We greatly appreciated all those who joined us and shared their thoughts and concerns with our regional group listening sessions. In total, we had 5 sessions and 60 participants. Below are some of the key takeaways that we heard across all of the sessions:
Climate
- How can we make a meaningful contribution?
- Who is the right group to partner with?
- We have to do a better job as a company to think about it and make it a priority to implement
- As a small business, it’s extremely challenging and it feels like we are all on our own
- We need help sourcing renewable resources and tools
Inclusion
- More people getting into the outdoors, how do we engage and welcome them?
- How do we attract more diverse people to winter jobs? What to do when you don’t have the budget?
- How do we have a healthy conversation at our business and create on-ramps for inclusivity?
- As a small brand, how can we make an impact?
- How am I part of the problem? How can I be part of the solution?
Innovation
- How to reconcile the investments and advances made with virtual tools with the need for community created by in-person shows/meetings?
- How to thrive and grow by focusing on what is working?
- The importance of engaging consumers with online tools
- The need for sustainable packaging solutions
- How to address supply chain issues?
Take-Aways for SIA
- Create an active sharing platform for best practices and thought leadership and what is most impactful
- Develop opportunities to collaborate, bring the community together, creating interactions and being part of a bigger network
- Fewer conversations and more action
- More SIA education on these topics
- Who can we partner with in our own community?
- We can’t do it alone; we need resources, guidance and help
- The importance of storytelling
These are all critical points and we thank you for your contribution to the conversations!
We hear you. In response to these conversations and continuing to build on the foundation that SIA has been building over the last several years, we want to share the following plans, tools and resources for the coming season:
Climate
We are launching the ClimateLab later this fall, an SIA member-only collection of tools and resources to help businesses of all sizes address change within their company, share best practices, learn from their colleagues and make an impact. More information on SIA’s climate tools and resources, ClimateUnited, can be found here.
Inclusion
Starting in September, we will launch a monthly Inclusion Discussion Meetup, where we will unpack the framework to guide you and empower you as leaders to expand and grow within your inclusive journey. The intent is for you to feel enabled and equipped to engage in inclusive behaviors as soon as today. All of our inclusion resources can be found here.
Innovation
Through our educational presentations, we will continue to feature technology partners that help drive the industry forward. We will also strive to provide up-to-date information on supply chain and packaging. All of our current and past educational programming can be found here.
Community
In the spirit of creating community and the power that comes with collaboration, in late September SIA is launching Leadership for Transformation: Creating Positive Change in the Winter Outdoor Industry. A workshop for 21st Century Leaders. Fifty SIA members will take part in a series of 5 workshops that will focus on tackling issues around inclusion, climate, consumers and community building and the leadership skills necessary to usher in positive change. We invite you to apply! More information can be found here.
Click here to see all of SIA’s initiatives to drive the industry forward. We hope you will continue to participate in SIA programming, share your voice and taking part in bringing about positive change!
I am always open to feedback and would love to hear from you. Feel free to email me – [email protected].
Kind Regards,
Nick Sargent, SIA President