Tag: camp management software

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5 Easy Marketing Techniques for Reaching Camp Families Throughout The Year

Posted on by Erin Lehmann

Even though your particular camp might only be in session for part of a season, there are plenty of ways to stay connected with your community throughout the year. You can send updates to camp families easily with a variety of channels and mediums. We’ll explore some of the most popular ways to connect with – and compel! – your campers and their families. 

Text

With CampSite, you can send mass text messages to hundreds, even thousands, of your database contacts with just a few clicks. Text messages are a convenient way to reach parents quickly – no matter where they are. Text messaging is super useful during the camp season to communicate with individual families or a whole group. But it shouldn’t be dismissed as a great way to provide instant updates on session offerings or community news during the off-season. 

Email

By now, everyone knows that email is a reliable method for providing relevant and useful content to subscribers. Surprisingly, a well-planned email strategy isn’t as common. Consider the messaging you could send camp families year-round that would be interesting, engaging, and informative.

Determine how frequently you’d like to send it – a monthly or quarterly newsletter, for instance – and plan the rough outline ahead of time. Use our Email Scheduling feature to draft and schedule emails for a future send date right inside the CampSite dashboard. Consistent, quality messaging is key when it comes to an effective email strategy!

Social Media

Make it easy for your campers, families, and staff to find you on social media. Popular channels include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest. Sign up for all five and keep a steady stream of content flowing to each (you can post the same content across channels) so people know you’re actively in business. Tools like HootSuite, Sprout Social, and Buffer can help you manage your social media.

Once you’ve committed to your channels, include “Follow Us!” icons for each on your website, email footers, and any other brand messaging. Social media is one of the best ways to inform families of session updates like new offerings – and engage with them, too. 

Direct Mail

It may seem like a thing of the past… but snail mail is still effective! Direct mail marketing your camp is a great way to reach new and prospective camp families alike. With the help of a free design platform like Canva, it’s never been easier to come up with your own graphics.

Direct mail is most effective when sent a few times over to the same mailing list. Because of that, it’s a perfect off-season marketing or remarketing campaign that you can set-and-forget. For existing camp families, include information about the upcoming season and shout out highlights from the past (pictures always appreciated!). 

Video Content

Create a library of engaging content that your community can access at any time of year. YouTube, or a similar video streaming service, is your best bet for getting started. Create yearbook slideshows commemorating past seasons, post videos of camper-favored activities or songs, feature updates from counselors or directors, and more.

You can easily share video content across social media. Plus, it’s a fun way to get some facetime in with your community no matter where they are or what time of year it is. 

Engaging and updating your camp families throughout the year has never been easier. So with a little planning, content creation, and a list of camp contacts, you’ll be on your way to a comprehensive outreach plan. Keep your camp experience top-of-mind no matter the season!

Is your camp running on CampSite? Request a free, personalized demo to explore our comprehensive camp management software today!

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COVID-19: Community Resources for Summer Camps

Posted on by Erin Lehmann
COVID-19 community resources for summer camps

It’s no secret that COVID-19 has affected virtually every aspect of our lives, especially camp. The decisions you’re making now are more critical than ever before. Many summer camps are waiting for guidance from their city or state regarding health and quarantine updates. Some camps have already made the extremely difficult decision to close and still more are coming up with creative solutions like virtual experiences and activities they can offer their communities instead. We know this isn’t an easy time.

In true camp fashion, we’ve seen our community come together like never before to brainstorm, boost morale, problem-solve, and share important COVID-19 updates. We’ve seen a lot of magic happen in a few online spaces in particular that we think many camps could benefit from. 

Each of these discussion groups is facilitated by the camp industry and its community members. These resources are all online, 100% collaborative and intended to inform and inspire its members. 

Summer Camp Professionals

Summer Camp Professionals is a free Facebook group that has climbed to over 20,000 members in its ten-year history. You need a Facebook account to answer a few basic camp-related questions to request access to the private group. However, the group administrators are quick to admit members. With over fifty posts a day covering a range of topics, Summer Camp Professionals is sure to be a valuable ongoing resource throughout the year. 

Click to request access to Summer Camp Professionals on Facebook. 

