Camp Code: Recent Episodes

View Details

Parents, Caregivers, Camper’s, Grownups, How Have THEY changed since the pandemic?Just as our campers have undergone a serious shift post-pandemic, so too have the caregivers.

We’re back to pick Gabz’s brain to hear more about the summer of 2024 at Camp Ouareau and how she’s looking to 2024 with a new lens.

If you missed part 1 - check it out here: https://www.camphacker.tv/camp-code/kids-these-days

Whether your summer felt like a success or not - these episodes will help you not only hear the raw honesty of a fellow camp director, but will help you start thinking about what you can do now to make summer 2024 excellent.

-

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

-

Best Practice for Leadership TrainingFrom Beth Allison

A good mindset to have (especially with parents) - that difficult people all have a story. Stop seeing parents as an issue to deal with and start seeing them as people to fight for.

-

Your Hosts: Beth Allison, Camp Consultant -* Go Camp Pro * Ruby Compton*, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors * Gabrielle Raill*, Camp Director -* Camp Ouareau**

-

Thanks to our sponsor…UltraCamp

Imagine camp registration software that actually gives you MORE time for what you love - CAMP! With UltraCamp, you can effortlessly track attendance, manage staff, streamline registration, and more. Explore now at ultracampmanagement.com/campcode.

View Details

Can you really prepare for post-pandemic children?To kick off season 11 of Camp Code, Beth and Gabz take the time to debrief the summer at Ouareau. Part one will focus on the campers - what Gabz and her team did to meet the needs of campers (and the staff) and be successful.

Whether your summer felt like a success or not - these episodes will help you not only hear the raw honesty of a fellow camp director, but will help you start thinking about what you can do now to make summer 2024 excellent.

Tune in to hear about the changes Gabz made to leadership training in 2023 to be able to better support campers and how did she have to pivot once campers arrived and she was met with their needs?

-

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

-

Best Practice for Leadership TrainingFrom Gabrielle Raill

Also a brother-sister tip! If you have access to a freezer, get some fun ice-cube molds! It’s a fun and silly way to add some joy and take care of people. Who doesn’t love some a cool-burst in their water-bottle!

-

Your Hosts: Beth Allison, Camp Consultant -* Go Camp Pro * Ruby Compton*, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors * Gabrielle Raill*, Camp Director -* Camp Ouareau**

-

Thanks to our sponsor…UltraCamp

Imagine camp registration software that actually gives you MORE time for what you love - CAMP! With UltraCamp, you can effortlessly track attendance, manage staff, streamline registration, and more. Explore now at ultracampmanagement.com/campcode.

View Details

This needs to be sustainable, for us, for our staff and for our organizations.Sometimes it feels like the challenges of being a camp professional are too impossible to overcome. You are not alone in feeling this way. Today, Gabz, Beth and IRubytalk about the ever-changing and uncertain landscape of the world and how camp can survive as we move forward.

The world around us continues to get busier, with increased tensions both socially and culturally. Yet, we continue to believe that the camp experience is one of the most life-changing opportunities in a young person’s life. Camp allows individuals to be loved for the person they are and allows people to adapt, grow, change and learn from their mistakes.

If you have a story, share it! Camp stories allow you to connect with others, it allows people unfamiliar with camp to learn about the opportunity for their children. Camps also need your help! If you have a story you are willing to share, please bring it to https://Thankstocamp.ca

As we close out the latest season of Camp Code, we wish everyone a fun summer filled with magic and adventures for your campers. As leaders, go out and help to shape the future of your new staff and create new memories for your campers. Thanks for the season, friends!

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Best Practice for Leadership TrainingFrom Ruby

You owe it to yourself to be organized! Create yourself a spreadsheet of everything you order, complete with notes, current prices and links to the product. Your future self will thank you! Ruby usually builds her lists in the fall once camp is done and when it comes time to order supplies, the links are readily available, making the process much easier for you!

Your Hosts: Beth Allison, Camp Consultant -* Go Camp Pro * Ruby Compton*, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors * Gabrielle Raill*, Camp Director -* Camp Ouareau**

Thanks to our sponsor…UltraCamp

Wouldn’t it be refreshing if your registration software gave you MORE time? With UltraCamp, you can track attendance, manage staff applications, streamline registration, and much more. Get back the time you need to focus on what is really important: CAMP! Find out more at ultracampmanagement.com/campcode/

View Details

You probably have more new staff than ever, here’s how to set them (and yourself!) up for success!Training season is almost here. This summer, we want to be sure our new staff members are set up for success. Here are our top tips for doing just that.

• Make them feel like you’ve been waiting all year for them to arrive. Send a link the day before with instructions for when they arrive on the camp road.
• With return staff, reverse engineer and imagine what the last day of camp will look like AND THEN, have them think through how do we accomplish that vision starting with when staff arrive
• Give them space to let home know they have made it okay and then take away their technology
• Bring your returning staff in before the new staff
• Create times for new staff to show skills that they have
• Have multiple avenues for asking questions
• Provide them with a support system!
• Reinforce the idea that not everyone will remember everything from staff training, then show them the transformation of what they learn now compared to before training
• Do camp chores together!

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Best Practice for Leadership TrainingFrom Gabz (Borrowed from Claudes Cameron)

Bring your staff together! One thing you can do is offer old camp swag to new staff members. Staff could donate what they wanted to the campership fund. The asking price was $1. Doing this gives new staffers old camp swag, giving the perception that they have always belonged to that camp.

Your Hosts: Beth Allison, Camp Consultant -* Go Camp Pro * Ruby Compton*, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors * Gabrielle Raill*, Camp Director -* Camp Ouareau**

Thanks to our sponsor…UltraCamp

Wouldn’t it be refreshing if your registration software gave you MORE time? With UltraCamp, you can track attendance, manage staff applications, streamline registration, and much more. Get back the time you need to focus on what is really important: CAMP! Find out more at ultracampmanagement.com/campcode/

View Details

You treat everyone in your camp community with intention and care…do you do the same with the guest speakers you bring to training?If you are utilizing guest speakers this year, you want to listen to this episode. As folks who have both hosted guest speakers and people who HAVE BEEN the visiting speaker, we have some opinions to share.

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Best Practice for Leadership TrainingFrom Gabrielle Raill:

When you are planning, compare your core objectives with your list of training sessions. If a session doesn’t meet at least 70% of your core objectives, then don’t do it during training or change HOW you run it so you meet your core objectives.

Your Hosts: Beth Allison, Camp Consultant -* Go Camp Pro * Ruby Compton*, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors * Gabrielle Raill*, Camp Director -* Camp Ouareau**

Thanks to our sponsor…UltraCamp

Wouldn’t it be refreshing if your registration software gave you MORE time? With UltraCamp, you can track attendance, manage staff applications, streamline registration, and much more. Get back the time you need to focus on what is really important: CAMP! Find out more at ultracampmanagement.com/campcode/

View Details

Our staff are ready for this conversation…are you?White privilege is real and it’s everywhere, even at summer camp. Join us today as we talk about what we can do about it. But first, here’s our disclaimer: We are looking at this through the lens of three white individuals and our focus today is to encourage white folks to do the work.

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Best Practice for Leadership TrainingFrom Beth - Credit to Peggy McIntosh

Peggy McIntosh is the founder of the seed project and says that in order to understand the way privilege works, you have to be able to see patterns and systems in social life but you also have to care about individual experiences. One’s own individual experience is sacred, testifying to it is very important but so is seeing that it is set in a framework outside of one’s personal experience that is much bigger and has repetitive statistical patterns in it. In an article by Harpers Bazaar, Peggy shares 20 everyday examples of white privilege that are taken advantage of to shed light on some of the realities experienced in real life. The full list of examples curated by Peggy McInstosh can be found at nationalseedproject.org. Have your staff break into small groups and talk about these examples.

Another example is Learningforjustice.org which has a toolkit and resources that can be used to help facilitate camp training.

Your Hosts: Beth Allison, Camp Consultant -* Go Camp Pro * Ruby Compton*, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors * Gabrielle Raill*, Camp Director -* Camp Ouareau**

Thanks to our sponsor…UltraCamp

Wouldn’t it be refreshing if your registration software gave you MORE time? With UltraCamp, you can track attendance, manage staff applications, streamline registration, and much more. Get back the time you need to focus on what is really important: CAMP! Find out more at ultracampmanagement.com/campcode/

View Details

One of the best ways to dedicate your team to continuous improvement!Believe it or not, staff training doesn’t end on the last day of your orientation. In fact, a great strategy to keep staff engaged, motivated, and excited throughout the summer–and fight off those mid-summer-slumps–is to continually offer training and learning opportunities as the season progresses.

Today’s episode focuses on some of our best ideas for conducting training throughout the summer.

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Best Practice for Leadership TrainingFrom Ruby

Collect information from your staff! One way that I did it was that I would put up a piece of paper that is in the staff lounge/workspace within easy access for all staff and ask the questions “What would you’d like to be discussed during the next staff meeting?” By doing it this way, staff could anonymously fill them out and then I could choose things that were important for the next meeting. Often, I would bring up the topics and check them off on a list in front of the staff to show the staff that I value their feedback.

Your Hosts: Beth Allison, Camp Consultant -* Go Camp Pro * Ruby Compton*, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors * Gabrielle Raill*, Camp Director -* Camp Ouareau**

Thanks to our sponsor…UltraCamp

Wouldn’t it be refreshing if your registration software gave you MORE time? With UltraCamp, you can track attendance, manage staff applications, streamline registration, and much more. Get back the time you need to focus on what is really important: CAMP! Find out more at ultracampmanagement.com/campcode/

View Details

It’s one of those, not “if” but “when” types of situations…As camp directors, we’ve all had THAT summer where many of our senior staff and our reliable leaders have started their life beyond camp. When we lose our reliable staff, we have to reset and revisit our needs at camp. Beth, Gabz and Ruby have all been there and have curated a to-do list to help leaders adjust for a summer with new staff.

Below are a few highlights and to take in all the insights. Have a listen today!

• Revisit your job descriptions and evaluate the needs of what you are looking for
• Adjust the positions and required training to meet your realities
• Reach out to those dream team employees to learn what did/did not work
• Leverage online meetups to train new members of your team and develop your foundation
• Prepare to provide extra support to new leaders
• Use mentorship (previous staff members) who can come in to support the new leaders
• Consider dynamic duos for leadership roles

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Best Practice for Leadership TrainingFrom Gabrielle:

Before Gabz comes to camp, she writes down the names of staff members on a thank you card and then set a timeline on when she needs to distribute them. Writing the names at the beginning of camp training helps keep her accountable on reflecting and thanking each of her staff members and recognizes how grateful she is to be surrounded by your staff.

Your Hosts: Beth Allison, Camp Consultant -* Go Camp Pro * Ruby Compton*, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors * Gabrielle Raill*, Camp Director -* Camp Ouareau**

Thanks to our sponsor…UltraCamp

Wouldn’t it be refreshing if your registration software gave you MORE time? With UltraCamp, you can track attendance, manage staff applications, streamline registration, and much more. Get back the time you need to focus on what is really important: CAMP! Find out more at ultracampmanagement.com/campcode/

View Details

Prioritize to Stabilize - Let’s get ready for the summer!Up north here in Canada, our friends on the west coast are already enjoying fantastic outdoor spring weather and golf. In Ontario, we continue to be fooled that spring is here with warm weather followed by another dumping of snow, but one thing is for certain; spring is around the corner. What that really means is that the camp season is quickly approaching so we as camp leaders need to start pretty for staff training (if we haven’t already started!)

In this episode, Beth, Gabz and Ruby are here to remind us of all the things we should be doing to help us better prepare for camp. Below are some of the topics covered, and to know why they are important, you will have to listen to what our camp pros are saying!

This list will get you started:

• Start journaling at night
• Create your categories and sort the “Good to know and Glad I did”
• Put mints in your pocket!

• Do your research!

  • What issues could come up for you at camp this summer?
  • What’s going on in your local communities
  • Anything different you should know about the city, public or government land that you normally use?
  • What’s the buzz in professional development?
  • Update staff evaluations
  • Collaborate with camp colleagues to build training
  • Review and reimagine the way you do things currently
  • Check in on your own professional development
  • Whatever you need to organize, do it now
  • Build your staff community

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Best Practice for Leadership TrainingFrom Ruby:

This practice is borrowed from Organize 365 and is called the Sunday Basket. Put a basket in your office that is all of those maintenance tasks, bills, correspondence, subscription renewals. Throughout the week, fill that basket and on Sunday (or your day of choice), go through and do all of those tasks. This saves you the mental guilt of “I should be doing this task” because you have set a time later in life to do it!

Your Hosts: Beth Allison, Camp Consultant -* Go Camp Pro * Ruby Compton*, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors * Gabrielle Raill*, Camp Director -* Camp Ouareau**

Thanks to our sponsor…UltraCamp

Wouldn’t it be refreshing if your registration software gave you MORE time? With UltraCamp, you can track attendance, manage staff applications, streamline registration, and much more. Get back the time you need to focus on what is really important: CAMP! Find out more at ultracampmanagement.com/campcode/

View Details

Chalk it up to the pandemic, but it’s time for some re-teaching.In this week’s episode Gabz, Beth and Ruby recognize that as we get closer to the summer camp season, camp directors are already planning out their summer. To help camp leaders, our pros are here to break down 9 things that we think every camp leader should be prepared to teach!

1. The ability to talk to strangers. This includes parents, campers, vendors, shop owners in town. Developing “small talk etiquette” will help your camp staff be more confident, demonstrating that they are leaders within your organization
2. How to have a successful day off. Some of your staff might be new, teaching them where they can go and what they can do on their time off is valuable for your staff. Helping your staff to set their boundaries and using language such as “During downtime, I like to…”
3. Matching/mirroring - finding new ways for your staff to build their own rapport with other people
4. Life skills! Teach your staff how to use the basic tools around camp including screwdrivers, wrenches, plungers. Take it one step further, how to turn off water at camp, how to use a fire extinguisher or maybe even how to change a tire!
5. Teach staff how to do laundry. This sounds self-explanatory, but your staff may have never done laundry before in their life.
6. Silence is okay - become comfortable with the silence
7. Teach staff that there is life beyond camp and that be real with your staff that they will not be able to respond to family and friends in real-time. Teaching staff to connect in new ways, like written letters are important.
8. Learn a morning routine and how to conserve your energy to last all day
9. Play, play, play - Camp is supposed to be fun.

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Best Practice for Leadership TrainingFrom Beth:

Staff need to know what to do offsite and onsite. We need to talk about staff behavior on their day off because even when they are not working, they are representing camp. I used to love when I got calls from cottagers and shops telling me that staff were being respectful to others. One thing we should focus on is ensuring our staff knows what to do if they run into trouble while offsite. To help, give your staff business cards with camp phone numbers, addresses or any pertinent information that may be needed during an emergency.

Your Hosts: Beth Allison, Camp Consultant -* Go Camp Pro * Ruby Compton*, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors * Gabrielle Raill*, Camp Director -* Camp Ouareau**

Thanks to our sponsor…UltraCamp

Wouldn’t it be refreshing if your registration software gave you MORE time? With UltraCamp, you can track attendance, manage staff applications, streamline registration, and much more. Get back the time you need to focus on what is really important: CAMP! Find out more at ultracampmanagement.com/campcode/

View Details

More on boundaries - because we all need to hear it.Happy post-valentine’s day camp pros! In this episode (and as always) our hosts are here to spread their love and joy for camp. After celebrating 100 episodes, we are back to our regular programming. This week, we continue from where we left off in episode 99, focusing on boundaries and building community. If you haven’t listened to episode 99 perhaps have a listen to that first.

Today, we explore what boundaries are, what they look like, defining the difference between healthy and unhealthy boundaries and their related effects. Afterwards, we dig into how exactly boundaries at camp can be used.

Finally, we explore the terms ‘consent’ vs ‘cooperation’ and what this all means at camp. The most important piece to all of this, is to examine what boundaries look like with staff. Developing training sessions with your staff to help define boundaries and letting them know that it is okay to say ‘no.’ In parallel, take a moment to make things perfectly clear that boundaries will be crossed and people will make mistakes.

