Programme microsite
Agenda
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- Wednesday 16 Sep 2026
- Thursday 17 Sep 2026
Wednesday 16 Sep 2026
9:30 am
Conference registration
Collect your badge at the Magna Centre main entrance
RedpointHQ Exhibition Hall and Face of Steel room open 9:30 am - 5:30 pm
10:30 am
Welcome from the ABC
Kath Hipwell, Dean StrawTruBlue Tech Main Stage
Join the ABC team and board members for an insight into the work of the ABC over the last year and what's on the horizon for the association and the wider sector over the next 12 months.
11:15 am
Driving footfall, customer engagement, and profitability in a maturing market: insights from the wider leisure sector
TruBlue Tech Main Stage
As the indoor climbing sector matures and new active leisure propositions are brought to market, continued success requires innovation and evolution of the customer proposition, routes to market and business model. Drawing on more than 15 years of advising or operating businesses across the active leisure sector, Mike, Nick, Geoff and Jonas will share learnings from aligned niches of the sector as they matured, insight on how operators are responding to the current market backdrop and consider relevance for the indoor climbing market today.
Moderator: Mary-Ann Ochota
In conversation:
- Mike McDonald, KPMG
with
- Geoff Bamber, Digme Fitness & Clava
- Nick Hall, CEO, Go Ape
- Jonas Rave, Heligo Group
12:00 pm
Visit Exhibition & Lunch
Explore the Redpoint HQ Exhibition Hall and the Face of Steel demo room. Lunch from our fantastic street food vendors is available outside the Face of Steel room.
1:15 pm
Product Spotlight: TruBlue Technologies Tru-Clip with Neil Gresham
Climbing Tower, Redpoint HQ Hall
1:30 pm
Seated Belaying Demo & Workshop
Climbing Tower, Redpoint HQ Hall
An opportunity for both disabled and non-disabled individuals to explore seated belaying and develop essential techniques. The focus will be on building proficiency in belaying from a seated position, as well as learning how to assess others’ belaying skills in this context. Taking place on a climbing tower, participants will have the chance to belay while seated in either a chair or a wheelchair, ensuring inclusivity and adaptability for everyone.
Graeme Hill
2:30 pm
Promoting our Sport
TruBlue Tech Main Stage
Climbing is great, we know that. How do we make sure everyone else does too?! This panel brings together journalists, climbing wall marketeers and sector innovators to discuss the next level.
Moderator: Mary-Ann Ochota, Broadcaster
Panellists:
Sam Foakes, Lawn Tennis Association
Danaan Markey, Founder, Pro Climbing League
Louis Parkinson, Catalyst Coaching
Rebecca Ting, Director, Women's Climbing Symposium
3:20 pm
NICAS Pro Connects: Shaping the Future of NICAS
Breakout Room 3
Have questions about NICAS? Curious about what’s coming next? Or have ideas that could help shape the future of the charity?
Join this interactive 30-minute discussion with the NICAS leadership team. Designed for climbing wall managers, NICAS course directors, coaches and delivery teams, this open forum is your opportunity to ask questions about programme delivery, coach development, future developments and the direction of NICAS.
Whether you’re already delivering NICAS or are interested in becoming involved, we’d love to hear your experiences, insights and suggestions. This session is about listening as much as sharing, giving you the opportunity to influence the future of NICAS and help ensure it continues to meet the needs of climbing walls, coaches and young climbers.
The session will be led by Tom Vaessen-Walker, Interim Managing Director of NICAS, and Stephen Skinner, Product Manager / Head of Coach Development.
Wired differently, working better: a practical guide to managing neurodiverse teams
Sarah Castor-PerryDevelop Through Challenge Room
Around 1 in 5 working-age adults in the UK is neurodivergent. That means neurodivergent people are already in your teams, whether or not anyone has named it. Drawing on research directly with climbing wall managers and staff conducted over summer 2026, this session brings the data closer to home: how prevalent neurodivergence is in this workforce, what challenges it creates for managers, and what the evidence says about how to address them. The session will show what neurodivergent staff bring to businesses, what gets in the way of their best work, and what managers and teams can do to support them. Grounded in current UK evidence and industry data, with practical tools and principles that apply across team sizes.
