Whether you want to take theory sessions from the Diver Training Programme, find out more about a specific subject or sharpen your skills, we have a webinar for you.
We have been working with the Diver Resources Team and our incredibly knowledgable volunteers to create a programme of webinars that covers special interest, diver training and BSAC updates. We're sure to have something for you!
Disclaimer: These webinars are put together by volunteers. Neither the volunteers nor BSAC are liable for any damages arising from any action taken as a result of watching these webinars. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute endorsement or recommendation by BSAC. The views expressed by volunteers are their own.
Do I need to sign up for webinars in advance?
Training webinars: Yes, please sign up. To ensure your attendance is registered and counts towards your Diver Grade, you may be required to purchase a training pack. These are now available for all to buy on the BSAC Shop.
Special interest webinars: Simply click the booking buttons to sign up for the webinar in advance.
Booking for all webinars closes at 17:00 the day before the webinar.
Please note all times are UK (BST / GMT) unless otherwise stated
If you'd like to request specific training, please fill out this form. Any special interest topics you'd like featured? Or guest speakers you'd like us to ask? Please email us and we'll see what we can do!
Booking for all webinars closes at 17:00 the day before.
Week beginning 10 January |
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| Mon 10 Jan |
Kernow Dive Fest: what has made it such a success?20 years ago, a group of BSAC branches in Cornwall and Devon started working together to share instructors and run training weekends for courses that were difficult to organise within a small branch. This inter-branch co-operation quickly developed into an annual dive festival which, as the Kernow Dive Fest, is now in its 20th year. From the start, the Kernow Dive Fest supported a charity, DDRC Healthcare, who run the main hyperbaric facility in the region. Jon Parlour, from Plymouth Sound Divers, will share some of the organisers’ experiences with you. |
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| Tue 11 Jan |
Know and Grow: The big winsBSAC Marketing Manager Debbie Powell will share some useful tips, information and support on offer to help your club with its recruitment and retention. There will be a focus on what will deliver the largest gain for the least effort. |
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| Sat 15 Jan |
Incident report 2020 and lessons learnedThe published 2020 Diving Incident Report reflects the restrictions on diving activity during 2020 and this is reflected in a consequent reduction in the number of reported incidents. Although the reduction in reported incidents makes it harder to draw definitive conclusions or lessons learned from the 2020 report, this presentation will provide an overview and highlight continuing need to maintain diving safety. |
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Week beginning 17 January |
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| Tue 18 Jan 19:30 - 20:30 |
Know and Grow: Club cultureBSAC Council member, James Mudge, and Training Officer at Exeter University SAC, Laura Bramwell, will talk about why clubs need to think about their culture, what a healthy culture means and why it matters. Full of advice and tips for clubs to take away. |
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| Wed 19 Jan 19:30 - 20:30 |
Newly-qualified instructors: help and guidanceTaking your first steps as a newly qualified diving instructor can sometimes be daunting! And integrating new instructors in your already established training team can also be challenging. In this session, Advanced Instructor, David Ashmore, will provide some help and guidance aimed at not only NQIs but also Training/Diving Officers, as well as committees. For NQIs, we'll talk through what your next steps could be and how to make sure you become the very best instructor you can be. For branches, we'll provide advice on how to make sure NQIs can be supported through those difficult first few courses as well as how to embrace those up-to-date methods and ways of teaching which they will inevitably bring to your instructor team. Whilst this session is aimed at NQIs and TO/DOs, we welcome anyone who might be interested in the topic. |
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| Thu 20 Jan 19:30 - 20:30 |
Be a better Dive Leader by applying human factorsEveryone loves a story. We will look at some real-life diving incidents involving Divemasters and draw human factors lessons from them. This is learning from others. Mike Mason will also provide some specific advice on how Dive Leaders can apply human factors to make their diving safer, more productive and more enjoyable. Mike is an experienced military pilot in his day job and works as a Divemaster at weekends. He is also a BSAC Dive Leader. He is striving to improve diving safety through the application of human factors. |
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Week beginning 24 January |
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| Tue 25 Jan 19:30 - 20:30 |
Know and Grow: Recruitment and retentionDiving Officer at Berkshire Alumni Divers SAC, Dave Ashmore will share some fresh thinking and thought-proving ideas with this in-depth session to help clubs recruit and retain more members. |
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Week beginning 31 January |
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| Mon 31 Jan 19:30 - 20:30 |
Behind the scenes of Advanced Diver module AP2Michael Benko, Diving Officer at Putney Sub-Aqua Club, will discuss his experience of completing his AP2 module on dive planning and management. The module is designed to teach you how to run a two-day diving event and the webinar will cover the research, planning and execution of Michael’s project diving an unknown barge outside Portland Harbour. |
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| Tue 1 Feb 19:30 - 20:30 |
Know and Grow: Social mediaDigital marketing expert and club member Dave Ashmore will take clubs through pretty much everything clubs need to know to succeed on social media. The session will include your platform options, content and strategy advice. |
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Week beginning 7 February |
