The Super Summer Camp Staff Training Video
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It’s all about kids today
Two Quick and VERY IMPORTANT Things
1 → Check out the PS for the Tri-State Parties we are throwing. Thank you IENA and CampMinder for helping make those happen
2 →We are running the Staff Training Sprint Cohort this spring, 4 days over 2 weeks, building out a great camp staff training. Put your name on the waitlist and be the first to get the details, or just vote in the poll below
Staff Training Sprint Cohort - Interested in more details?
Oh, and speaking of staff training...
I've told this story so many times to camp people that I should probably just retire it. But here I am rolling it back because years later, it’s still so easy to make the same mistake. One I have to keep reminding myself not to make heading into this summer.
First day of my first-ever staff training, we sat everyone down, told them to be quiet, and pressed play on a video I just knew would be an absolute banger. Life-changing staff results incoming.
We'd created the "perfect" Super Staff Video to illustrate how to be a great camp counselor. It had everything you could want. Lessons, laughs, action, more laughs (we thought), tips, tricks, everything.
Making it took sooooo many hours. We all high-fived each other.
Except when the video was done playing for the new staff, there was total silence. And those still looking up at the screen were mostly just wondering what was coming next.
We had not, in fact, changed summer camp staff training history.
In fact, we’d accomplished almost nothing.
Mostly we just had messed up
The mistake we made was so, so, so obvious in hindsight.
The video was all about us. We were the heroes. Spent all this time creating "look what I did" moments. The video was about what we wanted camp to be. It was about us.
We all do this sometimes because being inspirational feels amazing. And to some extent, we should try to be. To try to embody this ultra-positive, ultra-competent thing.
Whether it's your first summer or your 50th, there's an inclination to announce to staff that you know everything. That you're the expert. That's what being the boss is about, right?
And that's the lesson I keep learning over and over. What I think is motivating staff actually just makes them want to be part of my story instead of telling their own.
Next time around, we just did less.
Instead of telling or showing, what I'm trying to remember now is to embody what great counselors should be and ask staff to come along with us.
I’m trying to constantly remember to run sessions that put the staff front and center.
Sometimes things go in directions that aren’t easy to foresee. But like all the time, the gains are way more real.
Staff develop their own superpowers instead of trying to copy ours.
I’m trying so hard to make staff the decision-makers and tone-setters, because I think they’ll then become the counselors who actually make camp work. It requires trust. Often means letting go of something I see as "important."
But if the hero is the camper, and staff understand that from day one, they'll come up with better stuff than you would anyway.
I still think about the video, all that work for just a "cool, now what?"
I’m heading into another staff training this summer. There will be no Super Staff Video.
Lots of staff talking to each other.
Lots of staff getting specific takeaways quickly
Lots of movement and as few lectures as possible.
Because I’m pretty sure that works.
You got this,
Jack
COUPLE OF PS's - Camp Chella & Camp Idol at Tri-State
Hey Camp Friends 👋
We’re excited to bring two major nights of community + fun to the Tri-State Camp Conference this year. You’re invited to both.
You guys work super hard all year long. You deserve to have an awesome time. You deserve some of that awesomeness that you make for other people.
🎤 CAMP IDOL - Tuesday Night of Tri-State
Presented by CampMinder
Camp Idol is a live-band karaoke competition and camp social for camp professionals. Camp pros take the stage with a professional backing band, competing for prizes - including a $500 grand prize - while the rest of the room hangs out, bowls, plays bar games, and cheers them on.
The night also features a 50/50 raffle benefiting SCOPE, supporting access to camp for more kids.
👉 RSVP for drink specials & info: HERE
🎶 Want to perform? Apply here - performer applications close February 17: PERFORMER APPLICATION LINK
🪩 CAMPCHELLA - Wednesday Night of Tri-State
Presented by IENA
Campchella takes over Kiss Kiss Night Club for a late-night camp pro dance party. Think camp songs in a club setting, a packed dance floor, and a room full of camp people letting loose — the way only camp people can.
👉 RSVP for drink specials & Info: RSVP
Both events are free to attend, open to camp professionals 21+, and produced by The Summer Camp Society.
Can’t wait to see you there - on the dance floor, in the crowd, or on stage 🎶
See you at Tri-State!
Get my newsletter every week.
It’s all about kids today
Jack Schott
Summer Camp Evangelist