2026 Community Conversations
With the busy January and February calendar with British Orienteering Development Conference, it has been decided to focus the SOA Community Conversations between March and December in 2026.
The idea of Community Conversation sessions is to create a space to bring members together to share experiences, successes, challenges and ideas around particular themes. They are open discussions and everyone is very welcome to come along, and contribute thoughts, practice and learning from your experience.
We hope that any discussions can potentially mean that successful ideas are taken forward elsewhere to support the continuous development of orienteering in Scotland. SOA staff and Board members participate in each session to support discussion and listen feedback and suggestions.
We have a suggested calendar of topics below but if there is something you think would benefit to be discussed please let us know by emailing our COO Nikki Howard nikki@scottish-orienteering.org or Marketing and Communications Director Katherine Ivory marketing@scottish-orienteering.org
| Month/Date | Community Conversation Topic |
| March | Progression and retention of newcomers (developing pathways, welcoming clubs etc) |
| April | Attracting and supporting juniors and families (developing pathways) |
| May | Major events, and supporting clubs to deliver these well. Review (post JK) and forward look (Six Days progress) |
| June | Supporting and encouraging club volunteers and event officials (developing pathways) |
| July | Break for the holidays |
| August | Break for the holidays |
| September | Delivering quality events and activities (formats, innovations, planning / organising considerations etc). Urban, Forest. Technical aspects– safety, access etc |
| October | Supporting coach education – participation, progression and performance |
| November | Building inclusive club communities (whole-club training and other events, internal communications etc; inclusion and welfare) |
| December | Review of the year. Strategy progress and forward look; club perspectives on supporting its implementation |