I’m a consultant who helps summer camps, after-school programs, and enrichment providers streamline their businesses and find solutions to their challenges. But that is only one of the many hats I wear in my work.
I also run a summer day camp called Mr. D’s Music Club in Oakland, CA.
Mr. D’s was founded in 2012 by Stephen Duffy (full disclosure: he is my husband) to fill the void of singing programs for kids. As a musician and educator, he created a meaningful musical experience for children. Because of his vision and hard work, Mr. D’s has become a beloved, multi-award-winning summer camp.
In the early years, I played a background role. I helped with registrations, answered parents' questions, and provided suggestions and insights from my many years working with activity providers in the tech sector. But then, Covid changed how child activity businesses functioned across the board. For Stephen to manage all these changes on his own was too much. So, we worked in tandem to keep Mr. D’s Music Club alive.
Here is our story of the past two years….
“Before Covid” Times
Mr. D’s Music Club is a performing arts summer camp for kids ages 8-13. Our summer camp is for kids who do not necessarily have a background in the performing arts but want to explore their interests in singing, dancing, acting, and art. Kids having summer fun is the most important aspect of camp.
Before Covid Times, the camp was full of busy kids jumping in and out of camp activities, constantly creating art, playing games, dancing on a whim, and breaking into song. Stephen often referred to it as “creative chaos.” It was a blast, for sure, but even as early as 2017, he started to realize it was not sustainable.
One massive factor was the extended 12-16 hour days during the camp season. He often pondered how to simplify and make things more manageable, but the task seemed too large.
He could never imagine that a pandemic is what would force him to make a change.
Navigating Spring 2020 and Covid Times
Through February 2020, the business was on track for a great summer. Typically, our registrations start in November, long before the camp year, and the 2020 camp season was no different. The sign-ups were ticking along nicely until March, that is. Then, as concern about Covid grew, the registrations stopped overnight.
March through May was tense! It was difficult to anticipate the direction things were going with Covid, how we would run a camp during a pandemic, and if day camps could even happen. So we waited until May to cancel the summer camps. We had hoped to keep the camps going for the kids. But up until that point, Mr. D’s Music Club was an indoor camp, and the kids were singing. It just didn’t feel safe to move forward with so many unknowns and inherent risks to the health and well-being of the campers, their families, and our camp staff.
The decision to cancel camp coincided with pivoting to online offerings during the summer. Even if we couldn’t offer our camp, we wanted something available for children to join and experience the creative arts. We had three main goals for our online classes:
making them affordable,
making them an engaging experience with connection, friends, and conversation, and
making them a super fun way for kids to spend an hour being creative.
We called our new programs the “Creative Spaces."
Being online afforded us some surprising areas of flexibility, so we expanded our offerings with new Creative Spaces. For example, we included musical theater, movement classes, puppet-making, ukulele and guitar, acting, and our core programs.
The online programs ran from June 2020 to May 2021. We opted to continue them during the school year so kids had an outlet for creativity. The most surprising aspect of Creative Spaces was parents' dramatic opinions about online classes. Many parents were so grateful for their children to have access to such diverse, fun, and unique programs in the arts. But just as many were resistant to the concept.
We know that online school is not ideal. We were right there with all the other parents as our 4th-grade son spent a year of school online. He would often “show up” to class in his robe with a hot mug of coffee in hand. I’m astonished he wasn’t drinking it black by the end of the school year! We were lucky. He had a fantastic teacher who did an excellent job teaching online, but it wasn’t easy or much fun.
Running aSafe Summer Camps participate in online classes. Still, we were also a little surprised that the families who had enjoyed our summer camps for so many years didn't give the online Create Spaces a chance. The upside was that many children came to our Creative Spaces who would never have had the opportunity to experience the creative activities Mr. D's Music Club offers if it wasn't for the online Creative Spaces.
Having fun and being silly while keeping kids safe at summer camp
Summer Camps 2021
Just as quickly as we decided to cancel summer camps in 2020, we decided to offer them in 2021.
However, we didn’t feel comfortable with that decision until April, which gave us about eight weeks to pull off a summer of camps that we usually would spend months planning. It was intense!!
We had to figure out the process and procedures of how the camp would run during Covid. We also decided to hire our teaching artists rather than bring them on as contractors. In addition to that, there was the marketing, interviewing and hiring, training, learning employment law, and many other things we’d never had to do before. Plus, we returned to the groove of our regular camp tasks after more than a year between camp programs.
Running a Safe Summer Camp during Covid-19
We opted for a more conservative Covid approach in the summer of 2021. We kept this in line with city, county, and federal Covid ordinances and recommendations such as physical distancing, opening windows, ventilation, hand washing, etc. But we also implemented some things we didn’t necessarily have to because it was important to us to try and have a Covid-free summer at camp, so taking a few extra precautions was worth it.
Some of these additional steps included:
temperature checks every morning,
requirement for negative Covid tests if the child went home feeling unwell,
vaccination requirement for camp staff,
face masks at all times for staff and campers except when eating and drinking,
routine disinfection of high-use areas and
drive-up drop-off/pickup
Covid also required us to make logistical changes to the day camps. Typically, we separated campers into small groups based on age. In 2021, however, we prioritized siblings, carpools, and friend requests before considering age. Grouping campers this way meant that 8- and 12-year-olds were often in the same group. Creating small groups based on age might not sound like a big deal, but it requires a different teaching style because what 8-year-olds can do is very different from what 12-year-olds can do. The teaching artists managed to find a balance, but not without challenges.
