ACA, Texoma Winter Conference Schedule

Tuesday, January 15 9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. Accreditation Process Workshop Lillibridge Dining Hall

9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. Visitor Update Course Steves Hall

1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Registration Open Lillibridge Dining Hall Lobby

1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Hospitality Area Open Lillibridge Dining Hall Camp Capers Tours

3:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. First-Timers Welcome Folts Activities Building

3:15 p.m. – 3:45 p.m. Conference Kickoff Folts Activities Building

3:45 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Opening Keynote Folts Activities Building

A Meeting of the Minds: Camp Directors, Higher Ed, and College Students

Kim Aycock, Camp 2 Campus Learning Solutions

Camps need staff to run their programs, colleges/universities have various requirements for students, and students are

usually pulled between what they WANT to do and what they HAVE to do for school and parent demands. How can we

create a win-win situation for all involved? Learn from a meeting of the minds where the three groups came together to

voice aspirations, make requirements known, and offer ways to collaborate so that everyone is a happy camper!

5:15 p.m. – 6:15 p.m. Breakout Session #1

Meaningful Staff Appreciation Is Not “One Size Fits All” Activities Building

Kim Aycock, Camp 2 Campus Learning Solutions

Showing gratitude to staff is not “one size fits all” as not all people want to be appreciated in the same ways. Learn to speak a

variety of dialects for appreciation and give meaningful and authentic recognition to staff for the valuable work they do

without the cookie cutter. A long list of budget-friendly ideas for expressing gratitude will be shared and added to by

participant contribution. Increase engagement and create a more positive environment for your staff this summer!

Play Matters Wilson Crafts Center

Tim Huchton, ACA Membership Manager-Eastern Region

Play Matters — A collection of games and initiatives that can be played with or without props. Come prepared to engage

and play.

The Leadership Challenge:

Increasing Our Effectiveness While Teaching Our Staff to Be Leaders Lillibridge Small Dining Hall

Kurt Podeszwa, Camp For All

Whether you are leading campers or leading staff, camp is the place to learn leadership. This session will explore

leadership concepts and give concrete activities to take back and use with your staff.

50 Shades of Green: Creating an Environmentally Friendly Camp Culture Welcome Center Conference Room

Amy Massingill, YMCA-Collin County Adventure Camp

Today’s on-the- go, convenience-driven, disposable society is creating a huge footprint on our world. As camps, we have

not only a responsibility, but a perfect platform to bring about change through educating our campers and setting an

example. Join me in a conversation about how we can make simple changes to our camps that can have a global impact.

Bullying Vs. Conflict — What’s the Difference? Steves Hall

Dorcas Tomasek, Camp Consultant

How can you tell if it is normal peer conflict or bullying? There is little doubt that bullies are not kind to others. They

push, shove, and call people names. However, not every unkind thing constitutes bullying. Let’s discover how we can

distinguish between hurtful or unkind behavior and bullying and learn appropriate ways to respond to either.

6:30 p.m. Dinner Lillibridge Dining Hall

7:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Round Table Discussions Lillibridge Dining Hall

8:45 p.m. Social Time — Welcome Home Steves Hall Home is not where you are, it is where you are understood. Welcome home friends! Come join us for fellowship, stories

and understanding this evening as we relax, and spend time with friends old and new.

Wednesday, January 16 7:20 a.m. Polar Bear Plunge Pool Are you brave enough? It’s going to be cold! Join us for an early morning dip. If you make the plunge, you get to sign the

polar paddle and be forever immortalized.

8:00 a.m. – 8:45 a.m. Breakfast Lillibridge Dining Hall

8:45 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Panel Discussion — Ask the Local Council of Leaders Folts Activities Building

Brandon Briery, Jeb Lapeyrolerie, Kevin Spaeth, Carla Weiland

Join our panel who serve on the ACA, Texoma Local Council of Leaders and learn about current happenings and ways to

get involved with ACA, Texoma. This is an interactive session, so come prepared with questions!

10:15 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Breakout Session #2

Got Ten Minutes? Valuable Leadership Nuggets in Under 1/4 Hour Folts Activities Building

Kim Aycock, Camp 2 Campus Learning Solutions Ten minutes never seems like enough time to actually get something meaningful done. While every day has the same

number of hours, we have to make time vs. find time in order to use each minute productively. Ten minutes is the

perfect amount to incorporate micro-learning and give your leadership team a valuable mini-lesson on mindfulness,

team building, or much needed ongoing training. See how bite-sized nuggets add up over the summer to help your

admin team feel less stressed, more cohesive, and better prepared for each day!

Understanding a Culture of Safety from the Inside Out Wilson Crafts Center

Dorcas Tomasek, Camp Consultant

A safe organization doesn’t just mean excellent policies and procedures, a solid safety plan, great supervision,

transferring risk, or eliminating activities: it begins with how strong a culture is created, believed, felt and lived. Every

year, camps have the opportunity to intentionally define and redefine their culture. Understanding where participants,

staff, and an organization’s mission and values meet is at the heart of every camp’s culture of safety.

