The CampHacker Podcast

Have some feedback? A topic suggestion? Text us!

Find full show notes and links at: https://camphacker.tv/podcast/2022/05/calling-camp-home

We know you’ve heard it. “Camp is my home away from home!” - some camps even go as far as saying “welcome home!” to everyone that drives up the camp road.

Why does that happen?

What is it about the summer camp experience that causes something in our brains that says “I’m home”.

And what happens for the people that it doesn’t?

Chris, Gabz, Joe and Travis get together for a great philosophical chat about what we do, and can do more of, to make that “home” experience for truly everyone that enters our program.

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• Chris: Codenames https://amzn.to/3xuf8gC, online codenames
• Gabz: Monday.com - Online Collaboration Tool
• Joe: Super MEGA Lucky Box - Board Game for all - and you can play solo
• Travis: Libro.fm   https://libro.fm/referral?rf_code=lfm210064

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Do you read the show notes? Let us know - click the following link to receive 10% off a lifetime subscription of Go Camp Pro's 5-Minute Fridays. (psst. Even if you don't buy anything, clicking this link will still help!)
(click here - https://bit.ly/pod-notes-discount)

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• Travis Allison, Summer Camp Consultant - Go Camp Pro
• Chris Hudson, Camp Director - Camp Highlight
• Joe Richards, Executive Director - Pearce Williams
• Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau

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Rate and Review the CampHacker Show

(Thank you!)

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Crazy Creek

Crazy Creek Products has been perfecting Just Sit There for campers and staff alike since 1987.  Mention this ad when you email or call in and receive 10% off your entire order and free single-colour logo on your Crazy Creek’s!  No tool is more vital at camp than a Crazy Creek!  Call 800-446-3446 or email Chelsea  [email protected] to guarantee your chairs for the 2022 season!

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

Our free Resilient Camp Blueprint diagnostic is available at: https://camp.mba/travis

Have some feedback? A topic suggestion? Text us!

Find full show notes and links at: https://camphacker.tv/podcast/2022/05/sending-campers-home-intention

One of the unfortunate realities of being a camp professional is that it’s likely that eventually, a camper is going to have to go home early.

Whether it’s because of a medical reason, or a behavioural one, a camper going home is never easy. It can send shockwaves not only to them and their parents/caregivers but to your entire camp community.

That’s why it’s important that you don’t leave the “going home” process to chance and instincts.

It’s a good thing that Kate Taylor has dropped in to share her stories and best practices with Travis, Joe and Chris! Tune in!

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• Chris: Inclusive Conversations by Mary-Frances Winters
• Joe:  Creative Market - Free Downloads each week
• Kate: Avacado Freshness Hack
• Travis: From Stressed to Resilient - Dr G - https://amzn.to/3tx25Z6

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Do you read the show notes? Let us know - click the following link to receive 10% off a lifetime subscription of Go Camp Pro's 5-Minute Fridays. (psst. Even if you don't buy anything, clicking this link will still help!)
(click here - https://bit.ly/pod-notes-discount)

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• Travis Allison, Summer Camp Consultant - Go Camp Pro
• Chris Hudson, Camp Director - Camp Highlight
• Joe Richards, Executive Director - Pearce Williams
• Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau
• Kate Taylor, Camp Director, Camp Kanawana at The YMCAs of Québec

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Rate and Review the CampHacker Show

-

Crazy Creek

Crazy Creek Products has been perfecting Just Sit There for campers and staff alike since 1987.  Mention this ad when you email or call in and receive 10% off your entire order and free single-colour logo on your Crazy Creek’s!  No tool is more vital at camp than a Crazy Creek!  Call 800-446-3446 or email Chelsea  [email protected] to guarantee your chairs for the 2022 season!

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

Our free Resilient Camp Blueprint diagnostic is available at: https://camp.mba/travis

Have some feedback? A topic suggestion? Text us!

Find full show notes and links at: https://camphacker.tv/podcast/2022/04/9-tips-new-families

After a few years away from a regular summer, we likely have more new families than ever.

One of the biggest “shake off the rust” things that we need to remember is how we welcome and prepare new families for their, or their camper’s first time at camp.

Joe, Travis and Gabz get together and share their best practices  for helping new families feel like they already have a place at camp, before they even set foot on the property!

