Have you ever…
If you answered yes to one or more of the above…you are not alone.
There are moments in the course of each of our careers when we take a serious look at our own beliefs and actions regarding risk, choice, and success on a challenge course.
The Paradox of Risk and the Complexity of Choice will describe, demonstrate, explore, and debate some of the very foundations of our beliefs as facilitators. It will provide a snapshot of the learning of one practitioner who dared to look over the edge and question much of what he had been taught and believed. Tom Leahy will outline some common struggles of participants and explore just how widespread these struggles are. He will also explore some concepts, strategies, and processes that will not only change this experience but help practitioners to develop and facilitate programs that will deliver on the traditional promises of the challenge course experience.
Join Tom for a passionate, informative, and at times irreverent look at our field, and explore a vision for the future of risk-based education.
Tom Leahy has 30+ years of experience using the outdoors as a classroom with a spectrum of clients. He is the president of Leahy & Associates, Inc., a multi-faceted consulting company providing challenge course/climbing wall design and installation, facilitator training, and corporate team skills training. Over the years, thousands of facilitators, teachers, therapists, and students have been infected with his passion and experienced his models for decision-making, problem solving, communication, and the teaching of choice as a key life skill.
In 1993, Tom created the National Challenge Course Practitioners Symposium (NCCPS), a unique conference and training venue that truly places participants in control of their own learning. In 2002, Tom was awarded the Michael J. Stratton "Practitioner of the Year" award by the Association for Experiential Education. Tom is on the Board of Directors of the Association for Challenge Course Technology (ACCT) and is Chair of the Training Certification Standards Committee. Tom and his wife, Jennifer, live in Boulder, Colorado.
A discovery session. How can we provide needed certification services to over 400 programs across the nation? We have the answer-regional training sites! If your program has one or more structures, easy access to lodging, and a staff dedicated to excellence, come to develop a plan, provide feedback, and help us build a network.
Jon Godsey is currently the Director of Certifications for The Adventure Group. Previously, he was a consultant for The Gallup Organization and past Assistant Director for Outdoor Recreation for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Jon currently lives in Lincoln, Nebraska, and enjoys hiking, biking, and climbing with his wife Monica, daughter Adolin, and son Jones.
We will learn the eye splice with a 3-part laid rope. We will present end splices in the same rope. Advanced skills will include decorative splices as time permits.
Jim Gravely has been working and playing in the trees for a very long time. In his spare time he builds tree houses, rain forest canopy walkways, and custom challenge courses internationally for Cornerstone Designs and his own company, J.G. Construction, and he worked for Alpine Towers since the beginning. He also manufactures nets for challenge courses. Jim, with his talented and lovely wife, Janice, designed and built their home in western North Carolina. Mark F. Bartleson, Jr. earned his liberal arts degree while working at the Polaris Missile Facility in 1986. He spent 21.5 years in submarine service and retired as a Chief Petty Officer in 1977, retiring again in 1994 from the Polaris Missile Facility in Charleston, South Carolina where he still resides. He has worked for Charleston County Park and Recreation Commission for 16 years as a challenge course facilitator. He is presently one of the park's corporate facilitators. He has taught rock climbing, led trips to North Carolina, and was logistics coordinator for the Southeast Canoe and Kayak Festival in Charleston, SC for four years. Mark enjoys target shooting and working outdoors. While working for Cornerstone Designs, Inc., Charleston County Park and Recreation Commission, running a small computer consulting business, and a 1SGT in the South Carolina State Guard, he still takes time to enjoy his wife, seven children, 13 grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.
A practical approach to taking Challenge by Choice © to the next level. We will begin with a bit of theory and quickly move into an exercise designed to invite meaningful participation at all skill levels. You will come away with an activity that you can take back and use with your program immediately. Be prepared to wear your facilitator and participant hat throughout the session.
In many ways, Robbie and Jesse Oates both grew up in our field. They bring a variety of skills and deep experiences developed over combined period of 39 years.
This session focuses on the development of a Local Operating Procedures manual that reflects your organization's unique mission and location. We will cover the basics and explore the areas for creative divergence and how an LOP better prepares your program for meeting the challenges of today's legal and professional climate. Bring what you have and explore the documents others have created.