COVID-19 + Camps

When a crisis hits, creativity is never far behind, and COVID-19 + Camps is a great demonstration of that. Hosted on Slack, this grassroots mega-forum was created by camp professionals who realized the need for extra resources surrounding COVID-19. The free Slack workspace has insight on just about everything: communicating with parents and staff, decision-making, virtual camps, and offers a whole network of support. Plus, the 2,000-some members have created a MegaDoc of COVID-19 resources that you can easily share with your team. 

Click here to join the COVID-19 + Camps Slack workspace.

ACA Open Forum 

The American Camp Association hosts a Member Open Forum on their website, allowing members to log in and ask questions and start meaningful discussion threads. Although the forum is open year-round, discussions have heavily centered around how camps are responding to COVID-19. The ACA is a reputable member of the camp industry; this forum is a great opportunity to learn something new and network with other members. 

Click here to learn about the ACA or log in to the Member’s Open Forum.

At CampSite, we specialize in camp management software. We remain informed and educated about the challenges our camps face so we can better support them. We hope these resources will be as beneficial to your organization as they have been for ours. 

If you have a camp community resource that you’d like others to know about, please let us know by sending us an email at marketing@campmanagement.com.

Visit our blog homepage for more camp management resources!

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Online Camp Registration: How an Updated Process Helps Parents

Posted on by Erin Lehmann

There’s no way around it: people are automating and simplifying their lives by opting in for solutions that prioritize convenience. When it comes to camp registration, there is little exception. CampSite’s camp management platform comes not just with a fully-stocked administrative dashboard. We also host an intuitive, responsive Parent Dashboard designed to make registration easier than ever. Read on for the benefits of forgoing a clunky, paper-intensive process in favor of a sleek online registration system.

Time

There’s certainly an advantage to offering your families an easy and convenient way to register their campers. To start, it cuts down the time and energy they might otherwise spend filling out and submitting a paper application with payment or navigating an outdated registration portal. In contrast, our Parent Dashboard boasts a convenient responsive design. This allows parents to register their campers on any device without sacrificing format or layout. This turns camp registration from a laborious task into a process parents can easily complete without the added effort.

Ease of Access

A well-designed online camp registration process also allows parents to easily view and select the right sessions for their campers. Plus, they can make requests and add important information to their camper profiles. With their own unique login, parents can enter the Parent Dashboard at any time to update information on their campers. The responsive dashboard allows for real-time changes on-the-go, which is particularly useful for busy families. 

Intuitive Process

CampSite admin can customize their parents’ online camp registration in a variety of ways. Show parents only the sessions their children are eligible for based on demographics or logical conditioning to reduce overwhelm. Choose and create forms your families should fill out to build a comprehensive camper profile that helps your team better manage campers. Parents experience a smooth, step-by-step registration process complete with electronic signatures and secure checkout. 

Camp Credibility 

Not only will your camp enjoy the added credibility that comes with a smartly-designed registration process. Hosting registration on a central platform like CampSite helps this effort. Registrations are free of system time-outs, payment errors or any number of technical hiccups a self-hosted registration system might encounter. Plus, you can customize the experience with your logo and camp colors so families feel like they’re on your website. 

The benefits your families will experience when you host online camp registration through CampSite are many. Your families will enjoy an intuitive, convenient Parent Dashboard customized to their needs! 

Ready to see how CampSite can change the way you run camp? Request your free, personalized demo!

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The Best of Off-Season Camp Management

Posted on by Erin Lehmann
off season camp management

Although this time of year sends many camps into their off-season, a lack of campers doesn’t necessarily mean your camp operations come to a standstill.  In fact, aside from the administrative work that must be done throughout the year, more camps are utilizing their facilities even when camp isn’t in session.

CampSite has built out two significant modules to help camps manage these very efforts. Whether you’re hosting conferences, throwing donor events, or renting retreat space to third parties, we have a solution for you. With CampSite, you can enjoy comprehensive camp management all year long. 

Read on to see how CampSite offers off-season camp management solutions to accommodate our clients year-round. Our Events module and Conference and Retreat module can help you save time and stay organized while taking advantage of your camp’s facilities!

Expand Camp Management with…

Events Module

Our Events module is designed to help camp staff run and manage off-season events for any audience. Using a customizable Events Registration Form, attendees can easily sign up for events individually or as part of a group. For every attendee or group that registers, CampSite creates and stores a profile page containing their important information. You can easily access attendee profiles at any time. 

