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:

Know your audience
Put on your Leadership Glasses
Do it with intention
Develop (and teach) the Clientele Mindset
Give them bathroom reading
Change it up
Make "how-to" videos
Show videos of interviews with camp parents
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?)
Develop Duty Ditties
Write your question down
Create a Theme for the week. One of Frost Valley Y's was Build Strong
Embrace your history. Gab also suggested we highlight the shifts that the camp directors have make to keep camp growing
Create a manual people will look at (check out this Camp Code podcast: Staff Manuals: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly)
At each area have 2 signs: What do Campers Need to Know? What do Staff Need to Know?
Show your enthusiasm
Create a culture that values sleep (thanks Dr. G!) [Click to Tweet This!]

Tool of the Week – Make Yourself a Better Camp Director

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

Your Hosts:

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

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(Thank you!)

Thanks for the evening, friends.

Keeping campers is much easier than finding new ones

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One of the great tricks of being a good camp director is finding ways to keep campers coming back year after year.

I have heard a number of directors, when I talked to them at conferences, who have said that they feel like they need to add something new and exciting to their program every year. I know from my own experience that it was never the programs that I remembered each winter when I was at school but it was my counsellors and the other kids that I went to school with - many of whom are still friends today.

Dan, Joe, and Gab share great, easy to implement ideas from their very successful camps.

How to you make sure that as many campers as possible will return year after year? Please leave us a comment!