WRMC Workshop Descriptions

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WRMC 2012 Workshops coming in June

WRMC 2012 Workshops


Color Coded Workshop Tracks with Example Workshops
	Program Management and Administration	Legal and Insurance
	Emergency Procedures & Crisis Response	Staff Hiring and Training Practices
	Pre-conference Workshops	Field Practices

Opening and Keynote Speakers from 2011 WRMC

	[OPENING SPEAKER]	Now more than ever the world needs us; exposure to risk can provide invaluable and unique learning opportunities. Risk managers assume the merits of risk to be self-evident. Yet, this frequently is not a shared value with our students, parents, or supervisors – who neither understand nor advocate for risk, but seek only "safe" opportunities. Managing risk assumes that we take risk; a further evolution is one where risk managers forcefully advocate for the merits of prudent risk taking as a key element to substantive experiential learning. In his presentation, Christopher will inspire you to advocate for well managed risks in your own programs, schools, and institutions.
	Christopher Barnes



	[KEYNOTE SPEAKER]	David Ropeik is an Instructor at Harvard University, an author, and a consultant on risk perception, risk communication and risk management. He is also the creator and director of the training program for journalists, “Improving Media Coverage of Risk”, has taught journalism at Boston University, Tufts University, and MIT, and was a television reporter for WCVB-TV in Boston from 1978 – 2000, where he specialized in reporting on environment and science issues. He has twice won the DuPont-Columbia Award, and has won seven regional EMMY awards for his work.
	David Ropeik

Program Management and Administration
The Program Management and Administration track addresses a number of issues pertinent to program managers including communicating your program’s risk to parents, international programming, risk management in smaller programs.

	Outdoor Adventure Risk Management, Millennials and the Car Camping Generation	This presentation builds on 20 years of programs at Thompson Rivers University. Risk management has changed to accommodate the 21st century students who approach the outdoors differently than their predecessors. These students have better technical skills, less experience and more likely to prefer day trips, car camping or hut-to-hut tours. The presentation discusses how the department and its programs have adapted to the students’ relationship with risk including accidents and close-calls.
	Gilles Valade


	The Rekkie: Solid Site Visits Support Safety and Success in International Programming	Proper “rekkies” (pre-program site visits) support the success of international programs. We will explore how to conduct the ideal rekkie, from desk-based planning at home, to conducting the visit, to improving internal organizational systems and processes so that key rekkie findings are captured and preserved in institutional memory. This practical session will include discussion on anticipating cultural differences around safety issues and how to address these in the field.
	Anne Ogilivie Lloyd Figgins


	Is Risk Management in Your Job Description?	Intuitively we know all of our employees have a hand in supporting our organization’s risk management goals, but do they? From your purchasing agent to your customer service representative to your bookkeeper, each of these individuals contributes to or lessens the overall existence of risk for an organization. This workshop will explore ways to directly include risk management tasks and expectations in every job description as a way of broadening your risk management culture.
	Shana Tarter


	Short-circuit: When Administrative Vision Doesn’t Translate into Field Practices	Every organization has expectations around the quality and safety of the courses they run, yet every administrator recognizes that these expectations are not always met. These speakers focus on assessing contradictions between organizational vision and the realities of the field while giving discrete tools to create consistent alignment. Field administrators are uniquely situated at the nexus of organizational vision and field action, and can actively align the two through consciously creating organizational culture and expectations grounded by an accurate assessment.
	Joshua Cole Steve Smith Mitsu Iwasaki


	Land Managers Talk About Risk Management	This presentation will buiild on last year's presentation of the senior recreation managers from BLM, NPS and USFS making brief statements regarding the interconnectivity of the WRMC community and their areas of responsibility for managing public land resources and public access to those lands. Facilitated questions/answers will follow.
	Jay Satz Panel of Land Managers


