2020 CWA Summit
Conference Sessions
Each year the CWA convenes the industry's top presenters, who are experts in climbing gym ownership, operations, programs, and expansion. Don't miss the opportunity for growth and development with your indoor climbing industry peers!

EXPLORE THE

Click the session title to review details for each presentation that will be offered at this year's CWA Summit.
KEYNOTE
North Star: Remembering Our Why | Kevin Jorgeson
LEADERSHIP
Climb Card - Waiver Free Access to Multiple Gyms | Duncan Howard, The Castle Climbing Centre; Kath Hipwell, The Association of British Climbing Walls; Matthias Polig, Vertical-Life
Description: The Association of British Climbing Walls (ABC) has launched its Climb Card product, opening up a relationship and revenue stream for the ABC direct with climbers for the first time.
-
Set out the principles behind the ABC’s Climb Card -
Share the learning from having overcome the technical and practical obstacles involved in setting it up
The Case for Standardized Setting | Paul Terbrueggen, Summit Climbing, Yoga & Fitness
Training and Movement | Taylor Reed, The Beta Angel Project
Description: In this session, a coach with 15 years of experience will describe the methods he employs with his most advanced athletes. Taylor will go over morphological distinctions that make climbers "fit" moves in better or worse ways, movement interventions that "shape" climbers toward bettering their overall fit, and how individuals vary in their efficiency approaches and energy system needs over the course of a route. He'll employ case studies, experimental research protocols, and practical, usable frameworks you can explore in your own coaching.
The New Performance Enhancer on the Street: Integrating Breath Work into Programming, Coaching, and Health-Conscious Gym Culture | Michael Hooten & Gabor Boczonadi, BreathWorks
Description: Breath work is an emerging interest in fitness and lifestyle trends ranging from yoga studios to fitness facilities, and now just trickling into climbing programs. Amidst the growing popularity of breath work in health and performance circles, proper facilitation is critical to success when capturing an audience, promoting these adaptable techniques, and making them accessible to participants. Health-conscious lifestyle and culture in a gym expands community offerings and draws investment of routine practice and participation in fitness and climbing programs. Discover how breath facilitation is a simple addition to your mind-body-movement programming that can engage new as well as experienced climbers. Join us for a short experiential glimpse of some technique and brainstorming for programs!
About the Presenters: Michael Hooten is a casual climber and professional group facilitator of 10+ years who loves nature and geeks out about safety and technical skills. With a foundation in taoist meditation, he became a student of martial arts, yoga, and meditation 20 years ago. Continuing to expand the combo of breath and movement into multiple areas of athletics, Michael realized their universal application. Mental-behavioral health, physical wellness, and outdoor recreation are his focus areas.
Gabor Boczonadi is an advanced yoga teacher (RYT 500), L-2 challenge facilitator and the founder of breathlete.com. A yoga practitioner since 2012, Gabor considers it a lifestyle with strong, dedicated practice. He has taught breath work and yoga since 2016 to a wide audience including athletes, corporate teams, prison inmates and general public. A former professional athlete and coach with 25+ years of experience, Gabor intimately understands body-movement mechanics and breath affecting health, performance, and stress.
MANAGEMENT & OPERATIONS
North Star: Remembering Our Why | Kevin Jorgeson
STARTUPS/BUSINESS FORMATION
The Unstable Climbing Shoulder | Dr. Jared Vagy, The Climbing Doctor
Description: This workshop is for any climber who has struggled with injury themselves, with their teams or with their gym membership. You will learn how to assess and treat the most common rock climbing injuries. Based on your findings, you will utilize a systematic approach to prevent and rehabilitate the injury. Additionally, you will be given a free copy of the book "Climb Injury-Free" and complimentary team membership access to the Rock Rehab Program with detailed injury prevention protocols to treat the most common climbing injuries.
Training For Power: Developing Explosiveness For Climbing | Charlie Manganiello, Climb Strong
Fundamentals of Training Program Design | Steve Bechtel, Climb Strong
Simple Strength Training for Youth Teams | Tyler Nelson, Camp4 Human Performance
Description: This session is designed to teach youth coaches how to test and program for youth athletes while using appropriate loads for each athlete. It is challenging to coordinate strength training into youth teams and in this session I will demonstrate how coaches can do this effectively and very simply. With minimal equipment we can run athletes through these strength tests and use the same principles to train throughout the season for better performance on the wall. The use of similar metrics will be used to document individual fatigue of the individual athlete so as to reduce injury risk and overtraining.
