European Skydiving Symposium 2024
Article published by Skydive Mag
Here it comes – the 5th edition of ESS is taking place on 6-8th March 2024, again in Warsaw, Poland. This is seriously the best way to start your next season: 3 days packed with knowledge, experience, great deals from manufacturers and… parties!
Experience boost like no other
The previous edition, back in 2022, was a great success. 550+ skydivers packed in one place to learn, share experience and knowledge, discuss business, make deals, and have fun. Civilians and military representatives; students, fun jumpers and professionals; manufacturers and end-users; a full representation of our diverse, colorful, and exciting sport.
If you wonder if it’s worth spending time and money on attending, we can tell you this: with the intense growth of skydiving popularity, investing in knowledge was never so important as today. Taking part in the Symposium will make you much more ready for whatever comes, will give you new knowledge and perspective on already known procedures but also – will let you benefit from the mistakes of others.
And this is priceless.
The main idea of the event is to bring the European community together and prepare for the season 2024 – says Marta Molinska, ESS co-organizer from Sky Camp Drop Zone – After the wintertime, even experienced jumpers may feel some anxiety before the first jump of the year, not to mention Students. We consider the Symposium the Big Safety Days before the new season.
Content Variety of the 5th edition
The European Skydiving Symposium is a conference around the safety of skydiving. The 5th edition will present 5 stages:
- Fun Jumpers (all levels)
- Tandem/Camera: powered by UPT
- AFF Instructors powered by MaxFly
- Riggers powered by Vigil
- DZ Management powered by Cypres
We know each group of our community needs different presentations. If you’re an experienced Tandem Master, you won’t need to listen about the dos and don’ts on a new dropzone. Still, you’d more likely want to listen about the factors that influence the tandems exit order – says Arek “Maya” Majewski from LOT G7, organizer of the event – But if you’re just about to hit your first 100 jumps, you might find a lot of insights that are not really a part of AFF course. Very often, there is not enough time during the jumping days to explain such matters as the importance of the separations between the groups, jump run mysteries, or risks that come with a brand-new GoPro on your helmet.
And – obviously – there are some aspects of skydiving that we all should care about, like potential emergencies on the plane. We’re in the same boat here, literally.
The agenda is under construction, but some big names are already confirmed. For the first time in years, Brian Germain will come to Europe and give a talk about the general approach to safety in skydiving. Also, Regan Tetlow already confirmed his contribution as the MC of the event!
This will be a great start of the Symposium, and more of the good stuff follows:
- Albert Berchtold, USPA
- Beau Riebe, Performance Designs
- Maxine Tate, Flight-1
- Meredith Ottery, UPT
- Noah Watts, UPT
- Tim Parrant, koala_in_the_sky
- Tom Parker, SunPath
- Jens Gronemeyer, Alti-2
- James La Barrie, Beyond Marketing
- Sebastian Dratwa, Sky Camp
- Lesley Gale, SkydiveMag
- Augusto Bartelle
- Simon Chelmicki
- … more to come!
Have an idea of your own to contribute? You can submit your topic in the Call-4-Content form.
The conference like no other
After the success of the 4th edition in 2022, the team already started preparations for the next event. By the decision of the main organizer – Arek ‘Maya’ Majewski from LOTG7 – the European Skydiving Symposium takes place every two years to make sure it doesn’t collide with the PIA in the USA.
– We didn’t want to make an impression of competition between the events. – continues Maya – The idea was for both events to complement each other. First, because our event takes place in Europe, and second – because it’s a conference instead of an expo event.
Here is what else to expect from the 5th edition:
- the new venue that allows not only to host a big conference but also to have a pool party, enjoy SPA, go bowling, explore outdoors, and even take your kid to the Symposium, thanks to all-day kids animations.
- shuttle buses from the airport to the venue,
- live translation of the seminars and the
- Grand Raffle daily,
- Blind Packjob Race,
- and a big After Party.
Also very important aspect of the Symposium is the Expo Hall.
Whether you’re looking for a business to make, information about gear, R&D or plan a pull-up cord to get for free, or measurements taken by your chosen manufacturer – this is the place to be.
Curious who you can meet?
See the list of Manufacturers who have already signed up!
Symposium Ambassadors
We understand that reaching all skydivers in Europe and beyond is difficult for a 3-people team. – says co-organizer Katarzyna Witkowska, Skydive Warsaw – That’s why we invited friends from various countries to help popularize the Symposium in their local skydiving communities.
This is how the Ambassadors Program was born. In each country, there is going to be one person (maybe more in the future) for the local skydivers to reach out to and learn everything about the event: tickets, transportation, agenda, mobile application, and all other aspects that are important to every Participant.
If you have any questions – check out the list of Ambassadors and reach out to the person you know and trust.
If there is no Ambassador for your country, you can also suggest someone!
Still not sure?
Here are some actual testimonials from previous Participants:
Dan Brodsky-Chenfeld (Skydive Perris):
What a great event! Exceeded my highest expectations, and they were high. The seminars were very interesting, and covered a variety of important topics. The organization ran flawlessly which made it smooth and easy to enjoy, learn, see old friends and make many new ones. Hoping to make it back in 2024!
Regan Tetlow (Air Sports Promotion):
That was, without a doubt, the best event of its kind I’ve seen in my 32 years as a skydiver.
Uschi Wagner (Pink Skydive Klatovy):
Marta, Maya and Katarzyna put together an amazing event! The European Skydiving Symposium was definitely the place to be this fall! 3 days fully dedicated to improving safety and learning more about our beautiful sport. Top speakers from all over the world shared their knowledge and inspired participants think outside the box. Thank you once again for this amazing event! It was an absolute pleasure to be part of it and I will be definitely back in 2024!
Willy Boeykens (Vigil):
You want it or not, you have now set up a new standard in our industry. Well done!
Tom Parker (SunPath):
This was the best skydiving conference I have ever attended!
Albert Berchtold (USPA):
An event of this magnitude is difficult to organize. You made it look easy, which is a real testament to how hard you worked behind the scenes. Thank you for creating this event and bringing the community together. Great job!
Herman Landsmann (Aerodyne):
An outstanding event, really top-notch! This counts for all aspects; seminars, exhibitions, hotel, the app etc. Thanks for the opportunity to participate. Already looking forward to 2024.
***
Logistics:
- Dates: 6-8 March 2024
- REGISTRATION
- “Super floater” tickets are available until 31 October 2023 for 43 EUR per conference day.
- “Formation base” ticket price is 53 EUR per conference day and is valid from 1 November 2022 to 31 January 2024.
- “Last diver” tickets are available from 1 February 2024 and cost 75 EUR per day.
- Venue: Warszawianka Hotel ****
(25% discount for Attendees applies when booking via e-mail rezerwacja@warszawianka.pl with “European Skydiving Symposium” in the message’s title). - Wi-fi: Unlimited free wi-fi during all 3 days of the conference.
- Other recommended hotels: Narvil Hotel, Hotel Pan Tadeusz, Zegrzynski Palace, Hotel 500 and all AirBnB options nearby.
- Travels: Shuttle buses from the international airport (WAW) twice a day. There is also a train going directly from the airport to the area of the venue.
0 Comments