	Analyze, Manage, Inform: A guiding principle for organizations and a useful tool for program staff	Analyze, Manage, and Inform is a risk management philosophy/guiding principle created by Reb Gregg for organizations to use to minimize their exposure and in doing so create a risk management culture that permeates all levels of the operation. Through lecture and case study, this presentation will break down this model and look at ways to put it to use on an everyday basis in the field as well as in the office.
	Dave Yacubian


	Leading Risk Management Transformation	Many participants leave the WRMC with a vision and excitement for improving risk management practices within their organization. Unfortunately, this change can be challenging to implement and many well-intentioned efforts lose momentum. Learn how to establish clear priorities, build a sense of urgency, educate stakeholders and successfully transform your organization’s risk management practices. This lecture style session will include two brief case studies and a break out session to capture ideas from the audience.
	Alex Kosseff


	Managing Public Risk in Commercial Outfitter Operations – A Land Manager Perspective	This presentation provides a glimpse into the complex world of land managers responsible for implementing commercial operator backcountry risk management programs that protect visitors, allow for adventure and make business sense. Discussions will cover balancing bureaucracy, operational practicality and risk, acknowledgements of risk versus waivers of liability, liability insurance, decision-making using field data and demonstrating leadership while keeping it simple. Participants will be able to interact with speakers and gain perspective from this unique viewpoint.
	Kurt Rausch Sara Newman


	Small Program Risk Management	Wilderness risk management in the smaller program setting offers up a special set of opportunities and challenges. For this session, an initial overview will be followed by a group discussion of specific strategies that have proved useful to other smaller programs.
	Christopher Barnes


	Essential Eligibility Criteria: A Risk Management Tool	This interactive session will provide the legal background and steps involved in addressing ADA program access requirements and developing Essential Eligibility Criteria (EEC) as a risk management tool. Following an overview of legal and practical considerations, the majority of the session will be conducted in small breakout groups, with each group developing a set of EEC in consultation with the presenters, followed by a full group discussion of resulting EECs.
	Janet Zeller Cathy Hansen-Stamp

Emergency Procedures and Crisis Response
Using the wealth of experience in this group of presenters, the Emergency and Crisis Response Track addresses crisis plans, crisis/field incident and post incident response.

	Ten Reasons to Stop by a Radio Shack Near You!	We have won! Without debate, technology in the wilderness is practical and worthwhile. Staunch techno-phobes are now embracing a few of the gadgets touted as conveniences. We encourage you to rally with us, overcome the technophobia, and take a look at the devices adapted to wilderness guiding in the 21st century. Let’s take a hands-on approach to this technology and understand how it helps meet the needs of management and guides in the modern wilderness.
	Stephen Prysunka Erik Wortman


	Crisis Management: A Preplan in Action	Responding to a crisis, such as a participant fatality, presents a complex situation that demands a thoughtful and reasoned response. This workshop will provide attendees with an overview of the five elements of successful crisis management, begin to delve into the complexities of responding to crisis situations through the presenter's personal and professional experience while providing a forum for exchanging ideas and sharing experiences of the audience, additionally this workshop will provide a starting point for creating a crisis management plan.
	Drew Leemon


	Surprises and Lessons from Major Incidents	When your organization experiences a major incident, you will need to respond to much more than the field incident itself. Outward Bound has learned invaluable lessons managing the aftermath of deaths, serious injuries, lost patrols, and other incidents. Come hear real life lessons about what you might not be expecting, what not to do, and difficult decisions you may have to make when working with a victim's family, the media, land managers, insurers, attorneys and others.
	Frances Mock Lewis Glenn Steve Neal Michael Lindsey


	Urban Program Risk Management	With growing urbanization and demographic changes in the United States, many outdoor programs are recognizing the importance of not just serving urban participants but also operating in an urban context. Join leaders from Outward Bound, SCA, REI Outdoor School, and Summer Search in on case studies on urban program risk management.
	Leigh Jackson-Magennis Matt Osgood Vanessa Mendillo Nancy Oswald