For events that call for on-site housing, camp admin can organize attendees with our drag and drop housing tool. We make it easy to assign people to rooms with just a few clicks. Plus, a visual overview of your housing board will leave you assured that every attendee is placed in the right room or location. CampSite’s Events module removes the guesswork from do-it-yourself organization and makes it easy to accommodate events of all kinds.  

Conferences and Retreats Module

Do you rent your camp facilities out to third party organizations or groups during the off-season? If so, then our Conferences and Retreats module was made for you. With the Conferences and Retreats module, you can rent portions of your facilities or the entire property out as desired. 

Easily track dates, capacities, and quantities of your facilities and equipment so you know exactly what’s available on what dates. Plus, you can group popular facility features together to create custom or commonly used rental packages. 

In both the Events and Conferences and Retreats features, camps will find a comprehensive Billing Suite. Here, you have the ability to create and manage invoices, apply discounts, accept payments and more. Plus, our Advanced Reporting feature works alongside both modules so camps can easily access a wide range of valuable data. 

Optimizing Your Camp With CampSite

If you’re ready to explore off-season camp management and make the most out of your facilities, the Events and Conferences and Retreats modules are a sure step in the right direction. Coupled with our core CampSite offering and an expert customer support team, we’ll have your camp totally covered year-round! 

For more information on CampSite’s off-season modules, please request a personalized demo or email us at sales@campmanagement.com. 

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Camp Donations and Payments: Simplifying Camp Financials

Posted on by Erin Lehmann
camp donations and payments

As many summer camps head toward their off-seasons, we wanted to highlight one of our financial modules. This module offers major benefits to CampSite users who strive for more organization in their back-office processes. Our Donations and Extended Payments module makes simpler the tasks of collecting, tracking and managing donations and payments. 

Read about this popular financial module to see how it can simplify camp donations and extended payments management. Then, apply it to your own operations!

Feature Benefits

Offered as an A la Carte feature, our Donations and Extended Payments module supercharges to your camp’s financial processes. This is an especially important feature for non-profit camps or camps who rely on external support. The module allows for quick online payment collection from a variety of third parties. Plus, it can replace your existing fundraising software entirely. 

The Donations and Extended Payments module offers a full range of donation and payment management tools. Stay on top of donor organization by easily creating, editing, and deleting donor files as needed within the admin dashboard. Then choose to attach donor notes to customize the record with additional information you can easily share with other users. 

It’s not uncommon for a relative, a family friend, or even a government agency to make contributions toward camp fees. CampSite’s Extended Payments functionality allows anyone with an email address to log in to a secure portal. From there, they can quickly view and pay for a camper’s charges. It’s incredibly easy to set up and prevents needless back-and-forth. Similarly, collecting camp donations and payments is faster and more secure than traditional offline methods. 

This module also syncs with our Advanced Reporting tool so users can pull valuable information with just a few clicks. You can view, manage, save and export reports to stay up-to-date on the status of donations, payments, and donors. Plus, communicating with donors and payees becomes more convenient than ever before. Users can send emails from the Advanced Reporting dashboard directly to donors generated in a report, all within seconds. 

Routine Updates 

We routinely assess the value of every feature we offer our camps. Then, we work hard to incorporate new updates we believe will most benefit your management efforts. This year we’ve made two small but significant changes to our Donations and Extended Payments module.

Firstly, we now support one-click refunds for general donations and payment requests. This makes it easier for camps to accommodate donor contributions and requests. In addition, admin can now automate and customize the donation acceptance process. Set a default transaction category to tag all new donations and third-party payments.

In conclusion, for camps looking to organize, customize, and automate their donations and payments, this module is for you. It’s easy to integrate this feature into your existing CampSite service. As always, our support team offers year-round free training. We’ll show you just how this feature will benefit your camp’s unique needs!

If you’re interested in joining the hundreds of camps nationwide that use CampSite, please request a demo today!

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4 Camper Medical Reports Every Camp Needs

Posted on by Erin Lehmann
camp medical reports

Camper Medical Reports

There is certainly no way we can overstate how valuable it is to have a thorough and comprehensive understanding of your camp’s health. Your camp’s health, of course, begins with your campers! CampSite offers an extensive Advanced Reporting feature. This allows camp admin to pull up-to-date records on a number of vitally informative medical data.