Cultivating Climbing Progression in the Modern Gym (Are You Letting the Climbers Down?) | Kris Hampton, Power Company Climbing
Description: Training and progression are undeniably hot topics right now, at the same time as the industry and setting styles are rapidly changing. The conversation around these changes is often that it's moving away from "real climbing". We don't believe this has to be, or even necessarily is, true.
BUSINESS GROWTH & EXPANSION
Climb Card - Waiver Free Access to Multiple Gyms | Duncan Howard, The Castle Climbing Centre; Kath Hipwell, The Association of British Climbing Walls; Matthias Polig, Vertical-Life
Description: The Association of British Climbing Walls (ABC) has launched its Climb Card product, opening up a relationship and revenue stream for the ABC direct with climbers for the first time.
-
Set out the principles behind the ABC’s Climb Card -
Share the learning from having overcome the technical and practical obstacles involved in setting it up
The Case for Standardized Setting | Paul Terbrueggen, Summit Climbing, Yoga & Fitness
Training and Movement | Taylor Reed, The Beta Angel Project
Description: In this session, a coach with 15 years of experience will describe the methods he employs with his most advanced athletes. Taylor will go over morphological distinctions that make climbers "fit" moves in better or worse ways, movement interventions that "shape" climbers toward bettering their overall fit, and how individuals vary in their efficiency approaches and energy system needs over the course of a route. He'll employ case studies, experimental research protocols, and practical, usable frameworks you can explore in your own coaching.
The New Performance Enhancer on the Street: Integrating Breath Work into Programming, Coaching, and Health-Conscious Gym Culture | Michael Hooten & Gabor Boczonadi, BreathWorks
Description: Breath work is an emerging interest in fitness and lifestyle trends ranging from yoga studios to fitness facilities, and now just trickling into climbing programs. Amidst the growing popularity of breath work in health and performance circles, proper facilitation is critical to success when capturing an audience, promoting these adaptable techniques, and making them accessible to participants. Health-conscious lifestyle and culture in a gym expands community offerings and draws investment of routine practice and participation in fitness and climbing programs. Discover how breath facilitation is a simple addition to your mind-body-movement programming that can engage new as well as experienced climbers. Join us for a short experiential glimpse of some technique and brainstorming for programs!
About the Presenters: Michael Hooten is a casual climber and professional group facilitator of 10+ years who loves nature and geeks out about safety and technical skills. With a foundation in taoist meditation, he became a student of martial arts, yoga, and meditation 20 years ago. Continuing to expand the combo of breath and movement into multiple areas of athletics, Michael realized their universal application. Mental-behavioral health, physical wellness, and outdoor recreation are his focus areas.
Gabor Boczonadi is an advanced yoga teacher (RYT 500), L-2 challenge facilitator and the founder of breathlete.com. A yoga practitioner since 2012, Gabor considers it a lifestyle with strong, dedicated practice. He has taught breath work and yoga since 2016 to a wide audience including athletes, corporate teams, prison inmates and general public. A former professional athlete and coach with 25+ years of experience, Gabor intimately understands body-movement mechanics and breath affecting health, performance, and stress.
LEGAL/RISK MANAGEMENT
Advanced Wage and Hour Issues: How to Properly Classify Exempt Employees and Independent Contractors Under the FLSA | Jason Pill, Phelps Dunbar LLP
Risk Management: A Climber Focused Model | Laur Sabourin, The Warrior's Way
Building Your Risk Management Program | Robert Angell, Angell Law Offices, LLC
Description: If you are opening a climbing facility or thinking about opening one, risk management is an important issue. If you are an experienced operator, are you evaluating your program and keeping it up to date? Do you know what you need to know? In this session, CWA Director and recreation-industry attorney Robert Angell outlines the elements of a comprehensive risk-management program, including climbing and non-climbing related risks, regulatory issues, and business matters. You will leave with a checklist of the things you need to design your risk-management program or to keep your existing program healthy.
