The Meeting of Minds – ESS 2026

It was like the Who’s Who of skydiving. Bill Booth, Norman Kent, Pete Allum, Kate Cooper-Jensen, Armando Fattoruso, Maxine Tate, Willy Boeykens, Gustavo Cabana, Henny Wiggers… you get the picture.

For three days, 25-27 February, 53 speakers, over 50 exhibitors and 852 participants from 53 countries and every continent shared the Ilunion Alcora Hotel in Sevilla for a packed schedule of seminars, demonstrations and discussions on skydiving safety and development. Sevilla is a beautiful, vibrant city, many people took days around the symposium to explore.

The European Skydiving Symposium (ESS) is held every two years, and this was the sixth edition. Previously it has always been held in Poland, home country of the organisers, Arkadiusz ‘Maya’ Majewski, Marta Molińska, and Kasia Witkowska. They recently created the European Skydiving Foundation to organise ESS.

“We established the Foundation so we can easily organize the ESS events within our organization. It’s a fully non-profit activity created to bring together world-class speakers, manufacturers and fun jumpers and create synergy between many different skydiving aspects that affect one another. 
If ever there is any profit created on ESS events, we plan to donate it to a special fund for children of deceased skydivers that would be dedicated to education support.

Arkadiusz Majewski

2026 saw a change of venue to Sevilla, and added Skydive Spain as a partner. Elias Garzón López and Victor Fernandez Grande  of Skydive Spain joined the organising team, which ‘became a family’ during the challenges of a new venue and new approach. The link with Skydive Spain also added a skydiving element to the symposium, with a testing day held on 28 February and 1 March, just after the Symposium, and events running at Skydive Spain after that, so many could extend the fun and the range of their holiday.

The Venue

The Ilunion Alcora hotel was a fine choice of venue, with an easy, open layout, wide corridors leading to a high  rotunda with a water feature, opening to bar/restaurant area, outside terrace (with swimming pool ) and spurs to the speakers’ rooms. The exhibitors had stands down the corridors and around the rotunda. There was a steady flow of participants walking by and stopping at the various stands, and a lively buzz of excited conversation at the coffee breaks between talks. New this year was the Rising Stars room, where nine relatively new businesses had been offered the chance to display their wares for free. This investment in up-and-coming skydiving companies extended to a presentation where each owner had exactly five minutes to explain their ideas.  I love the support offered to the businesses; the community will benefit also, with the development of these great innovations.

The symposium opened with a welcome and introduction from the organising team, the first of many times they graced the stage with well-chosen words. It was gratifying to hear the attendance figures (852) were the highest ever. Each edition has grown in numbers. It was a risk to move to a new country, well done team that it paid off. There were 71%  of new participants, a healthy growth profile.

Then Pete Allum gave a fascinating and inspiring travel through time, ‘The Love for Flight’, beginning with his first jump and ending by a collective visualisation of the future of time.   He was followed by Bill Booth’s entertaining history of innovation, then Norman Kent, also travelling through time, explaining how he must visualise the future in order to fly to the perfect place in the present to get the shot. Wow!  You see what I mean about this symposium being full of living legends.

The proceedings were expertly and excitedly directed by MCs Regan Tetlow, Sharron Tetlow and Raul Ramos. The speaker programme was inspired; such an amazing line-up of movers and shakers in the sport. The wide range of topics was subdivided into ‘tracks’, sections of interest to specific people; fun jumpers, AFF instructors, tandem instructors, DZOs. There were seminars analysing incidents of all types, you could learn about getting started in wingsuit base, skydiving specific first aid workshops, find out about reserve size choice, learn how to make your DZ stand out in AI searches, or how to do big-ways safeishly – the programme went on and on. I defy anyone to come to ESS and not find loads of seminars of interest.

Coffee breaks with free refreshments were built in, perfect for discussing the seminars and the ideas presented. The importance of sharing such knowledge cannot be underestimated. The long-term positive effect on the sport is huge, as attendees return to different dropzones worldwide with new concepts, approaches and information. I spoke to someone who had been jumping for two years, he said he learned more in three days than his entire time in the sport.

The App

ESS has a dedicated App, with the full agenda, photo gallery, news, message board and more. It’s super helpful.. you star the seminars you’re most interested in, and it buzzes you with a ten minute call.. it does the same for the speakers. The audience can ask questions in the App, so when speakers finish their presentations, the questions are already prepared. This method encouraged lots of people to ask questions. Everyone can rate the speaker with 1 to 5 stars, and add comments if they wish. The message boards allow people to share rides, information, rooms etc. The photo galleries were fun and the news kept everyone informed.