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• Gabz: Bio Soap:  https://savonneriediligences.ca/en
• Joe: https://hibid.com | https://bidspotter.com 
• Travis: Retract-a-bit - https://amzn.to/3CNW7X8

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Do you read the show notes? Let us know - click the following link to receive 10% off a lifetime subscription of Go Camp Pro's 5-Minute Fridays. (psst. Even if you don't buy anything, clicking this link will still help!)
(click here - https://bit.ly/pod-notes-discount)

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• Travis Allison, Summer Camp Consultant - Go Camp Pro
• Chris Hudson, Camp Director - Camp Highlight
• Joe Richards, Executive Director - Pearce Williams
• Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau

-

Rate and Review the CampHacker Show

(Thank you!)

-

Crazy Creek

Crazy Creek Products has been perfecting Just Sit There for campers and staff alike since 1987.  Mention this ad when you email or call in and receive 10% off your entire order and free single-colour logo on your Crazy Creek’s!  No tool is more vital at camp than a Crazy Creek!  Call 800-446-3446 or email Chelsea  [email protected] to guarantee your chairs for the 2022 season!

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

Our free Resilient Camp Blueprint diagnostic is available at: https://camp.mba/travis

Have some feedback? A topic suggestion? Text us!

Find full show notes and links at: https://camphacker.tv/podcast/2022/04/honest-staffing-conversation

Here we go. The camp season is on its way and while we’re so desperately ready to be back, we have to face the reality that the camp industry, like many others, is facing a real staffing crisis.

Whether it’s pay, whether it’s work-load or whether it’s COVID, we need to be more intentional than ever about how we recruit, hire, and retain great staff.

The whole team is here to talk not just about where they’re at, but what decisions they are making to ensure that the staffing culture (and numbers) is strong for years to come.

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• Chris: Trello   iftf.org
• Gabz: Silent Fidget Toys
• Joe:  Imaginable: How to See the Future Coming and Feel Ready for Anything—Even Things That Seem Impossible Today - Jane McGonigal https://amzn.to/3iIOKXt
• Travis: Magnetic Charging Cable 6-Pack 

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Do you read the show notes? Let us know - click the following link to receive 10% off a lifetime subscription of Go Camp Pro's 5-Minute Fridays. (psst. Even if you don't buy anything, clicking this link will still help!)
(click here - https://bit.ly/pod-notes-discount)

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• Travis Allison, Summer Camp Consultant - Go Camp Pro
• Chris Hudson, Camp Director - Camp Highlight
• Joe Richards, Executive Director - Pearce Williams
• Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau

-

Crazy Creek

Crazy Creek Products has been perfecting Just Sit There for campers and staff alike since 1987.  Mention this ad when you email or call in and receive 10% off your entire order and free single-colour logo on your Crazy Creek’s!  No tool is more vital at camp than a Crazy Creek!  Call 800-446-3446 or email Chelsea  [email protected] to guarantee your chairs for the 2022 season!

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

Our free Resilient Camp Blueprint diagnostic is available at: https://camp.mba/travis

Have some feedback? A topic suggestion? Text us!

Find full show notes and links at: https://camphacker.tv/podcast/2022/02/succession-planning

What’s the plan?

Seriously. 

When you, or another senior staff leaves… 

Who will pick up where you/they left off?

Where are the procedures?

What are the most important parts of the culture?

Who knows the wifi password?

Yes, even that last one. We’ve said it multiple times on the CampHacker Podcast so this shouldn’t be shocking…but…YOU AREN’T GOING TO BE THE DIRECTOR SOMEDAY!

So how prepared are you?

Have no fear, the CampHacker gang is here! Travis, Gabz, Chris (welcome back, Chris!) and Joe are ready to share the ways that they think about succession planning every day at camp.

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Because you read the show notes - and that’s pretty neat!

Joe’s “Your Future at Camp” Activity - Instructions for Folding

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• Chris: Thanks for the Feedback
• Gabz: Spike: Making emails simpler
• Joe: Sugru 
• Travis: Google Photos screen - Google Next Hub https://store.google.com/product/nest_hub_2nd_gen?hl=en-GB

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• Travis Allison, Summer Camp Consultant - Go Camp Pro
• Chris Hudson, Camp Director - Camp Highlight
• Joe Richards, Executive Director - Pearce Williams
• Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau

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Crazy Creek
Crazy Creek Products has been perfecting Just Sit There for campers and staff alike since 1987.  Mention this ad when you email or call in and receive 10% off your entire order and free single-colour logo on your Crazy Creek’s!  No tool is more vital at camp than a Crazy Creek!  Call 800-446-3446 or email Chelsea  [email protected] to guarantee your chairs for the 2022 season!