Host: Sarah Castor-Perry, Kernel Consulting
Employment Rights Act | What’s Changed and What Your Wall Needs to Do Now
Patrick Carroll-FoggBreakout Room 2
Get up to speed with 14 key reforms, including changes to day one rights, Statutory Sick Pay, unfair dismissal, fire and rehire, and other important areas. Learn what they mean in practice and the steps you can take now to prepare your organisation over the next 12 months. As a part of the session, you’ll have the opportunity to ask WorkNest’s Employment Law expert your pertinent questions relating to the ERA.
Host: Patrick Carroll-Fogg, Employment Law Specialist and Engagement Lead, WorkNest
Mountain Training: The future of coaching qualifications and coach licensing
Breakout Room 3
Mountain Training have been reviewing their coaching qualifications, with feedback from the ABC, and the wider climbing sector. Sport England also wish to introduce a national coach register over the next three years. Guy Jarvis, MTE Executive Officer, will give an update on Mountain Training's future coaching qualification model and how it will align with the government's desire to introduce coach licensing. He will also discuss the Bouldering Wall Instructor review and welcome any feedback on its implementation.
Guy Jarvis, Executive Officer, Mountain Training
4:10 pm
Visit Exhibition
The RedpointHQ Exhibition Hall and the Face of Steel room will stay open until 5:30 pm.
4:15 pm
ABC AGM
ABC BoardDevelop Through Challenge Room
ABC Voting Members only (climbing walls)
Meet the ABC board and participate in the AGM. Voting members will be informed of the agenda in advance.
4:30 pm
Senior management workshop: industry growth and development (ABC members only)
Develop Through Challenge Room
ABC Members only - join the ABC Board for a workshop and networking event on how we can work as an industry to drive participation in climbing at both local and national level.
Facilitator: Mary-Ann Ochota
Vertical Hoist Demo & Workshop
Climbing Tower, Redpoint HQ Hall
Learn more about how you can introduce or develop adapted climbing in your own setting or facility. Try out or deepen your understanding of systems, including the Access Harness, featured on the Climbing for All course. Graeme and team will be on hand to guide you, answer technical questions, and support you as you test the equipment and explore the activity.
Session leader: Graeme Hill
6:00 pm
Inside Edge: climbing & networking evening
The Climbing Works Sheffield
Join us at The Climbing Works Sheffield for a friendly evening of bouldering, networking, dinner and drinks!
Our team comp returns so get ready to take on your industry friends and rivals on some of the newest holds on the market.
What to expect:
- Comp blocs including team challenges
- Drinks from The Works Taproom
- Dinner included
You will need to register if you have not climbed at The Climbing Works before.
Transport will not be provided to/from The Works. There is parking available and the site is easily accessible by public transport and Uber. Please consider car sharing. Cars can be left at the Magna Centre overnight (and will be locked in until the morning).
Thursday 17 Sep 2026
9:30 am
Developing the Next Generation: Is It Time for a National Career Pathway for Indoor Climbing?
Develop Through Challenge Room
Join an interactive discussion on the future of workforce skills development in indoor climbing. We'll hear from those who have explored apprenticeship schemes and other training pathways, identify common challenges, and assess the appetite for a nationally recognised framework supported by the ABC. We'll also consider whether a dedicated apprenticeship could form part of a future industry pathway.
Simon Ager, Pinnacle Climbing Centres
The Membership Code: Cracking Growth and Retention with Industry Data
Miura HawkinsBreakout Room 2
Your members are telling you something before they leave, are you listening? Using data from across the industry, we'll identify the key moments that make or break retention, giving you practical, high-impact wins to improve your bottom line.
Host: Miura Hawkins, CEO, BETA
Vertical Hoist Demo & Workshop
Climbing Tower, Redpoint HQ Hall
Learn more about how you can introduce or develop adapted climbing in your own setting or facility. Try out or deepen your understanding of systems, including the Access Harness, featured on the Climbing for All course. Graeme and team will be on hand to guide you, answer technical questions, and support you as you test the equipment and explore the activity.
Session leader: Graeme Hill
Working together: Technical Advisors & Walls
Pete Nellist, Dan CrossdaleBreakout Room 1
An interactive session exploring how TAs and walls can work together for better outcomes. We will look at supporting walls through an incident and where the TA fits in: how they can be represented as an expert witness and how they can best work with walls to provide good documented support. We will also discuss safety checks undertaken by TAs and the benefit of working to agreed standards.
