Chris Williams
Each year The Mountaineers hosts a Leadership Conference, a day for current and aspiring leaders to foster new ideas and skills. Esteemed outdoor community speakers and interactive sessions punctuate a program designed to enhance your leadership and personal growth. If you have a presentation that would benefit our members, we want to hear about it! Our Leadership Conference Committee will review all proposals to help design the most interesting and useful conference possible.
The format
Typically, presentations at the conference are 45-minutes long and must appeal to an audience of prospective and current outdoor trip and course leaders from a variety of activities. Panel discussions, group discussions, or any other method of delivering information in an engaging and dynamic way will be considered. Note: our space is limited to the facilities at the Seattle Program Center, and you may want to assume it will be raining outside in early December.
The subject matter
Your proposal should focus on some aspect of leadership, either technical in nature or focused on "soft skills" involved with managing a group.We want to offer a variety of presentations for those who attend. The following are just a sampling of some past topics that received high praise from attendees:
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"Leadership Can be Learned." The NOLS Leadership Model (4-7-1)
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Emergency Communication Devices for Wilderness Risk Management - Everett Mountain Rescue
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Improving and Making the Most of Inter-Generational Differences
Take a look at your perspective on the outdoor industry and let us know what you think is important for Mountaineers outdoor leaders to learn about.
The COMPENSATION
So far, all of our speakers have, themselves, been volunteers and have donated their expertise to our Leaders. Obviously there would be no charge for attending the rest of the conference and we have been able to provide some very modest gifts in recognition of speaker efforts. Your main reward will be knowing you have contributed to the mission of The Mountaineers. If you would really like to present, but cannot do so without a fee, we are willing to consider such requests in comparison with the potential draw of your presentation.
How to submit a proposal
If you would like to present at this year's conference, please provide the Leadership Conference Committee with the following (the sooner the better!):
- A brief explanation of why you feel this topic is important for outdoor leaders.
- A complete outline of your presentation
- A description of how you would like to deliver your presentation (group discussion, interactive seminar, interpretive dance, etc.)
- Documentation of your "outdoor resume." This can be a link to a website or other documents that provide a good overview of your background and appeal for our Leaders.
- If possible, any slides or visual aids you may have already developed (if you have offered this presentation before).
Once assembled, please email your submission to the Conference Committee by using the email addresses linked here.
