2025 Wilderness Risk Management Conference

Name: Don’t Wait - Learn from everyday work using Human & Organizational Performance (HOP)
Start: 2025-10-01T08:30:00-0400
End: 2025-10-01T10:00:00-0400

Main Conference: Tuesday, September 30 - Thursday, October 2, 2025

Preconference: Monday September 29 - Tuesday, September 30, 2025

*Schedule subject to change.

Wednesday October 1, 2025 8:30am - 10:00am EDT

Cumberland / Kennebec / Lincoln

When an incident occurs, a traditional approach is to investigate, starting with the event and working backwards to identify causes (or “root causes.”) This approach, while common, may miss significant context for the incident, or it may trap us into waiting for incidents to occur in order to learn.

Drawing from research in Human and Occupational Performance (HOP), Operational Learning is a process of learning from everyday work, not waiting for incidents to occur, providing us with strategies to look forward rather than backwards. In this workshop we will explore the theory and practice of operational learning, apply it to outdoor and experiential education programs, and identify useful questions to create a psychologically safe space for operational learning to occur.

Speakers

Gates Richards

Operations Director & Associate Consultant, Experiential Consulting

Gates Richards has been involved in outdoor education and EMS since the early 90's. Over the years he's worked outdoor programming throughout the Rockies, Pacific Northwest and Alaska as a field instructor and supervisor for several outdoor programs. He's worked urban EMS in DC... Read More →

Steve Smith

Consultant, Experiential Consulting, LLC

Steve Smith (he/him/his) is the founder of Experiential Consulting, LLC, specializing in risk management for outdoor programs and the lead author/editor of Beneficial Risks: The Evolution of Risk Management for Outdoor and Experiential Education Programs (2021). After taking a NOLS... Read More →

Wednesday October 1, 2025 8:30am - 10:00am EDT
Cumberland / Kennebec / Lincoln Holiday Inn By the Bay:88 Spring St, Portland, ME 04122

Program Administration, Breakout Session

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2025 Wilderness Risk Management Conference

Gates Richards

Steve Smith

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