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

Our free Resilient Camp Blueprint diagnostic is available at: https://camp.mba/travis

Have some feedback? A topic suggestion? Text us!

Find full show notes and links at: https://camphacker.tv/podcast/2022/02/our-best-life-advice-for-staff

Camp has this beautiful, strange and messy blurring effect on the work/life relationship between bosses and employees. It’s tough for a lot of reasons, but we’re going to talk about one of the best parts of it on this episode.

One of the inevitabilities of being a camp director is that simply because we’re leaders, people will look to us. What we’re able to do with that relationship is powerful.

Whatever we pass on, whether it’s how to change a tire, or how to determine your next life steps, we know that it can have a profound effect.

The gang’s all here and they’re full of the advice that they regularly give - and the advice they wish they got!

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• Chris: Eat Breakfast!
• Gabz: Multi Timer App
• Joe: Art - (https://www.saatchiart.com/ as an example for discovery)- things that make you happy.  Things that make you think.  Things that make you remember.  Things that speak to you
• Travis: https://www.fastcompany.com/90714184/use-old-phone-as-security-camera

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Do you read the show notes? Let us know - click the following link to receive 10% off a lifetime subscription of Go Camp Pro's 5-Minute Fridays. (psst. Even if you don't buy anything, clicking this link will still help!)
(click here - https://bit.ly/pod-notes-discount)

-

• Travis Allison, Summer Camp Consultant - Go Camp Pro
• Chris Hudson, Camp Director - Camp Highlight
• Joe Richards, Executive Director - Pearce Williams
• Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau

-

Rate and Review the CampHacker Show
(Thank you!)

-

Crazy Creek
Crazy Creek Products has been perfecting Just Sit There for campers and staff alike since 1987.  Mention this ad when you email or call in and receive 10% off your entire order and free single-colour logo on your Crazy Creek’s!  No tool is more vital at camp than a Crazy Creek!  Call 800-446-3446 or email Chelsea  [email protected] to guarantee your chairs for the 2022 season!

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

Our free Resilient Camp Blueprint diagnostic is available at: https://camp.mba/travis

Have some feedback? A topic suggestion? Text us!

Find full show notes and links at: https://camphacker.tv/podcast/2022/02/the-next-100-days

Not only did we get some great feedback on our last episode with Ari and Abi, they realized that as they were preparing for their upcoming summers, they were relying on some tried and true strategies that their years in the “camp ops” world has taught them.

Like the incredibly generous camp pros that they are, they are back on the CampHacker podcast to share these tips with Travis and all our listeners.

Welcome back, Ari and Abi!

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• Ari: Adam Grant’s Instagram
• Abbie: Gozen - newsletter
• Travis:The UpRooter (thanks, Ruby)

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Do you read the show notes? Let us know - click the following link to receive 10% off a lifetime subscription of Go Camp Pro's 5-Minute Fridays. (psst. Even if you don't buy anything, clicking this link will still help!)
(click here - https://bit.ly/pod-notes-discount)

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• Travis Allison, Summer Camp Consultant - Go Camp Pro
• Abigail Stuart, Director of Operations - Doxazo Ministries
• Ari Polsky, Program Manager, Client Services - JCamp 180 (a program of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation)

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Crazy Creek
Crazy Creek Products has been perfecting Just Sit There for campers and staff alike since 1987.  Mention this ad when you email or call in and receive 10% off your entire order and free single-colour logo on your Crazy Creek’s!  No tool is more vital at camp than a Crazy Creek!  Call 800-446-3446 or email Chelsea  [email protected] to guarantee your chairs for the 2022 season!

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

Our free Resilient Camp Blueprint diagnostic is available at: https://camp.mba/travis

Have some feedback? A topic suggestion? Text us!

Find full show notes and links at: https://camphacker.tv/podcast/2022/02/building-trust-with-parents

We know, we know. You have a million other “post-pandemic priorities”, but this is one you can’t let slip!

After 2 years of a pandemic that had us in a consistent tornado of fear AND for some, 2 years of no camp, we have some trust to build with families! But, like many things about the pandemic, there’s a silver lining here.

