Camera traps are capable of generating large amounts of data on multiple species. One of the biggest challenges of working with those data is preparing them for analysis and deciding which covariates to use. This workshop session on camera trap data preparation will discuss methods of data manipulation and preparation for common analyses including occupancy, density and generalized linear regression with examples in Excel and R. We will also explore common procedures for choosing the most appropriate covariates for a multivariate analysis including assessment of collinearity, data visualization and univariate tests. We will show examples of step-by-step data preparation and decision making based on common analysis goals. We will also discuss common issues encountered with camera trap data preparation and analysis.