Some of the materials we used daily: laptops, printed worksheets, markers, pens, bottled water, folders…

Look at YOU… With your speakers and your timing down and your spaces located. I’m so proud of you…

I hope you like what you’ve been creating so far because the work is about to change. Your soundbites and elevator speech are probably pretty dialed in at this point. That’s great for what you need to share with the community. Now though, it’s time to dive into The What.

What exactly IS the camp?

What materials do I need to pull this off?

The STEAM Factor

Here at the Chattanooga Public Library we worked REALLY hard about a year ago to create a document that labeled every single walk up station and program with what we refer to as STEAM tags. The idea is that we can talk to any city government official, any teacher, and parent about all the educational benefits each station can provide their child. In fact Lee Hope, our Youth Services Coordinator, took it one step further in the Children’s Department and tagged all their walk ups and programs in accordance with (ECRR) standards too! I liked this way of thinking so much I can’t turn it off now and I even included this kind of breakdown for every single activity in the book!

The Camp is a complete STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) immersion experience for the teens who participate.

Each week I’ll share the STEAM terms associated with the topics you’ll be covering. However, in overarching sense here’s the big picture impact:

• S: Social psychology of consumerism, purchasing and product photography. Creation of targeted branding based on social passions, product, identified customer base. Targeting customers based on socioeconomic patterns.
• T: Use of new artistic equipment. Web based market research. Web based materials research. Organizing inspiration, materials research, pricing research into social media.
• E: Construction of product. Creation of branded packaging.
• A: Honing an artistic craft. Experimenting in new artistic mediums. Logo design. Product photography.  Writing about artistic process, artist, products. Booth design. Crafting a stage presence. Practicing public speaking.
• M: Pricing formulas for profit, wholesale and retail markets. Timing creation process to determine formula outcomes. Sustainable pricing research and cost analysis. Financial literacy.

I bet you wish you had known all this sooner. Maybe you think like me so you’ve already been spouting these benefits (or at least speculating about them) to pretty much whoever will listen. If not and you wish I had mentioned them sooner fear not, they will re-energize your conversations, add a layer of educational depth to your pleads for additional speakers and reinforce the value of the contributions for those who have already agreed to help out.

What Do I Need?

I’ll give you a week by week breakdown of the materials you’ll need to pull of Camp each week but here’s the general set up requirements:

Space:

• Messy Workspace
• Room to leave stuff hanging on the walls

Hardware:

• Projector
• Laptop or iPad with Projector hookup*
• Ability to play music (Pandora or other streaming service is the easiest)**
• Printer

*My preferred presentation method is to use my iPad so I can wander around the room helping where needed. Plus I can control the music from it which is nice. I link up to the projector using Apple TV so there are no cords, just lovely wireless freedom.

** I found the Two Door Cinema Club channel on Pandora was the best for our group. I could leave it on a low volume while I was speaking without getting distracted and every now and then the teens would inadvertently bounce along with whatever song was on while working or breathlessly tell me how much they loved the music I picked. Win!

Everyday Items:

• Folder or binder per camper
• Tables
• Chairs
• A TON of Paper*
• Pens
• Markers
• Large Paper to Hang on the Walls
• Tape
• Scissors

These items may not be used in every single camp session but I like to keep them on hand for whatever pops up.

*I felt pretty bad about the amount of paper I used for this camp at first. You’ll be printing writing exercises, worksheets, articles and more. It may not seem like much at first but then you remember you’re multiplying everything by up to ten and Holy Moly that’s a LOT of paper. Not to mention printing out additional sheets for your speakers and yourself so you can follow along. If you create an online version of this that works for you I’m gonna love you forever. If not just remember, a lot of teens find it helpful to scribble their thoughts and notes physically. It’s all saved in a folder or binder where they keep track of their work and if your experience is at all like mine you’ll be referring back to these printouts frequently.
Niceities:

• A local snack each afternoon of Camp (Be careful of allergies!)
• Bottled water for your speakers
• Thank You Cards
• Camp stickers for campers and speakers (More viral marketing! Woohoo!)

These will up your status from library programmer to library goddess/god. Take extra special care of the people who come to help you for free!

If you have organizations or individuals who have asked if you needfinancial assistance with camp the items above make great donations. If not, now you’ve got a shopping list!

Go forth and gather your supplies because coming up next is Prepping and Advertising!