Tragedy & Healing
At about 9 a.m. on August 4, 2004, the State of New Hampshire's Disaster Behavioral Health Coordinator received a call stating that on August 3 there had been a tragic death of a 13-year-old camper at Camp
What's In Store
Wouldn't you like to put any worries that you might have about next season's camp enrollment in your rearview mirror? Making your camp "the" place where campers want to be can be easily achieved if you
Me a Mentor?
"I was the only one…I felt all alone…Not a single person said hi to me..." These are all words that we, as camp directors, hope we never hear come out of the mouths of our campers or staff as they reflect upon their
Traditional Programs
At YMCA Camp Kern, I believe, the success of our camp is directly tied to how aggressively and effectively we network. I think of networking in two ways:
Holistic Branding & Technology
Holistic branding… It's more than just a New Age term. It's a big picture view of your camp's marketing, a way of making sure that all the parts of your marketing work together.
Digital Foundation
Whether or not you have the resources to purchase the highest end of the technology scale, there are steps you can take to ensure a solid network backbone that helps alleviate and soften the blow of the
Customer Connection--The Human Touch
When talking about customer service we are definitely getting into a good news/bad news kind of situation. The bad news: Levels of customer satisfaction with service in so many industries have dropped
What's in a Name
I was 12 years old the summer of 1980. It was my fourth year at Phantom Lake YMCA Camp in Mukwonago, Wis., and for the first time I had finally moved from the younger Indian and Western units to the large
Preventing Injuries
Everything had gone smoothly this past summer. The campers were going to return home unscathed and the staff was taking a collective deep breath -- until a parent showed up early to pick up his child.
Making Memories Last … and Spread
When summer is over, some of your campers will ask their parents to sign them up again for next year’s session. And some of them won’t. What’s the difference? Some parents tell all of the friends about your
The Three Knows: Part Two
Last issue, we talked about the Three Knows for Marketing, and how these three elements are important to developing compelling and effective materials for your camp. We also discussed the concept of Holistic
The Three “Knows” of Marketing
From the outside, marketing can look complicated and confusing. And, done incorrectly, it can be. But, if you think about marketing correctly, if you examine the process (and marketing is a multi-faceted process)
Summer’s End
The end of summer is really just the beginning of the next one. Or, in other words, the best time to prepare for next year’s season is before the memories and lessons of the current one disappear forever.
Building A Camp That Builds Friendships
We spend way too much time keeping campers busy in activities. Not that having new stuff every year isn’t valuable, or making camp “fun” isn’t a worthy goal. But, by themselves neither will bring your campers
Doesn’t Everyone Love Camp?
When it comes to raising children, controversy abounds. Should toddlers watch TV? Is it better to spank or use time-out? Public school or private? Day camp or residential?
The Elevator Speech
You meet a parent in line at the grocery store, and you’re wearing a camp shirt. You’re at a friend’s house for dinner, and a couple you’ve just met says, “So I hear you run a camp!” You overhear your part-time
Community Exchange Programs
If you ask some of our campers how they earned their spot at camp this year, they might say they tried their best to “be good” during the year.
The Power of Group Partnerships
Partnering with area schools and working to bring their students and teachers to your camp not only adds to your bottom line, but is also a powerful promotional tool which can boost your traditional enrollment
Brave New World of Marketing
Things sure change quickly. Fifteen years ago, way back in 1991, how many summer camps had a Web site? How many even had access to the Internet? Maybe we were fooling around with Prodigy or Compuserve