	Crisis Communication in the Facebook Age: Will They "Like" You?	Learn from NOLS Marketing and Admissions Director Bruce Palmer about how to monitor electronic communication, including the use of blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and other networks. Expect to walk away with an increased understanding of the networks and how to use them to their fullest potential.
	Bruce Palmer


	Medical Topics - New, Controversial and Old	This session will endeavor to make some practical sense out of the medicine that many of us are called upon to deliver in unconventional settings, far from organized help. The focus will be on: 1) new and old technologies and procedures that can have an impact on wilderness medical care, 2) common problems that continue to pose difficult diagnostic and management dilemmas, and 3) new and emerging topics.
	David Johnson


	A case study in systems failure: NZ’s Mangatepopo Tragedy (New Topic)	On April 15, 2008, six students and their teacher died while on a guided canyoneering trip with New Zealand’s Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre. It is a textbook example of systems failure. This workshop uses the Mangatepopo Tragedy to understand how latent and organizational factors force guide behaviour and identifies common latent errors that exist in most organizations. This analysis framework can be applied to critical and non-critical events, and to different organizational structures.
	Jeff Jackson


	Risk Management: The Traumatic Aftermath	This workshop is an introduction to processes and protocols for addressing the traumatic impact on clients, staff and responders in the aftermath of a critical incident.
	Will Marling

Legal Considerations
Our Legal Considerations presenters work hard to develop a series of focused, non-redundant offerings to address current legal and insurance issues in wilderness risk management.

	Industry Standards - Understanding Them to Avoid Liability Exposures	"“Standards in the Recreation Industry” – what does that mean and how does it effect your operation? In this session we want to understand the meaning and scope of the oft used phrase “standards in the industry.” We know that “standards of care” are used in judging liabilities and that standards of care are often derived from “standards of practice,” but do you understand these phrases and how they effect your business? Operators and administrators are constantly making decisions on perceived or so-called “standards” in the recreation industry – but how supportable are these standards and the decisions that derive from them?
	Tracey Knutson


	Use of Participant Agreements - Releases and Related Issues	In this interactive session, Cathy will discuss legal and practical issues associated with use of written participant agreements with clients/guests. She will highlight the value in using these documents as risk management tools, identify components of these agreements, and will key in on current case law to discuss how courts view these written documents in the adventure and recreation program setting. Significant issues include: dealing with minors, releases, indemnity, assumption of risks and e-signatures.
	Catherine Hansen-Stamp


	Understanding Your Legal Duty of Care	This is where it all begins – or should: understanding your legal duty of care. How does your duty change as activities and student/client populations change? How might marketing enlarge your duty? How can your Participant Agreement reduce your duty? What do your students really know and expect? What happens when the “reasonable person” isn’t? We will use current reported law cases to better understand these issues and their resolution.
	Reb Gregg


	Ask the Lawyers	A panel of the lawyers presenting at the conference will answer questions from the audience about legal issues - raised at the conference and otherwise. The lawyers will be prepared to speak briefly to other issues which they feel require clarification or more attention than they received at the conference. Reb Gregg will moderate the session.
	Panel of Experienced Lawyers


	Chose Words Carefully... What You Say Matters!	What will this sound like when you have to testify in Court? This presentation is intended to be an interactive overview of ideas for programs to learn and think about what they say and words that they write in documents disseminated to customers and the public, as well as on the internet. Programs should think about who is their audience, what is their message, when to send the information, where to print their messages, how to communicate and why. Certain words and phrases have different meanings in the legal context, so programs need to know if they are falling into a trap with the words that they choose; so choose words carefully is the message.
	Wilma J. Gray


	Volunteer or Employee? Liability for Injuries to Volunteers	Volunteer or Employee? Does your organization utilize volunteers for fundraising or program administration? This presentation will help managers and administrators understand the treatment of volunteers for the purposes of potential Worker's Compensation claims and benefits. We will explore statutory methods for identifying the blurry line between classification of employee or volunteer; discuss the Worker's Compensation benefits that may be claimed by an injured volunteer; discuss reporting injuries to volunteers to the Worker's Compensation insurer; and analyze the use of release documents for volunteers.
	Tony Clapp


