CWA Partners with Monument to Produce Orientation Videos

At the 2024 CWA Summit in Portland, the CWA announced a new project in partnership with the Monument Sports Group to provide orientation videos for the indoor climbing industry. Attendees at the show had a chance to see some of the preliminary graphics and see some short snippets.

Climbing gyms started making orientation videos well before 2020, but the pandemic drastically increased video usage in climbing gyms.

The CWA’s most recent Industry Practices survey showed that 37.5% of respondents were using video orientations for climbing activities. Video orientations can help streamline the induction process for new climbers - but more importantly, they are a great communication tool for new climbers and can be invaluable when managing a claim.

This new orientation video series will help gyms who may have been struggling to get their video projects started by providing immediate access to quality content. It will also be useful for gyms that already have videos to see another communication approach or use in addition to their content.

There will be 5 separate videos in total covering general orientation to climbing, bouldering, top rope, and lead climbing. Individual facilities will be able to combine them into one long video, insert them into their videos, or offer each video at individual orientation touchpoints.

These videos will be animated with a neutral color palette so they will blend easily into any climbing facility’s branding without worrying about contrasting imagery from other gyms. The animated characters will be designed in a fun neutral way that still represents the diversity of people who enjoy climbing.

To allow maximum customization, there won’t be any spoken narration. Text on the screen of the video will allow viewers to read at their own pace and not be distracted by music or any other noises in the gym.

In most cases, it will be best to pair the video orientation with an in-person component, just like with current gym orientation videos.

No video can teach people how to climb or all the rules and amazing features of your facility. 

Building on that idea, we are already seeing some facilities offer short introductory videos right before key orientations and proficiency assessments, like belay checks.

This video series is designed with this in mind.

You should easily be able to offer a quick top rope video review right before a belay check, for example. Many member management systems support this approach already and can even gather an additional signature as climbers get more experience and go through different orientations. 

The complete video series should be available before the end of the year and is currently in development.
If you have questions or suggestions please reach out to the CWA or start a new discussion in the CWA Community Hub. Stay tuned for information on pricing and how to access and use these videos. 

We love to hear from members about what they need from the CWA and we’d love to hear from you.