Welcome to the Summer Camp Leadership blog. For those of us who lead summer camps, making a positive difference in the lives of young people is our passion. Turning that passion into a reality, however, takes more than the ability to lead songs, teach archery or plan craft projects. Creating camp experiences that truly transform lives takes leadership. Leadership that creates a vision for the future, leadership that inspires and engages others, leadership that remains focused and stays the course. My hope is through this blog you'll find ideas, inspiration and tools to help you be a great summer camp leader.

Monday, February 27, 2012

Organizing Ideas with Evernote

During my four days at the American Camp Association annual conference I filled five or six pages with notes on sessions I attended or ideas that emerged through discussions I had with other camp professionals. Organizing and storing these ideas is critical if I'm going to turn what I've learned from the conference into action. After being out of the office for a week I know that I'll spend most of the week following the conference catching up on my regular work. Time for looking at how to implement new ideas from the conference won't be available right away. If I'm not careful, my notes, and in turn my ideas from the conference will end up getting lost and never used.

To keep notes and ideas like those from the conference organized I use Evernote. It's a free program that allows me to type, organize and store notes on-line so they're safe and always accessible. It's quick and easy to use. For the ACA conference I created a notebook where I put all of my notes and ideas for future reference.

I use Evernote almost every day to keep track of meeting notes, discussions I have with staff members and ideas that I want to capture. It's a great tool for helping me stay organized and productive.