	Insurance Survival Tactics	Insurance: It's not rocket science, but it is Latin (at least to most of us). It's not architecture but it does require a a thoughtful design and build approach. This interactive and engaging disussion (yes we did use those words relative to insurance!) will translate the insurance world and teach you the fundamentals of designing and building an insurance program fits the the risk profile of your organization.
	Mike Lucas Sam Daume Steve Neal

Staff Training and Decision Making
This track focuses on staff, our on the ground risk managers who make numerous critical decisions every day. Some of the topics to be addressed include training staff to be risk managers in the field, using case studies as a tool, managing staff injury claims, volunteer leaders and designing an effective staff training.

	National Park Service's Operational Leadership Program	The National Park Service, which has historically been hampered with the highest accident rates in the Federal government, began implementing, what it calls, Operational Leadership or "OL". This is a tool to help alleviate the high incidence of human error failures in operations. OL seeks to motivate employees to take ownership of their individual safety and the safety of coworkers by empowering employees to make risk-based decisions.
	Michael May


	When Judgment Fails: Intuition, Bias, and Experience in Field Decision Making	In high-pressure, high-consequence environments, some leaders make excellent decisions and some are prone to poor ones. Two of the most prominent schools of decision-making theory are the “heuristic/bias” and “naturalistic” groups. This presentation will take an in-depth look at the differences and similarities between the two camps. We will discuss the improvements that can be made to staff training and mentoring systems as a result of greater awareness of the dynamics of human decision making under stress.
	Brendan Madden


	The Phone Interview: Evaluating Candidates from a Distance	This presentation will draw from WMI's 14 years of phone interviewing experience to provide insight into what can be a daunting process: selecting candidates for employment remotely. You can hire people for jobs requiring technical skills without meeting them in person! During this presentation, attendees will critique their existing interviews, craft new interview questions and brainstorm with their peers to improve their interview process. Though this presentation will focus on phone interviews, lessons learned can be applied to any interview.
	Gates Richards


	Teaching Methods to Improve Critical Thinking	This workshop will introduce audience members to the theory of pedagogy: the process of effective teaching that is based on student experience and needs. By using this foundation of sequential learning, the facilitator will help audience members assess which level of education they are most often addressing in their staff trainings: recognition, recall, understanding, or critical thinking. By using a variety of examples and case studies, this workshop will help audience members understand how and why staff often fail to develop critical thinking skills, the highest level of student learning. By the end of the workshop, audience members will have the knowledge necessary to assess their own teaching techniques, and they will have the ability to modify their teaching methods and staff trainings so that the highest level of learning can be achieved.
	Deb Ajango


	Leading Beyond Invincibility, Group-Think, and Other Catastrophic Attitudes	The role of the "human element" as an antecedent to outdoor accidents is well documented. Attitudes such as egoism, casualness, and hurry contribute more to disasters than the capriciousness of natural forces. This workshop will explore some of the psycho-social dynamics at work in a few of these dangerous attitudes, and then explore leadership (preparation and management) strategies to address them. Participants will hear actual cases, and will also be invited to personally reflect on their own leadership histories and practice. The ultimate goal is to help develop leaders who are more aware of the dynamics of dangerous attitudes, and better prepared to mitigate them before they cause a disaster.
	Lester Zook


	Portal Experiences: Decision Making in High Risk Environments	This presentation examines ways to help staff gain a greater understanding of the effects of human factors on decision making in high risk environments. Using reports from a tragic avalanche incident, participants will explore the human elements that led to this event. Building upon this exercise, the focus will shift to looking at considerations, tools, and techniques that can be used to improve the risk management training and culture of programs operating in high risk environments.
	Ed Crothers