We’ve highlighted below three highly useful reports that many camp directors turn to during registration and camp season. Plus, we’ll introduce an expansion of our popular immunizations reporting tool!

Camper Medical Report 1:

General Health History

The General Health History report is a great way to access a high-level overview of a camper’s health histories and current needs. Our Advanced Reporting feature is packed with field and filter options. So, creating segments based on unique criteria is easier than ever. Camp admin can narrow searches based on whether or not campers have had past critical injury, infectious disease, surgery, seizures, diabetes, and so much more.

With just a few clicks, you’ll also be able to run reports on campers with histories of common health afflictions. Knowing which campers have experienced headaches, dizziness, or asthma can help your team better plan and prepare for activities that may encourage those symptoms. It’s easy to pull a list of campers who have trouble sleeping, too. With reporting, you can more easily accommodate the needs of all campers. With comprehensive health history reports on each camper, your team can enter the camp season informed and prepared!

Camper Medical Report 2:

Allergies

With an Advanced Reporting function for allergies, you can easily reassure parents that their children’s allergy sensitivities will be taken seriously. Run allergy reports based on allergy name, allergy type, number of allergies and more. You can elect to pull a list of campers based on critical allergies, too.

Access to fast, reliable allergy reports is crucial for maintaining a standard of safety and medical care for all campers at all times. Your medical team will have plenty of time to review camper’s allergy needs before the season begins. This way they can be stocked and responsive should they have to administer care. These reports also come in handy during meal and menu-planning so you can offer the right amount of healthy alternatives. Without accurate reporting, preparing to accommodate campers and a variety of allergies is nearly impossible!

Camper Medical Report 3:

Prohibited OTC

Many parents have their own personal preferences when it comes to which over-the-counter medications they want their children to have access to. It can be hard keeping that information straight. It’s even harder making sure it’s accessible to the team members who might administer a remedy.

With our Advanced Reporting feature, you can quickly pull a report of all campers who have a forbidden over-the-counter request in their profiles. This will reveal the names of each over-the-counter medication. From there, you can easily make a list of some of the most frequently mentioned items to avoid. Plus, you can be sure to have natural or other alternatives in stock in your camp’s infirmary. You can consider posting the report in plain sight so your medical staff can easily reference it as they’re treating campers.

Camper Medical Report Update:

Immunizations

CampSite’s ability to offer reliable reporting on immunization has long been a favored feature in our medical module. Camp administrators have been able to pull immunization records for campers and staff as needed. The American Camp Association strongly urges that all camps know the immunization status of every camper and staff member, regardless of each camp’s vaccination policy.  

We understand this request and the necessity of having access to information like immunization records in different contexts. Because of this, we’ve recently expanded the accessibility of our immunization report fields to our Advanced Reporting feature. Housing immunization information within Advanced Reporting allows camp staff to pull comprehensive camper (and staff) immunization reports like never before.

As it was, immunization information is still only available to users who have been granted the appropriate medical permissions. The key difference now is that immunization fields can be grouped with many other fields. Select bunking boards, health history, enrollment, and more to create uniquely segmented camper populations.

Then, as with all of our advanced reports, camp staff can email or even text message parents in real time. Keep families in the loop with relevant inquiries or important updates with just the click of a button. This feature should be a tremendous aid to your medical staff as you work to provide a safe, fun camp experience for all!

Customize for Your Camp

CampSite is a strong believer in providing reliable, accurate reporting capabilities without the hassle or headache. We work hard to incorporate as many campers and staff data points as we can so that our camps have access to information when they need it. We do not expect all camps to have the need to refer to all of these camper medical reports; they are simply suggestions. We like to share with you what’s worked for other successful camps so you have the power to make the best decisions for yours!

Ready to see how CampSite’s Advanced Reporting feature can benefit your camp? Request a free demo today!

Blog

Camp Administrative Reports: Why They’re So Important

Posted on by Erin Lehmann
camp administrative reporting

We know that running a camp involves a lot of moving parts. In fact, we had just this thought in mind when we designed CampSite. In addition to a comprehensive camp management platform, we also wanted to offer a feature that would really help our users run better businesses. The solution: to offer camp administrative reports that are easy to access and understand.

