Q and A with michael brandwein about the super seminar for dynamic camp leadership

What will participants learn at this Seminar?
 
People who have been in my sessions know that I am a “skills guy.” I don’t like sitting in things where people tell us what we should do but don’t explain HOW to do it. That drives me crazy. So this Seminar is a How to Do It experience. No theory. No collections of the “usual stuff” that people already know. Instead, we emphasize new and exciting techniques that participants won’t get anywhere else. This is all about learning, practicing, and taking home specific things we can use to do the following (and even more…):

• Original staff training activities that you can plug into your existing training and use to grab staff attention, motivate learning and high participation, and maximize camp leadership, teaching, and communication skills
• Activities that make sure staff know why they are really here: that we’re about more than just fun—we’re using camp to build better people
• Be able to show camp parents, your boss, boards, funders, and others how we really do what we say we are doing—and doing it better than almost everyone else
• Specific ways to welcome staff so that they can welcome campers in the same warm, positive-culture-building ways
• How to make sure that we’re really using camp every day to do what camp does best: build great young people by using fun activities to teach them qualities and skills for life, including respect, responsibility, confidence, persistence, creativity, communication, and more
• Exactly how to teach staff to teach essential skills for life, including respect, responsibility, confidence, cooperation, kindness, and more
• The real secrets to coach and motivate staff to do professional, responsible (“This is a real job!”) work, even if they are young and this is their first job
• Original games and activities every staff person should have in their repertoire to make sure we are teaching campers how to make friends, solve problems, be persistent, and much more
• The key ingredients to running fast, effective, exciting, positive staff meetings
• Secrets of superb leaders, including, for example, multiple fresh (not boring) ways to get the attention of the entire camp in less than 10 seconds without even having to ask them to be quiet

 
How is this different than a session you present at a conference?
 
I enjoy speaking to large groups at Conferences, but I really love a small group Seminar experience because it has so many wonderful, extra benefits. When we have a small Seminar group of about 15 motivated learners:

• We can tailor the content to individual needs and goals, staying flexible throughout the schedule. If people want more details or examples on a topic or want to include issues not on the original agenda, we’ve got the ability to do this.
• It’s easier and more comfortable to participate among people we get to know
• I can give lots of one-on-one attention to people, making sure that everyone gets every question answered fully. For example, often participants want support in how to use a particular technique or materials at their specific kind of camp, and the small group environment makes this easy to do.
• Really helpful relationships get built when we’re in a small group. During meals, breaks, and other moments we learn a lot about each other’s programs, share ideas and resources, and more. We can stay in touch after the seminar and continue to learn from and support the people we’ve met.

 
The best benefit of a small group, multi-day Seminar experience is that we don’t have to try cram everything into a short period of time. So we get:

• Much more in-depth learning with more examples that work for participants’ specific types of camps
• Time to comfortably practice techniques so that we’re sure we’ve got them and can take them back home with confidence
• Flexibility: We move things around the schedule as we learn together, to be sure we are meeting everyone’s needs and goals.
• Times built into the schedule to reflect on what we’re learning—so that it sticks
• “Planning moments” throughout each day to begin making action plans about how we’re going to use what we’ve learned
• Informal time (meals, breaks, and more) for questions, questions, and more questions, plus the time to share and learn from others

  
What’s it like to be at the Seminar?
 
We have fun, we play, we learn by doing, we practice specific techniques and skills in supportive partner and group experiences, we get to ask any questions that will help us apply all of this to our own program, and get an instant group of camp professional friends and colleagues who we can continue to use as resources. I believe a camp Seminar experience should be a model of what we want to achieve when training staff. So these are my “rules” when designing a Seminar:

• It should be fun and exciting, because people learn better when they enjoy the process, get to play, and learn by doing
• It should be a safe, warm, informal, comfortable, supportive place to learn for everyone, regardless of their level of experience
• The material should be presented with creativity and energy, because when things are interesting and fresh we learn more
• We need to be getting up and moving around as we learn and apply it
• Superb, innovative teaching techniques should be used to maximize learning, with a variety of methods that support people who learn different ways
• There must be opportunities to practice what we’re learning to make sure we’ve got it and feel confident about taking it home and using it
• Usefulness is the key word: The focus must be on learning things that help us do a fantastic job, and anything that doesn’t contribute to that should not be included

 
What is the schedule like?
 
This is a tentative schedule, which we keep flexible to meet the needs and comforts of the group:
 
Sunday
11:00-12:30 How to Welcome Staff & Build a Positive, Professional Culture
12:30-1:15 Lunch
1:15-1:30 Break
1:30-3:00 The Real Mission of Camp & How to Train Staff to Meet It with Excitement & Skill
3:00-3:30 Break and hotel check-in
3:30-5:00 More Terrific Training Activities and Techniques to Maximize Staff Performance
5:30-6:30 Dinner
6:30-6:45 Break
6:45-7:15 Large Group Leadership Skills for All-Camp Moments (Grabbing & Keeping Attention)
7:15-8:45 Play with a Purpose: Original Activities to Build Great Staff and Teach Life Skills to Campers, including “The Great Gamemaster: The Super Secrets to Outstanding Activity Leadership” that all staff should know
 
Monday
8:00-8:45 Breakfast
8:45-9:00 Break
9:00-10:30 The Intentional Camp: How to Put Muscle in Our Mission for Program Success & to Make Our Camp Distinctive from the Rest
10:30-10:45 Break
10:45-12:00 The Intentional Camp continues; and Turbo-Charging Program to make it fresh for staff and campers, boosting retention
12:15-1:00 Lunch
1:30-3:00 Superb Staff Supervision to coach and lead staff to their best performance
3:00-3:30 Break
3:30-5:00 Superb Staff Supervision continued; and How to Have Outstanding Staff Meetings
5:00-5:30 Break
5:30-6:30 Dinner
6:30-6:45 Break
6:45-8:45 More Purposeful Play & Skill-Boosting Activities for Staff and Campers
9:00-10:00 Magic Party (Optional)
 
Tuesday
8:00-8:45 Breakfast
8:45-9:00 Break
9:00-10:30 Growing Great Qualities in Campers: The Skills We and Staff Must Have to Use Positive Communication to Bring Out the Best in Young People
10:30-12:00 Action Plans