4 Ways to Plan for Next Summer Now

Kristi Jacobi, Associate Director of Auxiliary programs at St. Mark's School, joined Travis Walker on the SPARC Effect podcast to share valuable insight into planning now for a great summer experience next year. With decades of summer camp experience, Kristi knows first-hand how the future of your camp depends on what you're thinking and doing right now.

Step 1: Create Time and Space for Planning

To set yourself up for success next year, you have to build time into your schedule to think, brainstorm, and plan. This means leaving the day-to-day tasks to your staff. "Delegate, train, and empower the right people to be on the front line," Kristi says. It's also important to have a dedicated time when everyone comes together to do forward-thinking work as a team.

"It's like flying a plane and building another plane at the same time and thinking about the plane you're going to build after that."

--Kristi Jacobi

Experienced directors may have already learned how to fit next year's planning into their schedules. If you're new to the job, Kristi advises you take this summer to figure out how to make time and space for future planning. Then next summer, you'll be able to plan for two summers from now, putting you and your team on the path for success.

Step 2: Create a Clear Hierarchy and Org Chart

If you're doing pick-up/drop-off, coordinating snack time, or leading games, Kristi says, you're "creating success for that moment, for that day, but you're really not building a foundation for the future." That's why delegating is so important--having trained staff you can trust taking care of the more urgent--or fun--responsibilities so you can spend time building that foundation. 

Review your org chart to ensure that everyone understands their responsibilities and expectations. If something does come up that demands attention, a clear org chart means staff will know when to get help and whom to ask. 

Step 3: Implement Simple Strategies for Later Recall

When it's mid-September and your mindset has shifted from camp to school year, what's the best way to remember all the thoughts and ideas you had over the summer? Kristi says what works for each person can vary, but states that whatever method you choose, keep it simple. "Don't spend time making a special process," she says. "You'll miss the moment."

"There's that old joke, 'You work at camp, what do you do the rest of the year?' Get ready for camp! We're really thinking about camp 18 months ahead, not three weeks ahead like some people think."

--Kristi Jacobi

What's most important is to use a strategy that is both accessible and easy for you and your team to dump ideas into at any time. Kristi offered several suggestions, including:

• Post-its: Write ideas on post-it notes and put them in a folder that you can open any time in the future
• Google doc or spreadsheet: Share a simple doc or spreadsheet with your team where anyone can add ideas whenever they come up
• SPARC Compass: Add your ideas to SPARC's popular Compass tool for easy access later in the year

Step 4: Prioritize Your Most Urgent Tasks Every Day

We all know what it's like when our work is becoming reactive rather than proactive. We believe we'll have time to think and plan, but often find our inboxes full of problems to solve and emails to answer. Everything seems urgent.

To avoid this, Kristi says she spends a little time at the end of each day identifying the top 5 things that must be done the following day. Anything that can wait gets put further down the list. She even schedules meetings with herself in the calendar to ensure she won't be disturbed. This frees up time for the forward-thinking work necessary for success in the future. 

Kristi suggests using any method that works for you. Some people keep a white board with a list of prioritized tasks. Others use phone apps to stay on track, and some use voice memos to play back later. They key is to make it a simple, daily habit.

Kristi's final piece of advice: "Don't forget to enjoy the moment." It's easy to become distracted by all the improvements we want to make to our summer programs, but if you make time to walk around and observe what's happening in your summer programs, you can appreciate what you've already created. Don't lost sight of how great everything is right now.

Looking for more summer camp resources, after school ideas, and auxiliary community support? SPARC offers all this and much more! Join us today.