Tri-State

Everybody Dance Now!: A 90s Dance Party Celebrating 2SLGBTQIA+ & Allies
2026-03-11 20:00 - 2026-03-12 00:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Byrdcage AC, 3426 Atlantic Avenue, Atlantic City, NJ, 08401, United States
From MTV TRL classics to dance-floor anthems, TRL: Everybody Dance Now! is a 90s throwback celebration of LGBTQIA+ joy, community, and their allies who show up. Bring your best 90s energy and dance like it’s 1999—everyone’s invited, and neon/90s attire is encouraged!
The dance floor is on the 2nd floor. DJ Triple B will begin at 9 pm. Byrdcage AC is a restaurant, so feel free to come early for dinner or mingling. There is also an outside firepit area open all night for anyone looking for a place to hang, without the music.

Camps on Campus Gathering
2026-03-11 16:30 - 18:30 | Room 405/406

Playshop: A Workshop of Play and Community
2026-03-11 16:30 - 18:00 | Room 202
This “Playshop” is an interactive introduction to Playworks’ approach—and you’re part of the fun. In 90 minutes of play and community building, participants will explore:

Inclusive games and activities for campers of all ages
Group management and facilitation techniques that promote positive engagement
Staff, equipment, and space systems that support successful programming
Additional Playworks resources to strengthen your team and camp culture

Join Playworks to get moving, connect with fellow conference attendees, and leave inspired—with practical tools and resources to make this your best camp year yet.

Playworks is the leading national nonprofit using the power of play to help children thrive. For more than 30 years, we have partnered with schools and community-based organizations to promote healthy behaviors, strengthen social-emotional learning, and create safe, inclusive environments where kids feel connected and engaged.
We believe joyful, safe play builds more than skills—it builds character. Through play, children develop compassion, cooperation, integrity, and resilience, forming an inner compass that supports lifelong growth. Grounded in fairness, respect, and teamwork, Playworks programs nurture children’s physical, social, and emotional well-being while strengthening the adults and systems that support them.
Playworks offers capacity-building trainings for educators, youth-serving staff, and families. Led by expert trainers, these interactive workshops share proven, youth-development–informed strategies to engage young people, prevent and redirect challenging behavior, strengthen group management, and expand opportunities for learning and resilience.

Outdoor Educators Meet and Greet
2026-03-11 16:30 - 17:30 | Room 419

Nonprofit Camps Meet and Greet
2026-03-11 16:30 - 17:30 | Room 403

ACA Virginias Gathering
2026-03-11 16:30 - 17:30 | Room 418

AI Playground: Hands-On Tools for Camp Professionals
2026-03-11 15:15 - 16:15 | Room 419
Curious about AI but not sure where to start? Already experimenting but want to go deeper? Pull up a chair at the AI Playground, a roundtable session designed for camp professionals at every comfort level. Six tables, six AI tools, six real camp scenarios. Each table is hosted by a camp professional who will walk you through a live demo of an AI tool solving a problem you actually face: drafting parent emails, generating staff training materials, building a rainy day craft project from a photo of your supply closet, creating a custom camp song, and more. No tech background required. Pick a table, watch a demo, ask questions, and rotate to try a second tool. You will leave with practical skills you can use this summer and a handout with links and prompts to keep experimenting on your own.
Hosted by the Tech at Camp Affinity Group. This session is for all levels, from AI-curious beginners to experienced users. Bring a laptop or phone if you have one (but not required).

Preventing Homesickness and Promoting Adjustment
2026-03-11 15:15 - 16:15 | Room 303
Time away from home is always challenging, for campers as well as staff, whether they are new or returning. Why let intense feelings of missing home—which 20% of young people feel—get in the way of enjoying the awesome programs you offer? With the right tools, your camp can prevent debilitating homesickness and promote positive adjustment to time away from home. Learn how to prevent “pick-up deals,” create positive expectations, and help everyone feel like camp is their home away from home!

Get Active! Vendor Make-and-Take
2026-03-11 15:15 - 16:15
Join us as we gather to make easy and fun projects that you can take with you when you are done. This is a great session to pick up new ideas for quick and easily implemented projects for your camp’s Arts and Crafts, STEM, Nature programs and more.