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| Mon 7 Feb 19:30 - 20:30 |
Identifying motor torpedo boatsBrian Millar will cover the three classes of Royal Navy motor torpedo boats and how to identify them. This webinar comes from a diving project conducted off Portland to identify a motor torpedo boat wrecksite. |
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| Tue 8 Feb 19:30 - 20:30 |
Know and Grow: CollaborationBSAC Coaching Advisor Mark Paisey will share his thoughts and advice on how clubs can make the most of being part of the BSAC community. Mark will share practical tips on how clubs can collaborate with other parts of the network to achieve significant mutual gain. |
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| Wed 9 Feb 19:30-20:30 |
Dive Leader and the role in the communityBecoming a Dive Leader isn’t only about diving a little deeper or leading less experienced divers in the water. In this session, FCD David Ashmore will talk in detail about what, as a Dive Leader, you can do to make your club and the wider BSAC community a better place to be for everyone. Whilst this session is aimed at qualified and trained Dive Leaders, it is open to anyone who is interested. |
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| Thu 10 Feb 19:30 - 20:30 |
Jim and Ged's around the world diving adventureJim and Ged Brockett took time out between jobs to sail around the world diving at every location possible on the way. This is their story. |
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Week beginning 14 February |
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| Tue 15 Feb |
Know and Grow: Diving Officer Q&ABSAC Diving Support Advisor Geoff Bacon fields questions from Diving Officers most days at Headquarters. This session will cover the key elements and information related to the role, some FAQs and then an open session to take questions. |
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| Wed 16 Feb 19:30 - 20:30 |
Dive Leader: planning a diving dayIn this session, FCD David Ashmore will explore in more depth the processes and practices used to plan and manage a diving day. This session expands on the information learned in DL module, DT8, but no prior knowledge is assumed or required. The session will cover planning a simple trip to a quarry, through to organising a day out with the club RIB. Whilst this session is aimed at qualified and trained Dive Leaders, it is open to anyone who is interested. |
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Week beginning 21 February |
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| Tue 22 Feb 19:30 - 20:30 |
Know and Grow: Membership Secretary Q&AThis session will cover the key elements and information related to the Membership Secretary role, some FAQs and then an open session to take questions. |
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| Wed 23 Feb 19:30 - 20:30 |
Dive Leader: learning from incidentsEach year, BSAC publishes a detailed report on all of the diving incidents which occurred over the preceding 12 month period. Whilst reading the report is often a sobering exercise, in this session, FCD David Ashmore will talk about how we can turn this into a learning experience, how we can apply thought processes and techniques to prevent them from happening again. Whilst this session is aimed at qualified and trained Dive Leaders, it is open to anyone who is interested. |
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Week beginning 28 February |
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| Mon 28 Feb 19:30 - 20:30 |
SCUBA, robotics and 3D imageryThis talk will highlight part of Karen Boswarva's (BSAC Marine Environment Specialist Scotland) PhD research conducted recently at the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), Oban. This work compared surveys conducted by scuba and remote operated vehicles (ROVs), testing 3D photogrammetry as a potential method for managing commercial shellfish species. You will learn about:
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Week beginning 7 March |
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| Mon 7 Mar 19:30 - 20:30 |
Marine identification: taxonomy and classificationBSAC's Marine Identification course is a great day event that will introduce a diver into the underwater world. Advanced Diver, Steven Winstanley, will provide additional knowledge to help understand the grouping and relations between different plants, animals and things! The presentation will scratch the surface of some questions like when is a plant not a plant; what looks like a plant but are animals; when is a coral not a coral; fish that dissolve their brain and become static digestive systems; what the difference between an anemone and a coral; and more. |
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Week beginning 21 March |
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| Wed 23 Mar 19:30 - 20:30 |
Plastics and the OceanKate is the Volunteer and Community Engagement Manager for the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) in South East England. The Marine Conservation Society has worked on the problem of plastics since 1994 and we needs help of users of the sea and wider communities to succeed. The ocean are currently facing twin climate and biodiversity crises, partly fuelled by the single-use plastic problem. The MCS is calling for all UK nations to go further than the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive. We want a ban on plastic wet wipes and cigarette filters and correct labelling of products, including biodegradability and other 'green claims'. The MCS's annual Plastic Challenge, which they run every July, helps us understand how much single-use plastic we could avoid, and highlights where action is needed from retailers, manufacturers and politicians. In this talk we’ll examine what threats there are to ocean health and how to expand our clean seas work to campaign and lobby for change. We'll also be taking a look at why plastics cause such an issue in the ocean, what we know about the impact and what we are we doing about it and how you can help. |
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Week beginning 28 March |
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| Mon 28 Mar 19:30 - 20:30 |
Midlands Diving Chamber: hyperbaric medicine |
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