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Best Practice for Leadership TrainingFrom Ruby (From John, Director of Camp Kadesh)

In any conflict, there are three types of people; red, blue and gray people. Red personalities are angry and aggressive and often do not think before they speak. Gray people ignore the conflict and pretend it does not exist and blue people are perfect, wonderful and kind. Be the common ground in a conversation, always be blue.

Your Hosts: Beth Allison, Camp Consultant -* Go Camp Pro * Ruby Compton*, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors * Gabrielle Raill*, Camp Director -* Camp Ouareau**

Thanks to our sponsor…UltraCamp

Wouldn’t it be refreshing if your registration software gave you MORE time? With UltraCamp, you can track attendance, manage staff applications, streamline registration, and much more. Get back the time you need to focus on what is really important: CAMP! Find out more at ultracampmanagement.com/campcode/

View Details

100 Episodes!? Thanks for being along for the ride, friends!100 episodes into this journey, our camp pros have led us through over 60 hours of leadership gold. This episode is all about reflection. As much as our hosts have taught us all, they too have learned from one another. Gabz, Ruby and Beth share their most memorable Camp Code moments and reflect on what they have learned from one another and how those teachable moments have been applied throughout their own training sessions.

To the listeners, it continues to be you and your passion for camp that keep our hosts motivated to bring new content. When this podcast was first created, Beth, Gabz and Ruby all thought that this would last at most; two seasons. Here we are, eight years later and the reach and success that we have had with Camp Code should be celebrated.

• 100 Episodes and 60 hours of professional develop content, focused on designing intentional staff training
• Over 31,000 downloads over the last two years
• Over 50 5-star ratings in podcasting apps
• Over 2500 cities, towns, municipalities across the world: top 6:Toronto, Columbus OH, Montreal, Sheboygan WI, Manhattan, Chicago
• Listeners on all six inhabited continents - so if you go to Antarctica, throw us a download while you are down there!
• Listeners in 75 counties

Most recent popular episodes:

• Engaging Multigenerational Staff During Training - Camp Code #71
• Staff Meetings Can Be Staff Training - Camp Code #65

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Best Practice for Leadership TrainingFrom Beth Allison (borrowed from Gabz!)

Young adults do not see the world the same way older adults do. Gabz came up with a way to frame the younger generation of staff to help older staff take in their perspective. Gabz has named them the WTF generation. These younger adults are a generation of humans that want to make an impact and they also need support. So in the WTF, it stands for multitude of things; What to fight, what to fund, what to follow and what to fear. If I ask myself these questions, it helps me to better prepare when I have to run a session, a program or how to write a message on social media so that the younger generation will understand what I am trying to communicate.

Your Hosts: Beth Allison, Camp Consultant -* Go Camp Pro * Ruby Compton*, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors * Gabrielle Raill*, Camp Director -* Camp Ouareau**

Thanks to our sponsor…UltraCamp

Wouldn’t it be refreshing if your registration software gave you MORE time? With UltraCamp, you can track attendance, manage staff applications, streamline registration, and much more. Get back the time you need to focus on what is really important: CAMP! Find out more at ultracampmanagement.com/campcode/

View Details

How can you expect your team to have healthy boundaries if you don’t?In this episode, our hosts Gabz, Ruby and Beth hone in on the B-word. Boundaries act as an internal guide between good vs evil or right vs wrong and can be felt as a knot in your stomach. Setting boundaries also allows you to define expectations with others while keeping your needs in check. For Gabz, boundaries are all about focusing on Angela Duckworth’s concept on Grit vs Grind. Grit can be seen as perseverance and Angela Duckworth has a great TED Talk that goes into more detail, and can be found here.

We can also all interpret the word boundaries to be slightly different from one another. For Beth find that the definition from Out of the Fog aligns with her thought process. That definition is that boundaries are guidelines, rules or limits that a person creates to identify for themselve what are reasonable, safe and permissible ways for people to act around them. We encourage you to listen to the great advice that our camp experts are sharing in this episode!

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Best Practice for Leadership TrainingFrom Gabrielle Raill

As a leader, it is extremely valuable for you to talk to your staff on day one about your own shortcomings. Talk about what you, as a director, need assistance with or something your struggle to work through. Explain WHY you have these shortcomings. Be honest, tell your staff that you are great with some things but at times, also need help with other things and empower your staff to support you throughout your own development.

Your Hosts: Beth Allison, Camp Consultant -* Go Camp Pro * Ruby Compton*, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors * Gabrielle Raill*, Camp Director -* Camp Ouareau**

Thanks to our sponsor…UltraCamp

Wouldn’t it be refreshing if your registration software gave you MORE time? With UltraCamp, you can track attendance, manage staff applications, streamline registration, and much more. Get back the time you need to focus on what is really important: CAMP! Find out more at ultracampmanagement.com/campcode/

View Details

If this is your first summer back after COVID, this may be THE focus for your training this year. As we step into 2022, we shift our focus on transitioning CITs from the mindset of a camper, to become a staff member. As always, we recommend frontloading these potential staff members with information to ensure that these young people feel like they are part of something larger. Beth comes up with three simple rules: connect with the potential staff, communicate to them what leadership training is all about and commit to them that as an outcome of leadership training, everyone will grow.

Gabz takes aim on explaining the “why” we work as camp leaders. Helping your new potential staff to understand the importance of summer camp leadership training. Ruby is back and comes out stating the facts. Future staff will have employers beyond camp and those employers are going to be looking for leadership skills therefore, the training your potential staff will get from summer camp will only better prepare them for life outside of camp!

With summer camp hiring right around the corner, this episode is full of ideas on how to engage with your potential staff to help you hire the right people to start planning for a (hopeful) more “normal” summer. Have a listen today!

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Best Practice for Leadership TrainingFrom Beth Allison

Your future camp staff members may have been your previous campers, meaning you’ve interacted with their parents throughout life at camp. As much as we advocate for summer camp training, parents will also be looking for information. Frontload as much as you can on what life as a staff member looks like at camp. Clearly define what parents can expect as their children transition into staff.

Your Hosts: Beth Allison, Camp Consultant -* Go Camp Pro * Ruby Compton*, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors * Gabrielle Raill*, Camp Director -* Camp Ouareau**

Thanks to our sponsor…UltraCamp

Wouldn’t it be refreshing if your registration software gave you MORE time? With UltraCamp, you can track attendance, manage staff applications, streamline registration, and much more. Get back the time you need to focus on what is really important: CAMP! Find out more at ultracampmanagement.com/campcode/

View Details

The American Camp Association (ACA) recently held its virtual staff summit. The event featured talented speaker panellists, roundtables and other learning sessions. One big topic that we’ve already covered was staffing shortages and discussing new innovative ways to recruit and retain staff. Today, we are fortunate enough to sit down with Kim Aycock, one of our industry’s experts in staff recruitment, training and development.

View Details

The American Camp Association (ACA) recently held its virtual staff summit. The event featured talented speaker panellists, roundtables and other learning sessions. One big topic that we’ve already covered was staffing shortages and discussing new innovative ways to recruit and retain staff. Today, we are fortunate enough to sit down with Kim Aycock, one of our industry’s experts in staff recruitment, training and development.

View Details

It’s been a long time since a proper staff training, hasn’t it?It’s already November, which means that as camp leaders, we’re hopefully (and finally) well-rested. It also means that with winter approaching, we need to start planning for next year. Winter recruiting, hiring and planning out staff training is what awaits us! For a lot of reasons, this year feels different.

For a lot of us, camp was either non-existent or looked very different for the past two summers. If your camp was able to run, chances are you had minimal staff and for the camps that were able to take part in normal summer programs. With summer 2022 fast approaching, it means that our camp staff haven’t had a ‘normal’ camp leadership experience or that your camp is about to take on brand new staff because all of our staff resources that were planning to work at camp, are all a couple of years older.

Our camp pros are here to help, and this time, they brought back up! We are excited to have Kate Taylor as a special guest on this episode. Kate Taylor is the Camp Director for Camp Kanawana at the YMCAs of Québec. In this episode, Gabrielle, Beth and Kate talk about ideas to combat the loss of learning that our staff have missed out on for a couple of years. One thing our experts refer to is the Summer Learning - A Bridge to Student Success and America’s Recovery by the National Summer Learning Association. Without giving away any further spoilers, we encourage you to listen, learn and adapt your teaching techniques as we all prepare for summer 2022.

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Best Practice for Leadership TrainingFrom Kate Taylor

It is imperative that we have downtime throughout staff training. If this means making staff training slightly longer to give your staff half a day off DO IT. Taking that break allows your staff to reflect on everything they’ve been taught during training sessions. Further, when you have downtime, make sure you have some non-mandatory activities for your staff. This will help some people struggling with social anxieties practice social skills and build boundaries with their colleagues.

Your Hosts: Beth Allison, Camp Consultant -* Go Camp Pro * Ruby Compton*, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors * Gabrielle Raill*, Camp Director -* Camp Ouareau * Kate Taylor*, Camp Director -* Camp Kanawan at the YMCAs of Québec**

Thanks to our sponsor…UltraCamp

Wouldn’t it be refreshing if your registration software gave you MORE time? With UltraCamp, you can track attendance, manage staff applications, streamline registration, and much more. Get back the time you need to focus on what is really important: CAMP! Find out more at ultracampmanagement.com/campcode/

View Details

It’s STILL time to focus on the staff.Listen to part 1 here: https://camphacker.tv/camp-code/best-staff-experience-possible

In this episode, we continue to explore how summer camp leaders can help staff achieve their best possible experience as a leader at camp. 2020 had many camps in North America shut down and in 2021 as many camps adopted programs to align with public health guidelines, camp leaders struggled to find resources and keep staff for the entirety of the summer. With the 2021 season behind us, Beth and Gabrielle have their sights on the early phases to start prepping for summer 2022. Throughout the episode, our hosts explore things that camp leaders can do today to help prepare folks to apply to camp and be ready for the camp season.

One of the biggest lessons learned is that camp staff have a strong desire to feel supported. As leaders, we need to reshape our recruiting techniques and the way we prepare and develop our camp programs next summer in a way that puts both the mental and physical health of our employees as a priority. Prioritizing employees right from the recruiting phase helps to foster a foundation of trust, preparing staff for the challenges of camp as the summer approaches.

The lessons from this summer have created an opportunity for growth. Listen in on this episode to gain further insights from our camp pros!

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Best Practice for Leadership TrainingFrom Beth Allison

During staff training, why not take the time to build a coping skills toolbox. It is not only good to teach coping skills, staff will realized that they need to cope. This is an idea from Baldwin County public schools in Alabama and they have PDF downloads available at Baldwin County Public Schools / Homepage (bcbe.org). A toolbox allows you to store a collection of healthy items when you are feeling stressed or anxiety to help you to build resilience. There are five tools within a coping toolbox:

1. Self-soothing - what can you do to comfort yourself? Examples include a stress ball or your favourite photos.
2. Distractions - Something that will take your mind off something. Examples include a puzzle, sudoku, knitting needles and yarn.
3. Emotional Wellness - how can you express your feelings? Examples can be a journal or art supplies
4. Mindfulness - Checking in with your mental state. Examples include a yoga matt, reflective prompting journals, serenity rocks
5. Crisis plan - who at camp do you go to when your coping skills are not enough?

Your Hosts: Beth Allison, Camp Consultant -* Go Camp Pro * Ruby Compton*, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors * Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau**

View Details

In this two-part series, we begin by exploring the topic of giving our staff the best experience possible and helping us deliver a great summer program. Coming on the high side of the pandemic, staffing and retaining staff was a challenge for many camps. We know that for staff to be committed, we have to find ways to keep our staff engaged and consistently developing.

View Details

Please review us! - Click here!

How might (or might not) a union help serve Camp Pros as they navigate an increasingly stressful profession?At the end of August, a particularly thought-provoking post was made in the Summer Camp Professionals Facebook group.

After hearing about some of the horror stories of this, and past summers, a pro posted this:

“…Its become clear to me in the last few months that the people in charge of camps are often not the people that run summer camps and this can lead to some wild expectations including around hours, pay, vacation time, parental leave, etc. because the ACA hasn’t put these things in the standards, I’m wondering if having some sort of body to educate people on best practices around expectations for staff would be helpful.”

That pro, was Alana Matteson, and she is our guest this episode to kick off our
new season of both Camp Code and the CampHacker Podcast!

Alana joins Travis and Ruby for this discussion on not just Unions, but the type of advocacy that pros need in general to have more successful, fulfilling and sustainable careers.

-

What do you think? Let us know in the comments!

Tool of the Week – Make Yourself a Better Camp DirectorTravis: WorkSharp

Ruby: Personal Recipe Book

Alana: Power Beats High-Performance Earbuds

Your Hosts:* Travis Allison, Summer Camp Consultant - Go Camp Pro * Ruby Compton, Chief Exploration Officer - Ruby Outdoors * Alana Matteson, Summer Camp Professional

Rate and Review the CampHacker Show(Thank you!)

Thanks to our sponsor!UltraCamp

Wouldn’t it be refreshing if your registration software gave you MORE time? With UltraCamp, you can track attendance, manage staff applications, streamline registration, and much more. Get back the time you need to focus on what is really important: CAMP! Find out more at summercampsoftware.com/camphacker

View Details

Hello from the other side!With summer coming to an end, we are checking in with all of you to just see how you are doing. For us, we are doing just okay. It turns out that many of the camp directors we’ve spoken to are feeling like us, tired; tired of COVID; tired from having to constantly adjust camp programming to meet public health guidelines; tired of being understaffed. As summer camp leaders, now is the time for all of us to recharge and start focusing on ourselves.

For Gabrielle, that is taking the month of September off to recharge. For Beth, it’s focusing on mental health, stepping away from social media and getting outside into nature. For Ruby, getting out on the river for a paddle or being outdoors is what brings her joy. In this episode, our hosts focus on checking in with our listeners, prompting all of you to take the time to rest, recharge and focus on next year.

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Best Practice for Leadership TrainingFrom Ruby Compton

Don’t just do something, sit there! The sit spot routine is where camp staff members find a spot at camp to sit, relax, reflect or journal about their time at camp. When you use the same spot from spring to fall, you can take in the beauty of nature as it transforms throughout the seasons.

Your Hosts: Beth Allison, Camp Consultant -* Go Camp Pro * Ruby Compton*, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors * Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau**

View Details

Our hopes for you as you go into the summer of 2021.In this season finale, we are not going to give you last-minute tips and tricks for summer camp training because chances are, if your camp is able to run this summer, you already have the tools to make this unique summer camp training memorable. Instead, our hosts Beth, Gabz and Ruby are here to remind you of some of the training we’ve taught this summer and the theme for this episode is hope.

To parents and campers, summer camp is an oasis where parents get relief in the daily hustle of life and campers get to play, learn and grow. Although camp is perceived to be an oasis for kids and parents, for you as a leader, camp is your real world. Being a summer camp leader is a real job with real stress, anxiety, laughter, sadness, smiles and songs. Camp is a magical place for children and you never know when you may spark a memorable moment for a child which they will remember forever. As the camp pro, you got this! Our hope is that your staff understand that everything they do this summer may be magical, but in fact is very real this summer.

Camp is also full of emotions that can be seen through people in the form of laughter, smiles and songs. However, there are also negative emotions such as sadness, fear or confusion. Our hope for you this summer is that you will continue to practice examining your capacity to hold boundaries to help control the stress and anxiety that can bring you down. Positive emotions always burst out in laughter or song however, negative emotions tend to build up, pushing us to our edges. Daily reflections, mindfulness and gratitude journals are great ways to keep your boundaries intact and helps to ensure that our negative emotions are controlled, processed and digested out of our systems.

As always, our hosts have a lot more to say throughout the episode, so have a listen to be inspired to do great things. Another season of Camp Code is coming to an end so as always, thanks for the listening friends.