Fostering Camp Culture Through Data-Driven Program Innovation
2026-03-11 15:15 - 16:15 | Room 322
Creating a safe, transformative camp experience requires more than supervision and policies – it demands intentional design grounded in data and continuous improvement. This session explores how Change Summer uses Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) data and strategies to drive program innovation and cultivate environments where campers thrive and are safe. We believe safety and emotional well-being are directly correlated, and ensure both are incorporated into our camp culture and our program. We’ll share how we created tailored, data-driven camper surveys, how we interpret our data insights to shape programming and culture, and how we are continuing to innovate the way we measure our impact.

“From Nit to Know-How”—The Science. The Search. The Solution to Calm and Effective Head Lice Management
2026-03-11 15:15 - 16:15 | Room 417
Head lice can feel like a big disruption at camp, but it doesn’t have to be. In this workshop, lice professionals Laurene Plourde and Jill Bazos, will share proven strategies to keep lice from becoming a stressful memory for campers, staff, and parents. We’ll walk through the science of lice, dispel common myths, and provide a clear, step-by-step process for effective head checks and treatment procedures. Participants will learn what supplies and systems every camp should have in place, how to minimize disruptions when lice are discovered, and how to decide whether to manage checks in-house or bring in a professional. Our goal is to ensure every camp leaves equipped with confidence and actionable steps for a stress-free lice management process.

Lessons from Two Recent ACA Legends of Camping Award Winners: Recalling the Past, Assessing the Present, and Predicting the Future
2026-03-11 15:15 - 16:15 | Room 313
Join two of ACA’s most recent Legends of Camping Award recipients as they share stories from their journeys, reflect on today’s challenges, and inspire us with a vision for the future of camp. Packed with wisdom, humor, and heart, this session will leave you energized and reminded of why camp matters yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Insanity or Genius? The Magic of Camper Choice at Day Camp
2026-03-11 15:15 - 16:15 | Room 301
Discover how you can elevate your day camp culture by allowing campers to self-select their daily activities and how to overcome barriers for implementation. This session will discuss how SummerCollab has implemented choice activities for campers in grades 1-8, and the magic that happens when kids make their own choices. If you are looking to improve culture, decrease camper behavior, and/or enhance your staff development, the magic of camper choice might be your missing solution.

Selling Beyond Summer: How Sales Pro Certification Builds a Year-Round Camp Business
2026-03-11 15:15 - 16:15 | Room 408/409
Stop filling your camp with groups that drain your staff and your budget. Join us for an honest look at how a few smart shifts can help you sell out your groups and conferences without burning out your team. During the “off season,” camps often end up taking whatever groups they can get. These low-paying, high-demand groups create more stress than revenue. It doesn’t have to be that way.
This session will show you how to find the groups that fit your mission, respect your staff, and make the work feel easier. We’ll dig into practical ways to streamline your off-season operations so you can run more efficient groups and walk into summer fully focused on what you do best: creating incredible experiences for your campers

One Plan, Many Scenarios: Tips for Building an All-Hazards Emergency Response Framework for Camps
2026-03-11 15:15 - 16:15 | Room 421
Emergencies can happen at any time, from severe weather and medical incidents to missing campers or active threats. In all these situations, planning is key, but it can often feel overwhelming. Camp leaders, staff, and campers can all benefit from one clear, adaptable emergency response framework that works across a wide range of scenarios.
Join a longtime 4-H Camp Director, a Police Officer, and a Fire Lieutenant as they share practical ways to build an all-hazards emergency plan that’s simple to teach, easy to practice, and ready to use. You’ll learn how to define clear roles, set up effective communication steps, collaborate with first responders as part of your camp training, and make sure your entire team feels confident when it matters most.
Participants will leave with real-world tips, sample tools, and a solid foundation they can adapt to help everyone stay calm, coordinated, and safe.

The Business of Camp: Reading Your Financial Story
2026-03-11 15:15 - 16:15 | Room 315
We don’t have to love the business side of camp to know it matters. This session helps you decode what your financial reports are really saying, and why understanding them empowers you to lead more strategically. You’ll learn how to read the three core financial statements (income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow report) in plain language, spot red flags or opportunities, and use that knowledge to strengthen your camp’s financial sustainability and mission delivery. Perfect for camp leaders who want confidence, not confusion, when looking at the numbers.