2022 is your opportunity to completely revamp your communication and family onboarding strategy. It’s time to bust out all of the stops - but where to start?

Gabz, Travis and Joe are joined by camp pro and Beyond Camp podcaster Rachel Kent to give you some of their best trust-building philosophies and strategies that you can implement RIGHT NOW.

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• Travis: Ulanzi Cute Cube Lite https://amzn.to/3mVmiUS | TinyCam (Android) for Keeping Wyze Cams on a portable screen http://tinycammonitor.com/
• Gabz: Vegan Treats for Everyone
• Joe: 100 Questions Conversation Toolkit 
• Rachel: Coffee Subscription - https://www.muskokaroastery.com/

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Do you read the show notes? Let us know - click the following link to receive 10% off a lifetime subscription of Go Camp Pro's 5-Minute Fridays. (psst. Even if you don't buy anything, clicking this link will still help!)
(click here - https://bit.ly/pod-notes-discount)

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• Travis Allison, Summer Camp Consultant - Go Camp Pro
• Joe Richards, Executive Director - Pearce Williams
• Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau
• Rachel Kent, Coordinator, Outdoor Experiences - Girl Guides of Canada, Ontario Council

Rate and Review the CampHacker Show

(Thank you!)

-

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

Our free Resilient Camp Blueprint diagnostic is available at: https://camp.mba/travis

Have some feedback? A topic suggestion? Text us!

Find full show notes and links at: https://camphacker.tv/podcast/2022/01/how-can-we-be-more-motivated

Motivation isn’t innate. There are times that, for whatever reason, we need a boost.

Either it’s a project that we find difficult, or we aren’t getting the support or rest we need, or any number of things that can get us feeling down and distracted.

It happens to everyone, including Joe, Travis and Gabz! So when it happens to you, and them, this episode is dedicated to what you can do to dig yourself out. Tune in to hear our host’s favourite motivation and relaxation strategies to get them back on the horse. We hope it helps!

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• Travis: Google Pixel Buds Series-A
• Gabz: Thronmax Mic 
• Joe: Multcloud | Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

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Do you read the show notes? Let us know - click the following link to receive 10% off a lifetime subscription of Go Camp Pro's 5-Minute Fridays. (psst. Even if you don't buy anything, clicking this link will still help!)
(click here - https://bit.ly/pod-notes-discount)

-

• Travis Allison, Summer Camp Consultant - Go Camp Pro
• Joe Richards, Executive Director - Pearce Williams
• Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau

Rate and Review the CampHacker Show

-

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

Our free Resilient Camp Blueprint diagnostic is available at: https://camp.mba/travis

Have some feedback? A topic suggestion? Text us!

Find full show notes and links at: https://camphacker.tv/podcast/2021/01/marketing-when-you-dont-want-to

Do you like every single part of being a camp director? Come on, be honest.

There’s something that is every camp director’s kryptonite - something that you KNOW you need to do, and you probably do it, but just the thought of it makes you feel gross.

For many directors out there, marketing is that thing.

Social media, newsletters, podcasts, word of mouth, ads…yeesh. If it doesn’t come natural to you, it’s hard, but there’s hope.

This episode will take you through all of the emotions through our hosts for today. Travis, the marketing expert, Gabz the enthusiastic marketing camp director, and Chris…on the opposite end of that spectrum. Give this great conversation a listen.

And it’s not just the mushy stuff, there are a lot of great practical tips, so get excited!

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Find them at https://camphacker.tv/podcast/2021/01/marketing-when-you-dont-want-to

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• Travis: Zapp Padd https://powerbx.com/discount/GoCamp
• Gabz: Multi Device Keyboard Logitech K380 https://amzn.to/32sk7Rr
• Chris: Spot It (https://amzn.to/3nKxGnj) - And the story behind Spot-It

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Do you read the show notes? Let us know - click the following link to receive 10% off a lifetime subscription of Go Camp Pro's 5-Minute Fridays. (psst. Even if you don't buy anything, clicking this link will still help!)
(click here - https://bit.ly/pod-notes-discount)

-

• Travis Allison, Summer Camp Consultant - Go Camp Pro
• Chris Hudson, Camp Director - Camp Highlight
• Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp Ouareau

-

Rate and Review the CampHacker Show

(Thank you!)

-

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

Our free Resilient Camp Blueprint diagnostic is available at: https://camp.mba/travis