Ideas for Summer Camp 2010

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Sensei Nick on March 20, 2010 at 11:30pm

Sure come to our meeting on Monday at 2 o'clock est. We will be doing an on line meeting for championsway. Call extension 6410 at championsway to get the link. 877-774-5525.

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Permalink Reply by Master Richards on March 21, 2010 at 7:54am

Ms. Miller,
Check out my website designed and hosted by CW. If you click on the summer camp, you can get some info. You can also send me a message and I will help you if needed.
Thanks, Master Richards
www.InternationalMartialArtsUniversity.com

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Permalink Reply by Megan Miller on March 22, 2010 at 10:10am

I wish I could do this, let me know if you have it again....I will be picking students up from school and bringing them to our academy at that time. If it is video recorded I would love to utube it. Thanks.

Sensei Nick said:

Sure come to our meeting on Monday at 2 o'clock est. We will be doing an on line meeting for championsway. Call extension 6410 at championsway to get the link. 877-774-5525.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Sensei Nick on March 22, 2010 at 10:28am

Megan,

Do you have and email address and phone number where I can reach you?

thanks,

Nick

Megan Miller said:

I wish I could do this, let me know if you have it again....I will be picking students up from school and bringing them to our academy at that time. If it is video recorded I would love to utube it. Thanks.

Sensei Nick said:

Sure come to our meeting on Monday at 2 o'clock est. We will be doing an on line meeting for championsway. Call extension 6410 at championsway to get the link. 877-774-5525.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Melody Shuman on March 22, 2010 at 12:58pm

Hello Megan,

Below is a report I put together last year, please feel free to email me if you have any additional questions.

Summer Camp Strategies

I’ve ran summer camps for 15 years now. Some of them were very profitable, and others were not worth the extra effort in the end. In this month’s report, I am going to share with you my outline for this year’s summer camp – an outline that I used last summer which was my most profitable camp in 15 years.


Let’s get started!


In this report, I will break down my summer camp outline into the following sections:
1. Start-up information
2. Price setting for maximum profitability
3. Money saving tips
4. Getting you STORM Team involved
5. Camp layout
6. Promotional tips


Section 1: Start-up information
If you take care of the preliminary details before April 1st then you are well on your way to running a profitable camp. Camps require a lot of planning, but it’s not so bad if you have an outline to follow. We suggest you take care of a few initial details as soon as possible so that you can focus on promoting your camps early.

Here’s a checklist of details to get your summer camp planning started:

 Select the dates. We are running four weeks of camps. We selected the first two weeks after school lets out and the last two weeks before school starts again. Our camp dates are:
o June 8th – 12th
o June 15th – 19th
o July 27th – 31st
o August3rd – 7th
 Select the times. Our camp hours are from 10 am – 3pm Monday through Friday. We will have early drop-off and late pick-up available at $15 per day for those that need it.

 Select the price. Our camp price will start at $200 per week for non-members. See below for additional information.

 Make a list of items needed. You will want to have an inventory of supplies, movies, prizes, and games for each week.

***Check out the downloads folder under forms and letters section of Shuman Concepts for the summer camp supply list. If you are not currently a member, email me at melody@shumanconcepts.com and I will send you a copy, compliments of Championsway Community.


Section 2: Price setting for maximum profitability
The idea is to offer a lot of incentives that will entice campers to take advantage of additional benefits which in turn lead to higher profits for you. Campers can pay as little as $75 per week if they take advantage of all the incentives. This is very affordable for people, even in a struggling economy - and the best part is, we want campers to pay $75 per week for camp because that means they are a paying student; they signed up for more than one week; they signed up early; and they referred a friend!

To increase our results, we are going to use the following price-reduction offers:
o Member discount. Our students will receive a $50 discount per week. The goal is to motivate non-members to join our school before they register for the summer camp so that they save money.
o Multiple camps discount. Students that register for more than one week of camps will receive and additional $25 off per week.
o Additional family member discounts. The second family member will receive 10% off, 20% off for the third family member, and so forth.
o Early bird registration. If they register and pay before May 1st, then they will receive and additional $25 off.
o Referral discount. If they refer a non-member to register for camp then they will receive an additional $25 off. If the non-member joins the school, then they will also receive the regular referral incentives which include $75 worth of gifts.