Jon Godsey is currently the Director of Certifications for The Adventure Group. Previously, he was a consultant for The Gallup Organization and past Assistant Director for Outdoor Recreation for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Jon currently lives in Lincoln, Nebraska, and enjoys hiking, biking, and climbing with his wife Monica, daughter Adolin, and son Jones.
Kyle Hansen is a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a bachelor's degree in experiential education. He has 9 years of challenge course programming and staff training experience in a university setting.
The session will look in-depth at the inspection process. The questions of Who, What, How, and When will all be discussed. With the use of a comprehensive slide collection to address inspection issues, the interactive and entertaining presentation should answer all of your questions concerning ropes course inspections.
Jason Rich, trainer and lead inspector for Cornerstone Designs, Inc. (CDI), offers a broad range of experiences to our field. Jason earned his undergraduate degree from Northland College in environmental sciences and his master's degree in outdoor education from Georgia College and State University He has extensive knowledge of ACCT inspection standards, and in the past six years has inspected over 700 courses. He has seen it all!!
This workshop will look at a staff development model directed at aiding in understanding beyond just providing safe and fun programming. How to set staff up to be more effective leaders and instructors working within the short duration student staff are around many of our programs.
Kyle Hansen is a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a bachelor's degree in experiential education. He has 9 years of challenge course programming and staff training experience in a university setting.
This workshop will provide an opportunity to network and share information for folks working with (or planning for) an Odyssey Course. Discussion topics might include staffing and flow patterns; specific Odyssey elements and adaptations to these; transfers; accidents/near misses encountered; briefings and processing; etc. Participants will build an agenda together at the start of the session. (Bring a copy of your course manual.)
Sandy Kohn has directed the Venture Program at the University of North Carolina Charlotte for 24 years. Their Odyssey was constructed in August 2002. Sandy is an experienced discussion and challenge course facilitator
The first 60 minutes of this workshop will use the experiential-learning medium of Vinyasa Flow Yoga to actively explore reflection using journaling, poetry, discussion, and art. Harnessing every opportunity throughout the practice for using metaphor and personal experience to bridge the gap between the yoga mat and our life's direction, we will create a context within which to view reflection and its value in experiential learning. The active practice will be followed by a group discussion, which will tie these practices to any experiential learning situation.
Bring your own yoga mat, if you have one, and a journal as well.
Candy Evans is an RYT200 certified yoga instructor with more than 15 years of experience in experiential learning. Candy has participated in experiential education as an arts and crafts instructor for WolfWalker, Inc.; as a corporate trainer for Kinko's Inc.; and currently as a facilitator and challenge course manager for Challenge Discovery Outdoor Adventures, Inc. Candy received her yoga teacher training at the Asheville Yoga Center under the instruction of fantastic yogis, such as Stephanie Keach, Mary Kay West, Doug Swenson, and Scott Blossom and is continuing her training working toward her RYT500 level certification. She teachers Vinyasa Flow Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga, Yin Yoga, and Prenatal Yoga in the Richmond, Virginia, area.
At some time we have each encountered a participant (or a staff member) who is "frozen"/locked off in fear. Loss of voice, hesitation, sprinting across an element and the Vulcan Death Grip are just a few demonstrations of the fear that emerges when participants are in the danger zone. Coaching Through Fear applies a theory of Choice to reach participants at these moments, help them to re-establish a center, and then empower them to choose and act in a way that provides a powerful resolution to their dilemma and establish a sense of success in their adventure.
Challenge courses and climbing walls easily get kids climbing the walls with great excitement, but developing a program that provides cognitive and interpersonal skills development does not come easily. Challenge course and experiential activities that are a hit every time in creating connections between students all too often provide not real increase in team skills and competencies. Delivering on the promise of team development and problem solving skills takes a concerted effort.
Faster Than Light© is a hard-hitting introduction to problem solving, consensus building, and team decision making that leaves students and teams of all ages with tools that they can implement immediately. This fast-paced and hard-hitting skill development workshop will demonstrate a method for "installing" essential team skills using experiential methods. The delivery style is direct and unbending and leaves teams with shared language, shared mental models, and direct experience with new tools.
