CWA Blog Archive-Why Does The CWA's Industry Survey Matter

Why Does The CWA's Industry Survey Matter

Pdf Summary

This Q&amp;A with CWA Executive Director Paula Horwitz explains the value of the CWA's Industry Survey and previews improvements to its newest edition. The survey, which becomes an interactive report of the indoor climbing industry, is taking submissions, and the interview walks through what participants can expect and why the data matters. Horwitz explains that respondents will see familiar questions alongside a few reminiscent of past versions but more effectively presented. The repetitive, year-over-year nature is deliberate and valuable: it allows comparison of data over time, giving the climbing community a reliable view of how the industry is performing, what trends are emerging, and where opportunities lie. Consistency across years is what turns individual snapshots into meaningful longitudinal insight. The article details concrete improvements to this edition. The CWA organized the questions to reduce completion time, added a save-and-return-later function so the survey can be completed across multiple sessions, reworked several questions for clarity, and made other refinements. Collectively these changes significantly reduced completion time, now averaging 25-30 minutes per location, while setting up an even more informative report. The piece encourages gym owners to participate. The throughline is that the Industry Survey matters because it produces reliable, comparable, industry-wide data that benefits the whole community, and that the CWA has worked to make participating easier so more gyms will contribute. Year-over-year consistency lets the industry track its own performance, spot trends, and identify opportunities in a way no single gym could manage alone, while the usability improvements, shorter completion time, save-and-return functionality, clearer questions, lower the barrier to participation. For operators, the message is that contributing to the survey is both easier than before and genuinely worthwhile, since the resulting interactive report gives every participant a data-grounded view of the industry they operate in, making collective participation a shared investment in understanding the business everyone shares.

Asset Caption

A Q&A with CWA Executive Director Paula Horwitz on the Industry Survey's value and improvements. Year-over-year consistency produces reliable, comparable data revealing industry performance, trends, and opportunities. This edition reduced completion time to 25-30 minutes with reorganized questions and a save-and-return function, making participation easier and the resulting report more informative.