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Best Practice for Leadership TrainingFrom Beth Allison

To close off the season, in this episode we’re doing something a little different. Beth takes us down a journey that she calls “Here’s to you”. It starts at the 17:18 mark in the episode and I encourage you to share this segment with your camp staff.

Your Hosts: Beth Allison, Camp Consultant -* Go Camp Pro * Ruby Compton*, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors * Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau**

View Details

And we don’t mean “just make it through”, we mean “make it through with style!”The weather is finally getting warmer here in Canada, the gardens are full of tulips and the cherry blossom trees are in full bloom. As a camp leader, as we watch nature grow this spring, anxiety and stress can build within ourselves. When spring arrives, it means summer camp is around the corner. We started this season aiming to help the leader come back from a summer that either prevented your camp from running or having to put new safety measures in place that were new to everyone. As we navigate our way back to summer camp, it is once again time to focus on you.

A lot of these make sense at the surface, but actually practicing these tips are harder than you think. We’ve listed them below, but encourage you to have a listen to understand the reasoning behind each step.

1. Go to bed!
2. Get the support you need, outside of your organization
3. Take care of yourself
4. Set up an email routine
5. Embrace the knowledge of your leadership team
6. Watch and listen and sit still and see (find out more by listening!)
7. Don’t mistake someone’s free time as availability
8. Camp is fun, enjoy it
9. Be kind to yourself

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Best Practice for Leadership TrainingFrom Ruby Compton

Establish a communication routine with friends and peers. Set up a time each week to respond to texts to friends. Message folks to let them know you are thinking about them. This will allow you to not feel guilty if you are not responding to things immediately and give you space to touch base with friends and connect with the world outside of your camp.

Your Hosts: Beth Allison, Camp Consultant -* Go Camp Pro * Ruby Compton*, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors * Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau**

View Details

It’s not, “it is what it is”, it’s, “it will be what we make it”Noone asked for all of the challenges and uniqueness that are ahead of us in Summer 2021. This episode, we challenge you to look at the positive side and focus on the unique opportunities that are ahead of us this summer.

Whether it’s reestablishing expectations with staff, or taking the opportunity to get rid of that program area you’ve always wanted to - this is your year.

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Bonus Link: Ruby's staff appreciation video for her team: https://youtu.be/Y5_hFMFu5no

Best Practice for Leadership TrainingFrom Beth Allison

Plan now for a fantastic end-of-summer celebration for the end of the summer. Figuring out a plan now will help you gather a ton of people to help make this happen. Think big and don’t forget to ask for help from your board, parents and alumni to compile gratitude for the last night of camp.

Please share your most memorable moments!

Your Hosts: Beth Allison, Camp Consultant -* Go Camp Pro * Ruby Compton*, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors * Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau**

View Details

Use these videos to dial your staff training up to 11!For some people, they have a favourite pair of comfortable slippers, perhaps a warm sweater or favourite comfort food. For our hosts, their idea of comfort is scouring the internet to help build new ways to develop camp leaders. In this week’s episode, we go back to a fan favourite feature where our hosts discuss quick-fire videos to help facilitate staff training.

Ruby’s Favourites:

Title: First Thing and Last Thing

Title: How to go From Small Talk to Deep Coversation

Author: Chad Littlefield

Title: How to Have a Good Conversation

Author: Celeste Headlee

BONUS (a fun one)

Title: Ducks Annihilate a bowl of peas

-

Beth’s Favourites:

Title: Grit: The Power of Passion & Perseverance

Author: Angela Lee Duckworth

Title: For the Love of Fangirls

Author: Yve Blake

-

Gabrielle’s Favourites:

Title: How to Avoid Death by Powerpoint

Author: David JP Phillips

Title: Thanks to Camp - Léa's Story

Author: International Camping Fellowship

Title: Thanks to Camp - Kadi’s Story

Author: International Camping Fellowship

The links above are the highlights of another great episode. To learn more from our hosts, have a listen today!

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Best Practice for Leadership TrainingFrom Gabrielle Raill

Soloing a canoe and training from the dock - This is going to be a different summer, meaning your camp staff will need to lead differently. As leaders, we need to pay attention to how we are right now. Are we reacting to things differently, both positive and negative? Take the time and understand that this summer, you’re going to be leading from a distance. So, take the time to reflect on your own expectations and be kind to yourself. This summer is different for everyone, not just you.

Your Hosts: Beth Allison, Camp Consultant -* Go Camp Pro * Ruby Compton*, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors * Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau**

View Details

Make training memorable, no matter what your groupings look like.It’s finally April which means summer camp training is right around the corner and summer camp is in sight! We also know that across the world, vaccination campaigns are occurring, giving us hope that one day, our world will return to some sort of normalcy. Unfortunately, vaccination campaigns just cannot happen quick enough, meaning that summer camp training will be different this year, most likely using pods or bubbles to ensure the safety of everyone involved.

Bruce Tuckman is famously known for educational psychology and group dynamics and developed a model to help develop teams into high performers using four simple steps, Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing. Beth goes into detail about how you apply Tuckman’s methodology to help you prepare your team to achieve greatness, while also being pathfinders in your alternative way for staff training. To learn more about Tuckman’s model, click here.

Ruby reminds us to use technology to strengthen your training. You can record your training sessions to be a podcast, or other alternative media for your staff. The best part about this - you can do a review of your material afterward and figure out what worked and what didn’t work when facilitating pod or bubble training.

If you choose to segregate into bubbles, one of the largest anxieties your staff will have is wondering who they will be sharing a bubble with. To help them out, frontload! Communicate with your staff as early as possible to help alleviate some of their stresses.

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Best Practice for Leadership TrainingFrom Beth Allison

Spin training in bubbles to something more positive. We know that working with a smaller group gives the opportunity to create unique memories. Have your staff create pages to their “bubble book” (think high school yearbook style) where your staff can take selfies, use journal entries or identify their favourite parts of training each week.

Your Hosts: Beth Allison, Camp Consultant -* Go Camp Pro * Ruby Compton*, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors * Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau**

View Details

Staff training is a brave new world. Let’s explore it together.We did it! We are a year into physically distancing ourselves from one another and interacting mostly virtually! Although this is not something I would normally celebrate, it has given our hosts plenty to think about, specifically when it comes to facilitating training for your staff. We’ve been there, enjoying a school lecture or perhaps engaged in a positive work session and then the meeting ends abruptly due to time constraints.

Ruby recommends that we all focus on building a routine into our training, and have a phase-out process that allows participants to know the meeting is ending by helping them transition from training session to individual reflection. Perhaps a google doc, a slack or something supplemental to allow excited camp leaders to be involved event after the meeting has ended.

We’re all going to be sitting in front of a computer for long periods of time during camp training this summer, so Gabz recommends investing into a nice camera and microphone. Nothing is worse than holding your face close to the screen so others can hear you in that sub-par laptop microphone, so invest in tech to make your camp training a success. Below are some of Gabrielle’s favourites from the tech she’s tested out.

• Canon M50 click here
• Sigma 16mm f/1.4 lens click here
• Thronmax Mdrill One Pro mic click here

Beth reminds us that we live in a 3D world where camp training usually consists of using the space and objects around you to facilitate training. In a virtual world, training can quickly become repetitive, so get creative! Hook your iPad to the meeting as a whiteboard, have an activity that and instructions set up on the screen for when participants arrive. Turn that 2D video into a greater depth of knowledge!

So, if you’ve made it here, you’re obviously interested in what tips and tricks our pros have, so for more info, listen to the podcast today!

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Best Practice for Leadership TrainingFrom Ruby Compton

Camp is going to be different this year and taking care of yourself is just as important as always. In a world where regular temperature readings are normal, let’s use the technology literally at our fingertips to help us track our temperature, heart rate and anything else that could be useful. Absolutely there is an app for it, making tracking easier than ever. Ruby also recommends a glass of lemon water in the morning to kick start your day and ignite your metabolism.

Your Hosts: Beth Allison, Camp Consultant -* Go Camp Pro * Ruby Compton*, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors * Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau**

View Details

Staff training is a brave new world. Let’s explore it together.Over the last year, virtual sessions have become way too familiar. We know that camp staff have already spent a lot more time meeting virtually regardless as businesses have switched to virtual work and educators have shifted learning to online. Unfortunately, this is not going away yet as most camp leaders are most likely learning how to facilitate virtual training.

We’ve got your back

Our hosts Beth, Ruby and Gabrielle are here to help you plan the inevitable conundrum of virtual training. We’re already spending countless hours in front of screens, so as leaders we need to find new interactive ways to train our staff. Ruby brings up a great point, go asynchronous! Provide the content for your staff to consume on their time. We obviously know the importance of podcasts, you could use these to provide brief learning sessions! Get creative, use videos, Tik Tok or even traditional presentations with perhaps your audio recordings built-in!

Gabrielle reminds us to focus on what’s important for our staff to be able to deliver a fun, safe summer for our campers. As leaders, the content we learn online to prepare for summer may not necessarily be the same content we want to provide to our staff. Remind yourself, your role is to create a foundation of why your staff and campers go to camp. Create connections with yourself, your staff and your campers.

Beth reminds us that as we being to train online, we cannot forget to play online. Find ways to build in collaboration. The editor recommends virtual escape rooms and imagination. Even Alexa (yep, that AI speaker in your home) can do free, virtual escape rooms. Have a team work together to solve the puzzle and put in a rule that only one person can click through the virtual room or give the audible commands to alexa to get your team out.

Remember, this blog is just a highlight reel, to get the full benefit from our experts, listen in today!

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Best Practice for Leadership TrainingFrom Gabrielle Raill

We’re used to being pulled in every direction at the same time, yet we struggle to say no. Rather than saying YES right away, ask three questions that could either apply to mental or financial wellness. You need to find ways to take care of yourself. Summer is coming and we all know as camp leaders that when summer comes, the moments to take care of yourself can be few and far in-between.

Your Hosts: Beth Allison, Camp Consultant -* Go Camp Pro * Ruby Compton*, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors * Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau**

View Details

It’s too important for just one episode.Remember last episode when our special guest Travis, fed all of us the knowledge of a lifetime at camp? At CampCode HQ, it was certainly a memorable episode, but without Gabrielle there, we all knew we could squeeze a little bit of greatness out of her. For that reason, we are back with round two, where we focus on the great ideas on how to train our staff to talk to parents. Remember the acronym episode (Camp Code #81) - well Gabrielle didn’t get the chance to slide in another great one: V.I.F

• Validate - Find the person who can help
• Investigate - allows some time for problem solving
• Find someone who can help. When we are talking to parents one of the most important things is to get them connected to the right person who can help with whatever the situation was.

Ruby tells us the importance about names. Learning the names of the parents and the campers hint - write them down and using those names brings a sense that you are there to help their child have a memorable week at camp.

Beth describes that transparency and messaging is just as important as knowing the camper names before they arrive. As leaders, you would have been in communication with parents up until the day they arrive at camp. Take the time to teach your staff the message they want to get across with parents.

For more great tips about the value of communication, have a listen to this episode!

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Best Practice for Leadership TrainingFrom Ruby Compton:

Every family is unique. Every family has their stories, their traditions and their own hardships. Have staff reflect on their own relationship with their folks at home. Recognize those relationships may be different from campers relationships with their own families.

Bonus - Feed your staff with information to help parents on drop-off and pick-up day. Provide staff a couple of specific pieces of information to communicate any time they are interacting with parents. Things like where the bathroom is, where the coffee/snacks are, where they are headed next.

Your Hosts: Beth Allison, Camp Consultant -* Go Camp Pro * Ruby Compton*, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors * Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau**

View Details

Because you aren’t the only one that needs to wow your camp families!Beth and Ruby are joined by Travis Allison to breakdown the importance of your staff being calm, cool and collected when interacting with their camper’s parents.

Do you remember your 16-20 year old self? Talking to adults is scary enough, without the fact that you are looking after the most important thing in their world.

Great parent interactions (especially on opening day!) is a critical part of your camp forming trusting relationships with families. Trust us, a parent is going to tell their friends what camp their child attends - and good or bad, they will share their first impressions - so it’s our job to help our staff make the best ones!

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Leadership Training Best PracticeFrom Beth Allison

Get lots of large chart paper and markers and have pairs of staff create their own “child”. This exercise helps them to understand the care that goes into parenting and really put them into their camper’s parent’s shoes.

Your Hosts: Beth Allison, Camp Consultant -* Go Camp Pro * Ruby Compton*, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors * Travis Allison*, Summer* Camp Consultant - Go Camp Pro**

View Details

We L.O.V.E Acronyms! Here are Beth’s, Ruby’s & Gabz’s favourites!We L.O.V.E them - Nope, that’s not an acronym, simply our way to show how much we enjoy them. We engrave acronyms into the lexicon of camp to ensure that the important things that you want your staff to memorize, are memorable. For Beth, with over 25 years of camp acronym experience, this was one of the hardest episodes for her to record as each host share their three favourite acronyms, and dive into why they are important to them.

Go Camp Pro is here to support you with everything Covid-19 and there is no stopping in sight. The volunteer editorial board at Go Camp Pro scans editorials across the Covid-19+Camp Slack, the Summer Camp Professionals Facebook group and other sources to take the best stories, and put them in an easy-to-read newsletter that we call “The Brief”. You can sign up for The Brief by clicking here

Below is a list of the acronyms shared throughout the episode, so that you can make notes of your favourites and incorporate them in your staff training.

Our Favourite Acronyms!Ruby - O F N R - nonviolent communication

• Observations
• Feelings
• Needs
• Requests

Gabz - S A S - user for camper behaviour management

• Stop what you are doing
• Approach appropriately
• Speak kindly

Beth - S T A N D - help campers have great discussions on important topics--focus efforts on being the person they want to be

• Social graces
• Take responsibility for your own actions
• Ask intelligent questions
• Never miss an opportunity to be kind
• Do all things with integrity

Ruby - O Z A P - Things you need to state when you are delegating something

• Objective
• Zoom out
• Authority
• Priority

Gabz - W O R P - for returning staff during staff training. This can work for staff welcoming campers on opening day.

• Welcome
• Observe
• Role Model
• Problem solve - ask new staff members to ask new folks for ideas/their thoughts. If they can’t come up with anything, then they can offer their ideas.

Beth - E D G E (leadership skills) &

• Equip themselves & others
• Dare to be different
• Go Above and Beyond
• Envision the future

H E R O (responding to camper/staff needs)

• Have everything you need
• Engage others (camper or staffer)
• Read all the signs
• Offer a memory or teachable moment

Ruby - T R A U M A - for tough convos/sensitive issues

• Their work
• Rapport
• Ask questions
• U(you) Listen
• Mention help
• Ask “What’s next?”

Gabz - A S K - To fill in those awkward moments & walks with new friends

• Ask something specific
• Show them something
• Know - Tell them something you know. “Did you know…?”

Beth- T I M E - A way to divide the first 2 hours of staff training to help them sort out their why, discover the mission, build community

• Tell your stories
• Invest in yourself
• Make time for others
• Envision the ending

Bonus Resources!As described in the episode, Beth developed a session around Time

It’s About Time Script

It’s About Time Slideshow

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Leadership Training Best PracticeFrom Gabrielle Raill

When returning staff members return to camp, they each bring emotional tags with them, holding onto memories from the year before. The role of your staff is to create the best week of camp for their campers; but to do that, you have to help your staff let go of last year. Take the time to validate their experiences, dissect the good and then engage in conversation with staff to identify on how to build from previous experiences to incorporate the things that worked well, to create an unforgettable summer for campers. When you're done planning, celebrate the past and bring in the new camp year with your staff.

Your Hosts: Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau * Beth Allison, Camp Consultant -* CampHacker.tv * Ruby Compton*, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors**

View Details

This will be the most important staff training you’ll ever prepare.We made it! It’s 2021, but that doesn’t mean that camps are without adversity with this summer quickly approaching. With a global vaccine rollout for COVID-19 and differentiating public health policies and guidelines depending on your province, state, municipality or county, there are too many permutations and combinations circling to really understand what this year is going to look like. To make things more complicated, many camps didn’t run last year, meaning the identified “improvements” noted during a camp season are a full season behind. Take this one step further, your staff are all older and some senior staff might no longer be in a position to return to camp. We are just as happy as most of you where 2020 is finally behind us; as we turn the chapter to 2021, our hosts are here to help you succeed with summer camp training after a gap in operation.

