This event is a great opportunity for the outdoors community to share knowledge and ideas, and discuss important issues and initiatives through workshops, seminars and networking opportunities.
When
It is typically held over two days in September/October each year.
Who should attend?
Every year this event attracts a wide range of people: outdoors education teachers, outdoors centre managers and staff, adventure tourism operators, national organisation representatives, researchers and academics.
2011 Outdoor Forum
The 2011 Outdoor Forum ran during October 28-29. It was held in Wellington and had the theme of ‘Looking Forward’.
Keynote speaker Neil McGregor, from Human Synergistics, opened the forum with his speech titled, ‘Survival of the fittest: how to build a healthy culture in an organisation’. Mr McGregor gave insight into how successful organisations develop and adapt to their environments. The topic was very fitting for the outdoors community. Feedback from attendees rated Mr McGregor’s speech highly, with some people commenting on learning valuable information.
“Neil’s speech made me think about how I could further develop my organisation.”
A highlight was the full-capacity session, ‘Social Media: ‘Like’, tweet, and four what?’ by Tomas Kriha, of Ideas Shop. The session touched on how the outdoors community could use social media for promotion, customer service, and customer experience. Although Mr Kriha only had an hour to present his session, a lot of knowledge was passed on to those present.
“You captured the interests and needs of different sector participants,” Forum feedback.
The programme manager of the New Zealand Cycle Trail (NZCT), John Dunn, updated us about the trail project, and its impact on outdoor recreation in New Zealand. Outdoors New Zealand safety review project leader Sue Gemmell was impressed by the story of the NZCT project.
“What they’ve attempted to do, and what they’ve done so far is quite an achievement,” she said, “It was quite inspirational.”
Other sessions included innovations in secondary school outdoor education programmes, sustainability practices, and outdoor safety auditing. In addition to the wide range of seminars and workshops, mountaineer William Pike recounted his 2007 rescue on Mt Ruapahu when it erupted. Attendees were also treated to a private screening of director Clive Neeson’s eco-adventure film, ‘Last Paradise’, which looked at outdoors recreation and adventure sports in New Zealand over the past 40 years.
The forum feedback was very positive, and many participants returning from previous years.
“This forum was nicely balanced with enriching and thought-provoking research, the movie, and stories,” Forum feedback.
Attendees socialsed over a cold drink or two before the Outdoor Excellence Award dinner on the first night of the Forum.
The Outdoors Forum 2012 will be held on the 12-13 October, at the Comfort & Quality Hotel in Wellington.
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