Staff Meetings at Day Camp - Day Camp Pod #26
Meetings are important, and they don’t have to be painful!
You may have read a ton of material about why meetings are killing businesses or are the worst thing since un-sliced bread. They’re useless, they’re boring, they’re a waste of time and they kill productivity.
That’s not completely, wrong. Meetings CAN be that way, but they don’t have to be. When we have to have meetings, like we do at Day Camp, we should strive to make our meetings the best they can be.
We don’t have staff constantly on email, slack or other digital communication tools. Things come up that can’t be covered in an email round-up at the beginning or end of the day. You may indeed need to cut down your amount of meetings, but for the ones that you need to keep, you should do it right.
We’ve brought some big guns to help you make your meetings more memorable. Andy, Sam and Ehren are joined by THE Chris Thurber and THE Steve Maguire. Yeah, that’s right. Could you imagine a more stellar crew?
Tune in to this episode to find out why meetings should…
Have a purpose
Have an agenda
Only cover what is relevant to everyone who is in the meeting
NOT be run by a stressed-out Camp Director
Be friendly, kind and conscience
Require participants to have a pen and paper
Switch up the location, format and type (standing, moving, etc.)
Sometimes have food, water or music as people are coming in
Be communicated to people who can’t make the meeting (office staff, etc.)
Do your meetings suck? Do they rock? Tell us about them! Let us know in the comments or send us an email to daycampquestions@gocamp.pro
Any questions? Ideas for shows? Topics? Guests? Please send them to daycampquestions@gocamp.pro
The Day Camp Program Tip of the Week
Andy - Perfect attendance award for your staff - $10 convenience store gift card. Chance to win $100 at the end of the summer
Sam - Scatterball - Tune in to this episode to hear the rules
Ehren - Supervisors sharing moments about how the other staff have made camp better - $10 Coffee Card as a Reward
Chris - Getting campers to help out with admin work! You can make it fun and also optional!
Steve - Shout out to Dan O'Neil- A camp mascot for pick-up and drop-off!
YOUR HOSTS:
Andy Pritikin, Owner/Director - Liberty Lake Day Camp, past president ACA NY/NJ, partner/founder Everwood Day Camp, founder/past president NJ Camps Government Affairs Project
Ehren Gluckstein, Assistant Director - Camp Robin Hood - Robin Hood Leadership Centre & Corporate Rentals, Volunteer Ontario Camps Association (OCA) annual conference/accreditation visitor
Sam Thompson, Recreation Supervisor - Crystal Lake Park District, Vice president ACA Illinois
Dr. Chris Thurber, Speaker and Trainer - https://drchristhurber.com/ - Expert Online Training
Steve Maguire, Speaker and Trainer - Go Turnstone - Expert Online Training
Sponsors:
Thanks to our wonderful sponsors who help make this Go Camp Pro podcast possible:
American Camp Association, NY & NJ http://www.acanynj.org/
AM Skier Insurance http://www.amskier.com/
Commercial Recreation Specialists (CRS) https://crs4rec.com/