Our take on it - this is the most important staff training you have ever prepared. It’s important that as camp professionals, you reflect, take stock and set goals for this year. Your goals will have to include new training material, focusing on mental health during a pandemic. For us, that means two lists of goals. The first list is about what people will need from you, including COVID-19 safety, what’s changed at camp, the importance of feeling safe and perhaps your leadership style this summer leans more on being empathetic or more vulnerable to your staff. The second list is what YOU want to from this year. Define your goals, but being flexible to staff ideas is a key step to the foundation of a successful summer.

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Leadership Training Best PracticeFrom Beth Allison

We are in the midst of a mental health awakening. Role model types of behaviors and actions.

• Start every single day of training with personal check-ins. Ask a different question each day and offer everyone an opportunity to answer those questions. Continue at every check-in. Their well-being is paramount to you.
• Encourage peer-based support. Facilitate groups that work in support of each other. Weekly “Islands of Sanity” calls--are you willing to use whatever power and influence you have hold islands of sanity to invoke and create, produce, and persevere?
• Make time to share your own challenges and mistakes and vulnerabilities.

Your Hosts: Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau * Beth Allison, Camp Consultant -* CampHacker.tv * Ruby Compton*, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors**

View Details

We ran a traditionally in-person conference 100% online. And it was AWESOME. Here’s what we learned! This week’s episode falls during the holiday season of 2020. From all of us at Camp Code, happy holidays and we wish all of you a happy new year.

2020 has been quite the year, with a global pandemic affecting lives worldwide and to camp professionals, has created an unprecedented camp season where many camps simply did not have the opportunity to run. Furthermore, as camp Directors are well underway throughout their planning phases for next summer unbeknownst to anyone if camps will even run. It is easy for people to look at the history of 2020 and refer to some of the negative connotations surrounding it that lead us to believe that in the fog of 2020, there was nothing else but more fog.

Although that may not be exactly true, as Camp Code looks to close the chapter in 2020, we aim for new goals and aspirations in 2021. As heard in the teaser of this episode, “positive change requires an effort of togetherness (Women in Camping Summit, 2020)” and we believe as a camp community we can continue to achieve our camp milestones collectively.

In this episode, Beth, Gabz and Ruby reflect on their experience at the Women in Camp Summit Live Virtual Event where over 200 women from around the world contributed to some extremely memorable moments.

Ruby starts us off with talking about a fantastic speaker from the summit, Leslie Keller, owner of Live Love Equity. Leslie teaches us about the importance of equity and inclusion and how it needs to be a foundational element to any organization. Leslie did hint about the power of social media and how tools like Instagram can influence some of the content you learn and teach to your followers.

You can find Leslie and all the great work she does here:

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/liveloveequity/

Website - https://www.liveloveequity.com/

Gabz dives in to talk about two of her leaders who develop a session that focuses on creating conversation about race with your staff. There needs to be a process of consent and consult from the people of colour on your staff to ensure that they are comfortable with the situation. White privilege is something that needs to be talked about and that to create change, there is a process you need to develop.

At the core, the four steps of the process created by the presenters Mel and Ania are Awareness, Assessment, Prioritizing and Action. A copy of the presentation can be found RIGHT HERE. Beth reminds us about the importance of resilience and refers to our Camp Code friend Dr. G who developed a seven-step cycle for resilience https://askdoctorg.com/drg-resilience-cycle/.

-

Bonus Resources!The body is not an apology - https://thebodyisnotanapology.com/

Using Black Vernacular English (BVE) as a Non-Black Person Isn’t “Woke” if You Don’t Understand the History - https://www.feminuity.org/blog/using-bve-as-a-non-black-person-is-appropriation

How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40265832-how-to-be-an-antiracist

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Leadership Training Best PracticeFrom Ruby Compton

At the end of the Women in Camping summit, there was a discussion related to Becoming Allies - Supporting Women in Camp that generated meaningful conversation and one of the tools that was mentioned was “The Man Box”. The idea was to talk about what does society or culture say about being manly and then have the same conversation around topics that are perceived to be unmanly and comparing the phrases between the two boxes and seeing how sometimes terms we use as unmanly can be linked associate with women, creating negative connotations. It’s important to write these down, discuss them and understand how we can break down gender-based barriers.

Your Hosts: Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau * Beth Allison, Camp Consultant -* CampHacker.tv * Ruby Compton*, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors**

View Details

One of the most important things we can do for youth is to show them that we’re thinking of them. ♫ The weather outside is frightful, but Beth, Ruby and Gabrielle continue to be delightful ♫

In this episode as they look to give you ways to show your appreciation towards staff. At the core of this episode, being a leader is really understanding those around you and what motivates them. For some, motivation can come in the form of extrinsic rewards, Beth recommends small trinkets for staff or stickers that reminds them they are a part of a great team at camp. Others prefer intrinsic rewards, such as personalized videos to camp staff during stressful times, such as exams that are used to remind staff just how awesome they are. Sometimes people just need a bit of motivation to remind them of what their impact is to camp. Ruby recommends trying something other than email, and shares with us some ideas including Bonjoro, Marco Polo, Voxer, and Yac.

Working at camp is a unique experience, and it deserves to be celebrated! Gabrielle gives us the genius idea of celebrating a new hire on a live social media platform such as Instagram or Facebook. Social media continues to be a tool for camp and if campers see that their favourite staff member is returning, it generates excitement for the staff and for the campers.

We’ve listed a few of the ideas above, but to learn from our hosts and their fantastic ideas, you will have to listen to this week’s episode.

For more great tips, have a listen and don’t forget to leave a review, our hosts read every single one!

-

Bonus: If you listened to the episode, you learned about 5-minute Fridays. Click HERE for a quick peek into all the fun that we have, making 5-minute Fridays THE spot for bite-sized professional development.

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Leadership Training Best PracticeFrom Gabrielle Raill

Good note-taking can translate information into a new way of learning something. So during staff training, why don’t you enable your great note-takers on staff and ask them to take notes for the majority of the sessions during a session. Take it one step further, make photocopies or email these notes to your staff so that everyone can learn from the same information.

Your Hosts: Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau * Beth Allison, Camp Consultant -* CampHacker.tv * Ruby Compton*, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors**

View Details

To disagree is not to destroy, it’s to dream about new possibilities. Here’s how to teach your staff that.Our hosts, Ruby, Gabrielle and Beth have been working together for many years through podcasting, summer camp training development and presentations and conferences, yet according to Gabz, they disagree all of the time! Conflict is among all of us, and that’s okay because we are all unique in the way that we learn, understand and translate new ideas or challenges.

In this episode our hosts are here to help listeners to understand that conflict can be good, it can create new ideas, decisions or avenues for new exploration. As Beth says, the goal of conflict resolution is to have all parties involved mutually agree and to do that, she reminds listeners of the 4 S’s:

• Is it SAFE?
• Does it SERVE the community?
• Does it promote SELF-ESTEEM?
• Is it good STEWARDSHIP

The S for stewardship really encompasses the individual’s being entrusted with any given scenario, so it’s important to remember that although you may have conflict with your peer at camp, you both are working towards the common goal of making camp a better place to be.

Ruby reminds us that at times as a camp Director, you will have disagreements with your staff. Furthermore, sometimes since you are the camp Director, it ultimately is your decision regardless of any influence your team may have on you. If you stick to your original idea, you will have frustrated staff. It is important to create avenues for your staff and peers to have conversations about how that decision made them feel. Emotions are part of any conflict or decision-making process, so we need to listen to our staff and most importantly, we need to admit when we are wrong.

Speaking of emotions, Gabrielle reminds us that conflict builds in our minds. The longer we put off dealing with conflict, the worse it becomes. Gabz reminds us of another acronym she uses, ACT.

• Awareness
• Communicate
• Together Problem Solve

For more great tips, have a listen and don’t forget to leave a review, our hosts read every single one!

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Leadership Training Best PracticeFrom Beth Allison

Two more quick exercises for staff training focusing on how to disagree, with care.

First is a game of Wind in the Willows.

Have camp staff to stand in a circle and ask six questions. if the question implies to the individual, they step into the circle.

The six statements / questions are related to the following (taken from Inc.com - 6 Smart Ways to Disagree With Someone Respectfully)

1. Focus on facts
2. Don’t get personal
3. Recognize the good
4. Remember to listen
5. Use I statements
6. Know when to move on

Find images that look like two different things depending how you look at it and ask your staff to tell you what it is. Then have individuals to partner with someone who saw something different and have them talk about their points.

Sample photos:

Google search - one picture two images

Remember the dress?

Your Hosts: Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau * Beth Allison, Camp Consultant -* CampHacker.tv * Ruby Compton*, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors**

View Details

Inviting staff into our uncertainty. That’s what hiring for Summer 2021 is all about!If you haven’t listened to the four-part mini-series devoted to our camp professionals helping YOU, you should go back and have a listen! This is the first episode after the mini-series and the timing of our hosts could not be more on point. In this episode, it is all about preparing for the hectic hiring season that is quickly approaching us, especially in these uncertain times.

There are still a lot of specifics that our camps, regulators and government need to iron out, given the global pandemic. Now camp leaders have more contingency planning to do than ever before. If you’re struggling to figure out how to start, how to manage the waves of emotions that come with the pandemic, then this episode is absolutely for you. Our hosts, Beth, Gabrielle and Ruby dive into how you can go forward, do the interview process and help navigate your hiring for the 2021 summer.

Ruby reminds us about the rapidly changing news with new scientific evidence and rumours of a vaccine on the way, we need to adapt. Some suggestions presented are virtual programming to prepare your staff, developing a safety guide decision tree and as always, over-communicate. The more information you can share the better prepared your recruits will be.

Speaking about a vaccine, Beth reminds us about the inevitable truth that some camps simply may not be able to run until a vaccine is available and camp staff and campers have received the vaccine. From knowing what considerations to think about and what decisions are needed to run camp successfully in a pandemic world, Beth brings us another great resource the Covid Slack, developed by GoCamp.Pro’s very own Travis Allison.

• Covid Slack https://zoic.ca/covid-slack

Gabrielle brings up a great idea about using the alumni staff on standby to run a life wellness session for potential staff. Look at Alumni and their professions to see how it can develop the competencies of your staff and their core. Gabrielle also reminds us that staffing this year will be harder this year as we tackle the unknown of the pandemic, so how about you gets your returning staff to identify what they love about working at camp, what life lessons kids and learn and what would they like to keep or change at camp. Work smarter, not harder and use this information to help you develop your 2021 summer camp program!

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Leadership Training Best PracticeFrom Ruby Compton

The season of giving is approaching, so one thought is to share a 2020 camp swag that you can send to camp staff or alumni to remind them that although this year may not have been great for camps, the work that staff and alumni do throughout the years does not go unrecognized.

Your Hosts: Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau * Beth Allison, Camp Consultant -* CampHacker.tv * Ruby Compton*, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors**

View Details

One of the most affordable AND most important things you’ll do at camp this summer.If you have listened to the three earlier episodes focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic, you’re already prepared with a new set of tools on your belt to help YOU as a camp professional. In the final part of our four-part series, we shift our focus on how you, the camp leaders can help your staff.

If your camp was fortunate enough to run this past summer, things were different as you and your team braced for a camp that encouraged social/physical distancing and potentially lived the summer with a mask on. For those camps who unfortunately were unable to run, your campers and your staff were just as heartbroken as you were when we all learned that camp was not an option this past summer.

In this episode of Camp Code, Gabrielle, Beth and Ruby break down the fact that camp people are often natural caretakers, which leads us to this question - as camp professionals, how do we take care of our own people at this time?

We know this is a hard time for camp staff whose lives have been turned upside down. Employment may be hard for them to come by at this time, or they have shifted to going to post-secondary school fully online, The stress levels are unprecedented for everyone at this time, so if there is something we can do to help the camp staff we rely on for our summers, we should take action!

Our hosts are full of ideas, from sending care packages, having “real talks” about the importance of the Black Lives Matter movement or COVID safety to even helping to provide resources to your staff to process grief or stress they are dealing with at this time.

If you want to learn more about how a little bit of effort for camp leaders can be a foundational shift of much-needed mentorship for your staff, then tune in to this episode!

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Leadership Training Best PracticeFrom Gabrielle Raill

Visual presentation skills are critical to the success of your online training. Visual cues can create an anchor in the minds of your students to exemplify what it is you are talking about. Gabrielle recommends using https://unsplash.com/ to get great FREE images to help accentuate your presentations.

Your Hosts: Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau * Beth Allison, Camp Consultant -* CampHacker.tv * Ruby Compton*, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors**

View Details

In an off-season like no other, there is still room (and a need) to grow your skills! Get growing with this episode of Camp CodeIn part-three of our four-part series focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic, we dive into the importance of professional development. Regardless if your camp was able to run this past summer with restriction, or maybe not at all Ruby, Beth and Gabrielle are here to help. We get it, 2020 has added an additional layer of financial pressure that may limit your professional development, but our Camp Code gurus dive into some ideas to enable your professional development.

The most important part about professional development is to know what you want to learn. The first step is to make a list of all of the things you want to learn. 2020 has brought on us an overwhelming amount of online content as organizations adapted to virtual work. Conferences and courses are two things that have gone primarily online and we’ve outlined a few resources to make it easier for you.

Online Conferences - There are a ton of these around, some to note are as follows:

• Women in Camp Summit Conference - https://womenincamping.com/summit
• InBound conference - https://www.inbound.com/

As for free online resources, there are podcasts, videos, free university courses, but to get you started...here are a few of our favourties:

• Go Camp Pro’s 5-Minute-Friday Program - https://gocamp.pro/5mf
• Youtube Learning - Yes! Youtube! If you have never been to http://www.youtube.com/learning we highly recommend you check it out. Youtube Learning is curated for adults to learn skills! Whatever it is you crave, this is a great starting point.
• University and college courses - There are various resources for this, one that you can check out is https://www.edx.org
• Skillshare - https://www.skillshare.com/ - This was one of Gabz’s favourties spots to learn and embrace her inner creativity.

• Podcasts - We’re huge fans of learning this way and we would recommend any of the GoCamp.Pro podcasts to learn all aspects of camp and beyond.

  • Camphacker Podcast (the one that started them all for GoCamp.Pro) - https://www.camphacker.tv/podcast
  • Camp Code (but you already know this one) - https://www.camphacker.tv/camp-code
  • The Day Camp Pod - https://gocamp.pro/day-camp-pod
  • First Class Counsellors - https://www.camphacker.tv/first-class-counsellors
  • The Camp Owners Pod - https://gocamp.pro/ownerspod
  • Beyond Camp - https://gocamp.pro/beyondcamp

The resources listed above are just a sneak peek into some of the ideas that Beth, Ruby and Gabz are happy to share. To hear the rest, have a listen!

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Leadership Training Best PracticeFrom Beth Allison

Interview people and not to hire staff. If you know people that you think you can learn from, make that list! Next, send out some invitations to those people asking them for 30 minutes or less of their time and specify what it is you want to discuss. After you meet with them, it is a great idea so write them handwritten thank you cards and send it to them in the mail.

Your Hosts: Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau * Beth Allison, Camp Consultant -* CampHacker.tv * Ruby Compton*, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors**

View Details

It’s going to be easy to de-prioritize yourself in the lead up to be 2021, let Camp Code help you move yourself up your to-do list. In part-two of the four-part series focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic, we want to help you take care of one of the most valuable things in your life, you! To be the most effective camp leader, you cannot forget to stop, take a moment of mindfulness and recharge the batteries. Ruby, Beth and Gabz are here to share what each of them do to recharge and be ready to be the best versions of themselves.

For Ruby, it’s all about having a day without time. Ruby takes off her watch and puts the phone away. Rather than being caught up in the busyness that life can bring you, taking a day to disconnect and live your day from sunrise to sunset.

