Camp Code - Leadership & Staff Training Podcast for Camp Directors

Have some feedback? A topic suggestion? Text us!Find full show notes and links at: https://camphacker.tv/camp-code/the-silent-summerThis 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 AllisonWe 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 OuareauBeth Allison, Camp Consultant - CampHacker.tvRuby Compton, Chief Exploration Officer - Ruby Outdoors

Have some feedback? A topic suggestion? Text us!Find full show notes and links at: https://camphacker.tv/camp-code/what-we-learned-from-wicWe 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: 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! & Leadership Training Best PracticeFind these at https://camphacker.tv/camp-code/what-we-learned-from-wic-Your Hosts:Gabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp OuareauBeth Allison, Camp Consultant - CampHacker.tvRuby Compton, Chief Exploration Officer - Ruby Outdoors

Discover creative ways to surprise and delight camp staff! The hosts explore innovative appreciation strategies, from personalized videos to customized gifts. Learn effective communication tools beyond email to motivate your team. Celebrate new hires with engaging social media announcements that excite both staff and campers. Plus, dive into fun discussions about snack preferences while emphasizing the importance of recognizing each staff member's unique contributions. These ideas are all about making everyone feel valued and connected!

This podcast explores the importance of disagreements in teams, creating a culture of respectful disagreement, addressing disagreements in a camp setting, and training staff to disagree and discuss with care.

Have some feedback? A topic suggestion? Text us!Find more at https://camphacker.tv/camp-code/hiring-in-uncertain-timesInviting 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 my GoCamp.Pro’s very own Travis Allison. Covid Slack https://zoic.ca/covid-slackGabrielle brings up a great idea about using the alumni staff on standby to run a life wellness session for potential staff. Look at Alumi 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 ComptonThe 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 OuareauBeth Allison, Camp Consultant - CampHacker.tvRuby Compton, Chief Exploration Officer - Ruby Outdoors

Have some feedback? A topic suggestion? Text us!Find full show notes and links at: https://gocamp.pro/blog/women-of-gcp-podcastWhat do you call it when you gather a bunch of female camp and podcasting pros in a room? You call it AWESOME.In today’s special crossover episode, Beth Allison from Camp Code hosts a conversation with several of the women who podcast with Go Camp Pro. Today’s episode features Rachel Kent and Cassie Bloy from Beyond Camp, Sam Thompson from the Day Camp Pod, Kelly Schuna from The Camp Owner’s Podcast, and Ruby Compton from Camp Code and Gabrielle Raill from CampHacker and Camp Code. Listen in as these women discuss their mentors who inspired them in the industry, challenges women face working at camp and advice for new camp pros. Interestingly, all of these women have also attended the Women in Camp Summit in previous years. During the episode they discuss some of their biggest takeaways from the event as well as what they are most looking forward to for this year’s Live Virtual Summit taking place December 2-3. Find out more about the Women in Camp Summit Live Virtual event at https://www.womenincampsummit.com.Gabrielle announced this year’s Summit will also feature the first of the “Becoming Allies” series with an event titled “Becoming Allies: Supporting Women in Camp” on December 4. Folks who want to participate in the Allies event can register through this link: https://acai.wildapricot.org/event-4051965-The Women in Camp Summit needs your support! The planning team for the Summit has set a $7,500 fundraising goal to offer scholarships to attendees and off-set the costs of hosting this unique professional development event. Every dollar counts. Donate today and donate again on the Day of Giving for the Women in Camp Summit on November 24. Donate here: https://acai.wildapricot.org/allies/-Love this episode?Find more Podcast goodness at gocamp.pro/podcast. Also, if you want to support the work that we do, please consider subscribing to the shows, and leaving us a rating in your favourite Podcast app.-On This Episode:Beth Allison, Camp Consultant and Co-Owner - Go Camp ProGabrielle Raill, Camp Director - Camp OuareauRuby Compton, Chief Exploration Officer - Ruby OutdoorsSam Thompson, Recreation Supervisor - Crystal Lake Park DistrictKelly Schuna - Owner - Hidden Pines RanchCassie Bloy, Consultant & Freelance Camp Director - Stephane Richard Development Consulting Rachel Kent, Coordinator, Member Risk - Girl Guides of Canada

Have some feedback? A topic suggestion? Text us!Find more at https://camphacker.tv/camp-code/taking-care-of-your-staffOne 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 RaillVisual 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 OuareauBeth Allison, Camp Consultant - CampHacker.tvRuby Compton, Chief Exploration Officer - Ruby Outdoors

Have some feedback? A topic suggestion? Text us!Find full show notes and links at: https://camphacker.tv/camp-code/professional-development-in-2020In 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 the 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 of 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 ConferenceInBound conferenceAs 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 - Youtube LearningUniversity and college courses - There are various resources for this, one that you can check out is https://www.edx.orgSkillshare - 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/podcastThe Day Camp Pod - https://gocamp.pro/day-camp-podFirst Class Counsellors - https://www.camphacker.tv/first-class-counsellorsThe Camp Owners Pod - https://gocamp.pro/ownerspodBeyond Camp - https://gocamp.pro/beyondcampThe 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! -Leadership Training Best PracticeFrom Beth AllisonInterview 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 OuareauBeth Allison, Camp Consultant - CampHacker.tvRuby Compton, Chief Exploration Of

Self-care is vital for camp leaders during challenging times. The hosts share personal strategies for recharging, like disconnecting from technology and prioritizing 'me time.' Emotional wellness is explored, with insights on acknowledging feelings and setting boundaries. They introduce 'Five Minute Fridays' for quick professional tips. The episode highlights the power of community, even through music, fostering connections and support among colleagues. It's a reminder that taking care of oneself enhances the ability to lead effectively.

Have some feedback? A topic suggestion? Text us!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 RaillPlan 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. 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 OuareauBeth Allison, Camp Consultant - CampHacker.tvRuby Compton, Chief Exploration Officer - Ruby Outdoors