IAATO & AECO Field Staff Conference 2015 Agenda Location: Marriot Courtyard Downtown Hotel Toronto Date: Sunday September 27 th -Tuesday September 29th Introduction Welcome to the third Field Staff Conference and the first to be organized by IAATO in conjunction with AECO. The previous two conferences, organized by AECO, were held in Longyearbyen (2008) and Copenhagen (2013). The aim is to share knowledge and best practice by bringing together polar field staff, member operators and others with an interest in polar tourism that will ultimately benefit both polar operations and the wilderness areas we all wish to protect. It is recognized that many issues, opportunities and future challenges are identified first in the field and that the field staff themselves can also provide solutions. The agenda incorporates time for discussion and question and answer sessions. We hope there will be a lot of dialogue between all those participating. The agenda will focus on operational procedures, safety and risk management, communications and guiding best practice in the context of polar education rather than training. Whereas training is the development of skills and habits to address problems, education is the development of critical thinking skills to navigate complex and chaotic situations. It is the latter that will form the backdrop for all discussions at this conference. Overview Saturday 26 th Sunday 27 th Monday 28 th Tuesday 29 th Speakers and Chairpersons meeting and dinner (meet in the hotel lobby at 7pm) Day 1 - Overview and Operational Procedures Day 2 - Safety and Risk Management Day 3 - Communication and Guiding Best Practice IAATO & AECO Field Staff Conference September 27 th 29 th 2015 Toronto www.iaato.org 1
Sunday 27 th Day 1 - Overview and Operational Procedures 08:00 09:00 Breakfast Alexander Rooms, North tower 08:15 09:00 Registration Alexander Rooms Overview Morning Chairperson Susan Adie, Chair IAATO Field Operations Committee and Expedition Operations Manager G Expedition, G Adventures 09:00 Introduction to the meeting goals and objectives Tudor Morgan, Environmental & Operations Manager, IAATO 09:10 Opportunities and challenges in Antarctic Tourism Kim Crosbie, Executive Director, IAATO Key messages Issues as perceived by other Antarctic stakeholders Latest developments 09:50 Opportunities and challenges in Arctic Tourism Ilja Leo Lang, Office Manager, AECO Key messages Issues as perceived by other Arctic stakeholders Latest developments 10:30 11:00 Coffee Break 11:00 Opportunities and challenges a Polar field guide s perspective Brandon Harvey, Director of Expedition Operations, Polar Latitudes Purpose and Responsibilities of guide What s working and what isn t working What trying to achieve at the conference 11:40 Group discussion Key areas that you would like to see focus/energy applied in the next two years Participants will each be asked for two discussion items prior to attending the meeting through an online survey. Discussion areas will be grouped and prioritized to be discussed during the conference. 12:45 14:00 Lunch - Alexander Rooms IAATO & AECO Field Staff Conference September 27 th 29 th 2015 Toronto www.iaato.org 2
Operational Procedures Afternoon Chairperson Bob Simpson, Chair IAATO Executive Committee & Vice President, Expedition Cruising, Abercrombie & Kent USA, LLC 14:00 Site guidelines - Why standardize site use 100, 200, 500 etc. and how IAATO use PVR data Kim Crosbie, Executive Director, IAATO. 14:30 Interpreting animal behavior, cetaceans Ted Cheeseman, Cheeseman s Ecology Safaris. 14:50 Interpreting animal behavior, seals Lisa Kelley, Expedition Leader, Linblad Expeditions. 15:10 Interpreting animal behavior, birds John Chardine, Expedition Guide, Hurtigruten 15:30 16:00 Coffee Break 16:00 Guiding in areas of significant cultural heritage and in communities. Line Overgard, Expedition Leader, Hurtigruten. 16:30 Managing a landing a shore party perspective Anna Malaos, Operations Manager, UK Antarctic Heritage Trust. 17:00 18.00 Group discussion Key areas Hot topic Evening Cocktails followed by Dinner at the Marriot Downtown Courtyard Hotel IAATO & AECO Field Staff Conference September 27 th 29 th 2015 Toronto www.iaato.org 3