Administrative Reports Customized for Your Camp

We’ve made highly customizable reporting available in various modules throughout the CampSite admin dash. Because of this, it’s an easy task to sort an abundance of data into manageable, digestible segments using fields and filters. Without a fast and efficient reporting feature it’s difficult and time-consuming to pool and analyze data manually. Even more, it becomes nearly impossible to design an effective strategy that will help you run (and grow!) your best camp.

While you’ll find many useful opportunities to run reports throughout our admin dashboard, let’s explore a few user-favorites:

Financial Reports

It shouldn’t be a surprise that financial reports are critical if you want to understand the health of your camp. With our built-in reporting system, your administrative team can determine earnings for individual camp programs, view how many/which families have a due balance, and check the status of electronic payments that you’ve processed over your payment gateway – just for starters! So, make some appointments on your calendar to check in with your financials on a routine basis. The more you become familiar with the information, the easier it will be to track and understand changes over time!

Staff Reports

Even if you don’t have a human resources department, you can still get organized and track your staff effectively. Our advanced staff reporting tool is capable of sorting staff members into several segments, starting with session and employment status. From there, you can narrow down your results using a variety of demographic options. Plus, there are options to pull staff based on salary, availability, experience, and so much more. This robust tool makes it easy to view and manage your staff according to your camp’s current needs.  

Camper Reports

One of the most sought-after features of CampSite is the camper and family reporting tool. Our easy-to-use report builder allows you to create and run customized reports on groups of campers. This tool is designed to help you gather data on a wide range of variables. You can pull campers with a list of specific allergies, see who ordered certain enrollment extras, and even identify which campers still have missing forms. A thorough understanding of your camper demographics will hugely impact the effectiveness of your marketing, fundraising, camp programs, and more!

Donation Reports

Many camps steadfastly rely on donations as a major source of income to help maintain and run camp year after year. If you’re among those camps, it’s important to keep track of who your donors are and what their donation history is. With our donation reporting feature, you can easily pull reports on any payments your donors have made – whether towards a specific family’s balance or general donations to your overall camp. This information can help you expand your donor pool and segment donors into their own campaigns.

Reporting is simply a tool your camp just can’t do without any longer! With CampSite’s vast reporting capabilities, it’s easier than ever to get the information you need to run your best camp. As we head toward another busy season, there’s no better time than now to keep the benefits of camp administrative reports in mind!

Is your camp ready for a free demo of our game-changing camp management software? Contact us today!

Explore all of the features CampSite has to offer your camp here!

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Online Camp Registration: The Benefits of Taking Camp Digital

Posted on by Erin Lehmann
campers after camp registration

Camp Management Software

CampSite was created by camp directors, for camp directors to help streamline and automate a lot of the redundant tasks associated with camp management. It’s hard to believe there was a time when we all conducted business solely on paper – even camp registration!   It’s even still harder to believe many camps are struggling to find the best camp management solution for them.

That’s where CampSite comes in: our robust, intuitive camp software holds a lot of power, but its accessible and easy-to-navigate interface makes it easy to learn. Therefor, even if you don’t have a lot of experience in tech, you’ll become comfortable with it in no time.

We built CampSite around the task of all tasks: camp registration. Where camp, and most camp director’s headaches, begin! Our Online Camp Registration portal is a total game changer. It gives parents the ability to enroll their campers quickly and easily whether from a desktop, tablet, or smartphone. This on-the-go functionality is a hit amongst busy parents who don’t want to sit down to hours of paperwork. There’s no scanning, faxing, or mailing either – everything is digitally filed and sent directly to your management portal!

Customizing the Parent Experience

Camp directors can customize the enrollment process, too. Add enrollment options, pose important questions, display necessary waivers and forms, and offer add-ons. In addition, you can set filters, such as age, interest, or other logic restrictions, that will allow parents to only see the enrollment sessions that are available to their children. This provides a more catered camp registration experience for the parents instead of having them browse through endless, irrelevant options. You can easily set all of this up with the help of our CampSite support team, or with your staff (it’s really that easy!).

Plus, for families who aren’t yet ready to enroll or just need some more information, camps can choose to add Request for Information forms and lead tracking tools for marketing purposes.

