The All-Access Pass for SCampCon 2 offers over 40 video presentations and accompanying Q&As by summer camp and industry professionals sharing their insights and knowledge on a variety of topics.

Purchase this All-Access Pass and come away with ideas and actionable steps to make this summer the best one yet! All for only $97 (normal price is $247).

_________________

There are 5 Modules - Administration, Marketing, Programming, Staff Development, and Youth Development.

ADMINISTRATION

Adapting Physical Spaces to Foster Gender-Inclusive Camp Communities presented by Davin Allan

While gender diversity is gaining acceptance in today’s society, trans, trans*, and genderqueer people continue to face barriers to full inclusion in school, workplaces and recreation spaces.

While camps can play an integral role in supporting gender diverse campers and staff, many do not know where to start when thinking about creating gender-inclusive spaces. Often camps get stuck thinking, “We cannot afford to build new washrooms, showers, cabins, etc…” In this session Davin will discuss simple solutions to create gender-inclusive space, with a focus on adapting current facilities.

Adapting Social Space to Foster Gender-Inclusive Camp Communities presented by Amanda Grassick

While gender diversity is gaining acceptance in today’s society, trans, trans*, and genderqueer people continue to face barriers to full inclusion in school, workplaces and recreation spaces.

While camps can play an integral role in supporting gender diverse campers and staff, many do not know where to start when thinking about creating gender-inclusive spaces. Often camps think of space in the physical sense, for example, washrooms, showers and cabins. Of equal importance is the need to create safe and inclusive social spaces. In this session, Amanda will discuss impactful solutions, that are easy to implement and will serve to foster gender-inclusive social spaces at any and all camp programs and spaces.

Be the Best Newbie: Joining an Organization With Grace presented by Matthew Honsberger

You’ve spread your wings and taken on leadership at a brand new camp. The summer is approaching and the staff you serve are looking at you with healthy skepticism about what you will do with the place that they love most. How will you get them on your side and lead with integrity?

Over the last 5 years, Matt’s been the “new guy” at several organizations. He is excited to share his successes, failures and practical tips for being the most effective at a new place of service. This session is for new leadership/directing staff or managers of those staff.

Letting Vision Lead the Way presented by Allison East

Having a vision for where you want your camp to be matters. But where do you start and what does that look like?

In this session, we’ll talk about what creating your vision for camp looks like, and we’ll also go over tools and tricks to help make sure that your vision drives everything you do.

Medication Management at Camp presented by Michael Ambrose

The presentation will cover medication management at camp covering topics ranging from scope of practice, over-the-counter medications, controlled substances, staff medications, as well as other best practice recommendations to make your health staff prepared for summer camp programs.

As a result of this workshop, participants will achieve the following objectives/outcomes.

• Clear definition from medical industry experts on the definition of a medication and how to accept medications during camper check-in, storage, and track medication distribution during your camp session.
• How to handle staff medications and how these needs differ from campers.
• Best practice recommendations for how to handle controlled substances (e.g. herbals, CBD Oil, medical marijuana)

Mission Control or Chaos? Camp as Learning Lab, Engagement Strategy and Beyond for an Existing Mission-Driven Organization presented by Kevin Johnson

Getting a new camp off the ground is a daunting task, no matter the whos, whats and whys. Learn from Appalachian Headwaters’ experience piloting a new youth camp (Camp Waldo) at an old coal camp retreat as a new strategy within its mission. Will there be miscommunication? Yes! Will there be conflicts over resources and priorities? You can count on it. There will also be joy, personal growth, and plenty of bees.

Mythbusting ACA Accreditation presented by Tori Barnes

Getting started on a project like ACA (American Camp Association) Accreditation may sound like a TON of work which can feel overwhelming. Let’s face it, outsiders may wonder what a Camp Director does the other 9 months of the year, but we all know we wish we have MORE time. The reality is that you probably have limited time to take on new projects.

Learn more about what it takes to become accredited, the real truth about what it costs, if you’re eligible, and how much time you need to prepare.

