The Day Camp Pod - From Go Camp Pro

Send us Fan Mail Nothing says financial wake-up call like a global pandemic! Andy welcomes back Jonathan M. Gold to the show to help us grasp the things we need to be thinking about in preparing for a tough financial road ahead.  Review us on iTunes! Whether you ran in 2020 or not - we've all got a tough road ahead. We need to be prepared with every scenario, every tip and trick, and every bi...

Send us Fan Mail Find full show notes at https://gocamp.pro/day-camp-pod What was it like for Day Camps who DIDN’T RUN this summer? Tune in to this episode of The Day Camp Pod with Kelly Schuna and Ben Esposito to find out more! Review us on iTunes! Summer 2020 was challenging for all, especially for those of us who chose to NOT TO OPEN for a traditional summer of camp. While we have the utmost re...

Send us Fan Mail How two camps embraced the eLearning Camp model during the COIVD-19 pandemic.  Review us on iTunes! Welcome to another Day Camp Mini-Pod! We’re so glad to be bringing you new content every week on the Day Camp Pod. As a reminder, there will be a full episode every two weeks with some Mini-Pods in-between. A HUGE thanks to our hosts, Sam, Andy and Tiff for this extra push this seas...

Send us Fan Mail What was it like for Day Camps who ran this summer? Find out on our first episode of season 3 of the Day Camp Pod! Review us on iTunes! Summer 2020 was a whirlwind for us all, especially for those of us who were able to OPEN our doors to the public. We had to use every ounce of leadership, creativity, perseverance and resilience that we could muster.  While we support our comrades...

Send us Fan Mail Crafts that are both in-person and virtual-camp friendly! Thanks, Sam and Diana! Review us on iTunes! As we truly dig-in to one of the weirdest summers of our time, we wanted to equip you with some crafts and program ideas that will help you run the best program you can, whether it’s virtual or in-person. And when it comes to incredible Day Camp Programs, who do we turn to? Sam Th...

Send us Fan Mail Thanks for the season, Day Camp friends! Here are our favourite episodes and some goals for your next summer! Review us on iTunes! It’s been a wonderfully full second season for the Day Camp Pod!  19 full episodes, 5 mini-pods (2 more on the way, still!) and over 10,000 downloads, we’ve certainly come a long way! On behalf of the team at Go Camp Pro, we’re so grateful for Andy, Sa...

Send us Fan Mail Camp should be for every child. Here’s how to ensure your Day Camp is inclusive for children of all abilities. A lot of camp professionals operate under the belief that every child deserves a week at summer camp. However, when it comes to the execution of that “every” child, we can sometimes fall short when there is a camper who’s needs we feel like we don’t have the means to serv...

Send us Fan Mail A glimpse into how things are going to change in the Day Camp world, post-pandemic. Dr. G is back again! A more logistical follow-up to last mini-pod’s conversation with Dr. G. If you make the decision to run camp in 2020, OR if we’re still here for 2021 (heaven forbid), there’s going to be a lot to think about as we’re preparing to welcome people to our sites. It’s going to take...

Send us Fan Mail LITs, CITs, CILTs, Interns, Future Leaders - whatever you call them, they are the keys to your camp’s future! Here’s how to give them the best day camp experience ever. One of the most difficult parts of directing camp is that it can be hard to really be “in the moment” at camp.  After all, it’s our job to have long term vision. If we’re not thinking a week, month or year ahead of...

Send us Fan Mail Whether it’s this summer or next, we’re going to have to prepare our staff for the opening of Post-Pandemic Day Camp. Dr. G is here to help! The first summer after the 2020 pandemic is going to be a weird one. Logistics, health procedures, insurance, programming, it will all look different. One thing that we absolutely can’t miss is how we address the staff that we’re going to be...

Send us Fan Mail Is your staff training as good as it can be? We’ve brought in the Camp Code pros to help you get it there! We’re releasing this episode in April 2020. Aka one of the most unsettling points in our industry’s history.  Right now, we don’t know if camp will happen. What we do know is that if (and when) it does, we need our staff to be ready to give kids the most amazing, outdoor, soc...

