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Successful Camp
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Top 10 things you can do to ensure a successful camp: top ten Camping Magazine, July-August, 2007 by Rob Grierson
1. Treat your staff members as if they were gold. Meet with key leadership staff members in the fall. Ask them for their opinions. Do a lot of listening.
2. As you interview returning staff members and potential new staff members, make your priorities for the summer clear. Enlist their support. Acknowledge that you will be asking them to work a little harder.
3. Your best customers are your existing customers. Mail two brochures to every camper from last summer, one with a big sticker that says: "Give this to a friend." At the end of January, send an offer to every registered camper. Ask for the names and addresses of ten friends who have never been to camp. Send that camper a free T-shirt, and send each of them a brochure.
4. Listen to parents. Their concerns are valid. Read all the surveys if you sent any out, otherwise conduct a focus group. If possible, talk to parents of campers who are not returning and find out why.
5. For staff training/orientation week, choose three things you want everyone to know--the three key points you want to get across. Announce them at the opening and refer to them all week long. Everything else you do that week should be a subcategory of one of the three points. Consider doing a Camp Jam. There's quite a bit of preparation, but the results are well worth it.
6. Make sure that every staff member, including support staff, understands that the goal is to have every camper have a safe, fun, and challenging experience that they will want to return to next year. Deal with bullies swiftly and seriously. Send them home if necessary.
7. Parent-camper communication while at camp is more important than ever before. Allow parents to send faxes and distribute them once a day along with the regular mail. Sign up for a one-way e-mail service so parents can send and/or receive replies.
8. Meet with your key leadership (directors, managers, and support staff) every morning for no more than fifteen minutes. C heck what is on their docket. Use this time daily to compliment them on completed projects and to make them aware of your priorities for repairs and housekeeping needs. Use this time to keep everyone in the loop. Identify the various “people problems” (staff and camper) around the camp, brainstorm solutions, and assign specific people to follow up on specific problems. Make sure to follow up.
9. Check in with the food service manager/cook and the nurse at least once a day. Find out what’s on their minds and if they need anything from you. Make sure you, personally, are accessible and available to campers, staff, and parents—always listening and being open to suggestions on how to improve camp. Return phone calls and e-mails promptly. Address problems head-on. Admit mistakes with a commitment to do better in the future.
10. Analyze enrollment statistics so you understand which ages and/or gender that have strong numbers or weak numbers. In light of that information, analyze your program offerings. A progressive program encourages returning campers because there is always something for them to look forward to next year. Survey campers, asking for their interest in potential new programs or new offerings for next year. Make sure your most outgoing and exciting staff members address the campers at the closing event or final meal and plant the seed that ensures that they will leave camp talking about how much fun they had and telling their parents that they want to go back next year.
Go to Step 1 and repeat the cycle!
Written by: Rob Grierson; Consulting Editor: A.L. “ALF” Ferreira Rob Grierson is the director of McGaw YMCA Camp Echo.
Rob Grierson "Top 10 things you can do to ensure a successful camp: top ten". Camping Magazine. FindArticles.com. 10 Nov, 2009. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1249/is_4_80/ai_n27482399/ COPYRIGHT
2007 American Camping Association COPYRIGHT
2008 Gale, Cengage Learning
1. Treat your staff members as if they were gold. Meet with key leadership staff members in the fall. Ask them for their opinions. Do a lot of listening.
2. As you interview returning staff members and potential new staff members, make your priorities for the summer clear. Enlist their support. Acknowledge that you will be asking them to work a little harder.
3. Your best customers are your existing customers. Mail two brochures to every camper from last summer, one with a big sticker that says: "Give this to a friend." At the end of January, send an offer to every registered camper. Ask for the names and addresses of ten friends who have never been to camp. Send that camper a free T-shirt, and send each of them a brochure.
4. Listen to parents. Their concerns are valid. Read all the surveys if you sent any out, otherwise conduct a focus group. If possible, talk to parents of campers who are not returning and find out why.
5. For staff training/orientation week, choose three things you want everyone to know--the three key points you want to get across. Announce them at the opening and refer to them all week long. Everything else you do that week should be a subcategory of one of the three points. Consider doing a Camp Jam. There's quite a bit of preparation, but the results are well worth it.
6. Make sure that every staff member, including support staff, understands that the goal is to have every camper have a safe, fun, and challenging experience that they will want to return to next year. Deal with bullies swiftly and seriously. Send them home if necessary.
7. Parent-camper communication while at camp is more important than ever before. Allow parents to send faxes and distribute them once a day along with the regular mail. Sign up for a one-way e-mail service so parents can send and/or receive replies.
8. Meet with your key leadership (directors, managers, and support staff) every morning for no more than fifteen minutes. C heck what is on their docket. Use this time daily to compliment them on completed projects and to make them aware of your priorities for repairs and housekeeping needs. Use this time to keep everyone in the loop. Identify the various “people problems” (staff and camper) around the camp, brainstorm solutions, and assign specific people to follow up on specific problems. Make sure to follow up.
9. Check in with the food service manager/cook and the nurse at least once a day. Find out what’s on their minds and if they need anything from you. Make sure you, personally, are accessible and available to campers, staff, and parents—always listening and being open to suggestions on how to improve camp. Return phone calls and e-mails promptly. Address problems head-on. Admit mistakes with a commitment to do better in the future.
10. Analyze enrollment statistics so you understand which ages and/or gender that have strong numbers or weak numbers. In light of that information, analyze your program offerings. A progressive program encourages returning campers because there is always something for them to look forward to next year. Survey campers, asking for their interest in potential new programs or new offerings for next year. Make sure your most outgoing and exciting staff members address the campers at the closing event or final meal and plant the seed that ensures that they will leave camp talking about how much fun they had and telling their parents that they want to go back next year.
Go to Step 1 and repeat the cycle!
Written by: Rob Grierson; Consulting Editor: A.L. “ALF” Ferreira Rob Grierson is the director of McGaw YMCA Camp Echo.
Rob Grierson "Top 10 things you can do to ensure a successful camp: top ten". Camping Magazine. FindArticles.com. 10 Nov, 2009. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1249/is_4_80/ai_n27482399/ COPYRIGHT
2007 American Camping Association COPYRIGHT
2008 Gale, Cengage Learning