High 5 Adventure - The Podcast

New Name - Same Podcast. This is a short explanation on our name change. Welcome to Vertical Playpen. New episodes every 2 weeks.

Greg visits the High 5 offices to chat with Lisa about the connection between music and adventure, introducing people to boardgames and being willing to travel long distances to find work that you love.

The Training Team (Phil, Rich, Chris and Lisa) discuss how they end a program or workshop with a group. Saying goodbye, closing activities and when to reflect with the group.

The Training Team (Phil, Rich, Chris and Lisa) discuss how they begin a program or workshop with a group. Activities that set the tone, strategies to connect with the group early on and coping with awkward silences.

Jeff and Arlette from the Gengras Center in West Hartford, CT sat down with their good friend and our Trainer Rich Keegan to talk and reminisce about their incredible work at Gengras and their experience using a challenge course and experiential education. 

In this episode of Trainer Tips, Phil and Rich spend 15 minutes discussing tips for managing the use of p-cords on challenge courses. Topics include, replacing the rope, stacking them out of the way and appropriate p-cord length.

Does neat gear storage and wearing the same style of harness as your participants positively affect the 1st impressions of your challenge course operations?...YUP! Phil discusses these 2 things.

Meg talks with Phil about social justice facilitation, navigating your triggers and her upcoming new product - Facilitator Cards. Find out more about Meg and Facilitator Cards here: https://www.megbolger.com/

December 18th is World Knot Tying Day, marking the birthday of legendary knot enthusiast and author Clifford Ashley. To celebrate this the training team got together to talk about knots, knots and more knots. #worldknottyingday

Companion episode to our recent blog post - A Force to Reckoned With - Helium Hoop. Lisa, Rich and Phil discuss intentionally adding struggle and frustration into their programming. Lisa will be running a pre-conference workshop at ACCT titled "The Struggle is Real" - register here: http://acctconference.com/register/

Chris talks with Phil about the influence summer camp had on him, the importance of defining your mission and vision and the power in sharing and adding to your stories. Find more about Chris at fundoing.com.

Ryan, Rich, Sam and Phil look through antique game books (some over 100 years old) with the task of identifying how to play the games with only the name and a few other clues to help. In this episode the games to identify are Gardener and Scamp, and Bull in the Ring.

Ryan, Rich, Sam and Phil look through antique game books (some over 100 years old) with the task of identifying how to play the game with only the name and few other clues to help. In this episode the games to identify are Dumb Crambo and Old Man Old Man.

Jamie, High 5 Lead Builder, returns to his previous place of employment to chat with Bill Waite, Program Director and Rolland Krohn, Ropes Course Director about the FFA, how they got their start in Adventure programming and advice they would give to future professionals.

The Training Team (Chris, Lisa, Rich and Phil) discuss places where they have gained professional development outside of the field of challenge course operations and how integrating topics you are interested and/or passionate about can enhance your programming.

The Training team (Chris, Lisa, Rich and Phil) discuss in great detail the importance of name games, when to use them and what their "go-to" activities are for learning participant names. This is in response to a question sent in by Megan Meinen of UVM. Thanks Megan for the great question!

Marty took some time after taking an ACCT Level 2 Certification Exam to chat with Phil about adaptive programming, the joy of "getting" to go to work instead of "having" to go to work and shares his challenges with operating a challenge course.

Lisa Hunt, Senior Trainer and Manager of Team Development, discusses the difference between real and fake jobs that we give to our participants when operating a challenge course with the desire to manage behavior.   Find the conversation between Lisa and Ken Demas here: https://high5adventure.org/pod-casts/trainer-tips-real-vs-fake-jobs

Amy talks with Phil about her advice to students when embarking on a career in experiential education, thoughts on the future of the industry and also a couple of tips and insights on Climer Cards. amy@climerconsulting.com

Chris, Director of Training and Team Development, speaks with Karen (Assistant Director) and Patrick (Head Counselor) about the history of Camp Agawam, building a new challenge course and how it benefits both the campers and the staff who operate it.