	Designing an Effective Staff Training: A Systematic Approach	Staff training is at the core of risk management for outdoor programs. Trainings are a highly effective conduit to communicate parameters in which your staff are expected to perform. Trainings also help establish the tone of your program. This workshop will encourage ideas and provide tools for trainings that strengthen the risk management culture within your program. Using a systematic approach, develop trainings that fit your program’s needs. We will explore the multiple avenues to train new and returning staff. We will also discuss the strengths and developmental areas in your specific trainings. This systems-centered workshop will provide momentum for you to modify or create the trainings that ultimately speak to your program’s needs.
	Kathleen Pelto


	Psychological Risk Management: Training Staff to Deal with Behaviorally Challenging Participants in the Field	This workshop will focus on training staff to effectively manage behaviorally challenging students while in non-therapeutic outdoor programs. We will explore ways to intervene when students are oppositional, threatening, suicidal, or otherwise behaviorally challenging. We will also address ways to identify behaviorally challenging students before admission. The workshop is geared towards program managers/directors who work in non-therapeutic outdoor programs and would like to more effectively train their staff to mitigate behavioral risks.
	Will White

Field Practices
This track evaluates specific practices and assessment tools as benchmarks for industry practice.

	The High Risk of Stress: Digging into Dissonance in Adventure Therapy	Many adventure and outdoor programs base their foundational philosophy on the 1976 Outward Bound Process Model created by Walsh and Golins. This session will explore elements of risk, safety and stress inherent in this and other commonly used models. We invite participants to explore the impact of stress on participant safety and consider ways to manage the impact of stress in a practical and relevant manner.
	Brianna Sharpe Shannon Hartwig


	Accidents in Outdoor Pursuits – Their Causes and Cures	Accidents happen in outdoor pursuits, and will continue to do so because risk is always involved. Learning how to prevent life-threatening or disabling injuries is a skill we all seek to hone. Through this workshop, participants will learn how to use a prevention matrix to examine case studies and to design staff and participant training to reduce serious field incidents.
	Jed Williamson Aram Attarian


	Outdoor Lightning Risk Management	This presentation will address general outdoor lightning risk management, backcountry lightning risk management, and issues in lightning education. E-handouts include a draft of the upcoming National Weather Service brochure on outdoor lightning safety (participant level info) and a peer-reviewed paper on backcountry lightning risk management (guide level info). The presentation will end with an electrifying lab exercise used to demonstrate the leading mechanism of lightning injury to humans: ground current.
	John Gookin


	Institutional & Personal Risk Tolerance: Mitigating the Differences	Do your personal values about risk align with your institution or program? Do you struggle to reign in some staff's "risky behavior" and also find the need to encourage others to be bolder? Personal values, institutional culture, and society at large often don’t align or agree when it comes to risk. This session will focus on the internal aspects of risk management and individuals' personal values around risk via real world examples and some practices scenarios designed to challenge your thinking about risk.
	Mark Vermeal Christopher Barnes


	Do you know what you don't know? Cultural Competence and Risk Management	Statistically and anecdotally, we know that removals and evacuations of female students and students of color from wilderness programs are disproportionately higher than those of white males. In this workshop, we’ll explore how cultural competence is a risk management issue and you’ll learn how to increase the cultural competence of your incident reviews. We’ll look critically at common reporting methods then analyze several real incidents. Bring your organization’s incident report form and an open mind.
	Lisa Chaiet Robin Chiles


	River Rescue Awareness 101	Programs operating in and around rivers need to have a solid foundation in swiftwater awareness in order to manage risk effectively and to prevent themselves from becoming another patient. This Seminar provides participants with a conceptual understanding of the principles, applications, and hazards associated with advanced water rescue techniques. This lecture/discussion will include Hydrology, Rescue Principles, and Hazard Recognition.
	Nate Ostis


	Understanding and Managing Negative Adolescent Behavior in the Wilderness Setting	This workshop will provide participants with information about how modern day adolescents are "Hard Wired", what their needs are and present strategies to deal with difficult behaviors in wilderness and other learning environments.
	Doug Mahon

Pre-conference Workshops
Our selection of preconference workshops allow participants to explore specific topics in greater detail with smaller groups. Participants can choose from half-day sessions to three-day courses.

