The Night Before Camp: A Story Every Scout Leader Knows

It's 10pm. Camp starts tomorrow morning. You're supposed to be packing. Instead, you're going through emails.

Three forms are missing. You sent reminders. You sent follow-ups. You even called. But here you are, the night before, still chasing paperwork.

If you've run scout camps, you know this feeling. It happens every single time.

The registration dance

Every camp follows the same pattern. You announce the camp a month out. A few keen parents register immediately. Most wait. And wait. And wait.

A week before, you send a reminder. A few more trickle in. Three days out, panic mode kicks in. You start calling people. "Just checking if little Johnny is coming to camp?"

"Oh yes, he's definitely coming! Didn't I send the form?"

No. No they didn't.

Then there are the people who registered but didn't pay. The people who paid but forgot the medical form. The people who filled out last year's form by mistake.

The midnight spreadsheet

So there you are at 10pm, building a spreadsheet. Who's coming. Who's paid. Who's missing their consent form. Who has allergies. Who's vegetarian. Who's coming late. Who's leaving early.

You're copying information from emails, from Google Forms, from bits of paper shoved in your bag at the last meeting. Half the medical info is from six months ago. Is it still accurate? Probably. Maybe.

You should be getting a good night's sleep before camp. Instead, you're doing data entry.

Why does this happen?

It's not because parents don't care. It's not because they're irresponsible. It's because the system we've built is designed to fail.

Think about what we ask them to do. Download a form. Print it. Fill it out by hand. Scan it or take a photo. Email it back. Or fill out a Google Form - but a different one for each camp. And don't forget to pay separately via bank transfer.

That's a lot of steps. Each step is a place where things fall through the cracks.

Then multiply that by every camp. Parents filling out the same information again and again. The same address. The same emergency contacts. The same medical details. Every. Single. Time.

Of course forms go missing. The system practically guarantees it.

What good registration looks like

Here's what registration should be: Parent gets a link. They click it. Their kid's details are already there from last time. They just tick the days they're attending, confirm the info is still correct, and pay.

Done. Two minutes.

The leader? They don't need to chase anyone. They can see in real-time who's registered, who's paid, who's got complete medical info. If someone hasn't registered by the deadline, the system sends reminders automatically.

The night before camp, you're packing. Not doing admin.

This isn't complicated

I used to think proper registration systems were for big organisations with paid staff. Scout groups just had to make do with forms and spreadsheets and late nights before camp.

But that's not true anymore. The technology exists to make registration simple. Not expensive. Not complicated. Just simple.

The question is whether you want to keep doing the midnight spreadsheet dance, or whether you're ready to try something better.