Contributors:
- Dan Crossdale
- Joby Maw Davis
- Pete Nellist
10:35 am
Who's On Our Walls? What Indoor Climbers Are Telling Us
Garnet MooreTruBlue Tech Main Stage
In 2019 and again in 2026, the Climbing Wall Association surveyed nearly 18,000 indoor climbers across hundreds of gyms in North America. The trends that emerged are from the United States and Canada, but we will discuss how the findings are representative of the climbing community at large. This session presents the most significant findings from both surveys, including shifts in climber demographics, training behavior, outdoor participation, community structure, and what climbers actually want from their gyms. Drawing on experience working with climbing walls around the world, we will translate the data into practical advice for UK operators navigating their own communities' needs. We are all facing an evolving climbing wall user base that is more diverse and more fitness-oriented with an evolving attitude towards climbing indoors and out.
11:20 am
Visit Exhibition & Refreshments
12:00 pm
Face of Steel: Battle on the Boards
George Lonsdale, Core Climbing, WalltopiaFace of Steel Room
Join us in the Face of Steel room to see the training boards in action!
12:45 pm
Visit Exhibition & Lunch
Explore the Redpoint HQ Exhibition Hall and the Face of Steel demo room. Lunch from our fantastic street food vendors is available outside the Face of Steel room.
Tradeshow-only ticket holders (12-4pm Thursday) do not have lunch included in their ticket, but can purchase light refreshments in the Exhibition Hall.
1:30 pm
Product Spotlight: TruBlue Technologies Tru-Clip with Neil Gresham
Climbing Tower, Redpoint HQ Hall
2:00 pm
From Passion to Profession: Building Stronger Teams in the Climbing Industry
TruBlue Tech Main Stage
How can professionalisation, training and leadership pathways strengthen climbing teams and improve retention? The panel will discuss the dangers of the "Accidental manager", how they approach management training, the role of national qualifications and the pros and cons of internal promotion vs bringing in strong talent from outside of the industry.
Moderator: George Lonsdale
Panel:
- Katya Creed, Chief of Staff, London Climbing Centres
- Andrew Denton, CEO, Outdoor Industries Association
- Jack Griffiths, Director & CEO, Flashpoint Group
2:45 pm
Auto Belay Safety with TruBlue Technologies
Nate McMullanBreakout Room 2
Join Nate McMullan, Managing Director of TruBlue Technologies - Europe, for a practical discussion on auto belay safety best practices. Learn how facility operations, signage, device placement, user orientation, inspections, maintenance, and evolving European standards all contribute to safer climbing experiences.
Safeguarding in Practice: What Good Looks Like
Dean Straw, Helen Murphy, Jamie SmithBreakout Room 1
An informative and interactive session exploring what effective safeguarding looks like in climbing walls and indoor climbing environments. Led by safeguarding specialists and sector experts, the session will cover current legislation, emerging risks and practical approaches to creating safer spaces for participants, staff and volunteers.
Hosts:
- Dean Straw, Develop Through Challenge
- Helen Murphy, Inclusion & Safeguarding Manager, BMC
- Jamie Smith, ClimbScotland Development Manager & Safeguarding Lead, Mountaineering Scotland
Seated Belaying Demo & Workshop
Climbing Tower, Redpoint HQ Hall
An opportunity for both disabled and non-disabled individuals to explore seated belaying and develop essential techniques. The focus will be on building proficiency in belaying from a seated position, as well as learning how to assess others’ belaying skills in this context. Taking place on a climbing tower, participants will have the chance to belay while seated in either a chair or a wheelchair, ensuring inclusivity and adaptability for everyone.
Graeme Hill
Setting for Growth
George LonsdaleTruBlue Tech Main Stage
Great route setting is about more than creating enjoyable climbs. It plays a critical role in customer satisfaction, retention and commercial success. This session explores how route setting can balance customer progression, creativity, operational realities and safety, while considering how grading and progression systems shape the climbing experience.
Moderator:
George Lonsdale
In conversation:
- Cailean Harker
- Gracie Martin
3:30 pm
Visit Exhibition
The RedpointHQ Exhibition Hall and Face of Steel room will stay open until 4pm.