Team Harmony in the Age of Social Muscle Atrophy: Helping Counselors Connect Beyond the Screens
2026-03-11 15:15 - 16:15 | Room 404
Every year dozens of Counselors from different backgrounds and experiences land in one place with just days to figure out how to work and thrive together. But today’s screen-heavy culture has led to a gradual weakening of the everyday social skills that make teamwork natural. Our increasingly divided culture has only added to the challenge. In this workshop, Team Culture Specialist Peace Ike offers practical tools to rebuild those social muscles so Counselors can communicate confidently, work through differences, and create unity campers can feel.

Reimagining Staff Training Week
2026-03-11 15:15 - 16:15 | Room 402
From safety protocols to camper care, there is a lot to get through during your staff training week! But this is also your staff members’ first experience with your camp, and by prioritizing their experience, you not only ensure they feel confident and knowledgeable to successfully fulfill their responsibilities, but that they feel excited and energized to do so.
This session will guide participants through a crash course in redesigning your camp’s staff training to ensure the staff experience is at the forefront. Through a series of facilitated exercises, participants will reflect on past successes and challenges, identify priority areas for the season ahead, and build an engaging training schedule that includes a variety of sessions that speak to the needs of the camp, as well as those of your staff. Participants will leave this session with a road map to designing an engaging, educational, and fun staff training that can be implemented with their own teams.

Lessons Learned from Leading a Camp Startup
2026-03-11 15:15 - 16:15 | Room 304
Learn the triumphs and misadventures of starting and growing a camp… all without the blood, sweat, and tears! This fast-paced session shares practical, battle-tested lessons learned over two summers of launching and scaling a new day camp. From programming cheat codes to novel staffing strategies, you’ll walk away with ideas you can apply immediately, whether you’re building something new or energizing an existing program.

Disability Inclusion Includes ALL Staff: Strategies for Getting Your Team On Board
2026-03-11 15:15 - 16:15 | Room 314
Struggling to get your staff on board with inclusion? A key principle for successful disability inclusion is organizational commitment—every position on your camp team should play a role in ensuring everyone belongs. We’ll tackle common hurdles in building an inclusive culture by using strategies and best practices to bring your whole team on board. Hiring or appointing an Inclusion Specialist isn’t the magic answer; it can backfire if they aren’t properly supported. Learn how to best mentor and teach front-line staff, giving your entire team the tools and confidence to foster disability inclusion and enhance success for all at camp this summer.

Understanding Employment Law
2026-03-11 15:15 - 16:15 | Room 316
This will be a conversational and engaging session about camp employment law and HR issues. As camp operators, we serve as the heads of HR for our organizations. Considering that a typical mid-size camp has 100+ employees each summer, this is no simple task. In this session, we will discuss some of the primary employment laws and regulations that govern our relationship with staff. We will also discuss best practices to avoid costly employment disputes. The session concludes with a Q&A so participants have the opportunity to ask questions. The presenter is a camp attorney, camp founder, and a law school professor of employment law.

World Class Facilitation
2026-03-11 15:15 - 16:15 | Room 201
In this class, Teambuilding Guru Dr. Jim Cain shares dozens of tips and tools to help you become a better facilitator. Taken from more than 50 years of working and playing with groups, Jim’s advice for improving your facilitation skills includes not only tips and tools, but hands-on learning featuring group activities of all kinds that reinforce the lessons presented. In addition, participants will take away two digital collections of the tips presented and even more information to help them become better facilitators.

Addressing Camper Behavior: What Do I See, What Do I Hear, What Do I Do?
2026-03-11 15:15 - 16:15 | Room 302
Managing camper behavior is a common (and often emotional) challenge for staff; it can make or break the camp experience. Even with training and policies in place, staff may struggle to respond effectively in the moment. Guide staff to recognize early warning signs by noticing what they see and hear, and to respond with clear, consistent steps, such as using camper success plans, to support both individuals and groups. Emphasizing early intervention, proactive communication, and positive reinforcement equips staff with practical, easy-to-use strategies for both preventative and responsive behavior management. The result: greater confidence, fewer escalations, and a more supportive camp environment.