*ACA Accreditation is only available for US based camps.

The Roadmap to Your Camp: More Than Just a Pretty Picture! presented by Jacqueline Kaminsky

A master plan is a logical road map for implementing operational, programmatic and physical developments that directly contribute to the continued success of your camp. A great master plan lays out the vision and when strategically deployed it engages and encourages project ownership and donor investment.

• Identify what key elements should be included in your Master Plan.
• Understand best practices for overall site organization.
• Recognize how the master planning process can be leveraged to best narrate history, vision and future opportunities.

The Consequences and Solutions to Wage Stagnation presented by Zac Caldwell

Every camp wants to pay their staff more, but few have the resources to do. This presentation will make clear how many of the difficulties camps face right now are related to stagnant staff wages, and go over a number of labor-efficient methods in increase revenue to improve payroll. This discussion-based session will provide answers to improving staff retention and decreasing the cost of staff recruitment.

Using Non-Camp Resources to Make Yourself a Better Camp Director presented by Lindsey Sigler

This session will help camp professionals think outside of the box and utilize multiple facets of the performing arts world to broaden their abilities and resources in various areas of camp. Covering areas such as creativity, public speaking, and making yourself replaceable, camp professionals will learn to expand their programs by utilizing skills obtained through stage management, improvisation, and play direction.

Writing A Camp Inspired Book (Author Panel) presented by Jenifer Brady, Michael Jacobus and Curt Jackson

Join a panel of writers who have published works having to do with summer camp, whether that is fiction, nonfiction (how-to, program development, etc), or memoir.

If you have any sort of camp story or experience, you can help others by writing and publishing it. If it’s program development, game ideas, or how-to, your ideas can help advise busy camp directors and program personnel all over the world.

If it is fiction or memoir, your stories can help lovers of summer camp, of all ages and stages, fight their post-camp depression or transport readers to the world of camp during the winter months.

Hopefully, by sharing our experience and our writing process, we can help spur to action anybody who has something camp-related to say.

_________________

MARKETING

Building Your Camp Community and Growing Exposure on Instagram presented by Blake Sunshine

Instagram is not just for kids anymore and with parents ages 35-44 as the fastest growing demographic on the platform, it’s time to up your camp’s strategy. In this session, we will cover Instagram advertising, Instagram stories/highlights and Instagram TV. Additionally, we will discuss top performing content and how to grow your audience size using hashtag research and engagement.

4 Camp Marketing Web Marketing Case Studies presented by Eric Stein

We’ll review the recent online marketing efforts of 4 very diverse camps – a day camp in the Rockies, a full season camp in the Northeast, lacrosse camps both day and overnight nationally and a not for profit day camp in the NY area.

• We’ll focus on their search marketing efforts on Google and the accompanying web analytics.
• We’ll look at what time of year they do what, the costs involved to drive traffic to their website, how these efforts are managed and results (buying camp is so multi-attribute that efforts here contribute and are not usually solely responsible for enrollment).
• We’ll also look at what challenges each of these entities are facing and where they have been successful and less successful.

Marketing, Positioning and Explaining Summer Camp to Non-Camp Families presented by Andy Pritikin

4 out of 5 American children do NOT attend Summer Camp. Their parents didn’t attend camp and have NO IDEA what you are talking about in your marketing materials or what’s going on at your camp. Their “Camp” frame of reference is probably “Meatballs,” “Friday the 13th,” the new season of “American Horror Story,” or if you’re lucky, “Wet Hot American Summer.”

They’re afraid that your staff employs pedophiles, they don’t realize that you employ lifeguards or nurses, and they most likely feel that your camp is exorbitantly expensive.

LET’S GO GET’M!

Whether it’s their cost/benefit analysis, cultural differences or sheer ignorance, these folks just won’t dig you… until you hit the right note in your messaging, and the right incentive for them to give you a try. Let’s discuss techniques so that your camp can flourish in a future with diverse populations and camp neophytes (most of America!)