Risk Communication and Reducing Exposure to Lawsuits | Jon Heshka, Thompson Rivers University
Description: This presentation will pithily review principles of negligence and risk. The four stages of risk management (pre-incident, active management, crisis management, and post-incident) will be examined in detail. The presentation will focus on risk communication and how we wish to present climbing as a fun and safe activity while at the same time – as per the CWA Manual – saying it’s dangerous and that compliance with industry practices won’t guarantee that a climbing gym will be safe. We’ll look at how to communicate risk in our marketing, signage, orientation, instruction, waivers in such a way as to reduce the odds of a successful lawsuit.
-
How negligence lawsuits are defended -
How to craft a risk communications strategy that properly warns climbers of the risks without scaring them off -
Some of the details and the do’s and don’ts of writing language for ads, signs and waivers
COACHING/TRAINING
The Unstable Climbing Shoulder | Dr. Jared Vagy, The Climbing Doctor
Description: This workshop is for any climber who has struggled with injury themselves, with their teams or with their gym membership. You will learn how to assess and treat the most common rock climbing injuries. Based on your findings, you will utilize a systematic approach to prevent and rehabilitate the injury. Additionally, you will be given a free copy of the book "Climb Injury-Free" and complimentary team membership access to the Rock Rehab Program with detailed injury prevention protocols to treat the most common climbing injuries.
Training For Power: Developing Explosiveness For Climbing | Charlie Manganiello, Climb Strong
Fundamentals of Training Program Design | Steve Bechtel, Climb Strong
Simple Strength Training for Youth Teams | Tyler Nelson, Camp4 Human Performance
Description: This session is designed to teach youth coaches how to test and program for youth athletes while using appropriate loads for each athlete. It is challenging to coordinate strength training into youth teams and in this session I will demonstrate how coaches can do this effectively and very simply. With minimal equipment we can run athletes through these strength tests and use the same principles to train throughout the season for better performance on the wall. The use of similar metrics will be used to document individual fatigue of the individual athlete so as to reduce injury risk and overtraining.
Cultivating Climbing Progression in the Modern Gym (Are You Letting the Climbers Down?) | Kris Hampton, Power Company Climbing
Description: Training and progression are undeniably hot topics right now, at the same time as the industry and setting styles are rapidly changing. The conversation around these changes is often that it's moving away from "real climbing". We don't believe this has to be, or even necessarily is, true.
ROUTESETTING
The Unstable Climbing Shoulder | Dr. Jared Vagy, The Climbing Doctor
Description: This workshop is for any climber who has struggled with injury themselves, with their teams or with their gym membership. You will learn how to assess and treat the most common rock climbing injuries. Based on your findings, you will utilize a systematic approach to prevent and rehabilitate the injury. Additionally, you will be given a free copy of the book "Climb Injury-Free" and complimentary team membership access to the Rock Rehab Program with detailed injury prevention protocols to treat the most common climbing injuries.
Training For Power: Developing Explosiveness For Climbing | Charlie Manganiello, Climb Strong
Fundamentals of Training Program Design | Steve Bechtel, Climb Strong
Simple Strength Training for Youth Teams | Tyler Nelson, Camp4 Human Performance
Description: This session is designed to teach youth coaches how to test and program for youth athletes while using appropriate loads for each athlete. It is challenging to coordinate strength training into youth teams and in this session I will demonstrate how coaches can do this effectively and very simply. With minimal equipment we can run athletes through these strength tests and use the same principles to train throughout the season for better performance on the wall. The use of similar metrics will be used to document individual fatigue of the individual athlete so as to reduce injury risk and overtraining.
Cultivating Climbing Progression in the Modern Gym (Are You Letting the Climbers Down?) | Kris Hampton, Power Company Climbing
Description: Training and progression are undeniably hot topics right now, at the same time as the industry and setting styles are rapidly changing. The conversation around these changes is often that it's moving away from "real climbing". We don't believe this has to be, or even necessarily is, true.
