Development Conference – Week 2 Summary

We can’t believe it!  We are halfway through the Development Conference already.

This week British Orienteering was delighted to put on three more diverse sessions.

On Monday, Neil Cameron from The Orienteering Foundation presented the Retaining Beginner Orienteers session using key points from their Newcomers Retention Project.  This project looked at the welcome newcomers get through club websites – how they look and how user-friendly they are for a newcomer to navigate through.  The importance of knowing the demographic your club wishes to attract and putting things in place to practically extend a warm welcome was emphasised.

Supporting Club Development through the employment of a Club Development Officer was the focus on Tuesday evening.  Andrew Evans opened the session by presenting how The Orienteering Foundation supports clubs through funding development initiatives.  Caroline Mackenzie, from a club committee perspective, then talked about how Cleveland Orienteering Klub shaped a plan and recruited a Club Development Officer. Mary Fleming then finished the session by sharing some of the development work, including ‘Couch2Green’, she has been working on at Cleveland Orienteering Klub since her appointment.  The Orienteering Foundation, with the support of British Orienteering, would love to see clubs apply for funding for future development projects.

The topic on Wednesday was Access and Permissions – An Ecologist and Landowner’s Perspective.  We were delighted to invite Richard Burke and Leanne Sargeant from Forestry England.  Richard is involved in Recreation Management and Leanne is an Ecologist, responsible for managing the issues in forests in Southern England, including the unique habitat of the New Forest.  The session gave us an appreciation of the balance between encouraging recreation and ensuring Conservation and Biodiversity.

There are still four more Development Conference sessions available to book on to. 

To find out more information and to register click here.