5 Quick Tips – First Impressions Of Your Site

People are left with a certain impression when they visit your site. As an accreditation visitor for my provincial camping association I’ve had the pleasure of visiting numerous camps throughout my province. I’ve found that each camp has its own vibe. I’ve also found that first impressions are really, really important. I’ve noticed over the years that regardless of how new, old, fancy, or rustic a camp’s facilities are the thing that impacts my first impression most is how tidy/ clean the place is (note: although they go hand in hand, tidy and clean are not the same thing!)
If a facility is well looked after it leads people to make assumptions about the quality of care that the staff puts into every other aspect of their job, specifically camper care. It may not be a fair assumption, but it’s a common one.
I remember visiting a camp’s website, thinking how cool the camp was, until I saw a series of photos that had a mess in the background. My thought was, if these are the photos they’re using to promote their camp, then what does the place look like on a bad day?? The camp was for people with disabilities and special needs, and I couldn’t help but think that I wouldn’t trust them with a camper who needed special medical attention because I wouldn’t feel like I could trust them to be thorough, careful, and attentive to details.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that camps need to be military style clean, but the beds should be made, and there shouldn’t be stuff lying everywhere all the time!

So here are 5 quick tips to keeping your camp clean and making a great first impression.

5 Quick Tips – Awkward Conversations

Awkward conversations happen. Sometimes it’s because it’s a difficult or uncomfortable topic, sometimes it’s because of the relationship you have with the staff member, and sometimes it’s just because you’re not used to being in a position where you have to discuss certain topics with staff (don’t worry, it get’s easier with time, you’ll get there).

I thought it would be a great time to cover this since I recently talked about awkward conversations in my last post about Campmances, if you missed it, check it out here.

Scott Arizala, of the Scott Arizala Show has a great video about having difficult conversations over at Camp Hacker. I highly recommend you check it out.

5 Quick Tips – Running a Meeting (with camp counsellors)

Meetings are a part of the job, not everybody likes them but they’re a great way to pass information, check in with people and highlight some of the positives or give feedback about what you’d like to see happen. Here are some lessons I learned along the way to prevent grumbles from your staff when they hear there’s a meeting.

1. Be Positive.
Nobody likes a Negative Nelly (sorry Nelly, you know it’s true). Try to find ways to focus on the positives, and smile. Chances are your staff are tired and either want to get on with their day, or go to bed (depending on meeting time) so send them off on a positive note. Give high fives.

Great Meeting!! High Five!!

                                                              big-ashb / Foter / CC BY

 

5 Quick Tips – Staying Healthy At Camp

We’ve all been there, one person gets sick at camp. And before you know it, the whole cabin/ section/ camp has come down with the sniffles… Dun dun Dunnnn! The key is to prevent people from getting sick in the first place. And it’s OUR job as leaders to set an example – our staff and their campers are going to follow our lead, make sure it’s worth following.

Here are 5 easy ways to keep yourself healthy while you’re at summer camp.

1. Wash your hands, man.

Let’s be real, campers are awesome, hilarious, wonderful and fun. They ARE camp. But those tiny dudes are also full on germ factories.
You’d think that washing your hands would be a given, but it’s not. You should be washing your hands so much that you’re complaining about them getting dry

Bonus tip: I also recommend using moisturizer, and/ or moisturizing hand soap

Cayusa / Foter / CC BY-NC