Keeping EE professionals in the industry...

I have been working in and around the experiential education arena since 1992, and over the years I have seen hundreds of good and even great adventure educators enter and leave the field of recreation and education. So many talented and passionate guides and leaders seem to slip through the cracks every year that I start to feel like we are just like so many other service-based industries - a great place to start in the workforce, but mainly thought of as a stepping stone towards "a real job." Now, please don't misunderstand me, I know plenty of people who have been around for decades - it just seems that these old-timers are in the minority...

A few years ago I was faced with the serious question of whether or not I would switch careers (just like so many other adventure facilitators) and rather than throwing away the 10 years I had already invested, I chose to start my own adventure business. Seven years later, I am still running my business and I am faced every season with the uncertainty of who and what I will find to help run my climbing, caving, mountain biking, wilderness skills and portable teambuilding programs...

This winter, my plan is to create some sort of network for the adventure guides and facilitators in my area - Maryland/Virginia/Washington, DC - and attempt to generate some dialogue between the professionals who are the lifeblood of our industry. The goal is to get people to know who is out there, what they have in common, how they can help one another, what the industry can offer to them, etc... In the process, I expect us to have some fun!

I'd appreciate any insights that anyone might share with me about how to make this work. If you know of any already existing networks (I mean real-life, successful networks - I've seen a few websites that seem pretty bogus...) I'd love to hear about them.

Thanks to all of you who make (or have made) this industry great!

Eriq Powers
GO-AdventureSports
www.go-adventuresports.com