Dover annual seminars - how they came to be
In my review of January I mentioned that each year I run seminars for aspiring channel swimmers. Before I share how it was this year, I thought I’d give you a bit of history to how it all came about.
When I took over running training in Dover in 2016 I noticed a big divide in the knowledge and types of questions that I got asked between those people who went on training camps and those that didn’t. These training camps are not just about swimming, they also use rest time to talk through all sorts of topics from feeding, to mental preparation. Understandably, much of this information is based on personal opinion or anecdotal evidence. After all, this information is shared by people who are experienced, and not necessarily technical experts in all areas.
So, back on the beach, I found that swimmers could be categorised as follows:
People who didn’t ask questions and I can only assume they made their own assumptions or asked friends or previous swimmers for advice. A logical approach, though sometimes it does lead to making avoidable mistakes on the big day.
People who did ask questions and the ones that were asked tended to be fairly repeatable and often it would be useful for them to have had the knowledge sooner, ideally before training in Dover started.
People who had been on training camps and had been given mis-information by well intended people. At worse this led to introducing fears that didn’t need to be there.
People who had been on training camps and had been provided with all the relevant information they needed to make the most of training and of the big day.
This seemed like a bit of a lottery to me. I wanted to see an environment where access to the information was simple to access and affordable and not just available to people who went on training camps. I wanted to bring in experts to talk about important topics. I wanted people to hear from others who had been where they are now.
I had a vision for change.
2017
This was the first time I offered seminars. I scheduled 4 seminars over 4 consecutive Saturdays in June. In that year I did much of the talking, but the following people did also agree to share their knowledge:
Dr Nick Murch put facts and science behind the important topic of feeding
Paul Massey spoke about injury prevention & rehabilitation. He gave us a useful tool to assess whether we are over training.
Ray Gibbs spoke about good front crawl technique for injury prevention & speed over distance.
Cliff Golding sharing his very motivating story of his swimming career.
Stuart Gleeson talking about all things pilot related
It was a great start. I learned lots and I’m sure so did the attendees. The main challenge was that it made for a very long day for swimmers and speakers alike. I decided that it would be preferable to hold the seminars outside of the training season. Also, although we managed to secure premises at a very reasonable cost, the catering we put on still cost money and the cost of running the seminars outweighed the donations from people attending the evenings.
We also noticed that some people commented that they wished they had known some information sooner so they could have planned things like support crew differently.
Great learnings and these were used to form an improved approach the following year.
2018
Building on the success and learnings of 2017, I moved the seminars to two Saturdays in January and February. This time we hired premises at Tooting Bec Lido. Again, we self catered. It was great to have a big space.
The number of people attending increased to something like 30. After news spread about the 2017 seminars I had more people with relevant experience offer to help. As a result the number of speakers increased and included:
Dr Nick Murch again sharing the scientific facts around feeding and now also more medical considerations
Paul Massey once again speaking about injury presentation & rehabilitation.
Ray Gibbs once again speaking about good front crawl technique
Cliff Golding shared his story again. I hear this every year and I look forward to it each time
Keith Oiller speaking about channel swimming rules and the role of the observer
Jill Tipping shared her company’s tool around attitude
Dr Ruth Williamson spoke about hypothermia & SIPE
David Coleman spoke about nutrition in day to day life
Dr Mig Arbide talked about medical considerations in day to day life
Eric Hartley taking the pilot slot
and swimmers from 2017 shared their experiences of training and the big day
So more speakers, more attendees, more information based on fact. This year we also introduced the ability to see Mig and get your channel swim medical completed. A very popular addition.
The cost of hiring the premises was REALLY expensive though and with printing and catering costs as well, again I subsidised the event.
Somehow, already these seminars appear to be something that have taken hold and are something that are expected in the calendar.
At the end of the seminars we reflected again about what went well and what could improve. 2019 would build on this again!
2019
So, what did we learn from 2018? We learned that:
We needed somewhere less expensive
Not all the content is relevant to all attendees, so to give more relevant information and make it easier for people to ask questions, we introduced different streams for relays and solos for part of the seminar
It’s a lot of packing and unpacking when it’s two separate weekends. It made more sense to have a whole weekend. So that is what we did this year.
Various bits of content were added, removed and tweaked
The number of attendees increased again to around 40.
In return for running some training for Kent Association for the Blind, we managed to get the use of their premises in Maidstone. A much better venue with rooms for different streams and facilities for the medicals as well as enabling the much better cabaret style layout.
We introduced high quality handouts and a selection of goodies. We had volunteers offer to run the kitchen, keeping people hydrated and fed - wow, what a difference that made.
We also introduced a professional sound system, with increasing numbers it was becoming necessary.
Returning presenters included Nick Murch, Mig Arbide, Ruth Williamson, Ray Gibbs, Cliff Golding, Jill Tipping, Keith Oiller and Stuart Gleeson.
This year we added talking about goal getting, resilience, support networks and sponsorship & the use of social media. We gave away wall planners with all the training weekends and swim tides highlighted.
Importantly we also offered the opportunity for people to really get to know some other swimmers before they appeared in training in May.
However, yet again, the seminars needed to be subsidised - something that really needed to change!
2020
So that brings us to this year. We reflected on 2019 and made a few refinements again. What did we tweak?
We added a massive seminar information pack, professionally printed with lots of useful resources to use
We introduced swim fact sheets for swims all around the world
Geoff Gardener kindly offered to do ultrasound sonography screening for people who were concerned about injuries and did a fascinating talk about muscular skeletal concerns
We introduced a third stream - one for people looking at different swims to the English Channel aimed at either people who have already done the channel or those who are building up to it with different events.
We changed where food was served as it was pretty tight getting people through in the smaller room!
The speaker line up is becoming much more stable with many familiar faces there to support everyone yet again. I’m so grateful for the support. New content this year included:
An optional yoga session
An optional group hypnosis session
Talks around different swims around the world by people who have done them
The rookie experience
Crewing for a solo
Following a process - one that you learn through training
All in all we provided 40 hours of content by 25 presenters and approximately 100 people present. That’s a massive increase in uptake. We really wanted to keep the cabaret style and that was a challenge with that many people. We have the nice challenge that we have outgrown the venue that we used.
One of the many things that I appreciated this year more than any other year was the amazing team effort from all the speakers and volunteers. People either volunteered to do various jobs up front or just got on and did them on the day - a shining example of giving back to the sport.
Thanks to our sponsors, we have managed to break even for the first time - that’s a trend that I’m keen to maintain!
It has certainly outgrown anything that I can manage single handedly so we are forming a small group with an aim to take what we have done this year and prepare for next year, continuing to build on what we have. I think what we have built is a semi-professional conference - an accidental outcome from a desire to level the playing field a bit!
At some point I may add webinars into the mix, but lets not get ahead of ourselves just yet!