Every evening there was a raffle with the most incredible prizes, such as a block of 25 jump tickets, a custom-made  jumpsuit or an hour of tunnel time. Regan and the AV team made the raffle highly entertaining, with jokes, sound effects, and no waiting around. If the winner wasn’t there, the raffle prize was quickly re-drawn, in a cool system that teased the audience by showing the names it was cycling through.

This was followed by the video Day Tape, quickly and skilfully created by the audio-visual team, who  were on hand all day managing the creative material of the speakers.  They did a fantastic job.

The first evening we were given a very special treat. Film Producer Gulcin Gilbert premiered the documentary she has made about the 400-way record, set in 2006. Skilfully splicing together recent footage with that of twenty years ago, the film tells the story of so many different challenges that had to be overcome to set this record. It is a phenomenal movie, an emotional journey that has you laughing, crying and living the experience. Gulcin rightly received a standing ovation at the end, the applause seemed never-ending.

Then there was a photo call for participants in the 400-way; surprising how many were still active in the sport after all this time.

“This was such an amazing highlight of the ESS2026. I’m from the generation that didn’t get a chance to be part of this historic event. During the movie I had goosebumps all over, the excitement was growing to the point that we all wondered if they were actually going to break the record! Which is kind of silly when you think of this, yet that’s how it was. It was such an honor to see so many world record holders coming up on stage after the premiere. Simply – wow!”

 Marta Molinska

The following night featured a magic  and comic show with entertainer Martin Mall. Then a real treat, a selection of Norman Kent’s movies, both recent and classics, introduced by Norman.

Last Night

The final night the last activity of the symposium itself was a blind packjob race – which you have to see to appreciate how entertaining it is.  Contestants were packing pilot chutes into bags, mis-threading bridles, losing control, starting again…  I’m happy no one is going to jump these packjobs!

Finally, the ESS awards – thanks and appreciation were given to the hordes of people who make ESS happen – from the volunteers who stuff the goodie bags to the ambassadors who spread information about the event, the sponsors who fund much of it, and the speakers, who are the hub, the core material and magic of the event.

The Tom Noonan Best Speaker Award, chosen by the audience as it’s calculated from the ratings on the App, most deservedly went to Jim Cowan. I saw both his presentations; they were just brilliant! Discussion of ‘what to do’ in various extreme situations – wraps, entanglements, two canopies out.  This potentially alarming material was delivered with passion, humour and clear explanation.

FlyLodie won the best booth award. The after-party was epic! Held at Casino Admiral, hosted by ToraTora, the dancing, chatting and laughter went on till well after normal bedtime, as no-one wanted the ESS vibe to end.

The party wasn’t quite over for many, as the following day featured a Testing Day at nearby Skydive Spain. 15 manufacturers travelled from the theoretical environment of the symposium to the practical environment of the dropzone, to offer skydivers the chance to jump and test rigs, canopies, helmets, audibles, etc.  Various skills and coaching events were run in the following days, piggybacking on the symposium so jumpers could get a double dose of events on one flight ticket.

I came home energised by this fabulous event. Talking to so many amazing people under one roof, the influx of so much new information, and the great vibes that come when our tribe gets together.

I want to give credit to the whole organising team for the voluntary effort they put in to make the European Skydiving Symposium the success it is. They seem to think of everything. Attendees, speakers, sponsors, everyone feels part of the ESS community. Marta, in particular, has an amazing way of drawing everyone together as a team, so we are all extra motivated and inspired to give our best. Over 5,000 emails, 182 video calls and 10 panic attacks were made to put the event together. Thank you guys, feel proud of your outstanding work!

Marta, your ability to make it all happen regardless of obstacles and surprises was truly inspiring!

Jim Cowan

To the entire organizing team – you have much to be proud of. You pulled off an event that brought together the best of the industry where everyone wins by sharing information, making new business connections and making more friends who share the love for the sport. This event was a tremendous success. I feel honored to have been part of it and grateful to be in this group of thought leaders and inspiring human beings.

James La Barrie

You will have to wait util 2028 for the next European Skydiving Symposium, which will also be in Sevilla. After that the years will alternate – 2030 Warsaw, 2032 Sevilla, 2034 Warsaw, and so on. There are live translations into 40 different languages so it’s open to everyone. Don’t miss the next one!