The CampHacker Podcast

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The CampHacker Podcast episodes

May 27, 2011Managing Your Health Centre - CampHacker #16
Keeping your summer camp infirmary in shape for community health care
I like to give campers back to their parents in (at least) as good shape as when they were handed into my care.
On this week's CampHacker podcast we talk about how we take care of the medical needs of campers and staff. The key person for this is our health care professional: nurse, doctor, medic. Take a listen and find out how we set up the staffing of our health centres and how we work with our local community health organizations.
How do you look after the staff of your Health Centre?Tool of the Week – make yourself a better Camp Director
Gab - Pinterest
Joe - Leopold bench
Paul - Ustream (here's Paul's Welcome to Camp Ustream video - skip to minute 7:00 for the actual presentation)
Travis - Mail Chimp
(please note: Amazon products are affiliate links)
Your Hosts:
Gabrielle Raill, Director at Camp Ouareau
Joe Richards, Executive Director at Pearce Williams Christian Centre
Travis Allison, Summer Camp Leadership and Marketing Consultant at Walking Maverick
Paul Sheridan, Director at Four Winds * Westward Ho camp
Thanks for the evening, friends.
53 min
May 19, 2011Being A Great Neighbour at Summer Camp - CampHacker #15
Living and working in harmony with your local community
Teaching the value of community is one of our biggest privileges. Do we extend that teaching beyond our boarders?
Each one of us had some great idea of things we can do to build great relationships with the people that we share our locales and lakes with.
Andy mentioned some of the things that they do at Liberty Lake: Liberty Lake Picnics and New Jersey Renaissance Faire.
How do you make nice with your neighbours?Tool of the Week – make yourself a better Camp Director
Dan - Moleskine Square Notebook Pocket
Andy - Rabaska War Canoe
Joe - Kee Klamp Systems
Travis - Notational Velocity Alt
(please note: Amazon products are affiliate links)
Your Hosts:
Joe Richards, Executive Director at Pearce Williams Christian Centre
Travis Allison, Summer Camp Leadership and Marketing Consultant at Walking Maverick
Dan Weir, Director of Camping Services at Frost Valley YMCA.
Andy Pritikin, Director at Liberty Lake
Thanks for the evening, friends.
52 min
May 06, 2011Protecting Yourself and Your Staff - CampHacker #14
Training camp staff to be mindful of potential false abuse allegations
It was a great discussion last week and a pleasure to have Jennifer Selke back on the show. I was also thrilled to welcome "Brother Bill" Stevens, Camp Director of Camp Big Canoe in Muskoka, Ontario.
As Camp Directors we face many challenges. Such a big part of our job involves protection: protecting our campers and even protecting the camp. But we must also be conscious of protecting the young adults that work for us.
This podcast we talked about teaching our staff to protect themselves from false allegations of abuse. It is so important that they have a solid understanding of the risk that they take on and that they are constantly cautious.
What do you do to protect your staff from false allegations of abuse?Tool of the Week – make yourself a better Camp Director
Jen - Screenflow and Prfessor.com
Gab - Convectair heater
Bill -The Last Lecture
Travis - Canon EOS 7D
(please note: Amazon products are affiliate links)
Your Hosts:
Travis Allison, Summer Camp Leadership and Marketing Consultant at Walking Maverick
Gabrielle Raill, Director at Camp Ouareau
Jennifer Selke, Director at Strawberry Canyon Youth Programs, host of TheCampDirector.com
Bill Stevens, Director at Camp Big Canoe
Thanks for the evening, friends.
1 hr 20 min
April 21, 2011Work-Life Balance at Summer Camp- CampHacker #13
Finding Time for Family and Yourself
This week we talked about how we look after ourselves at summer camp. Each of us has our own tips and tricks to balance out the stress and long hours of the camp job.
It's also important that we take the time to talk with our staff about managing their own wellness.
How do you take care yourself when you're at camp?Tool of the Week – make yourself a better Camp Director
Dan - slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations
Gab - Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
Joe - Kronum: The Unholy Basketball/Quidditch/Soccer Mashup
Travis - Frank's Red Hot
(please note: Amazon products are affiliate links)
Your Hosts:
Joe Richards, Executive Director at Pearce Williams Christian Centre
Travis Allison, Summer Camp Leadership and Marketing Consultant at Walking Maverick
Gabrielle Raill, Director at Camp Ouareau
Dan Weir, Director of Camping Services at Frost Valley YMCA.
Thanks for the evening, friends.
1 hr 6 min
March 30, 2011Making Big Changes at Camp - CampHacker #12
What works and what doesn't for Big Hairy Ambitious plans?
Gab, Joe, Travis and special guest-hosts Andy Pritikin and Jennifer Selke talk about times when we have had to implement a change at camp that we know would be met with some resistance.
This episode is a long one but really worth your time - you'll hear some great strategies and stories about camps doing it right... and wrong.
How do you make big changes at your camp?Tool of the Week – make yourself a better Camp Director
