December 14, 2009
· Filed under Uncategorized · Tagged ACA Virginia, social media
Today I was doing my weekly online review of what’s in the camp news this week and ran across this article at The Camp Director Blog, that’s Jennifer Selk’s blog, on Social Media Policies. Reading through the article reminded me of when we started to really take Facebook, Twitter, 
and other such sites seriously just a few short years ago. As individuals we had an idea of all this social media business, and how nice it was to catch with all friends but we had no idea how it could impact our camps both positively and negatively.
It’s apparent that not all camps have taken the plunge into social media and that’s your prerogative but whether or not your camp is on Facebook or not you can bet that your campers and staff most certainly are. The implementation and enforcement of a social media policy is the best first step into social media for camps. A social media policy will help protect your staff, campers, and your camp. Whatever way you lean on the issue of social media and camps, I strongly recommend looking into having a social media policy for your camp.
Camp Friendship has had a rather successful foray into social media, and we slowly explore those options everyday. I usually hear very positive stories from other camp directors on social media but there’s always that one horror story that scares off the unconverted. Well just like Jennifer mentions in her blog, we’d be happy to share our Social Media Policy with any camps who are looking to get started (just drop me an email) or you can visit Jennifer’s blog for links to other samples.
Cris
November 5, 2009
· Filed under Uncategorized · Tagged ACA Virginia, America, American Camp Association, Independent Camps
Has everyone gone and checked out the new ACA 100 Years Anniversary web page? Check it out here – www.acacamps.org/anniversary. I don’t know how the rest of you feel about history but I need mine in short quick doses. I can only watch 20 minutes of the History Channel at a time. Well I think this look back at the ACA’s 100 years is perfect for my attention span.
I’d suggest anyone who has had any worthwhile experience in camping to go check it out, specially the storyboard page. It’s nice to hear from people who still remember their time at camp, years later. I believe I read a little something from Camp Horizons, a very loyal former camper and current staff member shared some thoughts.
The combined knowledge of 100 years and the many camps that contribute to that knowledge and experience prove that camps have and continue to make a difference in many children’s lives. I’d encourage you to share this link with your camp families and maybe they will share their life changing stories about your camp with everyone.
I will be sending my little story over right now. – History@ACAcamps.org
UPDATE: I told you I’d share – http://www.acacamps.org/anniversary/storyboard/matoaka.html
October 23, 2009
· Filed under Uncategorized · Tagged ACA Virginia, Independent Camps
I’m Back! It has been a while since my last post on the Independent Camps Blog. I guess my day job kinda took me for a spin. I hope everyone had a great summer and they are on their way to an even better summer.
On Wednesday Camp Friendship hosted the ACA Virginia’s Annual Fall Conference and we had a really nice time with many of you. Thank you to all who came and participated with us. We had some great sessions and for those of you who missed it, Dr. Karla Henderson gave a very straight forward keynote address. Karla addressed the topic of “Minding Your Mission”, something we need to remember as we move forward. It’s key to remember why we do what we do and where we are headed in the process.
I have been speaking to Alina Ackenbom, the ACA Virginia’s Independent Camps Chair, and we would like to focus this little blog more. It would be great if I could get some suggestions from all of you on what kinds of things you would like more information on. As an example during our Fall Conference I attended a couple of sessions on connecting with your staff and training. Some of the things covered like Facebook and blogs seemed a bit confusing for some and I’d be happy to talk about that here to make it a little less mystifying. Any suggestions on other topics would be very helpful.
In the mean time I will be looking into topics that I’m personally interested in for our camps and doing a little research. As I explore these things I hope to share them with you here. Personally one of the things I’m interested in is new ways of sparking Word of Mouth among our camp families. I hear from a lot of new families that they heard about camp from a former family or camper. My question is how can we encourage more of that.
Well that’s all I’ve got for now, hopefully next time we speak it’ll be before the summer of 2010. 
Cris
