Sam Sykes, owner of the Mountain School UK, has stated that Outdoor and Social is sorely needed by the outdoor industry.
Outdoor and Social is a three-day outdoor learning event which began on Tuesday, March 12, at Newfold Farm, Edale, in the Peak District.
It is an outdoor trade event providing workshops and practical sessions designed to increase knowledge and confidence in outdoor products and skills through experience.
Delivered under the guidance of brands, experts, and professionals it is completely free of charge to all retail staff and aims to help all retailers and their staff deliver better information to the consumer.
Sam Sykes was in charge of leading the adventurous parts of the event, including hikes into the Peak District.
He said: “An event of this nature has been a long time coming in the outdoor industry. And it’s sorely needed. Many, many years ago, retailers used to invest in their staff by sending them out to be trained on the hill with the equipment that they were going to sell. They got a return on their investment by the people in their shops having more knowledge and more capability and selling more product.
“Also, the actual retailers themselves had the enjoyment of this sort of training. And they got a deeper understanding and progressed onto other things with their outdoor careers as well in their private adventures.”
He is a firm believer in getting people training outdoors and was full of praise for the event.
He said: “We really wanted to be part of this sort of training starting again for the UK industry. What Adam (Renshaw, co-founder of Outdoor and Social) and his team have done bringing this together is incredibly impressive. Many people weren’t sure whether it was even possible to bring all these people together. And he’s done it admirably. Everyone’s having a great time. And people can immediately see the benefit of what we’re doing here.”
Sam was quick to point out that those retailers who had gone out and the hikes, testing and learning about equipment they might have not used before or were refamiliarising themselves with it, really enjoyed the experience.
He added: “So the feedback that we’ve been getting from the retailers that have been on the walks testing the kit is that they just love being outside for a starter. I mean that’s an easy win for anybody.
“But to be doing that, while testing the kit, and various types of kit, maybe even kit that they don’t even sell in their shops, but you know, the sort of stuff that they can get more experience with added to expert instructors answering any of the questions that they’ve always had sort of, you know, niggling around the back of the mind. They can ask professionals their opinion on things or some advice, you know, everything from flora and fauna through to Outdoor Leadership qualifications.”
And asked how he has found the experience at Outdoor and social, Sam said: “It’s fantastic. The beer is good in the evening. The talks have been fantastic. The company is wonderful. So yeah, fantastic.”
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