Gabz takes a slightly different approach as living at camp during a pandemic has its perks. She takes the morning to do meets, emails and computer work, followed by some “her time” (usually a nap) and then spends the afternoon doing some labor around camp.

For Beth, taking care of herself is all about understanding her emotions and really capturing how she is feeling now. She taps in to an article by Jonathan L. Zecher (source: https://theconversation.com/acedia-the-lost-name-for-the-emotion-were-all-feeling-right-now-144058) where the author reminds us that we are exhausted of zoom meetings, cocktails and parties. Our days of baking bread and other means of distraction during a pandemic is over, now it is time to take care of you.

Taking care of yourself starts now, not tomorrow. Have a listen for some tips and tricks to get started!

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Leadership Training Best PracticeFrom Ruby Compton

Singing songs is the perfect way to take time for yourself. It doesn’t matter if you can carry a tune or not, but taking the time to sing; in the shower, in the car or loud and proud for everyone to hear, a song can change your mood.

Your Hosts: Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau * Beth Allison, Camp Consultant -* CampHacker.tv * Ruby Compton*, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors**

View Details

Welcome to season 8 of Camp Code! Well, that was a summer that we will all remember for the rest of our lives. To kick off season eight (that’s right folks, eight seasons on Camp Code) we are launching a four-part mini-series to focus on the COVID-19 pandemic and how it affects you, the Camp Director.

Ruby, Beth and Gabrielle are back after the most memorable summer that didn’t fill the cabins with the laughter of children of the joy that is found in song. In Canada, most provinces were unable to open summer camps, preventing Gabrielle’s camp from opening and Beth found it challenging to do summer camp marketing with Canadian camps closed for the summer. Similarly, Ruby found herself working at a few different restaurants as we all adjust to the normal of today.

In part one of the mini-series, Ruby, Beth and Gabrielle ask themselves “You know you are a camp pro during a pandemic when: _________________” Ruby dives in to talk about learning to “people” again as we learn to reintroduce ourselves outside of an unfamiliar landscape post quarantine. Gabrielle focuses on moments when your brain misfires, causing her to buy headphones that she had previously done the research on and knew she did not want to purchase.

The pandemic of 2020 has people coping and reacting to a new world. Listen in to part one of the mini-series to learn that you are not in this alone and now more than ever, camp folk need to stick together.

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Leadership Training Best PracticeFrom Gabrielle Raill

1. Plan and organize as much as you can… or “plan to plan”. Take two hours on Friday afternoon to review your week, validate that you accomplished everything you wanted to complete and focus on developing your goals for the following week.
2. The pandemic is the enemy. If you have to break promises caused by the pandemic, keep in mind that we are all in this together, and more understanding than ever.

Your Hosts: Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau * Beth Allison, Camp Consultant -* CampHacker.tv * Ruby Compton*, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors**

View Details

That’s a Wrap for Season 7 of Camp Code!As summer approaches, the Camp Code season finale is here!

Multigenerational staff may not be applicable to your camp today, but it absolutely will happen at some point, and what better time to have this in the back of your mind as summer camps eagerly way and adjust to many new guidelines being put in place as the worldwide pandemic continues.

Multigenerational staff means that some younger staff may still live at home, not be used to doing laundry, or that their summer at camp may be their first job. At the same time, the older staff probably have car payments, or a mortgage or is used to going to bed at an earlier time than 18-year-olds.

Additionally, there is a physical layer to an older generation staff where they may not be able to crawl on the ground, or have other limitations. In Ruby’s experience, she asked herself during any game “can rock paper scissors resolve this” and in most cases, the answer is yes and most people at any age can play rock paper scissors, so it is a great alternative to something like crawling under someone’s legs in freeze tag.

As we wrap our season, we hope all you leaders are ready for what summer brings us. We all know camp will be different this summer, but camp is still at heart, summer camp leaders. For everyone who has tuned in to this season, have a great summer and we look forward to more conversations in the fall.

Thanks for the season, friends!

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Leadership Training Best PracticeFrom Gabrielle Raill

Even though this best practice is from Gabrielle, it was Ruby that brought it up on another podcast. When you are designing camp training for the summer, bring your leadership in on the conversation. Send your leadership team an outline of the staff training and some of the decisions behind what you want to keep and what you want to change. Open the dialogue with your leadership team to see how decisions are made.

Your Hosts: Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau * Beth Allison, Camp Consultant -* CampHacker.tv * Ruby Compton*, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors**

View Details

Ruby Compton + Emmy Kennedy = Staff Training Brilliance!Switching things up this week, Ruby is on her own interviewing the fantastic Emma Kennedy, Director of “Camp La Grande Aventure…en Anglais” summer camp, from Saint-Donat, Quebec, Canada. Camp La Grande Aventure….en Anglais is an English camp for francophones. Emma’s camp is located close to Gabrielle’s Camp Ouareau, Emma and Gab share many of the summer camp leadership tricks and tools. In this episode, Ruby and Emma dissect summer camp training and the importance of starting training, before training officially starts.

Keeping in touch before camp’s arrival is something that is now a top priority. Touchpoints with your teams prior to the start of camp allows your team to collaborate right from the start. The current pandemic has reinforced what camps already do, engage staff, engage early, or in Beth’s words…. Frontload!

Another great idea Emma brings to Camp Code is the idea of “starting fresh”. When working with your leadership team, remove your past schedules and training materials and allow your leadership team to think outside of the box. That older material is always there for you to lean on, but allowing your leadership team to collaborate on what skills are required to be a good counsellor and what other training tools would allow your leadership team to succeed, and your camp to have another great summer.

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Leadership Training Best PracticeFrom Emma Kennedy

During staff training, take an evening offsite to do something as a group. A good example is to take your team out for ice cream and allow your team to talk, get to know one another and collaborate outside of the camp environment.

Guest: Emma Kennedy, Camp Director - Camp La Grande Aventure...en Anglais*

Your Host: Ruby Compton, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors**

View Details

Put out the spark before it becomes a dumpster-fire. Give your staff the tools to avoid and work through drama.Summer camp staff are usually a tight-knit group. As well, the expectations of a happy go lucky summer with friends vs the hard reality of living together in community smack into each other. This type of cosmic splatter happens to any and every organization at one point or another. As leaders, it is our goal to manage that state of cosmic distraction. We work from having differences and bring our community from disruption to resolution and work to land on collaboration.

Working with people is complicated, you have to set the expectations at the beginning of staff training. As Beth says, by frontloading, it is easier for your staff to reach those attainable goals.

When you are faced with challenges, you can separate these in the two steps of analyzing the situation and work together to resolve issues. To do this, you can break the “views” into a quadrant so you can have a better understanding of other people's perspectives. An example of a view would be campers vs parents vs directors vs staff and dissecting each perspective and how each view can influence the outcome of your resolution.

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Leadership Training Best PracticeFrom Beth Allison

Keeping camp drama free is going to be a challenge. If you flip this around and be the challenger, you can reward your staff who best made it through the week without any drama! Beth recommends a pin, keychain, bracelet or a t-shirt of a llama. Perhaps call it the “No-drama Llama” and make it visible to open it up as a discussion piece between staff and campers.

Your Hosts: Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau * Beth Allison, Camp Consultant -* CampHacker.tv * Ruby Compton*, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors**

View Details

Giving staff the tools to be able to have one of the most important conversations of their lives & directors the tools to make their culture even safer.This week, our hosts Gabrielle, Beth and Ruby explore the impact that the #MeToo movement has had on summer camps.

As summer camp leaders, empowerment begins with you. Educating people and Sexual harassment policies are not enough. Camps need to outline the policies and create a dialogue to ensure staff are empowered to act when they recognize something inappropriate. We need to realize that not everyone is going to be comfortable enough to speak up, we must find other ways for staff to feel empowered to share or point out uncomfortable situations.

Training empowerment is not easy and neither is the conversation around sexual harassment. This episode was designed to help you cultivate your approach and build your community on trust and respect. Have a listen as Gabrielle, Beth and Ruby dissect the frameworks around these conversations.

A small shift in the way you approach the subject will make a big difference.

Best Practice for Leadership TrainingThis one is simple; Choose to communicate rather than to assume. We all know what assumptions do!

Your Hosts:

• Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau
• Beth Allison, Camp Consultant - CampHacker.tv
• Ruby Compton, Chief Exploration Officer - Ruby Outdoors

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Leadership Training Best PracticeFrom Ruby Compton

This one is simple; Choose to communicate rather than to assume. We all know what assumptions do! When you feel something is unsettling or something you have questions about, it may lead to an assumption. Instead of assuming, lean in and ask a question to understand more. This will help us handle conflicts in a more constructive way.

Your Hosts: Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau * Beth Allison, Camp Consultant -* CampHacker.tv * Ruby Compton*, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors**

View Details

How to help your future leaders see their future at camp!Are you like Gab? Does your camp have that special “little black book?”.

You know, the one where you keep all the names of the campers and young staff that you just know will be great leadership team members someday?

As directors, we are always looking out for the future. We do this because the earlier you can identify who may eventually take on the senior roles at camp, the earlier that you can start to help them realize their potential and hone their skills.

How you do that is a whole other story - and it depends on the specific person. If they are a keener who recognizes their skill and may be a little over-ambitious or cocky, how can we help them understand the realities of the job they want and give them the patience they are lacking? Conversely, what happens if that person doesn’t realize their potential? What resources and experiences should you give them to not force them, but guide them to the idea that they have a prosperous camp career ahead of them?

It’s hard - but it’s also a good thing Gab, Beth and Ruby aren’t shy about tackling hard issues!

Tune in to this episode to give you over 40 minutes of great ideas that you can implement both now and this summer to plant the seeds of potential for your future leadership staff.

Have a listen!

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Leadership Training Best PracticeFrom Jacqui Raill (via Gabrielle Raill)

Raincoat treats - reminds staff that your rainy day programs need to be as good if not better than your sunny day programs. Put a reminder in the camp staff's raincoat pocket so they have a reminder later in the summer to keep the rainy program full of treats!

Your Hosts: Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau * Beth Allison, Camp Consultant -* CampHacker.tv * Ruby Compton*, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors**

View Details

Not everyone is an all-star camp staff at the beginning. We need to help them get there!As camp leaders, we’ve all been there.

We've all hired staff that are great on paper, but who just didn’t perform the way we thought they would.

However, just because they may not be starting out the way you hoped, doesn’t mean they cannot become the great camp leader you were hoping they would be.

To help them, and your whole team succeed, start by frontloading information to your staff. Use this time to ensure your expectations are clear right from the beginning. If your staff are not aware of what is expected of them, it’s on the Directors, not the staff!

By building trust in your staff, in particular, some of the challenging staff; you are able to connect with them so you can be truthful and address what needs to be addressed. As well, keep an eye on self-esteem levels. If you can identify when self-esteem is low, you can seize these moments to promote camp leadership and shape weaker staff to be leaders! When developing trust, there are 4 key concepts that can be used to help develop your staff:

• Explain things clearly
• Ask questions
• Involve staff in decisions and discussions
• Appreciate them for the work they do!

For more tips and tricks, have a listen!

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Leadership Training Best PracticeFrom Ruby:

Ruby's plea to Camp Directors of the world. Format your staff training schedule to how it looks during the summer. Do your best to make the timing match up as closely as you can so they start to understand what the camp day looks like. You can add as many details as you want, or keep detailed information in other places around camp, but do your staff this small service and it will make a huge difference!

Your Hosts: Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau * Beth Allison, Camp Consultant -* CampHacker.tv * Ruby Compton*, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors**

View Details

Make your meetings so extraordinary, your staff will actually look forward to them!How’s that for a challenge?

At camp, we have the awesome privilege to get to inject every single moment with creativity and find new ways to engage our staff and campers. So why should meetings be any different?

All meetings have a framework to follow to make any meeting successful. The basics are fairly simple, use an agenda, frontload the expectations of the meetings, and make sure it has a clear purpose. Some simple goals to take into consideration are what you can learn, achieve or solve during the meeting.

Staff retaining information is another thing that needs to be considered. Meetings can easily become repetitive and valuable information for staff can become easily forgotten. Engaging staff is a key leadership ability to help your staff retain information. The way you deliver your information has a great impact on what information will be retained.

• One of the best ways to kick off camp meetings is to begin with some singing or games. These add positivity to the room and allows your team to get focused in a more positive environment
• Use visuals - Staff are more likely to retain pertinent information when charts, wheels, pictures, or other visual tools are used
• Don’t use rest hour - Rest hour is a sacred moment for your campers and staff, let them recharge
• Get staff members to talk about great moments in camping (GMICs), it will get your staff to reflect
• Ask questions - How can I support you? - what campers are you struggling with? - what's the best part of the day? - this will engage your staff and collectively work to resolve challenges.
• Get your staff to take notes! - Be obvious for important notes, say things like “Write this down”
• Recap your meetings - it gave one more opportunity for the staff to catch something they missed.

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Leadership Training Best PracticeFrom Beth:

What do I need to remember about my age group?

Before your next group of campers arrive, have your team talk about what they need to remember when it comes to their specific age-group. Have them share their wisdom and remind one another to adjust the way you communicate, interact, and supervise them based on the age of campers. Example: If you have 8 year old campers this week, remember that they need concrete instructions.

Your Hosts: Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau * Beth Allison, Camp Consultant -* CampHacker.tv * Ruby Compton*, Chief Exploration Officer -* Ruby Outdoors**

View Details

How to help your domestic and international staff acclimatize to your camp.

The full ensemble is back!

In this week’s episode Gabrielle, Beth and Ruby dive in to explore the culture shock of staff and developing techniques to train international staff. International staff members are a wonderful addition to your team, and, it takes a little extra work on your part! On top of the usual onboarding, there’s more intention that needs to go into the way that you help that staff member develop initial relationships with senior staff and ensure that they are feeling comfortable and valued within the camp community.

Being valued is something that every employee finds desirable. As a leader, it is up to you to find ways to make your staff feel valued. When hiring international staff, there are a lot of things to take into consideration:

Having conversations about cultural differences between your international staff and the country you are in

Showcase the international staff’s culture, by introducing their food, games and songs to your staff

Assign a staff ambassador to international staff, make the ambassador your go-to person.

Before your international hire arrives, find a camp alumni to sponsor this hire, so they could write to them at camp and be part of their camp family

For more tips and tricks, tune in to this episode!

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Leadership Training Best Practice

Credit: Ellen Nash - Camp Northland B’nai Brith

It’s important that you look every single staff member in the eyes every single day. By doing this, you let the staff know that you see them and acknowledge them for their efforts.

Always have a staff snack in the evening as pretty much all of the staff show up and do as Ellen does and serve as many staff members as you can. By serving the staff, Ellen gets the opportunity to greet them, socialize and thank folks for their work each day.

Your Hosts:

Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau

Beth Allison, Camp Consultant - CampHacker.tv

Ruby Compton, Chief Exploration Officer - Ruby Outdoors

Thanks to our sponsor for this episode:

This Go Camp Pro podcast is sponsored in part by CampGig - CampGig is more than just a job board, CampGig is designed to be the most useful matching/search tool for camps and camp staff. Camps can sign up today to scan and search through CampGig’s vast selection of candidates. If you’ve ever wanted an “easy-button” for finding your next great camp staff, then head over to CampGig.com and set up your camp’s profile today.

View Details

How do you train future staff? Look to your campers!

You might notice that this week, Ruby is steering the Camp Code ship by herself! Not to worry, the triumphant trio will be back next episode, and you’re going to love this one!

Tune in to hear Ruby’s interview with Dan Davis, the Camp Director of Camp Rockmont. Dan has dedicated over three decades as a camp leader and has an abundance of knowledge to share with us.

Transitioning Campers to Staff starts early on in your camp journey. Dan talks about doing little things such as putting returning campers further from the dining hall or the beach and giving them the slight responsibility of having to walk that much further and still being punctual for meals and activities.