Have you ever had someone tell you what you were feeling, or tell you that they knew what you needed? How often were they right? Participants and facilitators in our programs and people in general constantly make assessments of the behaviors of others and then act or react to that person accordingly. But what is the consequence to participant and staff when the assessment is wrong? On the high challenge course, a facilitator acting simply on the basis of their assessments may make some serious mistakes or at the least may miss dramatic opportunities to facilitate a more powerful experience.
The Question© is a model for creating an awareness of the danger of mistaken assessments and provides an experiential process to teach observation and inquiry skills that will end a majority of misplaced assessments. During this workshop, we will use a common initiative to explore observation and assessment and to introduce The Question© model.
As teachers, trainers, and facilitators, we are often required to think on our feet, to rapidly make decisions, and to "be in the moment." This highly interactive workshop will explore the basic foundations of improvisation, show participants how they can use it to improve their facilitation skills, and introduce a sampling of activities that they can immediately incorporate into their programming.
When Linda Williams is not hamming it up on stage, she plays the roles of Trainer, Facilitator, and Spare Tire at Training Wheels. She has over 25 years of experience in theatre as well as an extensive career in human resources and training.
Come prepared to play and learn a ton of interactive, portable games and initiatives that require very few props or no props at all. This high-energy workshop will introduce energizers, trust activities, and problem-solving initiatives that can be used with small and large groups at the base of the Tower, as well as some adapted for use on the low rails and beyond. Comfortable attire and a smile is all you need to wear for this fun-filled workshop.
Linda Williams plays the roles of trainer, facilitator, and "Spare Tire" at Training Wheels, the well-known team building company based outside Denver. She has over 15 years of experience as a human resources and training specialist and more than 25 years of stage work as an actor and director. Linda lives in Evergreen, Colorado, with her dog, Maggie, and a small herd of elk.
Come fill your toolbox with creative yet practical activities and ideas to enhance learning, group experience, and reflection. Explore techniques for creating a positive learning community, increasing participant involvement, and facilitating meaningful processing and group dialogue.
Jen Stanchfield works at High 5 Adventure Learning Center in Vermont where she is a training and program design coordinator and curriculum specialist. She is also the principal of Experiential Tools, a small company specializing in developing tools and resources for experiential group facilitation. Jen has recently published a book, Tips & Tools: The Art of Experiential Group Facilitation. Jen has a repertoire of activities, tools, and tricks that she enthusiastically shares with other facilitators.
This workshop will introduce you to our most versatile design, the Alpine Tower II. ATI staff will lead you through the basics: ground initiatives, belay school, and climbing the Tower.
Note: Familiarity with the Alpine Tower is a prerequisite for two other workshops‹"Rescues on the Alpine Tower" and "Inviting Optimum Participation."
Hang out in the rafters of the Ware Pavilion. Join staff to go through the indoor challenge course and experience a great indoor option when the weather is miserable for outdoor programming. The course is a static-designed course.
Originally designed for a program that could not build an Alpine Tower due to municipal height restrictions, the Team Development Course has evolved into a unique low ropes course offering a great deal of flexibility. It has a proven track record of effectiveness with diverse programs and populations. Come experience the Team Development Course.
One of the beauties of the Team Development Course is that it can be used in a multitude of ways. Indeed, the Team Development Course is at its best when it resides in a program with staff who are creative and not afraid to be innovative. Come join in a sharing experience and help create new challenges on the Team Development Course. Wear your creative hat, bring your brainstorming chart, carry an open mind--come and have fun and create on the Team Development Course.
ATI staff will provide a hands-on look at the rescue systems that can be used on the Alpine Tower. Participants can practice various techniques. A great refresher training.
If you haven't been on an Odyssey Course, come check out what all the buzz is about. Go through the Odyssey with the eyes of a participant while being accompanied by our staff who will be available to answer your questions from a practitioner's point of view.
Note: Familiarity with the Odyssey is a prerequisite for two other workshops, "Experience the Odyssey II Course: ExperiencePlatform Lowers and Lightning Evacuation," and "Experience the Odyssey II Course: Rescues."