Graham Milton from BeVenturesome gives us some questions to ponder as activity providers face the future head on.

What do you/your organisation do?

BeVenturesome run’s weeks of adventure for UK schools in the alpine resort of Morzine. Activities include rafting, climbing, kayaking, trekking, high ropes, mountain biking and more. Morzine is better known for skiing in the Winter but the Summer provides a dream-like landscape for multi-activity trips. We also launched mountain bike Gold DofE Residentials for this Summer – great timing!

How long have you been an AIM Member?

We became a member of AIM right from the start which wasn’t very long ago! May 2019 I believe.

What’s the best part of your job?

I absolutely love what I am doing but when you think about the best parts, they nearly always present some of the most challenging parts. Being aware of this and managing it is key I guess

Carrying out my childhood dream of running an adventure company in the Alps ‘VS’ not letting dreams get in the way of reality.

Having a platform to deliver on my ideas and projects ‘VS’ deciding what NOT to do.

Taking it from scratch to an ‘actual’ business ‘VS‘ disassociating personal time and money from that of the business.

Getting BAPA and LotC Quality Badge in my first season ‘VS’ making sure the company is always paying attention to details 

Recruiting a team of people that love their jobs and seeing that love being passed on to the pupils ‘VS’ finding those people

What issues do you think the industry faces this year?

The 5 main challenges in no particular order:

  • Diversity
  • Brexit
  • Coronavirus
  • Economic downturn
  • Climate breakdown

So nothing too major.

A few question I ponder to keep my mind off things:

  • How Brexit will affect the employment of staff? Also things like TOMs which is European legislation which hasn’t got much of a mention yet
  • How do we provide activities in a low contact manner?
  • How do we give a simple, consistent message to our customers?
  • How do we plan ahead to next year while the rule books are being rewritten?
  • How will travel insurance change?
  • How do we make our industry more racially diverse?
  • How do we help educate the population to look after the environment, use bins, not disposable BBQ’s and manage risk when outdoors?
  • Will freelance staff diversify into other sectors or will companies employ less staff and reply more on freelancers?
  • How will outdoor companies diversify and pivot?
  • How flexible can outdoor staff be? Can they cope with being in an office to help diversify and grow the business?

I think people’s desire to do outdoor activities is arguably greater than ever, but our ability to deliver has never been lower. Quite frustrating!

I did (my first!) micro podcast in early lock down about this. It’s had about 9 views so must be pretty good.

https://beventuresometrips.co.uk/the-why-adventureathome-podcast/

What benefits have you gained from being an AIM Member?

Being part of a community and not just a faceless insurance company

What exciting projects do you have lined up for the future? 

Over the last few weeks I have been working on an ‘AdventureAtHome’ series. It’s been quite fun and behind the scenes it help shape some thinking about what we want to do going forward

https://beventuresometrips.co.uk/adventureathome/

We have just launched an initiative where we run adventure programmes on school sites (as soon as we are allowed to!)

https://beventuresometrips.co.uk/adventure-at-school/

What’s your favourite activity?

Whitewater kayaking

What activity do you want to try?

Caving (with someone who knows what they are doing)