The Business of Camp - CampHacker #92

One of the biggest parts of camp that your staff don’t get to see. 

    Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes | Stitcher

    Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes | Stitcher

Finance, capital planning, budgeting, donor relations, business strategy – and remember, we’re not on the 123rd floor on Wall St! This is camp! 

All of the things that we know and love about camp – campfires, singing songs, high-ropes, canoeing on a lake are all incredible, but they all won’t exist in a camp that is mismanaged from a business standpoint. For most full-time Camp Directors, this big-picture thinking about camp as a business is absolutely critical to create a sustainable and thriving place that will be around for future generations of campers.  

As you may have heard Travis say, “Money moves the mission”.  

We’re all here for the campers. It’s why we do what we do, but being a business-minded director doesn’t mean that you aren’t any less camper-minded. Being business-minded, at least some of the time, means that you are taking on the responsibility of ensuring that camp is just as awesome, if not even more awesome for many years to come.

On this episode of the CampHacker Podcast, Travis and Joe are joined by Johnathon Lee, Co-Executive Director of Camp Kintail, and Sarah Kurtz McKinnon, Camp Consultant and Go Camp Pro partner. Tune in to hear these four camp pros share some of their best business practices and philosophies that allow their camps to thrive and will surely spark some new ideas for this upcoming year.

Want to get stared? Joe recommends the book Basic Camp Management for some fall professional development.

Welcome back to the CampHacker Podcast! We can't wait for another great season.

 

Tool of the Week – Make Yourself a Better Camp Director

Travis - Seth Godin’s altMBA - https://altmba.com/ -  if you apply, use Travis’ code: Leap now - [Travis Allison]

Joe - Marshall Goldsmith - Triggers 

Sarah - Roger Fisher - Getting to Yes 

Johnathon - MS Excel

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Technology and Camp - Interview with Kevin Kelly

Technological Forces That Will Change the Camping Industry

It may be safe to say that we've started to reach a bit of a renaissance when it comes to technology at summer camp. If you've been a long-time lurker on the Summer Camp Professionals Facebook Community , you may have noticed that the conversations have started to shift from developing cell-phone policies and overall frustration with technology to a more acceptance/embracing (with a healthy dose of skepticism) attitude towards tech at camp.

According to Kevin Kelly, that progression is probably a good thing.

Kevin Kelly (Authour of The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future), joins Travis in this special interview edition of the CampHacker Podcast. Together, Kevin and Travis discuss his views on how not only the world as a whole, but our little camp world will surely be shaped by the integration of technology into the everyday.

Whether you're camp has a Pokemon Go-gettem attitude or if you are a camp still fighting for a true "unplugged" experience, this interview definitely has something for you to mull over.

We can't thank Kevin enough for joining us on the CampHacker Podcast. You should definitely head over to kk.org to check out more of Kevin's books, Cool Tools and other passion projects.

Thanks for listening, friends!

Stay tuned!

The next season of the CampHacker podcast will be coming soon!

Best of luck in wrapping up your summer and we'll see you in the fall.

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Tips For the Last Month Before Camp - CampHacker #91

22 Tips For the Last Month Before Camp

Sayonara season 6!

Well friends, the summer is fast approaching (stop, breathe, breathe again) and that means it's time for the CampHacker Podcast to break for the season. 

We know, we're sad too.

That being said, you know that we'd never leave you in a lurch. Especially not at this time of year. As our parting gift to you to keep you cool until we meet again in the fall, we have the whole team together to fill the last few pages of your spring journal with our top tips for this time of year. We hope that this episode gives you what you need right now whether it's a reassuring helping hand, or a fire under your rear. Either way, Dan, Joe, Gab and Travis brought their A-game for this one.

Here are the CampHacker's Top 22 Tips for The Last Month of Camp:

  1. Learn The Value of Good Enough

  2. Delegate Like It’s Your JOB (Playlists: Upbeat, Reflective, Conversational;

  3. Take a few minutes in the morning to clean your head (10 Deep breaths), The Headspace app

  4. Ready to Go smoothie packs

  5. 5 Minutes per day with your S.O. (maybe have some questions you ask each other) - get them on your schedule

  6. During Training: put things that they MUST remember in a different font/colour

  7. Walk

  8. Put Your Bills on Autopayment

  9. The Productivity Planner - Questions “What is the One Most Important Task of the Day?”

  10. Gab’s 1 Minute, Five Minute or 15 Minute Question Rule.   1 Minute Questions get asked and answered now, the others get scheduled

  11. Stop using the excuse of not having enough time - instead talk about your priorities

  12. Do Something that Makes You Happy every day!   Get Silly with your staff and/or campers

  13. Do stuff that gives you joy - Joe - scroll saw name tags

  14. Listen to Great books - keep feeding your brain

  15. Facebook Newsfeed Eradicator - Google Chrome extension

  16. https://unroll.me/ - get random newsletters out of your email newsletter

  17. Compliment people - express gratitude (to people who work for you and those you work for)

  18. Believe in yourself, believe that it all is going to go well.

  19. Have a confidant (outside of your camp, not your spouse)

  20. Let campers and staff see your hobbies

  21. The Checklist Manifesto book

  22. Let it Go

Tool of the Week – Make Yourself a Better Camp Director

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