October 3–5, 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
	Wilderness First Responder Recertification with WMI of NOLS	This three day scenario-based course is designed as review and practice of evacuation and decision making guidelines. It also provides wilderness medicine practitioners with current updates in the wilderness medicine field. This course may be used to recertify Wilderness First Responder (WFR) and Wilderness EMT (wilderness portion only) certifications. You must possess a current WFR certification of at least 72 hours in order to recertify through this course.
	Tod Schimelpfenig
	USD $280



October 4–5, 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
	NOLS Risk Management Training	Building a comprehensive risk management plan can feel daunting. This training will provide a structured approach and the tools to build a risk management plan appropriate for your organization. Using case studies from 40+ years of operations at NOLS and the collective experience of the group, we provide exercises that help quantify where your program is strong on risk management and identify the potential growth areas. Includes a Risk Management Action Plan workbook, NOLS Crisis Management Template, Self-study Assessment tool, WMI Protocols, and examples of important paperwork.
	Shana Tarter Dave Yacubian
	USD $565



October 5, 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.
	Tour Thompson Island	The Outward Bound Thompson Island Tour is your chance to see another outdoor program venue and enjoy a beautiful view of the city. Participants will travel from the Westin-Waltham to the Outward Bound dock and take boat out to the island. Through guided tour and exploration you will learn about the rich cultural history of the island as well as their work with multiple agencies and groups to protect and maintain the site. All transportation and lunch on Thompson Island will be provided. The return trip will bring participants back to the Westin-Waltham around 4:00 p.m.
	WRMC Special Event
	USD $25 (includes lunch)



October 5, 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
	Victim Relations Training	Do you know WHAT to say to individuals and their families who have gone through a traumatic incident and HOW to respond to the emotional reactions? This training is designed to provide skill-based protocols for understanding victim language and culture in the aftermath of a critical incident, small or large scale.
	Will Marling
	USD $50



	Managing Risk with Volunteer Leaders	Volunteer outdoor leaders are invaluable to many outdoor organizations, yet implementing an effective risk management system for volunteers can be challenging. Models of leader training, supervision, and established safety practices that function with professionals are not always an easy fit for volunteers. This session will explore successful strategies to help your organization’s volunteers become better risk managers. We will include interactive activities, theories, and opportunities to network with others working with volunteer outdoor leaders.
	Aaron Gorban Sascha Paris Karen Benton Alex Kosseff Cathy Hansen-Stamp Tony Clapp
	USD $75



October 5, 1:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m.
	What The Courts Want Us To Know 2011: Hot Issues, Hot Cases	In this interactive seminar we will analyze 2010-11 court opinions addressing the most significant legal issues in the industry. Participants will consider - and attack or defend - conflicting arguments pertaining to, among other issues: the duty of care owed to minors, negligence as an inherent risk of an activity, who can release whom for what, denial of program admission on the basis of a disability, a service provider’s liability for gear failure (or misuse), responding to a medical emergency
	Catherine Hansen-Stamp Reb Gregg
	USD $125



	Psychological Screening for Outdoor Program	This Workshop will provide participants with tools to determine what level of Psychological Screening is appropriate for their organization, and how to 'set the bar' for applicants, based on ADA requirements and organizations’ program design (functional positioning statement discussion). Discussion topics will include supplemental forms, Psychological Screening guidelines, screener's qualifications/duties, and managing undisclosed issues. The session will also include examples and practice in screening procedures and decisions, followed by a question and answer session.
	Amberleigh Hammond Billy Roos
	No Fee


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