• Determine what specifically your Camp provides families, to better communicate to non-camp families.
• Discuss messaging to non-camp families.
• Learn concepts and examples of incentivizing first time families, to get them to TRY your camp.
  • Understand the needs of all families (child care, learning character skills, etc.)
  • Learning how to translate this into your messaging
  • Mediums of communication- Videos, Website, Social Media, Blogs, Articles, PR (earned media)
  • How to do the above effectively
  • Incentivizing first time families- various examples, working with schools, local organizations, Groupon-type stuff, Cyber Monday sales, etc.
  • Discussion of others’ best practices.

Summer Camp: The Gilgamesh of the Modern World presented by Travis Allison

If People Aren’t Talking About You – It’s ‘Cause You’re Boring

To families who have no summer camp experience, what we do is INCREDIBLY WEIRD. In some cultures sending your children away to by “raised” by others is just shameful. Too many people White Hot American Summer IS summer camp.

As CampPros, we know in our hearts that summer camp is an experience that every child needs.

In this session, Travis Allison will walk through a practical process of preparing to speak to new camp families – a way that will help them truly understand the benefit that you have to offer their child.

We’ve got great stories!

What Parents Have to Say About Summer Camp presented by Anne Potter

Every year I do my own parent survey, which is geared toward parent’s opinions of summer camps, their registration needs, their decision making criteria, things that are most important to them and their children. This year is my sixth year conducting a parent survey.

My survey is a little different that one might conduct for their own camp, in that my audience encompasses all parents anywhere in the nation, and my questions are relating to their thoughts about the summer camp industry as a whole and how they utilize summer camp for their own family.

_________________

PROGRAMMING

All Camps Should be Science Camps! presented by Leilani Nussman

All young people are natural scientists, and summer learning loss is a real thing. We have the opportunity to slow the summer learning loss phenomenon through camp programming. But developing awesome science programs can be intimidating for the non-scientists.

Come learn some pointers for creating your own science unit that will inspire all campers to be better scientists and all little scientists to be more engaged campers! I’ll introduce a tool I’ve modified and combined from several different sources to help you get started offering more, better quality, and fun science at any camp.

Exploring the World of Week-long Themed Specialty Camps presented by Ilana Schlam

In this session, you will learn about how we formulate and run week-long themed specialty camps throughout the summer which are a popular trend in day camp programs. Each week, in addition to popular camps like traditional camp and sports camps, we offer approximately five to seven specialty programs that are “outside of the box” experiences for our campers. These camp themes can include anything from American Ninja Warrior, to Mermaid Camp, to Welcome to Hogwarts, Minion Madness – the list goes on and on.

You will be presented with all of the details included in these programs from budget to staffing, to how to choose themes, to schedules, and writing and implementing curriculums. Whether you are ready to offer full week-long camp programs or are interested in adding additional creative themes to your electives, there will be something that everyone can take away from this session and implement back at home!

Gamefication of Educational Programs in Children’s Camps presented by Nastia Kolpakova

In this session Nastia will share her experience of making educational roleplay programmes for camps. Including gamefication technics as narratives, ratings, quests, etc.

She has made programmes about space travelling, history of art, Russian ballet, healthy lifestyle, ecology, social projects, animation and engineering.

All programs are like big roleplay games for more than 100 participants with numerous games and activities for studying.

For example, last year was the year of ballet in Russia. Nastia created the story about one of Sherlock Holmes’ case. Everything went wrong during preparation of the greatest ballet festival. There was a rumour about a theatre ghost. The manager of the festival – Odetta – called for Sherlock.

All groups in the camp presented famous Russian theatres. They prepared their performance for the festival and helped the famous detective to find the criminal.

Every event of the program helped the children to learn more about ballet and made them feel a part of the ballet world.

Imagineering and Ingenuity presented by Erica Thomas

Dust off your magic wands and prepare yourself for an adventure into the land of imagination and whimsy.