Restructuring for a Covid Safe Summer Camp
Another significant change was how the camp day flowed. Before Covid Times, a typical camp day was very fluid and loose. The campers participated in all the art-based activities throughout the day. However, they also had a lot of free time to dive into creative projects, play games, make new friends, practice their solos, etc.
Because the groups had to stay relatively separate in 2021, we needed to create a structured flow for the camp but still have the day feel free-flowing to the campers as they moved between the camp activities. So, as we reorganized our camp day, we created more time in the camp day, allowing us to bring in acting. Drama and acting were something Stephen had wanted to incorporate into the summer camp experience for several years. But, it wasn’t until restructuring the day camps that this finally seemed feasible.
We also restructured how we utilized outdoor space, which completely changed our camp setting (for the better!). For example, we wanted to continue the singing portion of the camp. At the time, we did not feel it was safe to do this indoors, so we created a Singing Space outside the building’s courtyard. It became an extraordinary experience and helped us build community within the neighborhood. Neighbors loved hearing the kids practice each morning and stopped by during dog walks to listen and enjoy. We also created an Art Space outside in a separate area. Utilizing the space in a new way helped isolate the art forms and make the physical Creative Spaces feel special.
An essential component of our summer camps is the Friday Show. It gives everyone a collective focus and a place where we all arrive together. But how were we going to do this during a pandemic?
Kids finding outdoor space and time to rehearse together at lunch pays off during the Friday performance for family and friends.
We split this into two performances: AM (singing and dance) and PM (acting and art gallery). We did this because we had to keep the singing outside, and it was simply too hot to do that in the afternoons where we live - even with shade tents.
I am forever grateful and astounded that families attended both. Close to 70+ people were often in attendance (physically distanced). It was truly amazing to see their support and love for their kids. The performances were magical and hard to describe, especially that first week of camp. It had been a long time since parents saw and heard their children performing together. It made us realize how much we lost to Covid and reminded us of how much we still have and how we will make it through this experience together.
Bringing on a Business Partner
As mentioned earlier, my initial role with Mr. D’s Music Club was pretty hands-off. However, in 2020, I became much more involved as the program pivoted to online programs. In 2021, I became part owner to help get the business through Covid in one piece.
The specialty I brought to the table was my years of experience working with activity providers, understanding the industry in a larger framework, and expertise in business operations and start-ups. Of course, it’s easy to get micro-focused when doing everything single-handedly, as Stephen was. But bringing in new perspectives, solutions, and ideas can pay off.
My role at Mr. D’s Music Club is operations and logistics. I’m the backbone that helps keep things running so Stephen can focus his attention on the artistic side of the camp. With two of us running the business, Stephen's workload has lessened, and he has more time to do what he loves within the company. We have new efficiencies and a shared vision of where to take Mr. D’s Music Club, which is exciting!
A New Registration System
Changing registration systems was another logistical decision we made. Through this process, the concept of PERSONUS Consulting solidified.
Stephen and I have different wants and needs in a system, so finding one we both liked was tough. And that was with my years of background in technology and knowledge of this industry!
Stephen likes things to look visually appealing and for the overall flow of the platform to be easy to navigate. I’m more focused on features' functionality, although I like a nice-looking system, too. One significant pain point we had to solve was automating the 2020 camp credits rather than manually managing them.
We did settle on a system, but it’s not perfect. The platform has some significant functionality issues that cause friction. The Admins' platform layout and flow are confusing, but the parent experience is decent. We won’t be making a change soon because we want to avoid changing too often. But we will look for a new system in the next few years.
This process helped me see how I could help simplify it for other activity providers and led me to consulting. It’s too bad I didn’t have it all in place for Mr. D’s!
Hiring Employees
Of course, the last significant change was hiring employees rather than contracting artists to teach the various art forms. A new California law drove a large part of this decision, but another important aspect was the opportunity for growth by having employees.
Even though our employees are temporary and part-time, the value to our business comes with branding and ensuring consistency. We encourage our teaching artists to bring their personalities and unique styles to the camp. Still, it’s equally important that they teach within the branding framework that makes Mr. D’s Music Club such a memorable experience for the campers. So even though each week of camp is different and unique, there is a level of quality that families know they will get.
Where We Go From Here
The vast majority of changes were positive for our business, so we will keep most of them in place.
What we learned over the last two years is that change is good. It allows for innovation and progress, even if it’s painful. Changing also lets you see your business in a new light, see possibilities for sustained growth, and give you a new perspective on how things can be.
As we move forward, we will continue hiring employees, acting as an art form, and continuing with drive-up dropoff and pickup.
Hopefully, we will gradually be able to reduce the Covid-specific changes like wearing face masks all of the time and return to the practice of grouping campers based on their birthdays rather than sibling relationships. We are always ready to implement Covid safety guards quickly if necessary and even ready to transition back to online.
We will be changing registration systems at some point. Still, We will do so strategically so as not to impact our customers too much.
2020 was a challenging year. We aren’t out of the woods yet, and it will take time for the business to recover financially. The upside is we know we will make it, and that’s more than many camps, micro-businesses, and small businesses can say after the last two years. We also know we are in good company with so many fantastic activity providers that have meaningful impacts on kids’ lives.
Covid-19: The Opportunity to Reassess and Create New Opportunities
Covid-19 has forced many people to reassess and, in turn, create new opportunities for themselves. PERSONUS Consulting was born out of one such opportunity – the need for experienced guidance during a crisis. I am grateful that my team and I can offer our services to activity providers looking for new resources to bolster the success of their businesses. If you would like to learn more about how PERSONUS Consulting can help your business thrive, please get in touch with us. We would be happy to connect with you and discuss your needs further.
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