Andy - John Deere 110 Utility Tractor - don't forget to ask for the ACA discount
Gab - Dragon dictation application for iPhone
Jennifer - Time Trade online meeting scheduling
Joe - Common.is - finding a way to do business differently
Travis - Intellitouch rechargeable instrument tuner (Joe also likes this Intelli IMT-600 Guitar, Violin and Chromatic Clip-on Tuner - it's a bit cheaper)
(please note: Amazon products are affiliate links)
Your Hosts:
Joe Richards, Executive Director at Pearce Williams Christian Centre
Travis Allison, Summer Camp Leadership and Marketing Consultant at Walking Maverick
Gabrielle Raill, Director at Camp Ouareau
Andy Pritikin, Director at Liberty Lake
Jennifer Selke, Director at Strawberry Canyon Youth Programs, host of TheCampDirector.com
Thanks for the evening, friends.
0 min
March 25, 2011Leadership Training if I Ruled The World - CampHacker #11
What would you change for your summer camp staff training?
Dan & Travis welcome their guests to this week's podcast: Scott Arizala, Kam Kobeissi, and CampHacker co-owner, Beth Allison.
Our idea behind this discussion was to be as creative as possible about Leadership Training (Pre-Camp training to some camps) and see what each of us would do with unlimited time and and unlimited budget. I think that you'll be surprised at some of the great ideas!
What would you do with an unlimited training budget and unlimited time?Tool of the Week – Something that you use to make yourself a better Camp Director
Dan - Zoom H2 Handy Portable Stereo Recorder
Kam - Adobe Acrobat 8.0 Standard
Scott - Expert Online Training
Beth - Fidget basket (silly putty, koosh balls, stress balls, etc.)
Travis - Invisible Sheild by Zagg - LCD and body covers for cameras, computers, phones, etc.
(please note: Amazon products are affiliate links)
Your Hosts:
Travis Allison, Summer Camp Leadership and Marketing Consultant at Walking Maverick
Dan Weir, Director of Camping Services at Frost Valley YMCA
Kam Kobeissi, Director of Camping Services at Frost Valley YMCA
Scott Arizala, Summer Camp Trainer and Consultant at The Camp Counselor
Beth Allison, Summer Camp Leadership and Marketing Consultant at Walking Maverick
Thanks for the evening, friends.
51 min
March 08, 2011Do Kids Need a Summer Camp Technology Vacation? CampHacker #10
Unplug at Summer Camp
We talked this week about technology. It's probably pretty obvious that we believe that modern technology is a boost to summer camps, however, our question this week: Is technology always good for our campers? Should camp be the "place apart" where children can learn to use their imagination with out computers?
Dan was gracious enough to share with us a bit of information from his Masters thesis, which is on this very topic. He has written and spoken on this topic at many camp conferences.
It was great to have with us this week Rebecca Jess from Cairn, the camp that Beth and I used to Direct. Thanks for joining us, Palais!
What do you think? Is there a NEED for a place like camp for kids to unplug?
Tool of the Week – Something that you use to make yourself a better Camp Director
Joe - Brother P-Touch Label maker
Dan - S'More: Fundraising Resource for Summer Camps
Rebecca - MadMimi - email newsletter service
Travis - Petzl MYO-XP headlamp (Black Diamond headlamp with night-vision preserving red LEDs)
(please note: Amazon products are affiliate links)
Your Hosts:
Joe Richards, Executive Director at Pearce Williams Christian Centre
Travis Allison, Summer Camp Leadership and Marketing Consultant at Walking Maverick
Dan Weir, Director of Camping Services at Frost Valley YMCA
Rebecca Jess, Director at Cairn Presbyterian Camping & Retreat Centres
Thanks for the evening, friends.
58 min
February 18, 2011Welcome to Our Staff - CampHacker #9
On this episode, entitled Welcome to Our Staff, Gab, Joe, and Travis explore what camps can do to help staff understand their responsibilities perfectly.
The staff Welcome Package is a great place to develop a deeper understanding of your camp's culture.
What do you include in your staff Welcome Package to help your staff get a feel for what their summer will be like?
Tool of the Week - Something that you use to make yourself a better Camp Director
Joe - Rhode Island Novelty catalogue
Gab - CraftZine for great how-to's and craft ideas
Travis - Stock.xchng + shooting your own stock photos
(please note: Amazon products are affiliate links)
UPDATE:
Former 5th Chair Nathan Brant's free e-book about summer camp is out! The book is full of thoughtful essays on summer camp's past & present. It includes articles from CampHacker hosts Travis Allison and Dan Weir, plus another 5th Chair guest - Dave Bell, Co-founder of CampLeadership.org.
Download Trail Heads - Thoughts from the Camping Profession
Your Hosts:
Joe Richards, Executive Director at Pearce Williams Christian Centre
Travis Allison, Summer Camp Leadership and Marketing Consultant at Walking Maverick
Dan Weir, Director of Camping Services at Frost Valley YMCA
Gabrielle Rail, Director at Camp Ouareau
1 hr 1 min

About The CampHacker Podcast

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CampHacker Podcast helps camp directors solve real problems and build resilient camps. Each episode gives practical tips for recruiting, keeping, and teaching camp staff. The hosts talk about true…