Near-Misses Are Telling You Something - Are You Listening? - Mercer Island Public Library

6:30-8:30pm in the Large Meeting Room at the Mercer Island Library

We've all experienced near-misses outdoors, but how often do we take the time to really harvest the potential learning from these experiences? What happens if we repeatedly ignore the cheap lessons near-misses offer to us? This  interactive workshop will explore statistics and research on near-misses as "accident precursors," share some poignant examples from the presenter's personal experience, suggest specific steps to convert near-misses into learning, and invite participants to apply these steps to some of their own memorable near-misses. This is suitable for participants at all experience levels, and we will create a safe environment for everyone to humbly share and learn from each others' experiences.  

Please read the article What happens if we fail to learn from our near-misses? before the seminar. There are lots of links within the article, so attendees have the option to dig down as deeply as they wish into this topic.

Steve Smith is a risk management consultant at Experiential Consulting, LLC. He has worked in the outdoor industry for over twenty years, including hundreds of days in the field instructing, administrative leadership roles with national organizations including Outward Bound and The Student Conservation Association, and helping The Mountaineers envision and launch Progressive Climbing Education as a member of the Adult Education department. Steve served as chair of the Wilderness Risk Management Conference (WRMC) for three years. He has a master's degree in English composition, along with six years of university-level teaching experience, and earned a Professional in Human Resources (PHR) certification from the Society for Human Resources Management, all of which help him view outdoor education through a variety of educational and administrative lenses. A regular speaker at regional and national conferences, Steve strives to make his presentations fun, engaging, and practical. He lives in Seattle and enjoys exploring the mountains, forests, and coastlines of the Pacific Northwest.