Section 3: Money saving tips
I’ve tried way too hard to make camps enticing for our students, and the result ended in more expenses. Over the past 15 years I have learned that a lot of the extra expenses I acquired were not necessary. The goal this year is to cut expenses to maximize profitability.

Here’s a list of money saving tips that we recommend:
 Limit paid staff and work w/ volunteers. If you have an outstanding STORM team like I do, then you don’t really need to have your entire staff work the camps. Last year my STORM team was more involved with the camp activities and my paid staff members hardly had any major responsibilities at all. This year I am only having one paid staff member per day, and one parent volunteer per day. See below for more details about how to get your STORM team involved.

 Have the students bring their own lunch. It is simply too much of a headache and expense to provide lunch each day, with the exception of Friday which is pizza day.

 Cut out off-site activities. In past camps we’ve taken them bowling. I know plenty of schools that also have beach days; pool days; arcade days; museum days; etc. The problem is these activities require transportation, admission, chaperones, and more. For me personally, it is not worth the extra expense. We run such fun camps that we don’t need to find activities that will keep them entertained.

 Market through your network vs. spending money on advertising. Our camps sell out each year mainly through word of mouth. In the past we’ve tampered with direct mail, flyers, and newspaper advertising. We thought these avenues were a great way to attract new students, but they weren’t as successful as we anticipated. This year we are limiting our advertising expense to posters only.


Section 4: Getting your STORM team involved
As mention in section 3, our STORM team is outstanding. Ranging from ages 9 to 13, these guys love to play and they take charge better than many adults. Last year my STORM team was allowed free admission as a special incentive for their leadership endeavors, and they all took charge without me even asking them to.

Here’s what you can do to get your STORM team involved:
 Give your STORM team free admission to the camps as a benefit and part of their leadership training. Don’t make it mandatory, but give them incentives if they do participate.

 Allow your STORM team to participate in hands-on training during camp. Each STORM team member will get to be captain of a group of campers each day. Here’s how it works:
o Divide your campers into teams.
o Have each STORM team member be captain of a team.
o The captain will essentially be the leader of the team for the entire day, and help them with each game/ activity.

 Give your STORM team hands-on training credits. My STORM team can accelerate through their leadership journey by participating in the camp. They can earn as many as 30 hands-on training credits per week!


Section 5: Camp Layout
A lot of schools stress about putting together a camp layout that will keep the campers busy for six hours per day. We’ve used very structured camp schedules that broke down each and every game and activity only to find a few snags in the process. For starters, it was hard to stick with such tight time schedules. Either we went over time, or had too much time to spare. We also noticed that campers didn’t always enjoy the activities that we had planned for them. Last year, we put together a “skeleton” schedule and let the campers help fill in the blanks.

Here’s an overview of how the camp works:
1. Put together a skeleton schedule for your camp hours:
 Daily schedule is from 10am – 3pm
 10:00 – 10:30 – Student drop-off, free time
 10:30 – 11:00 – warm-up / team selection
 11:00 – 12:00 – Martial arts and games
 12:00 – 12:30 – lunch
 12:30 – 2:30 – Martial Arts and games
 2:30 – 3:00 – camp wrap-up/ student pick-up
2. Make a list of games and a list separate list of Martial Arts activities. You can have the campers help make the lists. See the supply list from above to also view a list of our games and Martial Arts activities.

3. After our normal morning routine which includes student drop-off and warm-ups, we follow this format:
1) We have the STORM team members each take turns picking campers for their team.
2) We designate an area for each team to sit with their captain.
3) The team creates a team name.
4) The camp coordinator rolls a dice. The team that guesses the number gets to pick the first activity from the games list.
5) We play the game and then the team goes back to their designated area.
6) The camp coordinator rolls the dice again. The team that guesses the number gets to pick a Martial Arts activity from the Martial Arts activity list.
7) We repeat the process alternating from the games list and Martial Arts activity list.