Send us Fan Mail How do get virtual training right? Because we may have to be a little “socially distanced” this staff training.   A mini-pod from the Day Camp Pod! Hey Day Camp Pod fans! We’ve received a lot of emails this season about wanting more Day Camp Pod goodness. We’ve heard your cries and are here to deliver! We’re going to be experimenting with the “mini-pod” a few times before the end...

Send us Fan Mail Find full show notes, bonus resources and program tips of the week at http://daycamppod.com Did you know that 5/6 kids in the US don’t go to summer camp? Let’s change that ratio and get those kids to your camp. Did that stat blow you away? For us camp folk, it’s almost unbelievable that we are part of the mere 17% of people that really understand the transformative, wonderful, mag...

Send us Fan Mail What we know about COVID-19 and how it is affecting summer camps as of March 20th, 2020. In these interesting, uncertain, wild, scary times, we wanted to keep the camp world up to date with what the leaders in the industry are thinking, saying and doing when it comes to COVID-19 and it’s affect on the summer camp world.  Andy, Sam and Ehren are joined by Joel Bennett, a camp veter...

Send us Fan Mail What Day Camp Directors need to know about the major trends in the industry. Part of the job of every great Camp Director should be time set aside for big picture thinking. In that time, directors should not only be thinking widely about their organization but the landscape of the industry as a whole. In many cases, if you are up to date on the latest trends in the industry, there...

Send us Fan Mail Summer camps thrive when they are relentlessly driven to serve their mission. Do you have a belief about how the world should be for kids? Do you feel strongly about the types of environments the kids and youth of today should be growing up in? Do you ever wish there was an intentional place that gives kids the space to express their true selves in a welcoming community? Well, hel...

Send us Fan Mail There are less fish in the camp staff applicant pool than ever, so you need to step up your fishing game Review us on iTunes! Many reports have shown that over the next 10 years, fewer and fewer youth 16-24 will be entering the workforce. This rate has already been in decline for the past 20 years and it seems that more and more, Day Camps across North America are feeling the staf...

Send us Fan Mail Ensuring our Day Camps are inclusive for campers, staff and families of all genders. We know the power of a week at camp. A child’s life can be changed for the better simply by spending 5 days at our day camps. Now that we’re firmly planted in times where most people value inclusion, camp directors know that we need to keep being leaders and a bastion of inclusion in the world. In...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome back, Michael Brandwein! Your staff being able to work together may be one of the biggest keys to the success of your camp program. You can have the coolest activities and the best classes around, but if the staff running those areas don’t work well with your camp counsellors, you’re missing out on the full potential of those programs. It’s understandable why this can be a...

Send us Fan Mail Live from the Women In Camp Summit - 2019! The Women in Camp Summit was held in November of 2019. Female identifying camp professionals from across the industry joined together for three days of networking, discussion, and professional development designed specifically for those who identify as women working in or in support of summer camp. Our Day Camp Pod host, Sam Thompson put...

Send us Fan Mail 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,...

Send us Fan Mail An insider look into 3 Non-Traditional Day Camps Review us on iTunes! How great are camp tours? Getting the inside scoop on how a fellow camp pro does their “thing” is an absolute blast. (Ps. there are tons of opportunities to be a volunteer accreditor for your local camping organization. Do tours AND help the industry! Getting to see “under the hood” isn’t just fun too, it helps...

Send us Fan Mail Camp begins when kids get on the bus! There are a lot of reasons why Sleepaway and Day camps are the same and 95% of our podcasts are chalked full of ideas that ANY camp director can take to improve their camp. However, this one is a shout out to every Day Camp Director’s biggest and most unique logistical headache: THE BUSSES Whether it’s 10 or 100 busses, Day Camp Pros know how...

Send us Fan Mail …Because it IS a business!   Don’t get us wrong, camp is the best, most fun, amazing, happy-go-lucky place there is. It has to be that for the staff for the campers, but as a director, if you want your camp to be around of the long run, there’s a more serious side that you need to consider, and that’s the reality of the fact that your camp is a business. Let’s be clear, we’re not...

Send us Fan Mail Conquering the dreaded 6th Week Slump “HE WHO SHALL NOT BE NAMED”. That’s a little bit like how we treat that time mid-way through the summer when things start to drag. You know it when you see it though. The staff start to feel the long days, you are getting tired of the same issue coming up over and over, grumpiness can prevail and the magic of camp loses a little bit of that sh...