Before you film anything, familiarise yourself with your camera and read the instructions so you understand how most bits work.
Practice using the camera, and get your camera crew to do likewise. The better you know your kit, the more comfortable you will become. With small domestic cameras, getting in and out of the menus can be fiddly and takes practice. Even if you don't need a certain switch, it is great to be able to respond, when someone asks the inevitable 'what does this do?'.
Encourage good habits: Put all kit away carefully, if everything has a place you are more likely to spot when something is missing. Get batteries onto charge, check lenses clean, etc...
Although we deal with sound in a separate section, remember with camcorders the sound is 'built in' so when studying your camera you will also be considering its sound recording capabilities.
For me, movies should be visual. If you want dialogue, you should read a book - Vilmos Zsigmond