4. Use the skeleton schedule from above for lunch break and the daily camp wrap-up:
1) For lunch we roll out a big sheet of white paper and have our campers eat their lunch around the paper. This makes for easy clean-up. When the campers are done with their lunch, they sit in their team area until everyone is finished and then we continue with the rotation of activities.
2) For the daily camp wrap-up, we assign each team with a responsibility to help with the clean-up process. After everything is cleaned, we have the teams collect their belongings and sit in their team area until their parents arrive. The team captain keeps them busy with fun games that they can play in their group such as arm wresting, thumb wresting, rock-paper-scissors, instructor says, etc.

5. Each day we repeat the same process.

This format is very fun! The campers love it because THEY are the ones that get to pick the camp activities. The team captains also make the camp more organized because they are gaining valuable hands-on training while at the same time having fun in the process!


Section 6: Promoting your event
The more you get the word out, the better the results. Stick with the “10 X’s” rule when promoting your camp. Last year we used ten methods to promote our summer camps and sold out weeks in advance!

Here’s the list of ten methods for promoting your camps:
1) Post the details on your school website.
2) Send out weekly emails to your students.
3) Place a sign-up sheet at the front counter.
4) Announce the camp dates at the end of each class.
5) Hang posters all over your school including the front door, bathroom doors, parent area, bulletin area, etc. See the summer camp poster from our SC archive highlight and have your poster customized by our graphics designer as part of your monthly free customization.
6) Pass out registration forms to all of your students.
7) Place posters and registration forms in all of your networking affiliate businesses.
8) Give your students extra registration forms to pass out to their friends.
9) Run a referral contest that motivates and rewards your students for referring a friend. We are going to raffle an “arcade day w/ your favorite instructor and STORM team member.” Students will earn a ticket for every non-member summer camp or enrollment referral they make between March 1st - August 1st.
10) Hang a banner in the front of your school that says SIGN UP FOR SUMMER CAMP TODAY!


Conclusion
Parents are going to need summer camps regardless of the struggling economy. Summer camps are great for boredom and parent insanity. By using the information from this report, you will run a profitable summer camp during a struggling economy. Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by Megan Miller on March 23, 2010 at 2:58pm

meganthegoose@aol.com Thank you!!!!

Sensei Nick said:

Megan,

Do you have and email address and phone number where I can reach you?

thanks,

Nick

Megan Miller said:

I wish I could do this, let me know if you have it again....I will be picking students up from school and bringing them to our academy at that time. If it is video recorded I would love to utube it. Thanks.

Sensei Nick said:

Sure come to our meeting on Monday at 2 o'clock est. We will be doing an on line meeting for championsway. Call extension 6410 at championsway to get the link. 877-774-5525.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Megan Miller on March 23, 2010 at 3:03pm

OMG This is a God Sent! I printed it off so I can read it and let it all sink in. Melody your name looks familiar have I seen in before in any thing? I am stupid when it comes to this stuff, so my new boss just handed me 3 years worth of old MA Business Magazines to get me started.....needless to say this is a great jump start for me THANKYOU

Melody Shuman said:

Hello Megan,

Below is a report I put together last year, please feel free to email me if you have any additional questions.

Summer Camp Strategies

I’ve ran summer camps for 15 years now. Some of them were very profitable, and others were not worth the extra effort in the end. In this month’s report, I am going to share with you my outline for this year’s summer camp – an outline that I used last summer which was my most profitable camp in 15 years.


Let’s get started!


In this report, I will break down my summer camp outline into the following sections:
1. Start-up information
2. Price setting for maximum profitability
3. Money saving tips
4. Getting you STORM Team involved
5. Camp layout
6. Promotional tips


Section 1: Start-up information
If you take care of the preliminary details before April 1st then you are well on your way to running a profitable camp. Camps require a lot of planning, but it’s not so bad if you have an outline to follow. We suggest you take care of a few initial details as soon as possible so that you can focus on promoting your camps early.

