begin a new camp season we should already be looking at who we should get ready to take on more responsibility the following summer.

In this show (welcome back frequent co-host Paul Sheridan!) we take apart the job of getting people ready to move up. When we started I asked the co-hosts what they do at this time of the year to help their seasonal senior staff understand their responsibilities perfectly but the discussion quickly moved to how far in advance that process really starts.

What do you do to prepare senior-level staff for their summer jobs?

Tool of the Week – Make Yourself a Better Camp Director

Travis - VistaPrint.com
Gab - http://icc2014turkey.org Inter-nation Camping Congress, 23-27 October 2014 Peter Katz Camp Concert/Workshop CA$850
Joe - Buckeye Leadership Workshop - www.buckeyeleadership.com
Paul - Abuse Prevention Systems - abusepreventionsystems.com

 

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Family Camp Programming & Promotion - CampHacker #67

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Building up the Best Family Camp Program

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It was great to have Megan back on the program this week as we come back around to talk about two more elements of Family Camp - Promoting it and Programming for it.   

Thanks to Catalina Island Camps director, Tom Horner, for joining us for the first time on the show!  Check out Catalina Island’s Family Camp that they run in partnership with Jean-Michel Cousteau & the Ocean Futures Society.

In our last Family Camp episode we talked about some of the big reasons why a Family Camp session  (or 3!) would help your summer camp.   On this episode we shared some great ideas of how camps can promote the program.

Now that you have a full Family Camp it’s time to run an amazing program!  

Each director on the panel had amazing ideas for the 3 kinds of programming that you typically see at Family Camp: kids only activities, adult only activities and activities for the whole family to do together.

What’s activity is the biggest hit at your Family Camp?

Tool of the Week – Make Yourself a Better Camp Director

Travis - The Promise of a Pencil 
Dan -  Nutureshock by Po Bronson & Ashley Merryman 
Gab - http://icc2014turkey.org Internation Camping Congress, 23-27 October 2014
Megan - Springpad  https://springpad.com/about
Tom - IST Sports for great snorkelling gear - http://istsports.com

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Thanks for the evening, friends.