Welcome Home Campers!

[Jody Sommerhauser]

Hi All,

We're finally digging ourselves out of the dust and starting to return to real life here in beautiful, rainy Santa Rosa.  Its always a little bittersweet when its all done and put away.

I wanted to take a moment to thank all of you who showed up this year for your help and hard work.  Even our humble little dive bar takes an incredible amount of effort to get up and running each year, and you should all be proud to be among the "givers" who build BRC and make the magic happen.

I'm always thinking about ways to improve the process and the experience for our campers and the people who visit us.  I've been reading facebook posts on the Burning Man Theme Camp Organizers and, while your memories are fresh, I'd like to solicit your feedback.  Some subjects that have come up online and have got me thinking:

How do we motivate participation?

How do we recruit new members? Should we?

Dues or no dues - How do we make funding camp equitable?

How do we promote camp to residents of BRC?  BMIR Radio?  Facebook promotions?

Current storage/Truck rental vs BRC Container or Gerlach Storage?

Camp Schedule - should we have a set schedule for working the bar or should we leave it open ended as it currently is?

Ice Runs - Should we be setting the schedule before the event so everyone gets a turn?

Anyway, that's some of what I've been thinking about in all my free time at 2:00 am...  I'd love to hear what you think about those issues and anything else that might have come up for you during the event or after.

Again, good job, welcome back!

[Julie Andersen]

Ok my two cents.  

I'm not sure we need bar shift schedules but maybe duties around the bar / camp to make things less stressful for you and Chris.  

•Ice run schedule

•Garbage schedule

•Drink mixing?  Recipe etc. 

•Bar cleaning? 

•whatever else needs to be done.  

•Also I believe the storage unit should be organized further before the next burn.  •Spend one day going through all items and documenting and listing it all.  

•We can print out a master list. This will make it easier to make improvements in years to come. 

•Placing all lose items in bins and labeling things.  

•Also this will possibly make it easier to pack truck?  

•and I'm for nominal sliding scale dues...

Jill

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[Jody Sommerhauser]

Yes, I like the idea of assigning responsibilities.  I'm very hesitant to create too much obligatory taskiness, but I also feel like there could be a more efficient division of labor.  I take responsibility because I get into a mindset where I don't want to tell everyone what to do while on vacation (since that's what I do all day around here) but maybe we can have a committee during the year and assign teams to handle different areas of responsibility.  Thanks Jill for a thoughtful response!

[Marcy Bravo]

Chiming in, even though I didn't go this year. 

I think that giving responsibilities ahead of time is a good idea. Having a mental note of days you may be responsible for ice, bar, would be great or if you need better sound for music (example), new decor, start giving out those responsibilities a few months ahead we can all start working on them. There are a lot of creative people in our camp. Idea of a committee is great.

Seeing the teamwork on the  breakdown is awesome each year. Everyone seems to pull their weight.

I know that we are ramping up an inviting more friends next year and I was going to ask if that is something that camp would like or not? I think accepting donations for dues would be fine too. 

Thanks again Jodi!

[jessie keilt]

I would say an ice schedule would be a great idea. Of course Temo has some thoughts on how you could use a lot less ice. The manning of the bar & the help setting up (we left before the teardown) seemed pretty smooth. I did think about suggesting a storage on the top of the mountain. Thank you for including us. Love you guys XOXO

[Wally Tang]

Maybe we can create a list of duties and tasks that need to  be completed from beginning to end and then we can have a sign up volunteer sheet so people can choose which duties they want to help out with. This way everyone pitches in a helping hand and this will ensure all duties are completed.

[Jody Sommerhauser]

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate the feedback!  We (as usual) have some leftover beer and liquor to finish off, so we will be having a decom party at some point and would love everyone to come and talk about this stuff and drink with us.  I have no idea when this is going to happen since our calendar is basically full through Halloween, but we will keep you in the loop!

[Victoria Paul]

Hey Jody and Chris,

Thanks again for everything!  It was a great burn and once again, Camp Oh No You Didn't was a central part of our experience.  

Regarding the organization of the camp I  think there is a lot we can do ahead of time to make the camp run more efficiently and to minimize your having to ask folks to do stuff throughout the week.   I think it makes perfect sense to have an ice run schedule established ahead of time.  

What about creating some protocol signs to have up behind the bar? Some really basic reminders would be especially helpful to new  camp mates.  Protocols might include Running the Bar (asking for id, using own cup, not leaving moop etc)  Basic Clean up ideas (what to do with bar slop vs. melted ice water, garbage vs. recycle) and perhaps some directions for how to run certain things (generator, music, fire pit etc)  and as someone else suggested- the mixed drink recipes.  This might reduce the need for lots of questions to you guys about "What do I do with.....?  Do we have....?"  "How do I make.....?"  You probably have some other ideas based on repeated questions you got throughout the week.  

Perhaps some small signage on the shelves might also aid bar organization.  Having a marked area for the mixers, booze, and what ever else is needed on hand under the bar will aide smooth running of the bar by many different folks.    If its marked folks will know where stuff goes without having to ask  you guys.  What about having a little sign by the mixed drink cooler where we can write what we made and when.  As someone who often bar tended in the afternoon, I was sometime unsure what was in the cooler and how long it had been in there.  

I think we should have one or two basic drink recipes we make and be really specific on what folks should bring.  I know this year, we were supposed to bring vodka and mixers.  When it came time to purchase the mixers- I had no idea what to get.  If we had two recipes and everyone knew they had to bring so many bottles of vodka and so many cranberries and so many lime juice or whatever, I think it would be really helpful both for purchasing and for making drinks.   (also- lets put sugar on the list!- we've been fortunate the past two years to be coming up a few days after the first group and both years, we've brought up sugar) 

Hope this is helpful,

Tory

[Julie Andersen]

I think this is a great idea, even the before stuff duties.  A list of what needs to be done from start to finish.  I can be a support in starting to create a master list.  We can talk over the phone and do it on google drive.  Also, if you take me on on my idea about organizing the storage unit we could add this to the list of to do's.   I believe all this listing will ultimately make it easier and clearer for what needs to be done with maybe not less work, but less stress? at least in theory.  

Jill  

[Jody Sommerhauser]

Hi All,

Thanks again for the thoughtful responses!  I'll be going through the list of ideas and coming up with a set of goals for next year.  I will be sending out another email listing the specific items that I want to focus on, and eliciting help from each of you in implementing them.  

Its been a very interesting process to watch the conversations on the Burning Man Theme Camp Leads Facebook page.  It makes me realize that we've got a really great crew and very low drama compared to other camps, and also that there are some basic things that we can do which will help to create a more equitable division of labor/expense.  I promise each of you that we will never be a camp with a shit ton of rules and high dues, but I think a few really minor adjustments can make a big difference.

Thanks again, more to come!

[Chris Olson]

Hey Jill,

Have you ever even actually seen the storage unit?   I don’t remember you being involved with loading or unloading from it…  ;-)

It’s actually quite organized this time, thanks in part to our own Boi Wonder!

love ya long time,

Chris

[Julie Andersen]

Yes, I did last year.  I was there.  uploading and I believe unloading as well. 

[malia miracle]

I just want to say I love you guys…thanks for including me this year…You know I’m happy again to help next year so let me know whatever i can do if there is room for me to participate!

[Jody Sommerhauser]

Big Loves to you Malia!