PROGRAM MANAGEMENT
Advanced Wage and Hour Issues: How to Properly Classify Exempt Employees and Independent Contractors Under the FLSA | Jason Pill, Phelps Dunbar LLP
Risk Management: A Climber Focused Model | Laur Sabourin, The Warrior's Way
Building Your Risk Management Program | Robert Angell, Angell Law Offices, LLC
Description: If you are opening a climbing facility or thinking about opening one, risk management is an important issue. If you are an experienced operator, are you evaluating your program and keeping it up to date? Do you know what you need to know? In this session, CWA Director and recreation-industry attorney Robert Angell outlines the elements of a comprehensive risk-management program, including climbing and non-climbing related risks, regulatory issues, and business matters. You will leave with a checklist of the things you need to design your risk-management program or to keep your existing program healthy.
Risk Communication and Reducing Exposure to Lawsuits | Jon Heshka, Thompson Rivers University
Description: This presentation will pithily review principles of negligence and risk. The four stages of risk management (pre-incident, active management, crisis management, and post-incident) will be examined in detail. The presentation will focus on risk communication and how we wish to present climbing as a fun and safe activity while at the same time – as per the CWA Manual – saying it’s dangerous and that compliance with industry practices won’t guarantee that a climbing gym will be safe. We’ll look at how to communicate risk in our marketing, signage, orientation, instruction, waivers in such a way as to reduce the odds of a successful lawsuit.
-
How negligence lawsuits are defended -
How to craft a risk communications strategy that properly warns climbers of the risks without scaring them off -
Some of the details and the do’s and don’ts of writing language for ads, signs and waivers
LUNCH N LEARN SESSIONS
Climb Card - Waiver Free Access to Multiple Gyms | Duncan Howard, The Castle Climbing Centre; Kath Hipwell, The Association of British Climbing Walls; Matthias Polig, Vertical-Life
Description: The Association of British Climbing Walls (ABC) has launched its Climb Card product, opening up a relationship and revenue stream for the ABC direct with climbers for the first time.
-
Set out the principles behind the ABC’s Climb Card -
Share the learning from having overcome the technical and practical obstacles involved in setting it up
The Case for Standardized Setting | Paul Terbrueggen, Summit Climbing, Yoga & Fitness
Training and Movement | Taylor Reed, The Beta Angel Project
Description: In this session, a coach with 15 years of experience will describe the methods he employs with his most advanced athletes. Taylor will go over morphological distinctions that make climbers "fit" moves in better or worse ways, movement interventions that "shape" climbers toward bettering their overall fit, and how individuals vary in their efficiency approaches and energy system needs over the course of a route. He'll employ case studies, experimental research protocols, and practical, usable frameworks you can explore in your own coaching.
The New Performance Enhancer on the Street: Integrating Breath Work into Programming, Coaching, and Health-Conscious Gym Culture | Michael Hooten & Gabor Boczonadi, BreathWorks
Description: Breath work is an emerging interest in fitness and lifestyle trends ranging from yoga studios to fitness facilities, and now just trickling into climbing programs. Amidst the growing popularity of breath work in health and performance circles, proper facilitation is critical to success when capturing an audience, promoting these adaptable techniques, and making them accessible to participants. Health-conscious lifestyle and culture in a gym expands community offerings and draws investment of routine practice and participation in fitness and climbing programs. Discover how breath facilitation is a simple addition to your mind-body-movement programming that can engage new as well as experienced climbers. Join us for a short experiential glimpse of some technique and brainstorming for programs!
About the Presenters: Michael Hooten is a casual climber and professional group facilitator of 10+ years who loves nature and geeks out about safety and technical skills. With a foundation in taoist meditation, he became a student of martial arts, yoga, and meditation 20 years ago. Continuing to expand the combo of breath and movement into multiple areas of athletics, Michael realized their universal application. Mental-behavioral health, physical wellness, and outdoor recreation are his focus areas.
Gabor Boczonadi is an advanced yoga teacher (RYT 500), L-2 challenge facilitator and the founder of breathlete.com. A yoga practitioner since 2012, Gabor considers it a lifestyle with strong, dedicated practice. He has taught breath work and yoga since 2016 to a wide audience including athletes, corporate teams, prison inmates and general public. A former professional athlete and coach with 25+ years of experience, Gabor intimately understands body-movement mechanics and breath affecting health, performance, and stress.