The Benefits of Online Camp Registration

So, what do the camps that use CampSite and our online camp registration tool gain? Time, energy, and the freedom and creativity to focus on other initiatives. Brainstorm up new program ideas, work on bunk scheduling, and of course, use our transportation module to plan and route all  bus and carpool schedules! The bottom line is that camps run more efficiently and professionally with camp management software. Online camp registration is a hit with parents; we’re sure your management team and staff will love it, too!

Read the five things everyone in the camp industry should do before end of summer!

Thinking of making a software decision soon? This post is a must read.

Explore all the features CampSite has to offer here.

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The Best Camp Software: 4 Parent-Friendly Features

Posted on by campmanagement
4 Hit Features of Parent-Friendly Camp Software photo

For camp software to be at its best, it needs to appeal not only to camp directors and stuff, but it must also be parent-friendly. This doesn’t just mean that it should just look nice but that its functions go beyond satisfying the basics of parent expectations.

Parents are the customers your camp business must appeal to first. Which is why parent-friendly camp software is a big deal. So, what is parent-friendly summer camp software? It’s software with easy-to-use features that parents want to engage with—and if your current summer camp software lacks them—it may be time to consider other options. Here’s an idea on what to look for when it comes to parent-friendly summer camp software.

1: A Clean Parent Dashboard

You want enrollment that makes it easier for parents, year-after-year. To ensure that, the display of the Parent Dashboard should be simple-to-use and pleasant to look at. This way, parents can get to their financial pages, print out receipts and add in their payment information without additional help from your staff.

Remember that ease of use doesn’t just benefit your camper parents. It benefits your staff too. The time that your staff saves by not having to help guide a parent can now go toward anything pending on the camp agenda. With parent-friendly summer camp software, you are continuously satisfying both parties.

“The ease of which you can re-enroll, log onto the parent dashboard, fill out all their forms in one location. And frankly parents have said, this is the most efficient and easiest way for them to go about doing what they need to do.”-Brian Cohen Associate Director, Iroquois Spring

2: Advanced Email Tracking

How a software communicates is everything. Understanding the success of these communication lines is a big part of that everything. But, how do you measure successful email communication without the ability to sufficiently track it? You deserve to know what happens to the emails sent out to your camper parents. Parent-friendly camp software, like CampSite, takes care of that with Email Tracking.

Was the email opened? How many views did it get? Email Analytics tools take care of that. They allow your staff to ensure that no stone is left unturned. In Campsite’s summer camp software, camp staff can track the success of any email campaign by analyzing ‘click-through rates’ from your families.

“With the different features at CampSite we can specialize all kinds of marketing tools for our families, it’s really helped us move our enrollment earlier and faster and grow our business.”-Michele Rowcliffe Executive Director, YMCA Camp Cory

3: An Interactive Photo & Video Blog

A private blog is a wonderful resource to share photos and videos with your camper parents. Let’s say you have one integrated with your software. Two weeks of summer camp have gone. Your blog is now full of photos of your campers. Nearly hundreds of them. Do you want these parents to sift through them all to find their child? No. They want something that can direct them to the photos they want to see—in a snap. They want parent-friendly camp software with an interactive blog that includes Facial Recognition. If your software doesn’t have this function, it could be time for a change.

So, what is Facial Recognition? It’s a feature that connects both parents and campers in a highly convenient manner. Intuitive summer camp software, like CampSite, will run Facial Recognition for added parent and staff ease-of-use and it works like this. It cuts down on the laborious process of looking through every single picture and instantly brings the photos of camper children directly to a parent. It’s the simple power of convenience that well defines a parent-friendly camp software.

4: A Texting Feature Between Parents & Your Camp

Of course, there’s more to keeping in touch with parents than through a blog. A photo and video blog – while awesome for camp parents – cannot effectively communicate in an individual and private manner. For instance, what if a camper fell and scraped their elbow at day camp? Or if a camper cried on their first night at sleepaway camp? These situations aren’t meant for a blog post that all camper parents can see. A private messaging system is much more suitable.

When you think about it, a private text messaging module that integrates with your camp software is parent-friendly by concept alone – it is an instant source of contact between camper parents and your camp staff. If you are using a text messaging system with your software, it should satisfy these functions.

