Cabin Coordinators![Cabin Coordinators](https://www.gaynaturists.org/images/gathering/summer_camp.jpg)
So, you want to be a cabin coordinator? That's great to hear and we thank you for volunteering to step in and organize your group this year. Cabin coordination is one of the most important tasks you can help with for us to plan a smooth registration, confirmation, and housing assignment process. While cabin coordinators have autonomy to plan who's in their cabins, they may also take on the planning of a cabin theme, decorations, and communication between attendees who want to be housed there. But if you don't want to take on those extra planning tasks, at the very least, make sure you keep track of the names of your cabin mates and update your cabin coordinator profile with those names BEFORE July 16. That's the deadline to submit your names to us. We'll get into the specifics below.
Do not email, text, or instant message your list of names to the Business Office. You must use your Cabin Coordinator profile to submit the names of your cabin mates.
Important Deadline Dates
- March 15 - Cabin Coordinators must notify the GNI Business Office of your intent to organize a cabin
- July 15 - Cabin Coordinators must have a final list of names stored in their Cabin Coordinator profile
If you miss the March 15 deadline, your cabin may be returned to the open pool and given to someone else.
Your responsibilities
- Recruit, recruit, recruit - it is incumbent on you to recruit men to join your cabin. GNI will not recruit people for you.
- It's your responsibility to communicate with your cabin mates - remind them to register no later than July 15, field any questions from men who may want to join your cabin, and most importantly, you must communicate with the GNI Business Office if you have any questions or need additional assistance.
- Add the names of your cabin mates to your Cabin Coordinator profile - make sure that you add the names of your mates no later than July 15. On July 16, permissions to add / remove / change your list will be removed and GNI will take the list you have submitted as confirmation of your final list.
- When registration opens usually around February 1, permissions to update your cabin list will be granted and you can start to manage your list immediately. You can make as many changes to your list as you need until July 16 when the deadline to submit names expires.
- Do NOT email the GNI Business Office with the names of your cabin mates. We will not update your list for you, nor will we try to find an email that you send to us. On average, we receive 150 - 200 email per day through the registration season and it's very likely that we will not be able to either find your list or any changes that you make if you email us. Keep track of your names in your cabin profile, only. You do NOT have to email us informing us that you updated your list either. That's not important for us to know. We will only use the list as found in your cabin coordinator profile when housing assignments commence on July 16.
- If you are planning to not attend in any one year, it's your responsibility to find a replacement who will manage the cabin for you. Let us know so we can change the cabin coordinator profile login credentials so your replacement can take over managing the cabin list.
- If you don't submit names to us by July 16, GNI will assume that a group will not be housed there and the cabin will be turned over to the open pool and assigned to another group who may want to organize a cabin.
- For planning purposes, if you want to "hold" on to your cabin from year-to-year, we ask that you have at least a 50% census in your cabin in order to claim in in the following year. For instance, if you have a 10-man cabin, we ask that you have at least five (5) men in your cabin in order to claim it in the following year. If you only have two (2) men in a 10-man cabin, we'll assign the cabin to another group who needs the space and the new group will have the right to claim in next year.
- Be sure that you are aware of how many beds you have in your cabin and plan your cabin list accordingly. You can match a first half week attendee with a second half week attendee and count those two as using one (1) bed. Keep track of who's attending Full Week, First Half Week, and Second Half Week. You may find that half week attendance options or those that create their own custom attendance schedule conflict with the number of beds in your cabin.
If you're planning to START a cabin
- Everything mentioned above applies to you if you're starting a group this year.
- To find a cabin that's available to use, please contact the GNI Business Office (gni@gaynaturists.org) and we'll review the inventory to see what cabin(s) are available for you to use.
- It's very unlikely that you will have a choice of cabins in "prime" areas as those cabins usually have long-term members who attend year-to-year. On the rare occasion that a cabin in a highly desired location becomes available, it will be offered on a first-come basis. We do not have waiting lists for cabins, nor will we take requests from you to be notified if a cabin in a more desirable location opens up.
- Given the unlikely event that a cabin in a prime area will be available, be prepared to be offered cabin options in less desirable locations such as closer to the dance club, or along the road by the front entrance. Everyone wants the best real estate at camp and when a cabin in that location becomes available, it's snatched up very quickly.
Accessing your Cabin Coordinator profile in the GNI Member Directory
We've put together a short video tutorial for you to use to show you how to access your Cabin Coordinator profile. Simply follow along and the video will show you all of the steps you need to follow to manage your cabin list. Be sure to scroll down below the video for more important information. (The video is dated, but the steps to manage your list are the same).
- Our software has a security feature that will disable a "Password Reset" request if you add your email to your cabin coordinator profile. To ensure that you don't get locked out of your personal profile, please do NOT add your email address to your cabin coordinator profile.
- If you forgot your password, or you need to make a change to the name of your cabin coordinator, just email the GNI Business Office at gni@gaynaturists.org. We'll manually reset your password and send you or your replacement new login credentials.
- Be sure that you update your Cabin Coordinator profile with the names of your cabin mates and not use your personal profile for that. Use your personal profile to register for camp, and use your Cabin Coordinator profile to keep track of cabin mates. You will not be able to register using your Cabin Coordinator profile, nor will we look for the names of your cabin mates in your personal profile.
Frequently asked questions
- What happens AFTER July 15? Can I still assign men to the cabin?
- On July 16, we start the task of assigning housing to everyone who's registered. We begin by going through the cabin coordinator profiles and matching names in your profile with men who've registered. If a name matches, that person will be assigned to your cabin - no questions.
- If you have names of men in your cabin coordinator profile of men who have NOT registered, we'll skip that name and move on to the next. GNI will NOT "hold" a bed open for anyone who's not registered by July 15.
- If you have names of men who haven't registered, you give up claim to those beds and those beds will be turned over to GNI and be used for random housing assignments. You may find new people assigned to your cabin that you're unaware of - but that's the nature of the event and the need to find beds for everyone who's registered. That is the reason why you must have all of your cabin mates registered by July 16 or they may lose the bed you're reserving for them to someone else. Should that happen, we may not be able to make changes once housing assignments begin to accommodate late registrants.
- Can I make any changes to the list after July 15?
- If you need to make a change on July 16, we may be able to help you. If it's August 16, then no - the list you submitted on July 15 is considered final and complete. Housing assignments is an extremely challenging task and even the smallest of changes to names may begin a complex domino effect involving many men, groups, and cabins.
- Can I see who's in my cabin before camp?
- Once housing assignments are finished, we do an audit of the registrations to make sure we've not overlooked any details. After the audit is complete, housing assignments are uploaded to the GNI Member Directory where you will be able to search for names assigned to a specific cabin. Keep in mind that not everyone chooses to be visible in the directory so you will not be able to view hidden profiles. That does not mean that only the men you see in a directory search will be assigned to your cabin. Hidden profiles may be assigned to your cabin, too.
- Why don't you confirm housing assignments?
- The process to assign housing doesn't begin until mid-July and even then, it takes a couple of weeks to not only assign housing, but to conduct the audit for accuracy. It's very common that we are making changes to housing assignments up to the day camp opens, and if we sent out housing confirmations, men may find that after the confirmation has been sent, they may have been moved to another cabin. That will not only create confusion, but make men upset if their confirmed housing assignment has been changed. Our policy on housing assignments is, "There are no guarantees for specific housing requests." Once we finish the housing audit, we try really hard to ensure no changes are made, but life happens and we may need to make any last minute changes.