Monday 28 th Day 2 - Safety and Risk Management 08:00 09:00 Breakfast Alexander Rooms Morning Chairperson Bill Davis, AECO Executive Committee Member & VP Operations, Quark Expeditions Safety and Risk Management 09:00 Risk Management, where we are today? Susan Adie, Expedition Operations Manager G Expedition, G Adventures 09:30 The Language of Risk and Six Heuristic Traps in Polar Operations- Graham Charles, Expedition Leader EYOS Expeditions and outdoor training specialist 10:30 11:00 Coffee Break 11:00 Field Staff responsibility, the legal framework Adriana Glos, Environmental Stewardship Branch, Environment Canada 11:45 Incident Management commercial and moral imperatives getting the balance right- Malcolm Ellis, Group Head of Health & Safety Compliance for TUI Travel 12:30 14:00 Lunch - Alexander Rooms Afternoon Chairperson Suzana Machado D Oliveira Expedition Leader, Abercrombie & Kent USA, LLC 14:00 Incident review of common types of incidents - Christian Genillard, Expedition Leader, Aurora Expeditions 14:30 Introduction to Situational Leadership and High Performance team management - Graham Charles, Expedition Leader EYOS Expeditions and outdoor training specialist 15:00 Group discussion Key areas Hot topic 15:30 16:00 Coffee Break 16:00 17.30 Workshop scenarios based around Situational Leadership and high performance team management - Graham Charles, Expedition Leader EYOS Expeditions and outdoor training specialist Evening Conference Dinner (Sponsored by The Maple Leaf group) At the Carbon Bar www.thecarbonbar.ca 99 Queen Street East (15 min walk from hotel) IAATO & AECO Field Staff Conference September 27 th 29 th 2015 Toronto www.iaato.org 4
Tuesday 29 th Day 3 - Communication and Guiding Best Practice 08:00 08:45 Breakfast - Alexander Rooms Morning Chairperson Troels Jacobsen, AECO Executive Committee Member & Product and Sales Manager, Oceanwide Expeditions Communications 08:50 Social media and managing reputational risk Amanda Lynnes, Communications and Operations Assistant, IAATO 09:20 The art of good briefings Alex McNeil, Expedition Leader, Quark Expeditions 09:50 Crowd control and managing visitors a perspective from the Galapagos Jonathan Green, Expedition Leader, G Adventures and Galapagos nature guide 10:20 Introduction to EcoChains: Arctic Crisis card game from the PoLAR partnership (NSF funded project) - Stephanie Pfirman and Jessica Brunacini, Columbia University 10:30 11:00 Coffee Break Making Tourism part of the Solution 11:00 Mapping Application for Penguin Populations and Projected Dynamics (MAPPD) Catherine Foley, Department of Ecology and Evolution, Stony Brook University 11:30 Humpback Whale ID, Citizen Science in Action - Ted Cheeseman, Cheeseman s Ecology Safaris 12:00 Citizen Science at the North Pole - Making Science Part of Your Program Lauren Farmer and Alex Cowan, Sea Ice Research Team (SIRT) organizers and Poseidon Expeditions staff. 12:30 14:00 Lunch - Alexander Rooms 14:00 Conservation through Citizen Science and Public Engagement Chris Johnson, Marine Conservation Manager, WWF Antarctic and Southern Ocean Initiative IAATO & AECO Field Staff Conference September 27 th 29 th 2015 Toronto www.iaato.org 5
Where to from here Encouraging best practice in guiding Afternoon Chairperson Ted Cheeseman, Cheeseman s Ecology Safaris. 14:30 What qualifications should field staff have Christian Kempf, Owner and Director of Grands Espaces 15:00 Are the skills required different for the Arctic and Antarctic Karin Strand, Expedition leader, Hurtigruten 15:30 16:00 Coffee Break Polar Tourism Ambassadors 16:00 Why the industry needs the Ambassador concept Lisa Kelley, Expedition leader, Linblad Expeditions 16.30 Empowering the next generation David Fletcher, Expedition Leader, Students on Ice & Hapag- Lloyd Kreuzfahrten 17:00 How visitors can help preserve Antarctic Heritage Camilla Nichol, Chief Executive, UK Antarctic Heritage Trust. What next? 17:30 Group discussion Key areas Hot topic 18.00 Conference wrap up Tudor Morgan, Kim Crosbie IAATO and Ilja Leo Lang - AECO 18:30 Conference close IAATO/AECO would like to give special thanks to the The Maple leaf group ~ the Canadian based IAATO members. They have been very helpful with logistics and have also financially contributed to the Conference dinner: IAATO & AECO Field Staff Conference September 27 th 29 th 2015 Toronto www.iaato.org 6