Imagineering and Ingenuity seeks to change how you look at a pile of pool noodles, a bunch of brooms, a tangle of twine, and jumble of junk. Every camp is full of potential for new and exciting program offerings, however many are left feeling restricted by their budget or the abilities of their staff.

Imagineering and Ingenuity is a culture shift anyone can implement to increase creativity and bring new life to program areas that have become stagnate. Resourcefulness is the key to this dynamic approach to guiding staff and campers toward the creation of new ideas and realizing the potential within what you already have lying about your camp.

Come and journey with us as we discover the program potential you have hidden in plain sight.

Popular Games at DELPHICAMP presented by Alexia Sideri

A description of how we organize and play some group and whole camp games at our camp, that have proven to be quite popular:

Intro to Baseball, Gladiators, Snakes and Ladders, Paper Search, The Game of 5 Senses and others

Steal This: Outdoor Ed and Teambuilding presented by Chris Kallal

I will be presenting a slew of ideas that you can steal and start doing at your camp. After attending several conferences, I realized that the biggest thing I wanted and didn’t get was a bunch of stuff that I could start doing tomorrow! If you feel the same way, then this session is for you! These are not complete how-tos or curriculum, just great ideas and where to get the supplies. My goal is to give a ton of info to get you started on your Outdoor Ed Program or great Teambuilding activities!

10 Activities You Can Add for Less Than $1000 Each presented by Aimee Canterbury

Learn about adding 10 activities to your summer camp program for less than $1000 each (some cost less than $100 to get started.) These new activities may cost very little, but they will have a big impact on your camp’s outcome based goals. Supply lists and budgets will be available as well as talking points to help your governing body understand the need for these activities and the benefits that they hold.

_________________

STAFF DEVELOPMENT

Being Highly Sensitive at Camp presented by Ange Atkinson

Are you someone that notices details, feels incredibly deeply, can get overwhelmed in groups, are often told you are sensitive or feel like you feel other people’s emotions? You may be a highly sensitive individual!

Come learn how to move through life at camp with this as your superpower, and how to support staff and campers that are highly sensitive.

You’ll learn about…

• The qualities of Highly Sensitive People and that this is not a disorder, rather a distinct population.
• Self-Care strategies for HSPs (if you are one or to help campers and staff)
• Strategies to cultivate your sensitivity (this is for everyone) in facilitating groups, building brave spaces, and managing staff

Consent is Cool at Camp presented by Ruby Compton

Learning about consent happens well before the bedroom and can be a powerful tool at camp to teach campers and staff radical empathy and empowerment. This session will share easy ways to adjust your language and tactics this summer to teach campers about consent and deepen your community’s commitment to being an inclusive, safe, and respectful environment for all.

Creating Community and Culture in a Day Camp Staff presented by Shauna Guglielmo

Residential camps have an enveloping culture and community that is created in the Counselor Building, on days off and during the long camp days, but how do we foster that same sense of culture and community at day camp where the days are shorter and the off time is spent apart? In this session, we will discuss creating a community and culture in a day camp environment through the use of camp sponsored events, open conversations, recognition and continued group professional development.

Exposing the Heart of Camp…Is There a Camp Staffer in All of Us? presented by Gwynn Powell

Join Clemson undergraduate students as we explore what motivates them to work at camp and learn from their peers who they think would be great camp staff to understand why they don’t work at camp.  We will wrap up the discussion with some ideas of what camp professionals can do to help convert the “I never thought about camp” people.

Fill Your Staffing Needs NOW! presented by Isaac Brubaker

Much like Paula Cole, you may be asking where have all the cowboys gone… I mean counselors. Good news: I found them! Hear the story and strategies used to recruit staff and have them all hired by March. Then learn how to keep them engaged throughout the summer.

I’ll be sharing tips on what to do as well as tips I learned the hard way of what NOT to do.

How to Effectively Handle Resistance, Backlash, or an Aggressive Counterculture presented by  Andrea "Ash" Nash

Eureka! You have just come up with the perfect solution to solve that pesky problem. You eagerly present your solution only to be shut down.

