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CAIRNGORMS LOCAL OUTDOOR ACCESS FORUM 
Paper 5 Review of Annual Event 11 November 2008 


CAIRNGORMS LOCAL OUTDOOR ACCESS FORUM 


Title: Review of the 2008 Annual Outdoor Access Event 

Prepared by: Fran Pothecary, Outdoor Access Officer 

Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to feedback the comments 
received from the public on the success of the Annual 
Event and reflect on how the event might be structured in 
the future. 

Advice Sought 

The Forum is invited to consider the comments made and advise on the 
structure and contents of future events. 

Background 

1. The Outdoor Access Annual Event was held on Saturday 27th September 
at the Braemar Village Hall. Attendance was as follows: 

Attendance   /  No. 

Public 27 
LOAF members 14 
Staff 6 
Board members 2 
Other leaders and speakers 4 
TOTAL 53 

2. Fifteen feedback forms and one emailed feedback were received by 31st 
October – approximately half of the members of public attending 
responded. 


REASONS FOR ATTENDING 

3. The most popular reason for attending the event was to network with 
other people (13 responses). The next most popular was to listen to 
presentations and ask questions (10 responses). Nine people cited the 
opportunity to discuss specific access problems and to attend workshops 
and site visits. Eight people cited coming to hear the keynote speaker and 
seven to find out about the Forum and meet Forum members. 


LOGISTICS 

4. This included location, timing, venue and information and the comments 
ranged from Good to Excellent. There was one thought that the 
panoramic banner was a bit ‘OTT’; and that the event could have 
incorporated a social aspect such as an evening meal. 

EXPECTATIONS 

5. Expectations that were met were cited as – to hear local concerns; to find 
out more about access and hear the talks; to hear from those with 
responsibility for access and to discuss specific issues such as camping 
and deer management 

6. Expectations that weren’t met were cited as – wanting to hear from Mike 
Rumbles where access was going next politically; and to hear about the 
role of the Forum 

CHANGES TO THE EVENT 

7. The following changes were suggested 

a. Make the event bi-annual and look at an evening event – for example 
a midsummer walk 

b. Explain role of the LOAF 

c. Ensure the main speaker is involved later in the event or there is 
enough time for questions 

d. Have a time for questions after each speaker 

e. Use a professional facilitator to help more reserved people to have 
their say 

f. Summarise the key issues at the end of the day 

g. Try to avoid the ‘airing’ of pet subjects 

h. Incorporate a social aspect – such as a dinner and evening session 

i. Encourage more young people to attend – for example, ask pupils to 
do a presentation on their learning experience in the Park 

j. Address the marketing of the event to get more public attendance 
e.g. posters; extend the invite to Aberdeenshire walking/climbing clubs 

k. Provide more prior information on purpose of event 

l. Provide more details about the workshops in advance 

m. Clarify terms and acronyms early in the event – and avoid jargon 

n. Supply other options to tea and coffee 

o. Too much time on ‘bikes and horses’ issue 


DISCUSSION 

8. The main issue concerning the event is public attendance. Despite 
good marketing and media interest – better this year than any other – 
there is still only a small number of members of the public who attend. 

9. One of the problems identified is that maybe a day on outdoor access 
issues simply isn’t ‘sexy’ enough to tempt people away for a weekend 
day – and that the lack of specific topic deters some people (although 
this year we did focus the event on “recreational access in the 
uplands”). If the event is too general, some people aren’t attracted as 
they don’t see their specific interest being represented; if it is too 
specific, some people’s interest won’t be represented. It is extremely 
difficult to get people to travel across the Park and therefore our 
attempts to make the event “Park wide” are rarely matched in terms of 
the audience attending. 

Advice sought 

10.Our evaluation of the three Annual Events to date is that, whilst the 
events receive largely positive feedback, the relatively low attendance 
is increasingly hard to justify in terms of the human and financial 
resources outputs involved. Therefore the Park Authority is open to 
ideas about other mechanisms for communicating with the general 
public. 

Forum members are asked their views on the following: 

A. Are there alternatives to the Annual Event that meet the objectives of 
communicating with the public about outdoor access issues and giving 
a forum for discussion? 

B. Should event(s) be ‘themed’ more tightly? Do you have ideas for future 
themes? 

C. Should there be more events of a smaller scale on each side of the 
Park maybe every other year? 

D. Are there other ways of attracting people to conference/workshop 
type of events? 

Fran Pothecary 
Outdoor Access Officer 

franpothecary@cairngorms.co.uk