Indoor Cooperative Games for Inclement Weather
2026-03-11 15:15 - 16:15 | Room 312
The heat index and thunderstorms are just two severe weather elements that can alter your best outdoor active game plans~~, because it’s either too hot to play or it’s raining~~. This session will provide you with cooperative active games that not only provide your campers with the opportunity to move around but also allows them to continue their social-emotional growth and development. This interactive, fun-filled session will not only provide Counselors with games they can implement right away in any space, but also the goals behind each game that focus on cooperation, sportsmanship, teamwork, fun, respect, and kindness – while reducing the emphasis that winning is the end result.

Green Team Building: Fostering Collaboration and Sustainability Through Play
2026-03-11 15:15 - 16:15 | Room 202
Team building and sustainability go hand-in-hand. This session introduces Green Team Building, an experiential approach that uses hands-on activities to connect collaboration, leadership, and environmental stewardship. Participants will explore how team building exercises can double as sustainability education: strengthening communication, creativity, and systems thinking while modeling eco-friendly practices. Drawing from real-world programs and case studies from Green Camps, this session will inspire facilitators and camp leaders to design experiences that build stronger teams, greener operations, and a shared sense of purpose around sustainability.

Creating Meaningful (and Sustainable) Partnerships with Parents of Campers AND Staff!
2026-03-11 15:15 - 16:15 | Room 311
Parent engagement is evolving rapidly, driven by shifts in technology, communication, mental health awareness, and rising expectations. As we look to the future (which is actually today!), camps must adapt to increasingly dynamic and sometimes demanding parent interactions. This session explores how to prepare for both routine and challenging conversations, safeguard your camp’s reputation, and establish clear ground rules for parents before, during, and after the summer. Learn practical tools to prevent problems, strategies for handling difficult situations, and protocols to protect your camp’s values and legitimacy. Join us to discover actionable tips for fostering positive parent relationships and ensuring your camp’s continued success in a changing world.

What Lies Beneath: Understanding the Basic Needs of Campers
2026-03-11 15:15 - 16:15 | Room 309
It is widely recognized that there is no such thing as a “bad child,” only challenging behaviors that often signal deeper needs, struggles, or unspoken emotions. This workshop will invite participants to look beyond the surface of acting out or deviant behavior, exploring the underlying “why” behind these responses.
Grounded in a Strengths-Based Perspective, this interactive session will provide practical tools and strategies to help camping professionals identify, manage, and respond to challenging behaviors with empathy and effectiveness. Through hands-on activities and discussion, participants will leave better equipped to support campers in a way that fosters resilience, belonging, and positive growth.

A Conversation with Department of State Bridge USA J-1 Program Experts: Best Practices
2026-03-11 14:00 - 15:00 | Room 416
Join us for a lively and interactive discussion of ways camps can enhance the Bridge USA J-1 cultural exchange experience for participants and host camps. Share your ideas and ask your questions. Your input is important!

Beyond the Sales Pitch: Communicating the True Camp Experience to Today's Staff
2026-03-11 14:00 - 15:00 | Room 302
More staff than ever are arriving at camp feeling misled about what the job truly entails. Some leave early in the season, or never show up at all, because what they were “sold” during recruitment doesn’t match the reality once they’re on site. We see international staff requesting transfers and domestic staff ghosting before or during orientation, or quitting once campers arrive.
Discover strategies to close this expectation gap through intentional communication during the hiring and onboarding processes. Learn how to clearly convey the full camp experience, from daily rhythms to real challenges, so staff arrive prepared, engaged, and ready to fulfill their commitments. These actionable approaches will help reduce early turnover, build trust, and strengthen both short- and long-term staff retention.

Camp Unpeeled: What the Savannah Bananas Can Teach Us About Change
2026-03-11 14:00 - 15:00 | Room 322
Camp operations often repeat the same routines year after year, even when they no longer reflect how parents and staff want to engage. Like old-school baseball, they can feel rigid and outdated. The Savannah Bananas reimagined the game by keeping what fans loved and reinventing what they didn’t. In this session, learn how camp directors can become change agents by modernizing infrastructure and operations—without losing the magic of tradition.
