SportsEye Academy hosts panel discussion in Perth

Industry data analytics company, ActiveXchange has hosted a panel discussion in Perth this week to highlight some of the challenges and opportunities with data through aquatic, fitness, recreation and sporting communities in the wake of the COVID pandemic.

Staged on 23rd June as part of its SportsEye Academy – which offers training sessions and support – the discussions were led by ActiveXchange Chief Executive, James Ellender supported by consultant Brad Paatsch of the Paatsch Group, Lauren Nimmo of Royal Life Saving WA, Nick Wilkinson of the City of Canning and President of LIWA Aquatics and Coby Halpin of the City of Armadale.

Commenting on the conversations with leaders across government, aquatics, fitness, recreation and sport and those interested in the role of data, Ellender advised “we discussed the learnings from Australia's response to COVID-19 and the relationship between the private and public sectors.

“The event fast-tracked thoughts around the importance of data and how an evidence-based approach can be used for significant value creation.”

Guests raised relevant insights about the state of the industry, sports organisations, aquatic and recreations centres and local governments must be consistent in considering data as one of the main steps of their post-COVID strategies.

Paatsch highlighted how data could be used as a primary validation tool for resource acquisition, particularly with attaining essential project funding while Wilkinson further detailed how the value of data maximised by referencing multiple data streams and sources and how this will lead to a more efficient and capable tool into the future.

In addition, Nimmo elaborated on the challenges around the access of data sources and data collection, with emphasis placed on issues around the lack of standardisation across data resources.

The event also helped unlock further opportunities for collaboration and coordination across the sector, assisting growth and strengthening the value proposition of data.

Ellender added that the well attended event (all free tickets were claimed) was also well represented by organisations engaged in learning about the use of data in their day to day roles.

This was an important milestone for ActiveXchange, which continues to implement more actions through SportsEye Academy across the country, sharing the concept of ‘making data simple’.

Images: Key contributors to the SportsEye Academy event in Perth last week (top, from left: Coby Halpin of the City of Armadale, ActiveXchange Chief Executive James Ellender, Lauren Nimmo of Royal Life Saving WA and Nick Wilkinson of the City of Canning and President of LIWA Aquatics) and informal discussions at the event (below).