Importance: Critical! There is a very important assignment at the end of this lesson.
This lesson looks at the safety briefing(s) that must take place at the start of every session. This is an absolutely essential part of the process, and it’s important that the right things get said. This lesson will take around 30 minutes to complete, plus the time taken to complete the assignment.
The training video discusses:
- Why we do the briefing
- The various topics that should be covered
- Briefing the other instructors and/or staff members.
- Practicing your briefing
Check Understanding!
- Do you understand why we do the safety briefing?
- Do you understand what should be in a safety briefing, and why?
- Do you understand what sort of things you should run through with other instructors or team members before the session?
If you’re unsure on any of these, go back and review the lesson again. Otherwise, you can move on to the assignment below.
Your Assignment
Your assignment is to record and submit a video of you delivering a safety briefing. This is a critical assessment – if you can’t deliver a proper safety briefing then you are not ready to become an instructor.
Download this template card and practice doing it – you can make it relevant to your own venue. You may use the card as a prompt when delivering the briefing on your video (indeed, we highly recommend using prompts when delivering any safety briefings, no matter how well practiced you may be!).
Here is a recording of a full safety briefing. It’s about 5 minutes long in total – 5 very valuable minutes that sets up your lesson and ensures the best possible safety outcomes for your clients. (Plus removing any embarrassment caused by clients losing hats, sunglasses or inadvertantly taking their carkeys onto the water!).
Remember, it doesn’t matter if you get things in the wrong order. All that matters is that you cover everything that needs to be said.
Submitting your safety briefing
- The video should clearly show your face and upper body (so that your hands can be seen)
- The audio must be of sufficient quality to be easy to listen to.
- Video from mobile phone is absolutely fine, this does not need to be a professional studio project!
- The video does not necessarily need to be shot at a paddleboarding venue, but it will add authenticity.
- The safety briefing can be based on your own local vanue and conditions.
- The briefing MUST follow the general format detailed here. Failure to include any of the important material outlined in this lesson will constitute a fail.
- It is permissible to use the prompt card.
Submitting your video
Once you’ve made your video please send it to us by any of the following methods:
- Email (if the file is of a sensible size to send this way) to supinstructorsnz@gmail.com
- Dropbox (send us the link)
- Wetransfer or any other file sharing system
- Post it on youtube (or similar) and send us the link
This does’t have to be done right now, but must be completed before your qualification can be issued.
Assignment Small Print
The assignment process goes like this.
- Once we have received your video, we will review it.
- We will respond by email with a debrief of the assignment.
- If the assignment is satisfactory, it will be marked as completed.
- If it is not satisfactory, the reasons will be given in the debrief, and you will be invited to have another go at it.
- Once we have received your second attempt at the assignment, we will review it and debrief it.
- If the assignment is satisfactory, it will be marked as completed.
- If the assignment is still not satisfactory, the process will repeat. You can take as many attempts as you need to complete the assignment, and each time we will give you feedback, and if it is still not satisfactory, a full debrief on what needs to be done to reach the standard required. However, there will be an additional $50 charge for each review, after the first two, to cover the reviewer’s time. This fee will need to be paid before any further assignments can be marked. Realistically though, multiple failing is an unlikely scenario. You may not get the assignment right first time, but with the feedback you then receive there is no reason why you shouldn’t be able to nail it second go. If at this point it is clear that there are some wider problems that need to be addressed, which may impact your likelihood of being able to complete the qualification, we will address these on an individual basis.