New Tech Tools Complement Research for Oldest & Best Sleepaway Camps: Third Generation of Kids Enjoy Maine Camps Celebrating 100+ Years
Portland, Maine (PRWEB) February 27, 2014 -- For over 100 years, thousands of kids representing three generations have enjoyed Maine sleepaway camps, the finest and most well established summer camps in the country. While word of mouth continues to be an important way for camp families to learn about and enroll at these camps, some new tools too, are helping today’s families find the camps that will be best for their children.
Maine Camp Experience, the community of 30+ premier sleepaway camps, has recently introduced the following tech-to-human tools to address the different ways families today like to obtain information: Select-A-Camp, Select-A-Session, Self-Posted Testimonials/Reviews/Videos, Live Chat, and the Maine Guide.
Select-A-Camp: It’s often helpful to first narrow down options based on key criteria and then focus on a targeted list of camps. Families can use the Gender and Session Length drop downs to help find a Maine Camp for their children. The feature instantly shows suitable camps and provides a useful overview for each, including dates, rates, testimonials and videos. Descriptions can be read online, printed or emailed. http://www.mainecampexperience.com/Find-a-Summer-Camp/Select-A-Camp
Select-A-Session: Session length is one of the first and most important factors families should consider when selecting an overnight summer camp. Two? … four? … or more weeks? This chart offers a quick snapshot of the session lengths for the Maine Camp Experience camps, which are separated by camps for boys, camps for girls and coed camps. Pick from 2-8 weeks; some even offer shorter trial sessions. http://mainecampexperience.com/graphics/pdf/SessionLengths.pdf
Testimonials/Camp Reviews: We are all accustomed now to checking out what others say about a product, service, hotel, or restaurant that we want to try. We may start with our inner circle, but we all end up online. Now families can do the same with Maine’s sleepaway camps. Campers, parents, alumni and staff share their memories of camp with self-posted, un-edited testimonials about their experiences at Maine Camp Experience camps. They share their favorite traditions, how spending camp summers in Maine have been beneficial, about the friendships they have made, and the new skills and self-confidence they have acquired. Included as well are their thoughts about staff, activities, trips and more. The section also features videos from first-time campers, teen campers, counselors, parents and alumni. http://www.mainecampexperience.com/Camp-Reviews/Camp-Reviews
Live Chat: Here’s where parents can now get live responses to their pressing questions; human feedback converges with technology. While on the http://www.mainecampexperience.com site, prospective camp families can live chat with a Maine Camp expert by clicking on the green “Click to Chat” button on the right side of the page. They can get instant feedback and answers to questions from Laurie, the Maine Guide, while they peruse the site. (Questions can include: Where are the best places to stay when touring camps? Do the camps offer a particular activity of interest such as fencing, golf, or cooking? Do kids get to pick electives within their schedule? Which camps accommodate food allergies?)
The Maine Guide, Laurie: Here’s where the human touch enhances the initial online research. Laurie, the Maine Guide for the 30+ Maine Camp Experience camps, provides personalized assistance by email and phone to help families make the right camp match for their children and plan visits to Maine. She knows every camp director well, has visited the camps, and her services are free (she is part of the Maine Camp Experience staff). This Guide service is a unique benefit for a region of camps to have a staff expert dedicated to knowing the nuances and differences amongst the best camps in a region. She talks with parents about the camps: What are the facilities like? What are the details of specific programs like equestrian? Which camps have a non-denominational “service” on Friday night or Sunday morning? To contact Laurie and view video of her talking about Maine camps, families can log on to: http://www.mainecampexperience.com/contact.php. She can also be reached via email from the site (green “Email Me” button on the right side of the home page), by direct email: laurie(at)mainecampexperience(dot)com, or by calling 877-92-MAINE.
Dating back to 1902 – the inaugural year of Camp Wyonegonic, the oldest continuously-run camp for girls in America and a Maine Camp Experience camp – campers have come to unplug and enjoy natural beauty, strong traditions and values, incredible activities on lakes and land, and top-notch instruction just as their parents and grandparents did. This holds true, too, for campers at other Maine Camp Experience camps that have also celebrated 100 years, including Camp Androscoggin, Camp Mataponi, Camp O-AT-KA, Camp Runoia, Kamp Kohut, Tripp Lake Camp, and Winona Camps, as well as the rest of the equally reputable Maine Camp Experience camps that have opened since.
Maine offers the greatest number of the oldest, most established overnight camps in the country. Experiences and friendships made as kids in camp are benefits that last a lifetime. In fact, many of the 500,000 alum of Maine camps find themselves reconnecting at universities, in careers and in social situations as adults. Many wind up sending their children to Maine camps too.
Maine Camp Experience is a community of more than 30 premier, accredited sleepaway camps dedicated to providing children with the highest quality summer camp experiences in the country for generations. http://www.mainecampexperience.com is the resource for all things camp and Maine, including a Maine Guide, who offers families personalized assistance for camp selection and planning visits to Maine. The site also features real Maine Camp memories and reviews self-posted by campers, parents, alumni, and staff; and special offers. Summers and Camp Belong in Maine … And So Do You!℠ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9m04uZntmVY
To speak with multi-generational families who have attended these c amps, Laurie the Maine Guide, or Maine Camp Experience Camp Directors, please contact laurie(at)mainecampexperience(dot)com.
Facebook: Facebook.com/MaineCampExperience
Twitter: @MaineCamps
Pinterest: Pinterest.com/MaineCamps
Instagram: Instagram.com/MaineCamps
Laurie Kaiden, Maine Camp Experience, http://www.mainecampexperience.com, +1 917-593-2982, [email protected]
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