  • Send one text or a hundred as simple as sending an email.
  • Archived correspondence for easy access through family accounts
  • All correspondence collected in one place, making sure you don’t miss any new replies.
  • A personalized phone number in your local area code – making it easy for parents and staff to get in touch!

Parent-friendly camp management software, like CampSite, can be your solution to running your summer camp just the way parents want it. With it, staying in touch with your camper parents becomes less tedious and more seamless towards nurturing a better parent-to-camp relationship. CampSite has a friendly easy-to-learn layout with happy, helpful staff to guide you along the way.

 

For more of CampSites favorite new tech features, check out this 4-min read.

Want to learn more about CampSite camp software? Click the button below!

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The Best Tech In Camp Management Software

Posted on by campmanagement
Best tech for camp management photo

Thinking about technology operating alongside summer or day camps can create a complex image. Phones, computers, and other gadgets can be viewed as obstacles at camp, posing more  as a distraction from enjoying camp activities than a benefit. Whatever your view on the relationship between tech and campers, the productivity benefits of camp software are undeniable. Technology has become such an integral part of running a camp, from cell phones, to action cameras to camp software itself! So we decided to rank  our favorites for the top must have tech features in camp software!

A Cloud Service:

Chances are you’ve heard this term thrown around in the tech world or even at your camp. A “cloud service” allows instant access to vast amounts of data from anywhere—without worrying about storing photos, files, and forms yourself. This means if you fill out a form while enabling a cloud service, “the cloud” stores that form away where it can be updated or accessed in seamless fashion. Camper photos, camper medical forms, staff resumes and more. It’s all readily available to you.

Are cloud services popular? Sure! In fact, the world’s largest cloud platform, Amazon Cloud hosts some of the web’s most popular services – Netflix, Pinterest, and of course, Amazon.com – to name just a few. In addition, we use Amazon Cloud to host CampSite!

Facial Recognition Technology:

This awesome feature lets parents locate their children in camp photos instantly, saving all the trouble of looking through albums of camp pictures from their camp counselor. The Facial Recognition is one of the most innovative features to connect both parents and campers in a fast and convenient manner.

You may have not even noticed the power of facial recognition tech at work. It’s on social media when you upload a photo of your friends and you’re asked to confirm the names attributed to the people in the photo. This means the next time a photo is uploaded with the same people, the program recognizes them with better
accuracy and your photos are easier to find of people you’re looking for. This feature is a dream come true for many parents since it saves them time and energy. The alternative is a mild dread when considering how to keep track of handfuls of
camp photos.

Text Messaging:

Most messaging services also let you archive conversations and set notifications, while others allow so much more. Because text messaging is a near essential in our everyday lives, staff that use texting as part of their camp management strategy are being able to send mass messages to all camper families about crucial information, from event changes, updates and emergencies. Messages instantly land on the appropriate parent’s phone inbox for quick and easy viewing. So how does text messaging impact the relationships between parents and staff? For one, it becomes faster. Similarly, it makes communication over smaller issues much simpler than email or phone. For example, a text message to a campers parent that their swimming goggles broke and to send a new pair, saves the time of making the call or going back and forth on an email thread.

Rollover Data:

Contact information, session dates, forms, notes, tuition plans, forms, more forms… we could go on about the enrollment and registration process! We understand how it can take the entire day away from you. With a feature like CampSite’s rollover tech, we automatically populate registration forms and fields based on previous entries. This camp management software fan-favored feature makes the process hardly a process at all. Not when it’s much faster and more efficient than before!

Our rollover data feature includes nearly every fillable form or field we offer. From parent’s contact information, notes, enrollment options, session dates, tuition plans, to discounts and forms, it’s all retained and open for editing at any time. Make sure your camp management software asks what you want to roll over to the next year!

Camp Management Software:

How could we not have camp management software on the list? It’s what CampSite is all about! A camp software CRM is the biggest tech powerhouse in the camp industry. Why? Because cloud-based, robust software serves as an all-in-one answer to your camp management needs. You can operate all of the features listed above and more easily and efficiently. So go ahead and give camp management software a try! With CampSite, you can send a massive “Welcome!” text to all your campers, launch facial recognition for all camper parents to easily locate their children in photos, re-enroll campers for future camp adventures, and so much more!

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