There are more comprehensive notes in the Members’ Handbook and Club policies.

New leaders can ask for a mentor to assist them.

The Leaders Kit contains the;

  • activity booking form.
  • leader’s prompts.
  • risk acknowledgment form (paper version) for visitors.
 

Responsibilities of the leader.

The leader is responsible for:

  • devising the activity,
  • considering any risks, hazards and mitigations,
  • submitting the event for approval and publishing on the website,
  • making all the necessary preliminary arrangements,
  • leading the actual activity,
  • making sure that everyone remains safe and obtains the maximum enjoyment from it, and
  • completing any required administration after the event (e.g. incident reports if needed).

Some particular points for guidance are listed below:

Planning the event.

All Leaders must be familiar with the Club policies.

With regards to risk management, Leaders should consider potential risk for their activity and ensure that effective control measures are implemented, and documentation is completed. The risk management policy contains a list of key risks that Leaders should consider when planning and conducting an activity.

It is important that risk management is not a ‘tick and flick’ exercise. When planning an activity, really have a good think ‘what are the hazards, what could go wrong, can we mitigate or avoid them, what would we do if it did happen?’. The Bushwalking Victoria manual is an additional good resource to have a look at.

Submitting the event for publishing.

Once you have logged in, hover on the ‘Events’ item on the menu and you should see a drop-down ‘add an event’. Click on this and then the ‘add new’ button on the top-right of screen.

Complete the fields, and then press submit. The activities coordinator will usually review and approve it within two days, and then it will be published on the website and visible in the calendar of upcoming events.

Booking people in.

Refer to the Club policies and Leaders kit for guidance on the ‘questions to ask’ when taking bookings (e.g. ensuring participants are aware of appropriate clothing/equipment for the activity).

Once you have closed bookings, you must email through the list of participants (names and email/phone numbers) to [email protected] .

Risk acknowledgements

From 1 June 2022, all members will have signed an online risk acknowledgement when joining/renewing their membership.

Accordingly you will only need to obtain a risk acknowledgement (paper or email) from visitors. Refer to the templates above.

Before the event

Before the actual day, make sure that you have the transport arrangements in hand, and borrow a club first aid kit, map, PLB or GPS if needed. All this equipment is kept at Adventure Camping & Apparel. Address: 479 Dean St, Albury, NSW, 2640. Phone number: (02) 60216200.

Assembly Point

For most activities we assemble at the car-park adjacent to Bunnings, Wodonga but the choice is yours. Collect the non-member’s fee, currently $5 for each day of the activity, and give it to the treasurer or pay via EFT when convenient.

Give the group an overview of what is intended, and in particular where all the cars will rendezvous. Allocate people to cars if they haven’t organised themselves.

Leading on the day

Your responsibility is to make sure that everyone enjoys themselves in a safe manner. This implies that you have a social role as well as being the guide.

Refer to the Leaders kit for prompts for the start of the activity (e.g. reminding people to stop at track junctions).

You need to collect and distribute the travel cost money. Lunchtime is a good time to do this. The travelling cost is calculated at 40c per kilometre per vehicle and dividing the total by the number of people in the vehicles including the driver. Google Maps should be used to give the distance between start and finish. Calculate this distance in advance of the trip.

After the activity

  • If there was an incident, complete an Incident report AS SOON AS POSSIBLE
  • EFT the visitors’ money for the non-members listed on the report into our account at BSB 640000 Account No 111104448 . Alternatively give to the Treasurer or committee person at the monthly meeting,
  • Return any borrowed club equipment (e.g. first aid kit, GPS and PLB) to Adventure Camping & Apparel.
  • For any activities that are ‘new to the club’ or of special interest, consider completing a Trip Report Form. It’s a Word document which you download, type in the required information, then send as an attachment to  [email protected]  .  It will then be loaded then into our archived Trip Reports, and in later years can be used as a reference guide for someone who wants to do the same activity.
 
In particular, feel gratified for leading an activity, and recognise that you will have broadened your range of skills, your knowledge of our area, and the number of people with whom you have something in common. You will also have promoted yourself into the ranks of the leaders of the club, and will henceforth feel a new sense of confidence.