The Day Camp Pod - From Go Camp Pro

Send us Fan Mail The Spirit of Overnight Camp…at Day Camp! (Again!) You asked for it and it’s here! We’re throwing it all the way back to episode 1 of the Day Camp Pod to re-hash one of our most popular topics from the first season. (Episode 1 - Here) Our friends from the sleep away camp industry have an amazing thing going for them. Having a kid stay overnight and be fully immersed into the cultu...

Send us Fan Mail A Day Camp Pod Interview with Audrey Monke   Sometimes, when comes to selling our camp, we shoot ourselves in the foot. We’re just a little bit too humble. We either don’t want to be too “pushy” or aggressive and we end up undervaluing what we do. Hello!? We change lives! We give kids the type of community experience that they don’t get ANYWHERE ELSE. You are great, we are great a...

Send us Fan Mail Bring up the bad, bring up the good, make next summer better.   No matter what time of year it is, if you haven’t intentionally looked back on your past summer season, you need to. There’s nothing worse than a problem that keeps coming up, summer after summer. You say to yourself, “didn’t we talk about this!?”. Well, did you? This type of review can be something that can be looked...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome back to the Day Camp Pod! How was your summer? It’s season 2! We are so excited to get back to another year of the Day Camp Pod! Before we begin, have you filled out our 2019 listener survey? We’d be super-grateful if you would! As we start the season, we’re looking back on the summer of 2019. The good, the bad, the ugly and the issues that our hosts noticed at their Day C...

Send us Fan Mail The best social media strategies for your day camp Review us on iTunes! If you’re reading this in mid-June, we know you’re busy, so we’ll get right to it. Social media is here to stay, at least for now. No matter what you personally believe about social media, it’s one of the easiest ways to reach out and directly engage both parents and campers. It’s not that you should ditch you...

Send us Fan Mail Mental Health and YOUR Day Camp Staff As you prepare for your staff training, you no doubt have heard everyone and their aunt talking about mental health and maybe even mental health issues with camp staff. If you haven’t, one stat should perk your ears up. About  32 percent  of American teens between the ages of 13 and 18 have an anxiety disorder at some point. Our Gen Z staff ar...

Send us Fan Mail   Getting the best out of your Day Camp staff during staff training.   It’s May and that means that it’s time to start thinking about staff training! When it comes to staff training at day camp, we all know that time is precious. You have basically the same amount of training to cover as our overnight camping colleagues, but with maybe half the time! On top of that, we are trainin...

Send us Fan Mail Retaining, Engaging and Training Your Day Camp Staff Like A Pro So, we did one episode on Day Camp Staffing, and we said we were going to another one. Let’s get real, the more Kim Aycock the better, right? How could it be any better? How about we add in a little DR. G to the mix! Oh YES! WE DID THAT. As we inch (leap) closer and closer to the summer, staffing is surely starting to...

Send us Fan Mail Getting bums on the bus. Selling your Day Camp like a pro. Overheard in your camp office: “Hello? _______ Day Camp how can I help you?” “Oh, you’re looking to register for this summer?” “I’m so sorry, but we’re full for this summer. We’ve actually been full since April, but I can absolutely put you on our waiting list if a spot opens up!” - scene - How awesome would it be to hear...

Send us Fan Mail EVEN MORE Live Interviews From the Tri-State Camp Conference Tag team back again! After Tri-State Andy and Ehren came back with almost 2 hours of footage from camp pros attending the conference so we’re giving you even more! So here you are! More interviews from THE WORLD’S LARGEST gathering of camp pros. Big ups to Max Claman, Matt Kaufman, Sam Borek, Scott Arizala and Lauren Bra...

Send us Fan Mail Live Interviews From the Tri-State Camp Conference We’ve got some more live conference footage for you! Andy and Ehren were on scene at the WORLD’S LARGEST gathering of camp pros in the Spring of 2019. While they were there, they busted out the microphones, grabbed some nearby camp pros and started recording! We’re very thankful to Adam Baranker, Professor Dave Malter Erec Hillis,...

Send us Fan Mail Day Camp Ideas and Takeaways from the ACA National and the OCA Conference We’re nearing the end of conference season 2019. If you’re like many other camp pros, you come back from these conferences with pages of notes and a brain full of ideas.  For those of you who weren’t able to make it to some conferences this year, first of all, get it in your budget for next year, then second...

Send us Fan Mail Staffing Your Day Camp Like A Pro Where are the camp staff? It’s a question that a lot of camps find themselves asking in the Winter and Spring of 2019. With reports on Generation Z working less and less in highschool and college , it seems that the summer camp world is not invulnerable. That being said, our industry is full of ingenuity. This apparent staff shortage is a new oppo...

Send us Fan Mail Puttin’ on the Ritz for Day Camp Parents & Families  When it comes to marketing your camp, there’s no better strategy than to get people on the property. We take a lot of pride in the site and the work that we do and we know that getting people on site is the way to get them to buy in to your culture and see the true value of their money. Whether you do it in the spring, summe...

Send us Fan Mail Why Free Play at Day Camp Makes Sense One of the challenges of a typical day at day camp is trying to pack every single moment with magic and fun. The consequence of that is that they whole day can become very regimented and schedule driven. Now, please put your hands down. Yes schedules are good. Yes you need to know generally what happens when. We aren’t going to ask you to get...

Send us Fan Mail Michael Brandwein Thinks You Can Meet Better We get it, your day camp is busy. You’ve got busses coming in, going out, kids going left and right, meals to cook and knees to un-scrape. The last thing you want to do is book time for a meeting with your staff. And you know what? If your meetings are only about going to be about giving information, or telling the staff where they need...

Send us Fan Mail Because every kid deserves a camp experience. Would you agree that the world would be a much better place if everybody went to camp? Of course! We know what camp does for kids. To have a place among a positive community is something that every single kid, no, person desperately needs. Now, when we say EVERY kid, we mean it! No matter a child’s ability, background, race, gender, se...

Send us Fan Mail Go Big And Campers Won’t Want To Go Home Camp is full of WOW moments. From drop off to pick-up, we do our best to inject that WOW into every part of the day. However, we, as camp pros, know where we can dial it up to 11. Special Event Day. Evening Program. Special Afternoon. Whatever you call it, what you do in this 1-7 hour time block can really make that camp session memorable....

Send us Fan Mail The Communication THESE Parents Need No matter what type of camp you are, you want to move forward. Especially if it means providing an even better customer service experience for our parents, we need to always be re-evaluating even our most habitual practices. Communication with our parents during the summer is definitely one of those things. As the boomers and the gen-xers are m...

Send us Fan Mail Make your first impressions, your best impressions. Welcome back to the Day Camp Pod! Whether you’re joining us in our beginning season, or if you’re reading this in the vast nethers of the future, we’re so glad you’re here! Open Houses are time and time again, one of the best ways to get the final “yes” from potential camp parents. If done well, parents will register their child,...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the Day Camp Pod! Welcome to The Day Camp Pod! A podcast that focuses purely on the best practices of the Day Camp industry. On this first episode of The Day Camp Pod, we start with a sampler of the types of questions that matter to the Day Camp Industry. This episode we’ll hear great questions (and even greater answers) to topics surrounding capturing the overnight cam...