You were hired to bring a “breath of fresh air” to the team. Each time you propose a new idea, you hear the phrase “but we have always done it this way!”

While you have always loved camp, your workplace is starting to kill that love. From terrible communication to cliques with rampant gossip, you cannot help but feel that all your energy is spent surviving a toxic workplace rather than making the best summer for the campers.

If you can relate to any of the three above statements or simply wish to prevent them from occurring at your camp, this session is for you.

It is unfortunate that resistance, backlash, and even an aggressive counterculture may be found among any of our campers, parents, staff, leadership, or even board members. The good news is any role can help their camp buffer or even recover from these phenomena. Come learn how.

Mid-Summer Burnout Busters presented by Marsha Gleit

I am passionate about the camping industry and all of the benefits that camp brings to the campers, the counselors and the staff. By integrating self-care techniques into the camping programs, the directors, the counselors and the campers can learn to put the valuable lessons of taking care of you first. By the director implementing self-care, being able to reduce stress and burnout, will be a more effective leader and have strategies to work with their staff. The same goes for the counselors and staff. At the end of the day, the techniques that I teach will change your camp in such positive ways that you will attract amazing staff, have campers coming back year after year, camper waitlists and increase profitability!

New Year, New Team: Building Teams That Succeed presented by Kelly Coulthard

We all need to be in this work together, but how do you successfully form a team that will be successful this year? During this session, discover ways to pull together your team and what can damage that team. Begin developing an action plan for success during this reflective and thought-provoking session.

Staffing: A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That presented by Kim Aycock

Looking for help with staff recruiting, hiring and retention efforts? Take advantage of the many FREE resources available to support the work you do to attract, find, and keep the quality staff you need to keep your doors open. ACA Project Real Job Co-Chairs will share valuable information on internships, translating the camp experience to a resume, and tips learned from facilitating staffing think-tank sessions around the country. Leave with renewed energy for one of the most important tasks you have in preparation for summer 2020!

Participants will:

• Acquire awareness of free staff recruiting resources available to all camp professionals
• Recognize standard internship requirements
• Translate skills learned by working at camp into a resume format
• Collect various ideas on recruiting, hiring and retaining staff

Supporting Staff with Special Needs presented by Ellen Weismer

Many camps are inclusive for campers with individual, special needs. Having a staff that represents your camp community helps campers to feel more connected. It feels like a big undertaking and may take some more effort, but you CAN support staff with individual needs and it will be worth it! This workshop will help you break down your camp jobs to see how and where you can be more inclusive.

This session will be more Day Camp focused, because that is what Ellen is most familiar with, but it will offer ideas and suggestions that can be used at overnight camps as well.

Supporting Your Staff: Fostering Leadership Qualities in All presented by Robert Hunter

What does an emerging leader look like? Have you encountered a counselor, whose potential is limitless? As a leader, are there ways I can infuse a sense of buy-in and ownership into my staff, to help bring the camp’s vision to life. The key to a positive camp environment is fostering an environment where others feel supported and encouraged to grow into the best versions of themselves. This is a workshop that will dive into strategies for staff recognition, empowerment and engagement.

_________________

YOUTH DEVELOPMENT

How to Save a Life: Using Ladder-Up Risk Assessment presented by Beth Gaertner

Participants will learn the steps of the ladder-up risk assessment, used by Crisis Text Line, to help dialogue with campers and staff experiencing harmful thoughts or behaviors. Participants will gain insight into some of the most common precipitating we see in young people and how to address them in an effective way. We will discuss using good contact techniques that show that one is listening to the person in crisis and doing their best to put oneself in their shoes.

Lasting Connections: Building Community at Camp presented by Robert Hunter

When you walk into a camp environment you feel a sense of togetherness and inclusivity. The way campers interact with their counselors, a parent’s connection with the camp director, the relationship between counselors and camp leadership are all testaments to a camp’s culture. Each of these people plays a key role in creating that wholesome environment that camp brings. What are some strategies to highlight the differentiating factor at your camp and how to capitalize on it? Participants will be lead through activities that showcase ways to build community and create lasting connections at camp.