Have you ever wished you had a second chance at a job Interview? Dan talks about his experience with giving staff a second chance at an interview. Sometimes it can be eye contact or even slight body language that can make an interview start to go sideways. Dan and Ruby talk about getting a do-over and stopping an interview when things are going wrong, but taking that pause to address whatever it is that is not going well, then giving the opportunity to the potential staff to restart the interview process. If a potential staff member accepts the do-over and is able to make the small adjustments to have a better interview, it is a good indicator that you are interviewing someone that is capable of change, accepts criticism and most importantly, is really interested in the role they are applying for!

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Leadership Training Best Practice

From Ruby:

Never miss the opportunity to talk about reminding your staff to sit up, and take a deep breath when sessions are going long. What happens to the brain when you sit up and take a breath of fresh air can really get the body stimulated again. A bonus tip for today is to try to start every training with questions to be answered. This will allow both the trainer and trainee to understand that at the end of the session, a certain question is to be answered...creating a partnership between everyone involved.

Your Hosts:

Ruby Compton, Chief Exploration Officer - Ruby Outdoors

Special Guest

Dan Davies - Camp Director at Camp Rockmont

Thanks to our sponsor for this episode:

This Go Camp Pro podcast is sponsored in part by CampGig - CampGig is more than just a job board, CampGig is designed to be the most useful matching/search tool for camps and camp staff. Camps can sign up today to scan and search through CampGig’s vast selection of candidates. If you’ve ever wanted an “easy-button” for finding your next great camp staff, then head over to CampGig.com and set up your camp’s profile today.

View Details

Because conflict is going to happen, people!

The Camp Code crew is back for their very first episode of 2020!

To ring in the new year, this episode is filled with great tips and tricks, helping to give staff the tools to deal with conflict. Gab dives into an array of acronyms such as the A.C.T Program - Awareness, Communication and Together, and V.I.P - Validate feelings, Investigating and Problem-solving. She also goes in-depth talking about The power of mirroring and how to use mirroring to build connections with people.

Ruby talks about the importance of dealing with conflict in person. Too often, conflict involves emotions, and emotions cannot be shared over text, so having face to face discussions are the keys to success. As Camp Directors, it is important to equip your staff to some conflict management work for you. Your staff need the practice, and you cannot do it all!

Beth provides listeners with a ton of insight and explains that EVERYONE must take proactive steps to handle conflict. Personality tests are something that we should all take at various stages of life, camp leadership is one of those times and here is one Camp Codes favourites: True colors personality test. We are all going to be faced with it at some point, so Beth explains some key improvisational negotiation tactics:

Let people tell their story

Bring a reality check to the table

Identify the true impediment.

Leadership Training Best Practice

From Ruby:

When dealing with conflicts, Show awkward moments video to kick things off. These people all lived through these awkward moments, so you can get through your conflict conversations!

Your Hosts:

Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau

Beth Allison, Camp Consultant - CampHacker.tv

Ruby Compton, Chief Exploration Officer - Ruby Outdoors

Thanks to our sponsor for this episode - CampGig

This Go Camp Pro podcast is sponsored in part by CampGig - CampGig is more than just a job board, CampGig is designed to be the most useful matching/search tool for camps and camp staff. Camps can sign up today to scan and search through CampGig’s vast selection of candidates. If you’ve ever wanted an “easy-button” for finding your next great camp staff, then head over to CampGig.com and set up your camp’s profile today.

View Details

Keep your returning camp staff passionate and invested with continuing education opportunities

The Camp Code team would like to wish all of our listeners a Happy New Year! As we start ringing the bells to bring on the start of the 2020 Camp Year, Ruby, Beth and Gabrielle give you the best practices for continuing education for returning staff.

Investing in staff throughout the year is a key component to their success. Lack of growth opportunities is one of the key reasons for employee turnover. As employers, if you continue education, you will get highly educated staff, bringing new ideas to the table. Happy camp staff are loyal and this is shown in their productivity. As a benefit for staff, having continued education will allow them to gain different opportunities at camp, enhance self-image and have a positive impact on life. One of Beth’s ideas is to poll staff throughout the winter to see what they would like to learn. Based on that, you can develop a learning day for staff to focus primarily on what they actually want to learn.

Ruby talks about building on an idea she remembers from school when you could win the chance to be Principal for the day. For Ruby, this meant pizza at lunch and not confining to school uniforms, but if you expand upon that idea and develop a Director for the day, you can incorporate this into your program and allow returning staff to get insights on what it takes to become a Camp Director.

Have a listen to get all the tips and tricks from these pros!

Leadership Training Best Practice

From Gab:

Have you ever had some great returning staff who are more than qualified for their role, but who are showing signs of disinterest in some of the summer camp training sessions you are running? One idea is to put these staff in a group and have one of them lead where they go around camp, planting flags around spots where they learned life lessons. On the flags, they can write the story of their lesson. What this will do is throughout your summer leadership training sessions, your staff will see the flags, read them and think about what camp does for them. At the end of your sessions, have your new staff go around and plant the same flags, but this time, write down what life skills they would like to learn at camp.

Your Hosts:

Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau

Beth Allison, Camp Consultant - CampHacker.tv

Ruby Compton, Chief Exploration Officer - Ruby Outdoors

Thanks to our sponsor for this episode:

This Go Camp Pro podcast is sponsored in part by CampGig - CampGig is more than just a job board, CampGig is designed to be the most useful matching/search tool for camps and camp staff. Camps can sign up today to scan and search through CampGig’s vast selection of candidates. If you’ve ever wanted an “easy-button” for finding your next great camp staff, then head over to CampGig.com and set up your camp’s profile today.

As Ruby identifies, in order for summer camp leaders to teach self-esteem, it is important to always start with yourself. Take the time to learn your triggers that affects your mood and your view. After paying attention and awareness to your own mental health, it will allow you to grow to then be able to teach your staff.

Low self-esteem can trigger negativity, and can at times overpower the words of leaders at camp. Gabrielle explains a method she uses called the “SAS”. Stop what you’re doing, approach appropriately, speak kindly. In Gabriel’s experience, it is the speak kindly portion that promotes self-esteem. It’s about taking the conversation and add a flare of positivity.

For all the great tips from Gabrielle, Beth and Ruby, have a listen to this episode.

Leadership Training Best Practice

From Ruby:

Put an instructor who is willing to be vulnerable and says a challenging situation they dealt with and sets up what the challenge was. Describing the situation, they get the counsellors and leaders in the room to ask other questions to gather information from the instructor. All the participants then discuss what they would have done in groups. Afterwards - the instructor describes what they did to manage the situation, and using the info from the staff, adding how they would change their response if the situation were to arise again.

Shout-out to http://beetlesproject.org/

Your Hosts:

Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau

Beth Allison, Camp Consultant - CampHacker.tv

Ruby Compton, Chief Exploration Officer - Ruby Outdoors

Thanks to our sponsor for this episode:

This Go Camp Pro podcast is sponsored in part by CampGig - CampGig is more than just a job board, CampGig is designed to be the most useful matching/search tool for camps and camp staff. Camps can sign up today to scan and search through CampGig’s vast selection of candidates. If you’ve ever wanted an “easy-button” for finding your next great camp staff, then head over to CampGig.com and set up your camp’s profile today.

View Details

The most basic human desire is to be able to fit in. In this episode, our hosts dive into stereotypes, managing life pressures and teaching our staff how to build self-esteem, create their potential and give them the superpowers required to battle any self-esteem issue.

As Ruby identifies, in order for summer camp leaders to teach self-esteem, it is important to always start with yourself. Take the time to learn your triggers that affects your mood and your view. After paying attention and awareness to your own mental health, it will allow you to grow to then be able to teach your staff.

Low self-esteem can trigger negativity, and can at times overpower the words of leaders at camp. Gabrielle explains a method she uses called the “SAS”. Stop what you’re doing, approach appropriately, speak kindly. In Gabriel’s experience, it is the speak kindly portion that promotes self-esteem. It’s about taking the conversation and add a flare of positivity.

For all the great tips from Gabrielle, Beth and Ruby, have a listen to this episode.

Leadership Training Best Practice

From Ruby:

Put an instructor who is willing to be vulnerable and says a challenging situation they dealt with and sets up what the challenge was. Describing the situation, they get the counsellors and leaders in the room to ask other questions to gather information from the instructor. All the participants then discuss what they would have done in groups. Afterwards - the instructor describes what they did to manage the situation, and using the info from the staff, adding how they would change their response if the situation were to arise again.

Shout-out to http://beetlesproject.org/

Your Hosts:

Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau

Beth Allison, Camp Consultant - CampHacker.tv

Ruby Compton, Chief Exploration Officer - Ruby Outdoors

Thanks to our sponsor for this episode:

This Go Camp Pro podcast is sponsored in part by CampGig - CampGig is more than just a job board, CampGig is designed to be the most useful matching/search tool for camps and camp staff. Camps can sign up today to scan and search through CampGig’s vast selection of candidates. If you’ve ever wanted an “easy-button” for finding your next great camp staff, then head over to CampGig.com and set up your camp’s profile today.

View Details

It All Starts with Trust!

Managing summer camp staff, no problem...managing summer camp staff that don’t trust one another, that is where the challenge lays. Having staff sharing information, collaborating and working toward common goals is the foundation of trust and can bring the best out of your staff. Beth defines trust as reliance on the character, ability, strength or truth of someone or something. Breaking that down, trust means that you rely on someone else to do something, to the extent that you are willing to put yourself on the line for that thing. Trust is what brings teams together, so in this episode Gabrielle, Beth and Ruby breakdown how to develop trust within your team.

Below are some tips on how to develop trust with your staff, we encourage you to listen in for more on...

Starting with online meet and greets

Using staff training as a job interview for the Camp Director. Use it as a way to work for your staff to earn their trust

Work with your staff to build connections. Set the expectations with senior staff, and have them work with new staff to build connections and confidence

Because I said I would - a TED talk on making promises, keeping them and the honour of our word

Have a listen to hear about the great list of tricks and tips on how we can engage our staff and develop trust ultimately building great staff for your summer camp.

Leadership Training Best Practice

From Beth:

Align your words with your actions.

When you notice your staff doing something that they maybe shouldn’t be doing, try asking “So, what’s your plan?”. You may be surprised by their thoughts and ideas and it will help maintain trust!

Your Hosts:

Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau

Beth Allison, Camp Consultant - CampHacker.tv

Ruby Compton, Chief Exploration Officer - Ruby Outdoors

Thanks to our sponsor for this episode:

logo-camp-gig-transparent.png

This Go Camp Pro podcast is sponsored in part by CampGig - CampGig is more than just a job board, CampGig is designed to be the most useful matching/search tool for camps and camp staff. Camps can sign up today to scan and search through CampGig’s vast selection of candidates. If you’ve ever wanted an “easy-button” for finding your next great camp staff, then head over to CampGig.com and set up your camp’s profile today.

View Details

Teach your staff and campers the value of #getoutside!

Stop reading these show notes and just get outside!

Leadership Training Best Practices

Your Hosts:

Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau

Beth Allison, Camp Consultant - CampHacker.tv

Ruby Compton, Chief Exploration Officer - Ruby Outdoors

View Details

Camp is weird! Let’s help staff navigate.

Building off of what we learned from Episode 56, we wanted to focus on some of the findings our Camp Directors friends came across this past summer. Focusing on the outside world, and fitting in on some the cultures we develop at camp, we want to focus on some guidance to help prepare your staff for a summer at camp.

Our hosts Beth Allison, Ruby Compton and Gabrielle Raill dig in to the following topics:

Empowering the staff.. More and more, parents are calling to ask questions about contracts and/or asking for time off for their kids. We want to empower the staff, and are always looking for ways for staff to be accountable for their own employment.

Cellphones are a crutch that is a part of our culture, however; at camp it can interfere with the important connections that get created at camp.

Vaping!

Sleep habits, reflecting on the research of sleep and implementing these with staff

Moving from living alone, to having interaction all of the time and how we get staff to welcome being in reach with people at all times.

Leadership Training Best Practices

Overcoming the cell phone issue as a staff with a joy list

Gather the staff together with 5 flip chart papers and markers. Get the staff talking and adding things to categories on sheets like “this made me smile”, “this makes me happy”, “this was a memory or magical moment that I remember most”.

The kicker: Then ask them, “how many of these moments happened because of a phone?”

This can open up a conversation about your cell phone policy and how phones can help or hinder connection.

Your Hosts:

Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau

Beth Allison, Camp Consultant - CampHacker.tv

Ruby Compton, Chief Exploration Officer - Ruby Outdoors

View Details

After a shortened Season 6 and a lot of questions from fellow listeners, WE ARE BACK with Season 7.

This episode is dedicated to those moments where you as a camp director see something and say, “Are You Freaking Kidding Me!?”.

Our hosts Beth, Ruby and Gabs have plenty of experience as Camp Directors and they are here to share stories of times where even they were at a loss!

From sounding happy on the phone, riding public transit to doing laundry are all examples of some of the things that we, as directors may take for granted, but are still so necessary to teach our young leaders.

Tune in as our hosts explore ways to work through challenges such as:

Running scenarios to help camp staff work through real life examples

Journaling beside your bed. Write down your frustrations at night in one place and ToDos for the next morning.

Interview new staff and veteran staff at the end of the year asking “what do you wish that a new staff member knew prior to the start of summer”

Teach the chores by front loading expectations with staff

Leadership Training Best Practices

“Can I show you something” is a phrase that great leaders use. From teaching staff how to budget or greeting parents, or teaching great things at camp. Mentoring staff is a key part for both yours and camp staff success.

Your Hosts:

Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau

Beth Allison, Camp Consultant - CampHacker.tv

Ruby Compton, Chief Exploration Officer - Ruby Outdoors

View Details

More and more directors are saying they are finding their staff less and less willing to make decisions. In a world where there are constantly more options available to us, to make a decision can be downright paralyzing. Listen in as Gabz, Ruby, and Beth discuss their best ideas for helping to empower and educator your staff on being smart decision makers at camp.

Best Practice for Leadership Training

When making a decision with a group, explain the Data - Debate - Decide framework for decisionmaking. First, a group must gather data before making a decision and that process may be quite simple or very involved. Next, once the relevant data is on the table, take time to debate the issue at hand using data-based arguments. Finally, take the step to make a decision. The decision may be that more data is needed! Regardless, having this framework can be helpful when discussing issues that are multi-faceted that lead to roundabout conversations where you are covering the same info again and again. By being able to identify what stage you are in, the 3-Ds can help you understand what you need to move forward.

HT to Les McKeown at inc.com for this concept that Ruby really really likes.

View Details

Gabz, Beth, and Ruby have spent the last several months working with Colette and Kim from ACA Illinois to put together the first annual Women in Camp Summit. Patti Sampson of Patchwork Marketplace teamed up with the Camp Code co-hosts to do a crossover episode of the podcast to talk about this exciting event.

Check out the Rec Heads and Camp Nerds podcast here and learn more about the cool work Patti is doing at Patchwork Marketplace and how you can get involved! Also, if you aren’t following Patti on Instagram, she is a boss at Insta stories. Check out how to do it well!

The deadline to register for the Women in Camp Summit is October 1, 2018. Reserve your spot today! Women in Camp SummitNovember 7-9, 2018Chicago area - St Charles, IL - Pheasant Run Resort $300 (some meals included)

Register for the Summit NOW

Can’t make it to the Summit but want to help a sister out?

Help a sister out - Donate now

View Details

Many camps have some portion of their staff comprised of volunteers. Be it your nurse for the week who is also a camper parent and trading their work for their child's camp tuition or a community member who simply loves to give back to camp, it is important that these folks get trained too.

If your camp is staffed entirely by volunteers, a complete staff training is still necessary; however there are additional considerations for executing that training, especially when volunteers are coming and going throughout the summer. In this episode, Gabz, Beth, and Ruby discuss some of their recommendations for training volunteers. Best Practice for Leadership Training

Consider implementing a recognition program for volunteers that highlights the amount of time (in whatever increment makes sense for your camp) that a person has dedicated time to camp. Bonus points for it being a wearable that can be worn at and outside of camp. By having this visual recognition, other in the community become aware that it is, not only an option to come give time to camp, but also that it is a celebrated and valued.

