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What your camp survey misses
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Camps love to send out surveys. End-of-summer parent surveys. Staff surveys. Camper surveys. For many camps, it's surveys all the way down. Don't get me wrong, surveys are great. Camps need to collect as much data and feedback as possible, whenever possible. Sometimes it's the only way to know whether something is working, or worse, not working at all. This is all to say: surveys are great! But they don't get the whole story, not by a long shot. Surveys tend to index on the extremes. The things that went great and the things that went, um, not-so-great. What's left out is basically everything in the middle. And improving things in the middle is where camps go from good to great. Sometimes the only way to get this information is to talk to a group of families in a focused way. Hence, a focus group. If it sounds all pseudo-marketing speak and marketing agency fluff, I get it. But really, focus groups are one of the best ways to get people talking openly, honestly, and productively about your camp. What comes out of them can make all the difference. How do they look? You get 12 parents on a Zoom for an hour, run by an outside facilitator. Ask the right questions, and about 20 minutes in, they open up. That's when someone finally says out loud the thing they were never going to type into a Google form. Parents love the person who took care of their kid all summer. They don't want to offend you. So when your survey asks "anything we could do better?", the answer is going to be everything was great, no notes, thanks. That is why the outside facilitator matters. With someone who isn't the director running the room, the truth comes out. Sometimes it's the food, sometimes pickup and drop-off (day camp classic), sometimes a communication thing that never quite landed. This stuff doesn't always show up on the survey, but all could possibly be improved. Informational interviews are the other tool worth running. One-on-one with a few key stakeholders. You pick up color commentary that a group setting misses. Send enough reminders and 10 to 20 percent of families will show up. Email 100, get 12. More than enough for one Zoom. The findings almost never surprise the director. They already knew what was in the middle. Focus groups just give them permission to act on it. So if you're staring at your end-of-summer survey with a wall of "everything was great," fine. Take the wins. Then go get the middle before you plan next summer. Because the middle is where the next summer gets built. Sincerely, Senior Consultant at Immersive1st Learn more about Immersive1st's Approach |
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