Another conference season has come to a close! This was our second season organizing and facilitating “Camp Admins Unite” sessions at various camp conferences around North America. In case you are not familiar with the format, we have a panel of 2-3 administrators or directors and we choose a topic to dive into, comparing how camps handle various situations and, hopefully, provide some great ideas for everyonr. In our first season, we focused the conversation on registration, pricing, discounts, payment plans, etc. We spent this past season focused on parent communication – when, how, how much, what works best. Having facilitated 10+ sessions over the 2 years, I am confident we are hitting a need with these sessions. They are very well-attended and lively, generating a lot of questions and delving into an incredible amount of detail! What else would you expect from a room filled with talented camp administrators and directors?

I have received a lot of feedback on the sessions – I commonly hear that the sessions are unique, provide very specific ideas and actionable practices. Perhaps more gratifying is when someone comments something along these lines (and I have heard it several times): “We don’t have many opportunities to gather administrators at these conferences and get into a nitty gritty conversation on camp administration.” One person called it a “camp admins geekfest”. Music to my ears. 🙂

With that, I would like to acknowledge the volunteer panelists that made the “camp admins geekfests” possible this season:

Presbyterian Camp & Conference Center Association

Maria Shupe, Highlands Camp & Retreat Center

Peter Newbury, Dwight Mission Camp & Conference Center

OCA

Joe Richards, Pearce Williams Christian Centre

Megan Snape, Glen Bernard Camp

Kelly Matthews, Seneca Summer Camps

ACA National

Maria Horner, Catalina Island Camps

Lee Selby, Summer at Sandy Spring

COCA-I

Amy Warren, Camp Care

Katie Mahon, Okizu

ACA New England

Denise Learned, Camp Hazen YMCA

Kristina Wagnitz, YMCA Camp Lincoln

ACA Mid States

Stefanie Tywater-Christiansen, Camp Heartland

Andrea Groves, Jameson Camp

Rachel Devries, Tamarack Camps

Thanks everyone!

We are actively planning the 2016/17 calendar right now, submitting speaker proposals. Can you join us on a panel at a conference near you and chat camp administration? Let out your inner camp admin geekness! Email me.