View Details

Every camp director has had that staff member who needs to move on from camp but having the conversation can be difficult. Tune in to hear Beth, Gabz, and Ruby share their best tips for having those conversations now and how to build this idea of "growing elsewhere" into your camp culture so anyone in your community understands that it may be in everyone's best interest to move on. 

Best Practice for Leadership Training After a session during training and the possibility of moving on, have staff write you a short letter on their own. Get each person to write to you, the camp director, and to fill in the blanks.

Dear [Camp Director]

If I am ever exhibiting these behaviors:_______________________________please sit down and have the talk with me. 

I'll be scared to leave camp and try something new, but if you say these things to me,_______________________________, it would be helpful. 

I know you are always thinking of the best interests of camp and of me and I also know that I will always have a place here and this will always be my home. And here are ways I'd like to have this conversation:

(Add your own ending/sign off)

Then, partner staff up and have them read their letters out loud. Be sure to tell them that you will be doing this as part of the activity so staff don't feel like they have to share things that are to deeply personal.

View Details

Video continues to be a powerful resource in this day and age. Beth, Gab, and Ruby discuss 12 more of their favorites that can be incorporated into staff training this year.

Gabz VideosMisunderstandings

Knowing our limits

Visual Note Taking

This Grandma Is Trying To Use Google Home

Beth’s VideosRaising Successful Kids

Transgender Kids

Failure is the only way to Learn

The Power of Introverts

Bonus: How to Start a Movement

Ruby's VideosSay My Name Right

Where the Wild Things Play

TED Talk - Dark Side of the Subjunctive

Fear Setting

On the day of this 50th episode, Gab, Beth, and Ruby want to say a huge THANK YOU to all of our listeners for tuning in, sharing ideas, and continuing to lead extraordinary staff orientations each summer. Thank you for making the camping industry great. Here's to 50 more!

View Details

Teaching campers and staff about consent in a vitally important way Though recent headlines have brought this concept to the forefront, this has been a conversation that has been ongoing. This is not a fad conversation and right now, there is an opportunity for youthe development professionals to dive deep and make influence real change in the world. It is critically important that the concept of consent is taught at camp to both campers and staff this summer and from now on. #Wehavetobebetter and bring the conversation forward. The industry of camp has a role and responsibility to reset the narrative of the disrespect and disconnection that leads to allegations and assault.

Teaching campers about consent within the framework of empowering campers to take ownership of giving consent over their own bodies, not only in sexual situations, but in the broader context of everyday life.

Best Practice in Leadership TrainingConsent is not a male-female issue. It is a power issue. Recognize that people in your camp community have different levels of power and the concept and language of consent allows for a discussion that helps empower all voices to be heard.

Consent as Tea

Campus Toolkit for Creating Consent Culture

Ask Doctor G Youtube Channel

University of Minnesota Consent Policy

Teachconsent.org

Tell us your ideas or reflections on this episode by using the following hashtags: #wehavetobebetter and #campcode.

Want more Camp Code?Gab, Beth, and Ruby are offering a 12-week masterclass to help directors build their staff trainings this winter/spring calledDesigning Staff Training: A Masterclass with the Cohosts of Camp Code. Over the 12-weeks, participants will partake in weekly phone calls, set aside time to build staff training schedules, and discuss ideas for training with other like-minded #camppros who can't get enough of talking about training!

This course will...

• help you design the best staff training.
• provide access to a private Slack workspace.
• hold you accountable to your staff training design timeline.
• break down staff training planning into digestable chunks.
• provide a small and personal community of likeminded #camppros.
• help you have your best summer yet.

Registration is open now and enrollment is limited. The course will begin at the end of January. Visit http://gocamp.pro/campcode to reserve your spot today before it's too late.

View Details

Meal times offer opportunities for connections and teaching and every second of staff training is valuable. Every person has to eat. Can these three truths come together and help relieve the time pressure so many of us feel during staff orientation? Consider how much of your summer is spent collective in mealtime so if you aren't already treating the meal like a program area, this summer think about the shifts you can make to use that time as efficiently as possible. Best Practice in Leadership Training

In the spirit of creating a safer and more inclusive eating space for all your campers, instead of asking others if he/she "wants seconds or thirds" instead simply ask, "Do you want more?" This alleviates any stigma that may come with wanting seconds, thirds, fourths, and beyond. Have you heard?

Gab, Beth, and Ruby are offering a 12-week masterclass to help directors build their staff trainings this winter/spring. Over the 12-weeks, participants will partake in weekly phone calls, set aside time to build staff training schedules, and discuss ideas for training with other like-minded #camppros who can't get enough of talking about training! If staff training feels like one big project where you aren't sure where to start, or you want to revamp your training and give it a fresh new look, this course will help you design the best staff training, and in turn, have your best summer yet. See you there?

View Details

It can be tricky to strike a balance between sharing with staff why certain topics they learn during staff training are important with the time invested in practicing the skills they are taught. Join Beth, Gab, and Ruby for a discussion about how to get just the right mix of thinking and discussion and hands-on activities for your training this year.

Best Practice for Leadership Training At the end of your week, write out all the things you want or need to get done for when you return to work. Then take a critical look at your list and evaluate whether what's there is doable for one day. Reassign deadlines or weed out tasks as you see fit.

When you return to work (after the weekend or after vacation), reassess your list and set realistic deadlines for the tasks on your list as you plan for your week.

Give yourself permission to go on vacation and turn off the ever-running to do list that is the camp director brain.

View Details

When things go wrong, we tend to analyze and question what could have been done differently and how to prevent these scenarios from playing out again. Sometimes, we have really fantastic summers when everything pretty much goes as, or better than, planned. These summers are worth reviewing as well to be sure to capture what is worth repeating, what should remain in that glorious summer, and what should change for the future. Was it a great one for you this summer? Tell us what you plan to do again using #CampCode. Best Practice for Leadership Training

Remember the concept of maintenance! You may be focused on launching new programs and reviewing how to improve them in the future, but don't forget about the old standards that may need some upkeep. Often cleaning is a big part of maintenance. Clean out that arts & crafts closet. Have staff clean program supplies and gear regularly. Set aside time to clean your office and workspace, not only throughout the summer, but also DURING the summer. And if it's not you who has the time and space to do so, don't be shy about spending the money to get that cleaning and maintenance done.

View Details

If your camp runs programming with staff that are off-site for most of the season, this podcast is for you! Beth and Ruby discuss best practices for carrying on camp traditions, setting these staffers up for success, and providing support and training even if you are on different sides of the continent.

View Details

In a world where exclusion can quickly become a theme, camp professionals are remarkably good at creating a safe space where campers and staff can feel empowered to find themselves and be themselves. I think we can all agree that the world would be a different place if every child went to camp and learned how to co-exist with the community around them. Listed below are some resources mentioned during the podcast for leading sessions to promote an inclusive community. Connectability.ca Trainingforchange.org teampedia.net University of Michigan Center for Research on Learning and Teaching Best Practice for Leadership Training This episode's best practice comes not as a practice, rather more of a quote. Thanks to Maggie Howe from Gwynn Valley, she shared the insight that "The stronger an organization's culture is, the more exclusive they may become." Consider this idea as you integrate gaining buy-in from staff and campers and celebrating diversity. Camp can change the world and being welcoming to all is a place where we can really raise the bar.

View Details

Whether you are new director at an established camp or are simply training staff in program areas that aren't in your repertoire, sometimes we have to train staff who know more about some subject areas than we do. Joining the Camp Code hosts today is Chantal "Match" Jackson to share some ideas for how to create an engaging training even when you don't know it all (even if your staff think they do!) Best Practice for Leadership Training Ask your staff to create a list of things or skills they can each teach. Be creative in how you display these to the rest of the staff. Make sure everyone’s names go beside “What they can teach.” Have them put those aside and then ask staff to write in their journals a list of things they want to learn. When they are all done, put them in small groups to share what they can teach and what they want to learn. After some time to share, gather the group back together and discuss what talents and skills have been exhibited and make a plan for how to continue fostering a learning environment for the staff.

View Details

Thought you had heard all that the Camp Code hosts have to offer? No way! There's always new ideas flowing out of this podcast! Check out this week's episode to hear twelve brilliant brand new ideas for staff training that you can plug into staff training this year in this quickfire style episode. Best Practice for Leadership Training Encourage employees to have a personal or creative project for the benefit of the organization to work on during some portion of their work hours. This will allow employees to think critically about what they can create for the organization and offers opportunities for sharing and buy-in among your team. Come say hi! Also, the Camp Code team will be on the camp conference circuit and presenting this season so check them out at ACA National, Tristate, or Midstates! If you are listener, please come find Gab, Ruby, or Beth and tell us what you want to hear in future episodes.

View Details

While we spend a lot of time planning staff training for our summer staff, it is not uncommon to expect new year-round directors to jump in without providing them the tools for success. Beth, Gab, and Ruby are joined by special guest, Travis Allison for this special episode of Camp Code. Best Practice for Leadership Training As a new director, build your support system and include at least one of each of the following: a person who is always willing to listen, a person who is objective and can tell it like it is, and a person who has been working in camping who can serve as a mentor.

View Details

If you work in camp long enough, you will either watch a long-time staff member (director, year-round staff member, long-time seasonal staff member) leave or you, yourself, will opt for something different from #campdirectorlife. While camp directors tend to be the types to be inclined to keep this kind of news on the extreme DL, it is imperative to the health of your camp community that you create space and time for campers, their families, and staff to say goodbye. Best Practice for Leadership Training Write all of your teambuilding and group games on individual notecards (1 game per card). Divide them by type (Examples: icebreaker, active, large group, easy initiative, fixed elements). Grab an index card box and organize all of your games in the box with the appropriate labels. When it comes time to design a program, just pull out the cards you need for the day. You may want to number them too so it's easy to get them back in place! (HT to Travis for this best practice!)

View Details

Puzzled by why you can't seem to find the right staff each summer? Perhaps it is because of the wording, structure, and requirements of your staff application. Gab, Beth, and Ruby discuss the must-dos (and a few must-don'ts) to help you start your staff training before your people are even hired. Best Practice for Leadership Training Is there a way to add a creative element to your staff application so folks with a wide variety of talents can exhibit their strengths? Have you thought about sharing your expectations for a job at your program via video, podcast, or original song? Using visual tools and letting applicants hear from you and other people really sets the tone for community building and gets the expectations across in your tone.

View Details

As camp people, we sometimes find ourselves looking around thinking "Universe, what else could you possible throw at me?" and sometimes that all happens before 9 AM. Some summers are just like that and often it is due to circumstances totally out of your control. This episode will talk about how to heal and recover from the "perfect storm" summer and how to lead your team when it feels like very little went right. Best Practice for Leadership Training Build a relationship with a local mediation organization. Face it, in camping, we are in the relationship business and sometimes an objective ear and voice can be the key to working through conflicts. Often these organizations may be able to provide training for your year-round and seasonal staff as well.

View Details

View Details

Season 3 of Camp Code wraps up with THE checklist to ensure you are ready for staff training this summer. Invest some time in to making sure all of these things are done to ensure a smooth training and thus a smooth summer for all. Best Practice for Leadership Training This week's tip comes from Skyline Camp and Retreat Center's Director Matt Henry. Divide staff training in half. Do five days at the beginning of the summer and then do five more in the middle of the summer to dedicate to retraining staff. Think about how much fatigue, burnout, and drama that could be dealt with with a few days to refocus the staff back on the mission. If you can't do a full five, think about in scheduling your session dates next year if there is a way to carve out some time to do staff development midway through the season. HAVE A GREAT SUMMER!

View Details

It's crunch time for preparing staff training for the summer and there are some common pitfalls that every director falls into when designing and implementing orientation for the summer. Beth, Gab, and Ruby share some of their biggest lessons learned over the years and hope that you will work smarter, not harder this summer. Best Practices For Leadership Training Have rest hour every day during staff training. This gives your staff a time to recoup, reflect, and recharge each day. It sets up a great routine for the summer as well as helps staff practice using their down time wisely.

View Details

"Coming back for your second, or third, or 85th season at camp can be a glorious thing. You understand the weird rituals and chanting that seem to spontaneously erupt throughout the day and when somebody whispers Color War, you understand exactly what is about to happen. But man, training is such a drag because it is all the same stuff all over again. Why do I have to attend training when I've seen it all before?" If your return staff seem to take this attitude, then this podcast is a definite must listen for you. Best Practice for Leadership Training Hold a Program Area Fair during staff training. Activity Leaders staff a booth about their activity. This gives Program Staff an opportunity to share some of the ideas about what they will be doing in the activity for that summer. Play a game, display a craft, or decorate your booth in the best way possible to represent your game. The rest of the staff can mosey from booth to booth carnival style and learn more about the various program areas around camp. This helps staff to understand what will happen at that activity all summer and also allows Activity Leaders to take ownership and show off their talents and specialty area for the summer.

View Details

Ah...the birds and the bees and the smell of horomones at camp in the summertime. Whether in a single gender or co-ed environment, the reality of it is people fall in love at camp. And some people think they fall in love at camp. And it makes sense as folks are living and working closely together and acting genuinely and passionately day in and day out. Many of your staff likely have common values in life and when they find each other at camp, it can be a beautiful thing. Or it can be disruptive and fueled by drama. Today's podcast focuses on how to train your staff on what it means to have a relationship at camp and some best practices that Beth, Gab, and Ruby have found can lead to a drama-free summer. Best Practice for Leadership Training Never underestimate the power of a handwritten note to provide praise and establish that you acknowledge the impactful work another person is doing. Whether it is an employee, a supervisor, a conference presenter, or a random person you encounter in life, everyone can appreciate a small token of acknowledgement from another person.

View Details

By talking about what it looks like to get fired from camp, you may find that your staff make better decisions, which, in turn, actually reduces the likelihood of you having to fire staff as often. Gab, Beth, and Ruby discuss how they train their staff about the termination process, what worked and what didn't, and some best practices for letting someone go at camp be as drama free and mission-focused as possible. Best Practice for Leadership Training Gather your male and female staff members separately and discuss with each of them how they want to treat the other gender. Bring the groups back together and have the groups share with one another their commitment to how people should be treated at camp.

View Details

Your summer staff are trained on your mission and are bought in to the why of camp. Who better than your staff to help you market camp than those who really know it inside and out? Tune in to today's podcast to learn how to teach your staff some basic sales strategies that will impact your bottom line. Best Practice For Leadership Training: Track which of your cabin staff from the previous summer have the most campers returning this summer. Give public praise to these staff members (whether they are returning or not) during staff orientation this summer and challenge your summer staff to be one of those counselors that managed to provide such an incredible experience for their campers, that they all HAD to come back to camp. Additionally, tell your staff the retention rate from the previous summer and challenge them to go above and beyond that number.

View Details

Let's face it. As the camp director, sometimes you have to tell your staff things they don't want to hear. Often these are the tidbits and pieces of life advice that it will take time for the staff to really appreciate. Go on! Speak up! Tell your thoughts because your staff need to hear it to make camp be the best it can be. Beth, Gab, and Ruby share their "must-tells" during this episode of Camp Code. Best Practice for Leadership Training Remember to thank your year-round team throughout the year. Include some staff appreciation dollars in your budget to show appreciation for your full time staff as the rad camp professionals that they are! Consider gifting them a subscription to Go Camp Pro, the year-round camp conference.

View Details

When hiring seasonal staff, directors look for applicants that are trainable. However, you inherit your boss/board/Executive Director/CEO when you accept a position. Ever wish you could conduct staff training specifically for your higher ups so they will do things the way you want to do them? In this episode, learn what it takes to get those above on you on the organizational chart on board with your ideas. Big shout out to Rosanne Badowski for the term Managing Up. You can check out her book on Amazon right now. Best Practice for Leadership Training Today's best practice comes from our friends Scott Arizala and Dr. Chris Thurber and their unofficially titled "Stump the Hunks" EPIC session at ACA National in New Orleans in 2015. When asked how to get the boss to do what you need them to do, they suggested this tactic. Have your boss happen to accompany you to witness whatever challenge/inefficiency/problem that you are hoping to address. Ask "Have you noticed how when it rains, our staff get particularly grumpy while waiting in the rain with the kids to go into lunch? Do you have any ideas for how we could make this better?" or for the bold ones of you out there, instead state the following as a follow up to your Have You Noticed question, "I've noticed this as well and I wonder if we gave each cabin a large umbrella to decorate to use on rainy days if they would be more excited about rainy days?" By simply asking "Have you noticed...", you bring the boss into the discussion and make them a part of the problem solving, even if they don't do any of the problem solving.

