There's No Business Like Trade Show Business
Trade shows, camp fairs, and community expos bring vendors together in a virtual mega mall where like-minded people can efficiently research and compare products, services, solutions, and ideas. It's a place to find out what's new, what's hot, what's in, and what's out — all in one convenient location. More importantly, it's one of the few marketing channels left today in which vendors can engage in two-way, face-toface conversation with real customers and prospects.
Building Principles: Wisdom Overhead
American poet and diplomat James Russell Lowell is quoted as saying, "Compromise makes a good umbrella, but a poor roof; it is temporary expedient, often wise in party politics, almost sure to be unwise in statesmanship." Beyond politics, that's an exceptional concept and a worthy approach to many facilities topics. Even more to the point this month, it's also been said that without a weather-tight roof, everything beneath is in jeopardy.
What Directors Want to Know about 2012 Summer Enrollment
"The camp is in a turnaround . . . climbing back after multiyear decline." — Respondent, Fall 2012 Enrollment Survey
The Spring 2012 Enrollment Sneak Peek seemed to indicate a good summer ahead with 56 percent of responding directors indicating they had higher enrollments and 24 percent reporting about the same compared to a year ago.
This fall, we heard from directors who wanted to know:
Making a Difference through Innovation and Service: Eleanor Eells Award-Winning Camps Are a Tribute to the Camp Spirit
In her book The History of Organized Camping: The First 100 Years, Eleanor Eells wrote, "[Camp] has become an important part of the American scene, rich in its diversity and in its adaptation to changing needs and challenges. Its common bond is the concern for people in their relationship to one another, to the environment, and for their sense of community." Through her review of camp's history, Eells provided a blueprint for modern camps — adaptability is essential, innovation is critical, and personal relationships are fundamental.
Evaluating Bereavement Camps
Spending time in nature is often therapeutic and provides many benefits, such as improving cognitive functioning (Berman, Jonides, & Kaplan, 2008) and improving memory (Berto, 2005). Spending time in a camp setting can cultivate honesty, respect, and trust (American Camp Association, 2005). No wonder, then, that several specialty camps have been developed over the past decades. Camps now exist for children with diabetes, cancer, and attention deficit disorder, just to mention a few.
A young woman walks down the trail to the next station. There, in front of her, is a wall towering over her. The wall is ten feet tall and six feet wide, and as she and her group of peers walk up to the structure, a counselor comes out from behind it. A fabricated tale ensues where the counselor gives the outline for the team-building exercise. But the girl is clear about one thing: The goal is to get everyone in their group over the wall to the other side. Looking around at her group, she does not know how she can tackle this problem.
The Rearview Mirror: Driving Safety at Camp
A look in any rearview mirror will tell you a lot about where you have been, but little about where you are going. Unless, that is, you are driving at summer camp — where a quick look back can be an important, even lifesaving, reminder of the responsibilities that come with driving kids, counselors, or oneself.
Children Need Play: Can They Get It at Camp?
When I was a child, in the 1950s, children were far freer than they are today. By the time I was five, I could go anywhere in town, on foot or bicycle, without adult accompaniment. My family moved often, and in every town I found a new, different culture of childhood. In one town, when I was eight and nine, we made and flew crazy-looking kites, and we played endless games of baseball with our own made-up rules to fit the odd-shaped vacant lot and the motley, age-mixed group of players.
Fighting for Free Play
It seems a tug-of-war is going on in Canada. On one side are those who, in the name of safety and reducing liability, want to mandate the risk right out of childhood activities and free play time. On the other side are those who believe free play and safe risk-taking are vital to healthy childhood development.