Undertaking Due Diligence to Select Vendors for Your Outdoor Learning Trip
Aaron Funnell
This workshop will focus on good practices when selecting vendors and subcontractors for your outdoor learning trips. The workshop includes steps in the due diligence process, various tools and templates you may use to assist you, and common areas of concern.
The session will incorporate data and a poster presentation from a study of 20 years of site visits in AEE-accredited programs, identifying trends and commonly unmet areas of compliance in adventure programs. This is particularly useful when studying potential vendors for the first time, to help understand their potential strengths and areas of concern.
This presentation is useful for teachers and trip organisers and will include some takeaway tools that can be used to assist your due diligence process of vendor selection.
About Aaron
Aaron is Chair of the Accreditation Council of the Association for Experiential Education. This is the longest-running accreditation program globally for outdoor learning and experiential education providers and includes school programs and outdoor education vendors.
Professionally, Aaron works as the Risk Management Consultant for Outward Bound International, overseeing a global risk management audit system in 35 countries, and helping Outward Bound Schools to thrive. He also operates Alinta Educational Services, providing management support for outdoor learning programs in the Asia Pacific region. He has been working in outdoor education for nearly thirty years, with extensive experience working in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Vietnam and China, as well as his native Australia.