Decoding Special Diets Welcome Center Conference Room

Taylor Terrell, Camp For All

What food allergies are and what they aren’t. Creating an allergen and special diet form for your kitchen based on what

your staff and facility are capable of accommodating. Also opening up the floor, giving you the opportunity to ask

questions or voice fears that you may have concerning the growing number of people with special diets attending camps

and how to adapt.

Tech Responsibly Steves Hall

Sarah Wallace, Camp For All

Let’s face it: technology at camp can be terrifying, especially when you picture hundreds of campers spending their

summer session glued to cell phones and tablets. IT feels like the only way campers are able to experience the true

magic of camp is to unplug and prohibit electronics. Well, welcome to 2019. It’s time to break the shackles of

“traditional” tech-restricted camping and sprinkle in some technology, From concept creation to activity premiers, this

session will give you the tools necessary for creating new tech-based activities and how to integrate technology into

your current activities. We’ll talk brain storming, budgeting, pitching your concepts, and how best to succeed in 2019.

Using Non-Camp Resources to Make Yourself a Better Camp Director Lillibridge Dining Hall

Lindsey Sigler, Camp Soliloquy

This session will help camp professionals utilize multiple facets of the theatre world to broaden their abilities and

resources in various areas of the camp setting. Covering areas such as creativity, public speaking, and making yourself

replaceable, camp professionals will learn to expand their programs by utilizing skills obtained through stage

management, improvisation, and play direction.

11:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. Breakout Session #3

Tips and Tricks for Managing User Groups Welcome Center Conference Room

Jessica Holloway and Sarah Wallace, Camp For All

Managing and exceeding group expectations while staying true to your camp’s values can be tricky water to navigate.

Trust us, we get it. With more than 4,000 hours of user group management, we have seen it all, so let us be your

compass. Join us on a journey through the user group experience to collect the tools necessary to succeed.

Challenge Your Challenge Course:

When Is the Last Time You Facilitated Some New Activities, Games, or Initiatives? Wilson Crafts Center

David Griffin, Camp Capers

Do you fall back to facilitating the same ten or so activities, games, or initiatives? Looking for fun, energetic, and new

activities to add to your backpack? Want to wow your staff with some new games that build community in fun, exciting,

and engaging ways? Looking to add some different activities or warm-ups to a board meeting or another upcoming

event? Just breaking into the outdoor industry and want some tips on facilitation? Please join us for an active and

informative session on bringing in some new or different aspects to your participants and staffs challenge

course/cooperation course experience. Let’s practice what we preach . . . keep challenging yourself and grow this part of

your programs!

Customer Service: The Power of Yes . . . And Lillibridge Dining Hall

Kurt Podeszwa, Camp For All

The customer is not always right. Staff who are customer-focused will find out what the real issue is and make the

customer feel heard. We will focus on how to teach our staff what good customer service feels like.

Wildfire Safety and Fire-Resistant Landscaping Steves Hall William Hood, Jacob Gosschalk, Texas A&M Forest Service With the influx of people to rural areas in Texas, wildfires are impacting more and more of the population every year.

While prevention is often our main goal, mitigation efforts can also be made to lower the impact a wildfire could have

on a camp or retreat. Wildfire safety concerns to camps and retreats, as well as actions that can be taken to reduce

structure loss will be discussed to provide more knowledge of this growing issue.

Make It Memorable: Staff Training That Stands the Test of Time Folts Activities Building

Kim Aycock, Camp 2 Campus Learning Solutions Nothing can be more frustrating than investing time and resources to train staff before the season only to find out that information is lost when needed most. Learn the truth about your current training process and discover the best and worst ways to boost the learning power of your staff. Find out how the brain works and make simple adjustments to your teaching strategies that will improve retention of critical information. Make learning memorable this summer while indulging staff with innovative teaching methods in order to forge information into memories that stand the test of time. 12:30 p.m. – 1:15 p.m. Lunch Lillibridge Dining Hall

1:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Roundtable Discussions Locations to Be Announced

3:45 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Breakout Session #4

Crafting with a Purpose Wilson Crafts Center

Mary Jo Boney, Collin County Adventure Camp

I am often asked how I have been able to accumulate as many skills as I have (seamstress, plumber, painter, etc.). The

answer is in part due to crafting. During this session, I will share my perspective and experience to help others better

equip campers and use a small craft to help emphasize these points.

There’s an App for That: iNaturalist and the Texas Nature Trackers Program Steves Hall

Tania Homayoun, Texas Parks and Wildlife

Texas Parks and Wildlife’s Texas Nature Trackers program engages naturalists of all interests and abilities in tracking the

status of wild populations of plants and animals throughout the state. This presentation will introduce the Texas Nature

Trackers program and how it uses the free iNaturalist platform to support the agency’s conservation work on Species of

Greatest Conservation Need across the state. We’ll discuss some TNT projects, look at how iNaturalist works, and

potential ways your camp can engage with these resources in your programming and camp management.