Here’s a checklist of details to get your summer camp planning started:

 Select the dates. We are running four weeks of camps. We selected the first two weeks after school lets out and the last two weeks before school starts again. Our camp dates are:
o June 8th – 12th
o June 15th – 19th
o July 27th – 31st
o August3rd – 7th
 Select the times. Our camp hours are from 10 am – 3pm Monday through Friday. We will have early drop-off and late pick-up available at $15 per day for those that need it.

 Select the price. Our camp price will start at $200 per week for non-members. See below for additional information.

 Make a list of items needed. You will want to have an inventory of supplies, movies, prizes, and games for each week.

***Check out the downloads folder under forms and letters section of Shuman Concepts for the summer camp supply list. If you are not currently a member, email me at melody@shumanconcepts.com and I will send you a copy, compliments of Championsway Community.


Section 2: Price setting for maximum profitability
The idea is to offer a lot of incentives that will entice campers to take advantage of additional benefits which in turn lead to higher profits for you. Campers can pay as little as $75 per week if they take advantage of all the incentives. This is very affordable for people, even in a struggling economy - and the best part is, we want campers to pay $75 per week for camp because that means they are a paying student; they signed up for more than one week; they signed up early; and they referred a friend!

To increase our results, we are going to use the following price-reduction offers:
o Member discount. Our students will receive a $50 discount per week. The goal is to motivate non-members to join our school before they register for the summer camp so that they save money.
o Multiple camps discount. Students that register for more than one week of camps will receive and additional $25 off per week.
o Additional family member discounts. The second family member will receive 10% off, 20% off for the third family member, and so forth.
o Early bird registration. If they register and pay before May 1st, then they will receive and additional $25 off.
o Referral discount. If they refer a non-member to register for camp then they will receive an additional $25 off. If the non-member joins the school, then they will also receive the regular referral incentives which include $75 worth of gifts.


Section 3: Money saving tips
I’ve tried way too hard to make camps enticing for our students, and the result ended in more expenses. Over the past 15 years I have learned that a lot of the extra expenses I acquired were not necessary. The goal this year is to cut expenses to maximize profitability.

Here’s a list of money saving tips that we recommend:
 Limit paid staff and work w/ volunteers. If you have an outstanding STORM team like I do, then you don’t really need to have your entire staff work the camps. Last year my STORM team was more involved with the camp activities and my paid staff members hardly had any major responsibilities at all. This year I am only having one paid staff member per day, and one parent volunteer per day. See below for more details about how to get your STORM team involved.

 Have the students bring their own lunch. It is simply too much of a headache and expense to provide lunch each day, with the exception of Friday which is pizza day.

 Cut out off-site activities. In past camps we’ve taken them bowling. I know plenty of schools that also have beach days; pool days; arcade days; museum days; etc. The problem is these activities require transportation, admission, chaperones, and more. For me personally, it is not worth the extra expense. We run such fun camps that we don’t need to find activities that will keep them entertained.

 Market through your network vs. spending money on advertising. Our camps sell out each year mainly through word of mouth. In the past we’ve tampered with direct mail, flyers, and newspaper advertising. We thought these avenues were a great way to attract new students, but they weren’t as successful as we anticipated. This year we are limiting our advertising expense to posters only.


Section 4: Getting your STORM team involved
As mention in section 3, our STORM team is outstanding. Ranging from ages 9 to 13, these guys love to play and they take charge better than many adults. Last year my STORM team was allowed free admission as a special incentive for their leadership endeavors, and they all took charge without me even asking them to.

Here’s what you can do to get your STORM team involved:
 Give your STORM team free admission to the camps as a benefit and part of their leadership training. Don’t make it mandatory, but give them incentives if they do participate.

 Allow your STORM team to participate in hands-on training during camp. Each STORM team member will get to be captain of a group of campers each day. Here’s how it works:
o Divide your campers into teams.
o Have each STORM team member be captain of a team.
o The captain will essentially be the leader of the team for the entire day, and help them with each game/ activity.

