3rd Annual ACA Illinois Visitor Only Event: A Day with Kim Aycock

EVENT OVERVIEW

Join others for this special, FREE event for active ACA Illinois onsite visitors. Let us say thank you for giving your time and talents by inviting you to this exclusive and free event just for Visitors who serve ACA Illinois camps! 

Each active Visitor can register up to 3 people from their camp to attend.

Click here for how to register.

EVENT DETAILS

Jump into a day with the popular and well respected Kim Aycock for a day of training and camp leadership resources. This day will be perfect for both camp professionals and seasonal leadership team members. Come yourself and bring two people OR giveaway three spots to your up and coming leadership team members as an incentive! It's up to the Visitor!**

Lunch is provided. 

Not a Visitor yet but want access? Click here!

FACILITATOR BIOGRAPHY

Kim Aycock, Kimspiration, LLC

Kim Aycock, MST, has several decades of experience equipping young people with skills robots are unable to do. While blending the talents of a master teacher with the knowledge of a seasoned camp expert, Kim ignites learning for varying levels of camp pros worldwide through her interactive and innovative presentations. Kim speaks at regional and national conferences, contributes regularly to Camping Magazine and ACA blogs, and serves as co-chair of ACA’s Staff Recruitment & Retention Committee and Staffing Summit. She can be reached through her website kimaycock.com.

EVENT COST

Cost: FREE for active 2025 onsite Visitors for ACA Illinois and their guests.* ($199 value)

SCHEDULE

10AM - 12PM: The REAL Staff Training is After the Training

12PM - 1PM: Lunch

1PM - 3PM: Create Co-Counselor Cohesiveness Through Early and Frequent Communication and Collaboration

SESSION DESCRIPTIONS

SESSION 1: The REAL Staff Training is After the Training

It is (insert month). Summer is knocking on the door and gets louder with each passing day. Staff training is on your mind (as it should be!). How about what comes AFTER staff training? The ongoing training that connects the dots to what was mostly theory before campers arrived. The fabricated role plays during orientation are now real scenarios (and don’t always have simple solutions or happy endings). This is the next level of training we intend to get to but rarely do. This is precisely the training all staff need and crave. It is the stuff staff retention is made of! 

Join me to map out what these future mid-summer training sessions can look like and ease the pressure heading into the camp season! We will build templates that give staff time to: 

• REFLECT on previous successes and challenges
• REFINE important skills to do best work with campers
• RESET habits for a positive impact on the camp community
• REFILL bag-of-tricks with new games/activities
• RECHARGE to avoid burnout
• RECOMMIT to professionalism and camp being a REAL job

SESSION 2: Create Co-Counselor Cohesiveness Through Early and Frequent Communication and Collaboration

It goes without saying, the co-counselor relationship is CRUCIAL to staff retention and the overall experience of the camper group. Yet, in many situations, staff are thrown together with their co-counselor/s and expected to co-parent a “family” of similar age kids before they are “married,” let alone have “dated.” Pain points with staff often come from discord between these contrived partnerships and can impact the entire camp community. 

Intentionally create co-counselor cohesiveness by establishing lines of communication and collaboration BEFORE the campers arrive. Give your staff a framework to navigate issues that can potentially lead to division or a bad “break-up” if left unexplored (including regular check-ins and strategies to reset as needed). This proactive and positive approach will be the difference between make-it or break-it staff relationships (and an overall more peaceful camp community)! 

REGISTERATION INFORMATION

Each active onsite Visitor for ACA Illinois can register up to 3 people from their organization to attend. This can be themselves plus two others, or three others and they themselves do not attend. It’s up to the Visitor.***

For this event, an active onsite Visitor is someone who is signed up to be an onsite Visitor for summer 2025 for ACA Illinois. 

Not a Visitor but want access?

It’s not too late to become a Visitor for ACA Illinois. Click here to register for an upcoming training course. Visitors must be trained and committed by March 15, 2025 to qualify. 

*Visitors are permitted to register up to 3 individuals to attend.

**Yes, this is a FREE event!

*** The Visitor must register their guests. 

TO REGISTER

To Register, the Visitor must email registration@acail.org with the following information:

Name

Role

Email

Special Dietary Needs

Attending Morning, Afternoon, or Both Sessions

Deadline to register is Friday, April 25,2025. Onsite or late registrations will not be accepted. 

EVENT LOCATION

This live event will take place in-person. Location TBD.

THE FINE PRINT

By registering and attending an ACA Illinois event or meeting, virtually or in-person you are agreeing to all the event policies listed here. These policies include the photo release, refund, link sharing, Code of Conduct, and other relative policies.