Led by some of the UK's most successful sports coaches, scientists and leaders, as well as experts from the world of business, the military and the arts, the three-day event aims to get everyone in the Olympic and Paralympic Movement to consider how they can best prepare for London 2012.

With the Olympics now less than two years away, the conference, from November 8 until 10, comes at a time when crucial decisions are being made to selections, long-term training programmes, strategies and planning towards 2012 and beyond.

Keynote speakers at this year's conference, which will be hosted by BBC Sport's Hazel Irvine, will be legendary Scottish athletics coach Frank Dick, change and personal development expert Jim Lawless and the first man on earth to walk the Amazon, Ed Stafford.

Since its inception in 2001, the World Class Performance Conference has become the key event in the diaries of coaches, performance directors and sports science and medicine practitioners, as the one opportunity every year for the entire Olympic and Paralympic high performance community to come together to network, debate and share best practice.

Olympic gold medallist Rhona Martin, High Performance Development Coach for British Curling, said: "UK Sport's World Class Performance Conference has consistently provided us with an opportunity to learn from and develop with the very best from high performance sport.

"It is the only time in the year where we are able to share ideas and challenge ourselves to be the very best we can be as coaches and high performance practitioners."

Archery GB Performance Director, Sara Symington, said: "London 2012 is now within touching distance.

"The World Class Performance Conference enables everyone involved to assess how their preparations are shaping up and provides a very necessary focal point every year for all of us involved in high performance sport to listen, interact, think differently and be inspired.

"The theme 'courage' is both timely and wholly relevant as the nation's expectations increase and official medal targets become even more pertinent."