Camps and AI - Fall 2024 - CampHacker #202

Navigating AI for Camps: From Scheduling to Staff Training

In this episode of the CampHacker podcast, Travis and Chris explore the revolutionary impact of artificial intelligence on summer camp management. They dive into AI's role in streamlining operations, automating tasks, and enhancing staff training and parent communication. Discover specific tools like Perplexity, ChatGPT, and Notebook LM, which improve efficiency while addressing privacy concerns. Learn how AI can transform everything from scheduling and communication to monetization and fundraising, making camps more effective and enjoyable.

Hear more about:

  • 4:03 AI's Impact on Summer Camps

  • 16:36 Staff Training and AI Scenarios

  • 26:46 Understanding AI's Limitations

  • 27:35 Career Coaching with AI

  • 28:41 AI in the Gig Economy

  • 29:27 AI in Camp Photography

  • 31:54 AI's Role in Camp Administration

  • 35:04 Addressing Privacy Concerns

  • 37:54 Future of AI in Camps

-

Resources from this Episode

Prompt-building link: https://mitenmit.github.io/gpt/https://account.aftershoot.com/referral-signup?referrer=V31CAJ02

Use this to append to prompts to get you better answers:

Ask me clarifying questions until you are 95% confident you can complete the task successfully. Take a deep breath and take it step by step. Remember to search the internet to retrieve up-to-date information.

-

Tool of the Week - Make Yourself a Better Camp Director

-

Your Hosts

-

Rate and Review the CampHacker Show

(Thank you!)

-

Thanks to our sponsors!

UltraCamp

Remember what sparked your passion for camp? UltraCamp knows it’s about the people, not the paperwork. That’s why they built a platform to simplify your camp management. Learn more at ultracampmanagement.com/camphacker

Camptivities

Activity schedules are the backbone of every camper’s experience. If there’s a staffing change, it’s really hard to find a person that knows your camp and the nuance your schedule takes. Come check out Camptivities to learn more about our scheduling tools,  designed for camps by camp people. Find out more at camptivities.com

Are We Over-Programming Our Camps? - CampHacker #201

 Are camps so packed with activities that it's actually detrimental?

In this episode of the CampHacker podcast, hosts Travis Allison and Chris Hudson discuss the concept of overprogramming at camps, questioning if an abundance of scheduled activities could be detrimental. With insights from camp consultants, they explore balancing structured and unstructured time, considering the interests of children, parents, and staff. They also discuss generational changes in camp staff and touch on post-pandemic effects on camp programming.

  • The Impact of COVID on Camp Structure

  • Pros and Cons of Free Play

  • Parental Concerns About Free-Play

  • Balancing Structure and Free Time for Kids

  • Understanding Children's Needs and Preferences

Tool of the Week - Make Yourself a Better Camp Director

Your Hosts

-

Rate and Review the CampHacker Show

(Thank you!)

-

Thanks to our sponsors!

UltraCamp

Remember what sparked your passion for camp? UltraCamp knows it’s about the people, not the paperwork. That’s why they built a platform to simplify your camp management. Learn more at ultracampmanagement.com/camphacker

Camptivities

Activity schedules are the backbone of every camper’s experience. If there’s a staffing change, it’s really hard to find a person that knows your camp and the nuance your schedule takes. Come check out Camptivities to learn more about our scheduling tools,  designed for camps by camp people. Find out more at camptivities.com

Chris and Travis Start a Camp in 2025 - CampHacker #200

If we were starting a summer camp from scratch, here’s what we can do!

200 episodes and over 14 years, the CampHacker Podcast has been around literally so long that we actually can’t find the first few episodes (seriously, if you find them, holler!).

After 200+ hours (that’s 1.5 weeks, people!), it’s time to put our money where our mouths are…hypothetically at least.

In this episode, Travis and Chris take their collective camp and education experience, alongside the realities of running summer camps today, and put it together to share how they would build and launch Camp Hudson (get it, Hudson + Allison?).

From site ownership (hint, they wouldn’t), to who they serve (hint, start local), to marketing (hint, often and BIG), this episode covers a lot of ground.

Join us in this hopeful and intentional thought experiment as a send-off for the summer of 2024.

Thanks for the season, friends!

-

Tool of the Week - Make Yourself a Better Camp Director

Your Hosts

-

Rate and Review the CampHacker Show

(Thank you!)

-

Thanks to our sponsor!

UltraCamp

Imagine camp registration software that actually gives you MORE time for what you love - CAMP! With UltraCamp, you can effortlessly track attendance, manage staff, streamline registration, and more. Explore now at ultracampmanagement.com/camphacker

Supporting A Camp Director with ADHD (it might be you!) - with Lisa Drennan - CampHacker #199

You can be a camp professional and have ADHD - there are lots of them out there!

You probably wouldn’t be surprised to know that as we have gotten more comfortable talking about exceptionalities, disabilities or diversabilities, the rate of diagnoses for those exceptionalities, disabilities or diversabilities has gone up.

More and more people (kids, teens and adults are like) are discovering how their brains work best and are starting to understand their potential when the spaces that they are in work in their favour.

As with most things - the camp industry, by and large, is catching up on making sure that their spaces are using Universal Design Principals when thinking about how they create the day-to-day of staff training and summer camp.

Travis and Chris are joined by Lisa Drennan, founder of MERGE Diverse Abilities Inclusion Consulting and an absolute PRO when it comes to making spaces more inclusive for kids, teens, young adults and adults who identify as neurodivergent.

-

Tool of the Week - Make Yourself a Better Camp Director

Your Hosts

-

Rate and Review the CampHacker Show

(Thank you!)

-

Thanks to our sponsor!

UltraCamp

Imagine camp registration software that actually gives you MORE time for what you love - CAMP! With UltraCamp, you can effortlessly track attendance, manage staff, streamline registration, and more. Explore now at ultracampmanagement.com/camphacker