I hope you've had a great week! We certainly have here in the Falcon Office. We were lucky enough to attend the Ohio Camping Conference in Columbus, Ohio, hosted by the American Camping Association (ACA). This conference had about 150 people from different camps around Ohio--one of my favorite parts was meeting them and hearing about how their camps work, and how they are different than or similar to Falcon.
Dave and I got to Columbus on Wednesday to help set up. Most of the rest of the Ohio Council of Leaders (of which Dave is a member) were there, moving tables, setting out name badges, and arranging chairs. One of our campers, Isabelle, was there with her parents too. We went out for dinner together, which was super great because in addition to the Ohio Council of Leaders, the ACA National President, Tisha Bolger, was there, as well as the Keynote Speaker, Joanna Warren Smith. Needless to say, dinner was an exciting affair. We talked about different experiences growing up in the camp world, how camp has changed in the past fifty years, and what each of us see as the value of camp today, especially as a technology-free bubble in world of electronics.
Thursday dawned bright and chilly (my job was to stand outside and make sure attendees had parking passes on their cars. REALLY chilly) and busy. First up was a session by Joanna Warren Smith, the keynote, followed by the first small group session of the day. I attended one on on-line camp photo albums, and got some great ideas about how to make our photos next summer better, and easier for you to look through. Dave attended (and helped facilitate) a session with Tisha that was an open discussion on what the ACA can do to better serve and help camps.
My favorite session was next, about team leadership. This was my favorite because it was playing games! A nice break in the middle of the day. Isabelle came to this with me and we had a blast. I stockpiled some new games for this summer, as well as some advice for our younger staff. Finally, my last session was about pop culture and programming, and how to weave them together. We do some of this already, like with our Harry Potter Weekend, but I got some great ideas for others.
After talking to all the vendors (we always need new t-shirts, after all) and cleaning up, Dave and I were ready to head back to Cleveland. We talked the whole way back about the different things we had learned, and what we wanted to implement next summer. Can't wait for you to see some of these things in action in June!
Tali
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