 Give your STORM team hands-on training credits. My STORM team can accelerate through their leadership journey by participating in the camp. They can earn as many as 30 hands-on training credits per week!


Section 5: Camp Layout
A lot of schools stress about putting together a camp layout that will keep the campers busy for six hours per day. We’ve used very structured camp schedules that broke down each and every game and activity only to find a few snags in the process. For starters, it was hard to stick with such tight time schedules. Either we went over time, or had too much time to spare. We also noticed that campers didn’t always enjoy the activities that we had planned for them. Last year, we put together a “skeleton” schedule and let the campers help fill in the blanks.

Here’s an overview of how the camp works:
1. Put together a skeleton schedule for your camp hours:
 Daily schedule is from 10am – 3pm
 10:00 – 10:30 – Student drop-off, free time
 10:30 – 11:00 – warm-up / team selection
 11:00 – 12:00 – Martial arts and games
 12:00 – 12:30 – lunch
 12:30 – 2:30 – Martial Arts and games
 2:30 – 3:00 – camp wrap-up/ student pick-up
2. Make a list of games and a list separate list of Martial Arts activities. You can have the campers help make the lists. See the supply list from above to also view a list of our games and Martial Arts activities.

3. After our normal morning routine which includes student drop-off and warm-ups, we follow this format:
1) We have the STORM team members each take turns picking campers for their team.
2) We designate an area for each team to sit with their captain.
3) The team creates a team name.
4) The camp coordinator rolls a dice. The team that guesses the number gets to pick the first activity from the games list.
5) We play the game and then the team goes back to their designated area.
6) The camp coordinator rolls the dice again. The team that guesses the number gets to pick a Martial Arts activity from the Martial Arts activity list.
7) We repeat the process alternating from the games list and Martial Arts activity list.

4. Use the skeleton schedule from above for lunch break and the daily camp wrap-up:
1) For lunch we roll out a big sheet of white paper and have our campers eat their lunch around the paper. This makes for easy clean-up. When the campers are done with their lunch, they sit in their team area until everyone is finished and then we continue with the rotation of activities.
2) For the daily camp wrap-up, we assign each team with a responsibility to help with the clean-up process. After everything is cleaned, we have the teams collect their belongings and sit in their team area until their parents arrive. The team captain keeps them busy with fun games that they can play in their group such as arm wresting, thumb wresting, rock-paper-scissors, instructor says, etc.

5. Each day we repeat the same process.

This format is very fun! The campers love it because THEY are the ones that get to pick the camp activities. The team captains also make the camp more organized because they are gaining valuable hands-on training while at the same time having fun in the process!


Section 6: Promoting your event
The more you get the word out, the better the results. Stick with the “10 X’s” rule when promoting your camp. Last year we used ten methods to promote our summer camps and sold out weeks in advance!

Here’s the list of ten methods for promoting your camps:
1) Post the details on your school website.
2) Send out weekly emails to your students.
3) Place a sign-up sheet at the front counter.
4) Announce the camp dates at the end of each class.
5) Hang posters all over your school including the front door, bathroom doors, parent area, bulletin area, etc. See the summer camp poster from our SC archive highlight and have your poster customized by our graphics designer as part of your monthly free customization.
6) Pass out registration forms to all of your students.
7) Place posters and registration forms in all of your networking affiliate businesses.
8) Give your students extra registration forms to pass out to their friends.
9) Run a referral contest that motivates and rewards your students for referring a friend. We are going to raffle an “arcade day w/ your favorite instructor and STORM team member.” Students will earn a ticket for every non-member summer camp or enrollment referral they make between March 1st - August 1st.
10) Hang a banner in the front of your school that says SIGN UP FOR SUMMER CAMP TODAY!


Conclusion
Parents are going to need summer camps regardless of the struggling economy. Summer camps are great for boredom and parent insanity. By using the information from this report, you will run a profitable summer camp during a struggling economy. Good luck!

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