7th Women In Board & Action Sports Conference, Barcelona Images
The 7th annual conference for Women in Board and Action Sports was hosted in Barcelona and brought together fifty passionate and proactive individuals from the industry. We have a full roundup and image gallery from the event.
Last weekend Barcelona hosted its first Women in Board & Action Sports Conference. Over 50 women gathered from all over Europe to enjoy 4 days of inspirational conferences, networking, wakeboarding, skateboarding and dirt biking.
The event kicked off with a webinar with Women’s Skateboarding Alliance’s Mimi Knoop and Mahfia TV’s Kim Woozy. During this webinar not only the delegates in Barcelona took part but every one that had an internet connection was able to join and watch the interesting debate about how to make yourself valuable and start a successful career in the action sports industry. Some of the most powerful tips Woozy gave included on how to set your value: “Every job can be quantified by an amount of money. Find an hourly rate, a day rate: research the industry standards. Communicate this number to the employer or hiring person so they know what your price is. And keep in mind,if they need you, or do you need them?”
Knoop added that “There is no magic formula but having a conscious plan is the way to go and also remember that saying ‘NO’ is OK and it’s also powerful. There will be future opportunities so it is important to set the bar and keeping it there.”
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After the first Catalonian evening we set off to the venue in Espai de Mar in La Barceloneta, where Diputació de Barcelona gave a warm welcome to all the ladies who joined us and introduced this year’s keynote speaker, Marion Schmitz.
Schmitz shared her insights about Content Marketing giving tips and lessons learnt through her career and share examples of the biggest and most successful industry campaigns. She underlined the power of the ‘good storytelling’ but also she advised to “look at the data, the results. Collect the results and then make your decisions based on them. Numbers are powerful and reading and understanding the data will help you make decisions and improve the success and reach of your content and brand”.
From content marketing we moved on to the technology in sports. From tracking our movements to making our live easier, Mel Cheng, from Kiska, took us in a journey of discovery where the limits take a whole new meaning. From useless connected umbrellas to self diagnosis and performance improvement, Cheng not only revealed and made us all think about the importance of data collection but also gave us hints about all the possibilities available to us. After showing us some real time feedback prototypes and explaining the creation and innovation process, which involves constantly going back to the beginning, she underlined the importance of the common sense and the moral limits. “Because we can do it,
it doesn’t mean we need or that we should do it. As the future is here and we need to be careful as inventing a machine more intelligent than the humans is becoming possible”.
From the analysis of the world around us to an introspective into knowing the difference between a successful life and a meaningful one. Rita Pires shared her story and how after being a professional athlete for 20 years she has transitioned to being an entrepreneur and has created a meaningful life for herself.
To wrap up the first day of conferences, Cameron Norsworthy from the Flow Centre, told us what the scientific definition of ‘Flow’ is and how they use it to work with athletes and improve their performance. He guided us from the understanding of this ‘optimal mental state of functioning’ to its 9 dimensions and its processes in the brain. “Our work with the athletes goes through understanding and identifying when the have been in the Flow state and try to replicate it with systematic methods”.
After all these inspiring conferences the delegates had time to enjoy La Barceloneta beach and go Stand Up Paddling to get energy for the next day.
Day 2 started with the professional alpine climber and Patagonia ambassador, Zoe Hart, who used her personal story to give business and career advice to the delegates. From being the fourth American woman to earn her International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations status, to having to find her own professional spot in the French Mountain Guiding scene to becoming a mother. Zoe made it clear that believing in yourself and having a climbing, life or business partner that believes and encourages you, are the first steps towards making it to the top.
From a very inspirational speaker we transitioned to a very technical topic: 360 video and virtual reality. Dot Lung talked about the possibilities this technology can offer us in the sports industry and also in real life. “This is not the future, it’s the NOW and you have to make your followers experience what you’ve lived to engage them.”
‘Present Your Project’ is a space we offer to those entrepreneurs that come to our events to share their ideas and get feedback from the audience. It’s a great opportunity for the entrepreneurs to share their purpose and get our unique audience to discuss their ideas. You can learn all the details about the presented projects and get in touch with them on our website. On top of that, the money we collect on the last night raffle goes to one of this projects. This year, Ruffboards by Lena Hödl and Skate Dates by Rachael Sherlock had to share the 400€ we collected on the raffle as there was a tie in the votes.
The day finished with Emily Ackner, Fit for that founder, fitness coach and runner who uses the challenge to find the balance. She shared they how’s and the why’s on training for a purpose before taking all the ladies to the beach and leading a fitness workshop.
Our main takeaways from this weekend are, on the technical, marketing & sales side: “In a global society, we need to have a deeper understanding on who our audience is,
it’s not a target audience anymore but ‘personas’, and knowing them will be our key to start engaging with them.”
And on the entrepreneurial, personal and career growth side:
“Finding your own purpose and having a clear plan will allow you to achieve your goals and not get lost along the way. But remember you always have the option so say ‘NO’ and that is OK. Define your own value.”
This annual conference has been unique because we have not only had an outstanding speakers panel but have also taken the delegates to enjoy some of the best facilities around the Barcelona Province: Saturday evening we wakeboarded in the Malamar Wakepark and Sunday we jumped on a dirt bike in La Poma Bike Park guided by local bikers Gemma Corbera and Laura Celdrán and finished the weekend on a Skateboard in the Skate Agora skatepark with JM Roura and Louisa Menke.
Last, but not least, this year’s delegates nominated 3 organisations (non-profit), companies and individuals that they think deserve the recognition and an award from the Women in Board & Action Sports Community, they will be publicly announced shortly and all the community will be able to vote before we choose a winner on each category. So keep connected and follow Women in Board & Action Sports on Facebook and Instagram.
More information: www.womeninboardsports.com
