In the run up to the launch of Leeds for Change, Tidal ran a project to encourage skillsharing. As well as creating the skills pages for Leeds for Change, meeting with groups to find out what people wanted in terms of skillshare and contacting people in Leeds who had skills to share, we organised three skillsharing events, inviting people from grassroots groups across Leeds. The aim was to share skills but also encourage people to network.
We hope that in gathering information (via the skills quiz on Leeds for Change) about what skills people in Leeds have and are willing to share, as well as what skills people want to gain, more skillshares that are open to groups from across the city will happen.
This is a short guide to making them a success.
Find a trainer
You can use the information people have given about their skills through the Leeds for Change website to find a trainer – ask Tidal how to do this. You can also ask Tidal to look at the skills database info we compiled in the run up to the launch which has some detail on people who said they would sign up for Leeds for Change but who might not have yet.
If that doesn’t work then try the activist training collectives: Seeds for Change, Rhizome, Turning the Tide, Tripod, London Roots Collective.
Still no luck? – ask groups people at NGOs such as Friends of the Earth and phone people in Leeds doing that kind of work.
Book a date
Information we gathered in our survey of grassroots groups suggests that Sunday is the best day but that Saturday is also good. Most people preferred weekday evenings to day-times if it has to be a weekday. Find a date that works for you, the people wanting the training, the trainer, and the venue if you can. Try to give yourself at least a month to get people invited.
Find a venue
The ideal venue:
- is free
- has enough space for the workshop
- is wheelchair accessible
- has access to an urn/tea making facilities
- has access to somewhere to heat up food
- isn’t too hard to find
- other things you may need to consider are whether the venue has internet access, projector etc.
Finding a free venue is not too hard. The best bet is to get a student who is involved to book a room in the University. The larger Student Union rooms get booked up at weekends so give yourself plenty of time for this and it’s worth having a look at the size of the space.
Downstairs at Ebor Court is free, has space, has access to kitchens but does not have a wheelchair accessible toilet so you are automatically excluding a whole group of people. (There is a starbucks nearby which has a wheelchair accessible toilet and is open til 7pm)
Wharf Chambers and Oblong are also good choices but are not free – you might be able to negotiate a cheap room hire fee though. Also try Swarthmore.
Work out how long you will need the space in discussion with the trainer. Book the room for half an hour either side of the start and end times to allow you to set up and clear up.
Other things to consider
You might just want to keep it simple but these things are worth thinking about:
- Food and drink
If it is a long day you might need food. The Real Junk Food Project may be able to help with this or Rocket Catering if you have a budget. You could also ask the Leeds Bread Co-op and That Old Chestnut to supply lovely bread and vegan cake for a reduced price and take donations to cover costs.
Depending on numbers you might want to book an urn or bring a kettle. Bear in mind that having an urn/kettle in the room can be noisy/distracting if people are concentrating on the workshop.
Make sure there is enough cups/crockery if you need them. Bring paper ones if necessary. Jugs for water is also very handy.
- Creche/childcare
Depending on the size of the workshop you may want to organise a creche or have someone come along that is happy to do some childcare if a parent brings a child and have some toys available. In the solidarity activism workshop we organised nit seemed to work fine to have a child along.
- Bookings/Money/Donations
You may have paid a trainer/venue in which case you will need to charge a booking fee. If you have organised this on a shoestring it is still worth collecting donations from people. It also helps to know how many people are coming especially for certain topics.
We did not have a booking system for the solidarity activism or social media training and it was slightly stressful wondering how many people would turn up. The facilitation training had a maximum and minimum number of participants and we organised a booking system by getting people to email skills@leedstidal.org to book their place and we asked people to donate towards the cost of putting it on on a ‘pay as you feel’ basis.
Invite people
Write some inspiring text to persuade people to come. Let them know why they will find the workshop helpful and include all the details. Find a creactive commons licensed image or design something yourself which you can put on event pages and posters / flyers if you use them.
- Use Leeds for Change – Ask Tidal how to invite people who have requested skillshare on this topic via Leeds for Change. Create an event on Leeds for Change.
- Use Social Media – Create a facebook event, invite everyone you think would be interested. Ask page admins to share the event on the Leeds for Change and Tidal pages as well as sharing it on your timeline. Post it on relevent groups and ask people in groups to share it on their pages and to invite people. Tweet the event using Tidal and Leeds for Change accounts and ask people and groups to RT.
- Use email – The Tidal website has a contact list for local groups. Email it out to your contacts.
- Fliers and posters – Fliers and posters have limited use for small events like skillshares and your time may be better spent promoting via social media and through networks, but posters in key places can help. Eg around the Uni, at Wharf Chambers, in Ebor Court.
Get a buzz going
It helps to keep up interest by getting people to start talking about the topic you are covering.
Eg on the event page ask what people want to get out of the day, ask people to suggest reading on the topic that participants could do in advance, or pose questions for discussion that might come up on the day. This worked really well for the solidarity activism and social media workshops.
Think about where to kick this discussion off – if it is on the event page then it will only engage people who already say they are coming or are invited – if it is on your own timeline it will only engage people you are already friends with. Tag particular people who would be interested into the conversation to get more people to engage. The more ‘chat’ there is the more people are likely to be excited and come along.
Don’t for get to also chat to people in, you know, the REAL WORLD not just online! Talk to your friends, talk to people in other groups and get them to raise it at meetings or put something on their email list, plug it at related events, have fliers with you if you have made some.
On the day
Make a checklist for the day including
- Who is bringing the food/drink/cups etc
- Do you need stationary – flip charts, flip chart pens, biros, scrap paper, post its
- Write and print evaluation forms covering the content, how people found out about it, suitability of venue, how well logistics organised etc
- Help people find the room with signage. A trail of colourful post it notes with arrows and the name of the workshop works well and is easy to put out and gather in afterwards.
- Set up teas and coffees or at least a supply of water for as people arrive.
- Welcome everyone (maybe have stickers for names) and say a bit about how the workshop came about and any info they need to know (eg where toilets are, if they are being asked for donations) and thank the trainer at the end.
- Ask people to give feedback on the workshop eg via evaluation forms (if you hav verbal feedback instead of froms note it down). Collect email addresses
Follow up
- Send everyone a thank you email with any info that people wanted to share eg notes from flip charts or brainstorms, suggested further reading, related events etc.
Update the facebook event with any info people wanted to share eg notes from flip charts or brainstorms, suggested further reading, related events etc.
Type up evaluation forms or evaluation comments from the session.