View Details

Episode #28 we talked about when the literal stuff hits the fan. This episode addresses some of those worst case scenario moments and how camp directors can best recover and move forward with their staff members. From the tough conversations to doing what is right for camp to some of our worst nightmares as directors, Beth, Gab, and Ruby share some of their best tips for handling circumstances no one wants to talk about and training your staff to minimize liability exposures in their jobs. Best Practice for Leadership Training Following a bad or hard situation, show staff members how to align their focus with the solution, not the problem. Teach staff that professionals focus on where the organization is headed from here, rather than reveling in the drama or sadness of the crisis itself. Give staff time to feel and be human and process the experience. Provide external resources to help with that processing. Then set your sights forward and lead them towards healing.

View Details

It's the topic nobody really wants to talk about but at camp it always comes up. Going to the bathroom can make or break a child's day at camp, especially if they have any anxiety about using new and different bathrooms, being heard while they are going, or missing out on cool activities because their bowels are rumbling. Camp staff have to quickly establish a level of comfort with children to address their ins and outs without being crude while maintaining the health and safety of the child. This episode addresses some of the best ways to train your staff on creating an environment of openness, comfort, and regularity. Best Practice for Leadership Training Teach staff that all children and staff are coming with different levels of comfort for talking about bodily functions. Some may be very comfortable sharing every detail while others are mortified at the thought of others knowing that they used the restroom. To put everybody on the same playing field, create your own poop vocabulary. Saying, "I have to go to the bathroom" may be embarrassing for some children so if you give them language for how you talk about pee and poo at camp, it suddenly becomes a little less scary and a little more ordinary to talk about. At Ruby's camp, campers are told that going to the bathroom in the woods is called "taking a seefar" because you want to go as far away as you can see before doing your business. It's amazing how a little bit of language leads to a lot of empowerment for children and many more successful seefars in the woods!

View Details

Hooray! The off-season is upon us! The campers have gone home and your staff are returning to their mundane lives. It is critical for directors to understand that there is a certain "detox" period from camp every year. Everybody experiences this re-programming a little differently and the Camp Code team shares some of the tips as well as their challenges with adjusting back to off-season camp director life. "So what do you do the rest of the year," they ask. Have you tried answering, "What do I not do?" Best Practice for Leadership Training At the end of the summer, consider yourself an athlete in recovery. Michael Phelps wouldn't be asked to jump right back in the pool and compete at his highest level immediately after the Olympics have concluded. You need time to recharge and reflect and get away. At your next annual review, ask your supervisors for the time you need at the end of the summer and for these days to not count as your vacation days. Consider asking to work only half days the week after camp. Perhaps your only responsibility for that week is keep up with email. Or, perhaps you will turn on your vacation reply and have a staycation. Make a list now for what you need at the end of next summer and ask for it.

View Details

At the end of staff training, you are making some critical decisions for how your summer will play out. You will likely make decisions about counselor pairs, age group assignments, and who will be supervising who. For all of them, it is helpful to know your staff so you can plug them in to play to their strengths. There's a lot of going on during staff training and so it can be difficult to make time to get to know your staff as well as you can. However, it needs to be a priority. Getting to really know the people who will be fulfilling the promises we've been making all year to parents is critical to your stress level this summer. Best Practice for Leadership Training Present a session about the Art of Public Speaking. This can happen just prior to a meal so that during the meal your staff can give toasts during that meal. Give staff topics and a small notecard and writing utensil to write notes if they need to. This will tell you how staff rise to the occasion, how comfortable they are speaking in front of others, and how they operate creating something on the spot. Who shares gratitude? Who is sarcastic? Who is hilarious? There is much to be learned from this activity and much to be shared. Enjoy!

View Details

As camp professionals we want what is best for our camper families. For this to happen, staff must be at their absolute best. For staff to give 100% commitment, they must feel good about themselves. Staff members must fully understand the mission of the organization and have a keen knowledge of where their support systems are throughout the summer. Millenials may be labeled as unconfident, unsure, and constantly desiring feedback but the Camp Code team thinks they make wonderful leaders and explain how to get your young leaders to reach their full potential. Best Practice for Leadership Training Add a spot at bottom of lesson plan or curriculum for your training sessions for “What would I have done differently?” After running a session, write down quick notes based on a self-evaluation of the session. What would be more effective if shifted around? What seemed to really speak to the staff? If there are training pieces or “I wish I had done…” moments, then you can add some of those throughout the rest of the summer. This process will really help when planning for the next year.

View Details

When camp professionals gather for a conference, there is much to be learned. With the backdrop of jazz music and beignets, the Camp Code team was fortunate enough to gather in New Orleans for the American Camp Association National Conference. Highlights included the opening keynote starting with a marching band, meeting Dr. G. in person, and all three Camp Code hosts meeting in person together, and then presenting a session together too. In this episode, the Camp Code team reflects on their key take homes from the week of networking, education, and fun. Ultimate Tic Tac Toe Notes from "I'm Going to Make This Place Your Home" Tool: Evaluation of your camp day - Ritual vs routine Best Practice for Leadership Training Thanks to Scott Arizala's presentation at the National Conference. Today's best practice is backward induction. First, set the goal and then work backwards so staff will know, do, and believe everything about their job. Start with with the end product and figure out the steps immediately proceeding reaching that end goal. Next write down the steps for those steps and so on until you have worked backward to where you are standing right now. This process helps take a seemingly huge task and break it down into smaller projects while also building your program in as intentionally as possible. A big thanks to all of our listeners who attended our session at #ACANat15! We loved meeting each of you.

View Details

To generate excitement, energy, and buy in from our staff, a theme during training can quickly communicate that this job is like no other. Themes can range from connecting to the history of camp to making references to current popular culture. A great staff training theme can put a fresh spin on information that is taught every year and inspire your returning leaders to create a memorable experience for those around them. On this episode, the Camp Code team presents nine different themes and activities that can be plugged in to your staff training today. Best Practice for Leadership Training Have your staff "come as a child!" Everything about training can be framed through the experience of a kid. When staff arrive, greet them with known childhood characters. Make time everyday to play for the sake of playing. Build forts and have story time. Hold a meeting as superheros in secret headquarters. Host a tea party. Make puppets. Plan a birthday party evening program. Create a space that reminds your staff of the audience they will be catering to all summer long. It will help your staff reconnect with their childhood experiences and teach them how take those memories and recreate them in more intentional and purposeful ways.

View Details

Meatballs - "We want gossip!" Andrew Solomon - Love, no matter what Wet Hot American Summer - Are you going to pick that up? First Follower: Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy Jack Vale - Social Media Experiment Sir Ken Robinson - School Kills Creativity Arc'teryx - 35 Jessica's Daily Affirmations John Jacobson - Double Dream Hands Aimee Mullins - The opportunity of adversity 10 Most Awkward Moments Improv Everywhere - Subway Art Gallery Opening, Salvation Army Bell Choir

View Details

View Details

Though we often consider the first day of staff training the time when we begin absorbing our new team into the camp culture, the reality is that staff orientation starts during the application process. Is the person trainable? How will he or she work on the team that is assembled? Does the applicant "get it?" Join Gab, Beth, and Ruby for a discussion of their favorite interview questions and time-tested ways to figure out if an applicant is a good fit. Best Practice for Leadership Training Your hiring process has to be what is best for camp. It is a hard job but you, as the director, are the one that has the big picture. You must put the effort in to make the hiring process be whatever the camp needs. It may involve re-interviewing return staff and asking some hard questions. These are the most important decisions you will make all year. If something feels off, trust your gut. Ask questions to your return staff about things that didn't follow your camp philosophy that happened the year before. You can say "I am offering you a job but here is my concern from last year and that cannot happen again." Hiring is not about being their friend. Make sure they understand that you must do what is best for camp. And never apologize for high expectations.

View Details

Christal Earle is the co-founder of Live Different, an organization that is about seeing change, building hope, and embracing a lifestyle of caring for people, not “stuff.” Christal spoke with the Camp Code hosts about how to empower young leaders to greatness and how to help them fully embrace camp’s mission and become a champion for your organization.

View Details

The Camp Code team is proud to host upcoming ACA National keynote speaker Deborah Gilboa M.D., aka Dr. G, on the show to share her ideas on what parents are struggling with today and how camp can help. Dr. G. answers questions about how to make staff training great and get the behaviors out of our campers (and staff!) that we want. One of the best tips we picked up from Dr. G is that parents today often strive to keep their children happy always. However, for a child to be able to seek out his or her own happiness as they grow older, they must learn how to cope with setbacks and seek internal motivation and rewards on their own. Best Practice for Leadership Training Check out Dr. G's YouTube Channel for a parenting videos (uploaded every Monday) for tips on how to handle specific behaviors in your campers. These make for great content for your camp's social media, as well as training tools for your staff.

View Details

The Camp Code team addresses what makes all-girl camp different and how to train your staff to embrace those differences to foster the best experience for participants. This is an episode for anyone who has females on staff, not just those in a single gender environment. Listen in for insights on exactly what it is that women want and how to empower your female leaders.

View Details

Every director needs that group of people who can be there when you can’t be. These staff members are the eyes and ears of the director and must be capable of seeing and hearing the needs of the staff and the campers. Camp directors need teams of people who fully understand the camp’s philosophy and mission and who not only know what needs to be done to fulfill it but are passionate about the work to be done. Best Practice: Look for leadership team members who want to have their own staff members succeed. That leadership team candidate must be capable of doing the frontline job but even more importantly, he or she must understand the value of letting others stand up and be in the spotlight.

View Details

A great leadership training takes a year to plan. Starting on leadership training now allows you the time to craft creative ideas, to gain buy-in from staff as you hire them, and to gather resources to support your brilliant vision. Identifying where your areas of strength and weakness were during training now will lead to a clearer picture of what leadership training should look like this summer. A Best Practice for Leadership Training Ask your staff the question "What tips and tricks would you share with someone in your position next year?" This can be done during their exit interviews, final coaching sessions, or during return staff interviews for the next summer. Asking this will tell directors what lessons really stuck with the staff throughout the summer (what you taught well or what the staff needed the most) and it will also show what was missed or not stressed enough during training. When you are wondering where to start with building training now, this question will provide your foundation.

View Details

Podcast:Subscribe in iTunes | Stitcher App

View Details

“That’s not the way we did it last year.” “The former director let us do this…” Whether you are a new director who is running the show for the first time or a veteran who just had a rough summer, how do you hit the ground running this summer towards positive change? A Best Practice for Leadership Training: Help your staff members to learn to arrive to training sessions on time by making the times memorable. Have your sessions begin at times like: 9:03, 10:47 or 2:18. If they still have trouble, take a page from Michael Brandwein and wait for the stragglers to arrive, calming and gently explain that you will all leave the room together and, in 2 minutes, all come in together to begin the session. Chances are, they will never be late again.

View Details

We CANNOT stress enough the importance of well-thought out, well-planned, and exceptionally intentional leadership training. As camping professionals, we need to think through every minute of every day of training and use each one to our advantage - whether it’s making the most of a learning session, a time of community building or ensuring our staff is well-rested and ready to go when the campers finally arrive. As always, we want to be intentional with everything we do.

A Best Practice for Leadership Training:

It is vitally important to learn the names of your staff. It is an important step in making your staff, especially new ones, feel like they are appreciated and being cared for. Do whatever you have to do to learn their names ahead of time: create a cheat sheet, study your staff bios, practice with other staff. Repetition is the key. Be sure to introduce your staff in engaging and personal ways.

View Details

Because there are a couple of different strategies, because they are critical for accreditations, because yours could make or break you...because there is lots of room for creativity. A Best Practice for Leadership Training: “Wreck this Journal” is a book that has instructions for destroying it. Check it out and see how you can add this concept into your staff manuals. Here are the 1st three instructions in the book (1) carry this with you everywhere you go (2) follow instructions on every page and (3) order is not important.

View Details

Read more about Tom Heck (and Duct Tape Team building Games) at http://www.teachmeteamwork.com/

View Details

If we are running successful camps, we have a large number of staff returning every year. Instead of it becoming a problem where our returning staff are bored, disengaged, and quite possibly disruptive, we want to challenge them and help them take it to the next level; we also want to use their skills and experience to help teach the next generation of staff. What avenues can we explore to make training a useful and positive experience for staff who’ve done this before? A Best Practice for Leadership Training: Thanks to Dr. Tim Elmore, we learned to put our training on ICE: When teaching this generation of staff, make sure to use... I - images that lead to C - conversations that lead to E - experiences that change their lives.

View Details

Those not in the industry can sometimes think that “camp staff” means glorified babysitter, someone who is simply watching children and making sure they have fun. Those of us who truly believe in the importance of summer camp understand that a youth development professional is fundamentally different; we want to grow the whole person. We want to create people who will change the world and make a difference. How do we prepare our staff?

View Details

Building Camp Staff Leadership Skills Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes| Stitcher App

What we do is so much more than help children to have fun; we are at camp to develop the whole person. We are teaching not only specific hard skills like sailing or climbing or the j stroke but we are also teaching soft skills like communication, conflict resolution, and resiliency. So it’s important that our staff members understand (a) that they are teachers every moment of every day and (b) they understand how to be creative, intentional, well-prepared instructors.

A Best Practice for Leadership Training:

The games and activities that we actually play are not made to just go through the motions. As we develop our skills at camp, sometimes the intent behind what we are doing gets lost. What are your goals, what do you want the end picture to look like? Make sure staff members experience the intent behind what you are doing.

View Details

Making Summer Camp Staff Training Last All Year 'Round Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes| Stitcher App

There are three reasons for exploring this topic:

1. Staff training is never long enough. Ever.
2. There are great tools available to aid with this process.
3. Youth development→ we want our staff to grow not only at work but also beyond. (and if they are growing, they are doing a better job at work!)

A Best Practice for Leadership Training:

“To pay or not to pay” - when do we pay for seasonal staff members to get certifications or training that we need them to have to meet accreditation standards?

View Details

Keeping Staff Training Interesting Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes| Stitcher App

This podcast shares creative ways to cover those important “must-do” sessions that have to be presented year and after year and can be, if we’re not careful, boring and uninspiring.

A Best Practice for Leadership Training:

Provide summer staff additional training and recreation outside of Staff Training week.

Have any questions or need Beth to come lead some training at your camp? Email her beth@camphacker.tv

View Details

Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes| Stitcher App

Leadership training is critical for laying the foundation of your camp community. If staff is prepared to support one another, play alongside one another, resolve conflicts that arise, and work as a united team, then orientation has been a success.

A Best Practice for Leadership Training:

Create a large-scale visual representation of the important elements of each session. This will make it easier for staff to remember the message of the presentation and allow the artists to share their skill.

View Details

Giving Direction to Your Summer Camp Staff Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes| Stitcher App

The mission is your compass. We must teach staff to use the mission of camp to guide their actions just as you teach someone how to use a compass to find their way.

A Best Practice for Leadership Training:

Empower staff to become guardians of the mission so they are truly inspired, committed, and on board.

View Details

Essential Leadership Training Statements for Summer Camp

Here you'll find a list of the 12 sentences that should come from your lips during training and why these words are so powerful.

1. Your time is valuable and I am going to respect that.
2. Marketing for next year begins opening day of camp this year.
3. This is not last summer.
4. What are your expectations for me/admin staff/leadership team?
5. This is our "boysenberry".
6. Let me make this perfectly clear.
7. I am here to support you.
8. You will make "ripples".
9. This training is for you so use it.
10. What do you want to offer camp this summer?

Listen to the episode for the 2 bonus statements and complete details.