Mindfulness Activities-Tools to Use in a Camp Setting presented by Nikki Downey

Mindfulness skills help campers develop a sense of one-mindedness and an ability to focus their attention back to their “wise mind”. Mindfulness skills will allow the camper to be fully immersed in the moment, rather than thinking of a couple of things at one time. This presentation will focus on teaching staff when and how to use several mindfulness activities in a camp setting.

_________________

SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS

Keynote by Scott Arizala - Well, Now What?!

In this presentation, Scott gets some help from his friends.

Power of a Dream: Inspiration From Camps Around the World presented by Gwynn Powell

Join us for stories about camps around the globe that will inspire you to see how the camp experience can address serious societal issues. These leaders had made their dreams reality for children in their camps…What will you tackle next? Camp can be so much more than fun and games. This session will inspire you to “dream big” about what camp can do for your community, your campers and society at large.

BONUS SESSIONS

Bloom: Creating a Culture of Growth and Development presented by Scott Arizala

The potential in a seed is only realized through the mix of ingredients, environment, and the attention we give it. We want our campers and staff to bloom, by cultivating a staff with a growth mindset in an environment that supports development for them and the campers.

This session will cover activities, experiences, and practical skills to orient counselors towards development (ingredients), leadership ideas to help create and sustain a culture of growth (environment), and, maybe most importantly, tools and strategies for coaching and supervising along the way (attention). Sometimes it doesn’t take much for someone to bloom, especially with a little care and attention

Fan Faves: Four Staff Training Activities that Stand and Deliver presented by Kim Aycock

For this session, Kim will share four of her most impactful staff training activities. These ‘fan faves’ engage staff from the onset and then take a deep dive into important training topics such as decision-making, stages of group development, communication and more. Without fail, these activities stand the test of time and deliver valuable skills or concepts vital to staff success. Detailed instructions and a multitude of discussion starters/debriefing questions for each activity will be included.

Knot Safe For Work: Handy Knots and Rope Tricks presented by Ruby Compton

Inevitably at camp you end up holding a rope with the assigned task of tying said rope around a tree and pulling the rope as tight as you can. Join Ruby for an interactive training practicing some of the most useful knots and rope-work you need working in the outdoor industry. This session is open to all skill levels and it is recommended that you bring a 6-8 foot section of rope with you to the workshop.

Making Camp Magic: Special Event Planning and Scheduling presented by Robert Hunter

What will your camp’s lasting legacy be? What is that day of summer that campers just can’t stop talking about? Some of a camper’s most memorable moments come from the days when programming is unique. Whether it’s having a water themed day on the hottest afternoon or a special event with everyone’s favorite counselor. Special events help make the summer. How can we make the most out of the rainy days when traditional programming is interrupted and turn it into a magical camp market day? This session is an opportunity for participants to learn strategies to create memorable events that, in turn create eternal memories.

Moving On Up: From Program Director to Exec presented by Allison East

As a program director with much of the responsibility of camp, it can seem like you know everything there is to know for running camp on your own. In this session, we’ll talk about some of the higher level things involved with being an exec, what you should know before moving up, and how you can best prepare to get where you want to go.

Tools of the Trade: 45 tools in 60 minutes presented by Tarvis Allison

A Camp Director’s life is complicated and, often, all-consuming. Someday’s you ask yourself: Aren’t there tools to make this job easier?

In fact, there are. Join Travis Allison as he looks back on almost 100 episodes of the Tool of the Week from the CampHacker podcast and picks the ones that have the most impact on the daily job of camp director.

This one is for all of the masters of chrome extensions, the efficiency junkies, the royalty of DIY online design and for those people who’s last panel on their phone is full of apps from listening to the Tool of the Week section on our show.

With doing literally no research to back this statement up, the following list has got to be the world’s biggest list of computer, web-based and phone apps curated by camp people, for camp people.