Watch Your Language: Improving Camp Culture through Intentional Word Choice Lillibridge Dining Hall Katie “PJ” Sweeney, Girl Scouts of Central Texas: Camp Texlake Watching your language at camp is more than just cutting out those “special” 4-letter words when working with youth. How often do we REALLY stop to think about what we’re saying, not just the words used but also the meaning and message behind them? During this session, we’ll explore how evaluating our language, intentional word choice and making little changes to what we say can all add up to help boost your camp’s positivity and inclusivity. From Dreams to Reality: Putting Your Strategic Plan into Action Folts Activities Building Rob Watson, The Episcopal Diocese of West Texas — Camp Capers, Mustang Island Conference Center and Duncan Park

In order for our camps and conference centers to grow and thrive, it is necessary to create a vision and a plan on how to

achieve success. This session is designed to help people creatively think through strategic planning and lay out the

important steps needed to meet your goals. Come learn about do and don'ts of strategic planning and the accountability

pieces that will help you and your camp flourish!

Camps in Crisis Welcome Center Conference Room

Trends & Lessons Learned from Another Year with the ACA Camp Crisis Hotline

Gay Bruner, Tim Huchton, Betsy Thamert and Amanda Zoellner, American Camp Association

For more than 30 years, ACA has provided real-time support to camps nationwide through our Camp Crisis Hotline. In

this session, we will review the trends and lessons learned from the previous year with the Hotline.

4:45 p.m. – 5:45 p.m. Breakout Session #5

Finding the Wow Factor of Summer Camp Programming Wilson Crafts Center

Peanut Henderson, Camp Heatwave

Tired of the same old program stuff? Need new ideas for the Summer? Come learn some of the best programming that happened this summer and be ready to share some of your best programing and walk away with resources to help you plan for summer 2019. Using Technology in Camp for Facilities Control, to Reduce Costs, Lillibridge Dining Hall

and to Improve the Guest Experience

Bill McKelvie, Camp Cho-Yeh

Technology is all around us and has seemingly endless uses. How can we harness this wave of new devices to help us run

our camps better? Let’s look at opportunities to improve our facilities, reduce costs, and improve the guest experience

with technology. This session will be presented in case study format talking about things that have worked well and

things that haven’t worked at Camp Cho-Yeh and other camps. While the cloud of technology can seem hugely confusing

and expensive, the goal of this session is to identify some pretty simple and reasonably priced changes that can make a

big difference at your camp.

Working at Camp — It’s a Lifestyle! Welcome Center Conference Room

Kevin Spaeth, Mustang Island Conference Center This presentation will include group discussion, personal reflection, and practice using some of the time management tools presented. Recruiting and Training Amazing Role Models Folts Activities Building

Conor Murray, Camp Rio

During this interactive session, we will walk through tips and tricks to get prospective summer staff hired early and how to keep them engaged in the months leading into summer. We will also dive into methods of creating a sense of “staff buy-in” with easy small things that can have a huge impact.

Thanks! But What I Could Really Use Help with Is . . . Steves Hall Brandon Briery, Ph.D., Camp CAMP Have you ever had potential volunteers or donors approach you with a lot of enthusiasm about some great service or product they want to give you–absolutely free–only you find yourself inwardly questioning exactly how that gift will fit within your organization’s mission, programs, or facilities? It is often tempting to accept any gift that is offered–because, hey, it’s free, right? “Yes” is not always the right answer. Everyone benefits when we learn to say, “would you consider this instead?”

6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. Dinner and Exhibit Hall Lillibridge Dining Hall

Let's celebrate those who help allow us to come together as family by having dinner with our exhibitors. Our vendors

are valued and matter. Stop by each exhibitor to learn about their offerings and hear their story of why they choose to

support us.

9:15 p.m. Social Time Lillibridge Dining Hall

Grab your comfy slippers, and PJ's as we hang out by the fire and dance to our DJ mix. Yahtzee! and other "family"

games available for the evening- those who play together build relationships together!

Thursday, January 17 8:00 a.m. Breakfast Dining Hall

9:00 a.m. Closing Keynote Folts Activities Building Why Camp Experiences Are More Essential Than Ever Before for Every American Youth, Teen, and Young Adult

Tom Rosenberg, ACA President/CEO

Mobile media screen time use by Gen-Z young people has skyrocketed and regular in-person social interaction has

significantly declined. Psychologists report dramatically increased loneliness, stress, depression, suicidal thoughts and

self-harm among teens. Yet strategic foresight researchers project that when Gen-Z-ers enter the workforce, they will be

facing a human-centered economy where everything that can be automated will be managed by machines and

AI. Researchers report that well-practiced core social-emotional skills, growth mindsets and 21st century learning skills

such as collaboration, critical thinking, communication, creativity, and emotional regulation will be absolutely essential.

Come and learn more about this critical context for camp and how to position your camp for the future with community

partners, parents, funders, and other constituents.

10:00 a.m. Conference Closing — Best of Show Awards Folts Activities Building Big $500 Giveaway Lost and Found Trophy Drawing

11:00 a.m. Conference Concludes Folts Activities Building

Thank you!

2019 SPONSORS