training Archives - Volunteer Victoria

Telling Your Organization’s Story with Social Media

I was so pleased to recently coordinate a “Get Creative with Social Media” workshop for Volunteer Victoria, facilitated by Mandy Leith. It pleased me even more that I was able to attend the workshop with my mother, Elaine Cougler. Her adoption of and enthusiasm for social media tools to further her writing career is proof positive that social media is being used and enjoyed by people of all ages. Here is her guest post about attending the workshop:

Last week, Mandy Leith, “media-savvy storyteller, documentary filmmaker, social media strategist, media educator, founder of www.opencinema.ca & community-building curious cat” led a social media workshop sponsored by Volunteer Victoria. As she describes herself on Twitter (above), Mandy has broad experience and an eclectic mix of specialties.

About thirty people, representing various nonprofit and other organizations, attended the workshop. Mandy showed us Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn as well as mentioning other social media. Her task was somewhat difficult because of the wide range of prior knowledge we attendees brought, but she soldiered on and participants seemed pleased with what they learned over the course of the day-long workshop.

Here are some of the exciting things I took away:

Google Reader or the Pulse app (for iPad) can make social media much easier and faster to use.
People on Twitter and Facebook are interested in your story and Mandy pointed out the five key elements every good story should have: passion, protagonist, antagonist, awareness and transformation.
Facebook’s Page used to be called a Fan page, so they are the same thing. Facebook, itself, changes constantly.
Hashtags (#) in Twitter allow you to tag and search for specific groups or concepts. Our workshop’s hashtag was #vvsm.
Engagement strategies on social media sites are very important. Among the things mentioned were giving 90% of the time and selling only 10% of the time.
Users get 75% more functionality using Hootsuite than just using the separate apps (eg. Twitter, Facebook) themselves. (I realized I really did need to conquer Hootsuite to save precious time.)

Mandy also mentioned a number of useful websites, both for agencies and people in general:

www.cluetrain.com (The Cluetrain Manifesto 1999 about the modern market place.)
http://www.mediarising.ca/ (Mandy’s site)
www.mashable.com (a site about all kinds of social media)
www.getstoried.com (teaching how to tell your story, a large focus of Mandy’s presentation)
www.ehow.com (has lots of life-oriented how-to information)

Keyword importance was one of Mandy’s important net strategies. She encouraged us to make our blog post titles keyword-rich for Google SEO (Search Engine Optimization). As a blog writer of two blogs, I especially appreciated that tip.

And, finally, she mentioned using Google or other analytics to gauge which strategies are bringing the most visitors to a website. If no one visits our site then all of our social media strategies are for nothing.

What was the best part of Mandy Leith’s workshop for you? Would you like Volunteer Victoria to run a social media workshop that is more advanced? Please leave a comment and let us know.

Elaine Cougler
www.elainecougler.wordpress.com
www.facebook.com/ElaineCouglerAuthor
www.twitter.com/@ElaineCougler

Creating Enticing Volunteer Positions

For many years, Volunteer Victoria has had a strong partnership with the Administrators of Volunteer Resources British Columbia (AVRBC), BC’s professional group for people involved in the administration of volunteers. Every month between September and June on the third Thursday of the month, local coordinators of volunteers gather in Victoria at AVRBC meetings to learn about topics in volunteer management.

AVRBC South Island’s most recent meeting, held on June 16th, featured a panel of presenters speaking on the topic of Creating Enticing Volunteer Positions. Panelists Kelly Sprackett, Nancy Martens, and Christine Foster led an informative and interactive presentation. In this first post of a two-part series, I’ll outline for you some of the beginning steps to creating attractive and enticing volunteer positions that these panelists discussed during their presentations.

First presenter Kelly Sprackett, responsible for managing volunteers at the Broadmead Care Society, reminded us that volunteer position descriptions (alternatively called role descriptions or other various terms) are the key documents that we need to recruit volunteers. In part, she encouraged us to consider the following in creating them:

Examine the mission, vision and philosophy of your organization before you create the volunteer position. Any position you create needs to fit with these elements of your organization.
Consider how you can promote organizational change and culture through the design of each volunteer role.
Make sure that the volunteer position description is consistent with your organization’s policies and procedures. Check for clear and consistent language between all documents. A clear role description will help you to both reduce risk and maintain good volunteer/staff relations in your organization.
Build some flexibility into the role description to allow you to keep it interesting and motivational for the volunteer(s) who will perform that role. Remember, creating volunteer roles is just as much about serving the needs of the volunteer as serving the needs of the organization. Sometimes it will be appropriate to even create a volunteer position description for a particular person, sometimes not. (Re-read #1 in this list before you do this…i.e. will the new position fit your mission?)
The volunteer position description serves as a measure for future supervision and evaluation of the volunteer; it’s a guideline for the volunteer and their supervisor to follow.
Regular check-ins with the volunteer(s) performing the role may lead to changes in the role description, based on changing needs of the organization.
Training for the volunteer extends from the role description; they must complement each other.
The more clear and meaningful you make the volunteer’s role description, the easier it will also be to appreciate and recognize the volunteer performing that role.

Stay tuned for my next blog post to learn what Nancy Martens and Christine Foster had to share during this worthwhile discussion about creating enticing volunteer position descriptions.

Questions to Consider for a Successful Training Experience

The following post is an article of mine originally published in the most recent issue (Volume 19.1) of the Canadian Journal of Volunteer Resources Management. The focus of this issue is training and education. The Journal is available to members of the Canadian Administrators of Volunteer Resources, our national association of administrators/managers of volunteer resources. For those involved in the administration of volunteer resources in British Columbia, CAVR membership currently comes free with an annual membership to our provincial AVRBC (Administrators of Volunteer Resources British Columbia) association.

Ask Before You Speak: Questions to Consider for a Successful Training Experience

Some of us thrive on speaking in front of groups while others dread it. Yet training is often an essential part of the job for a manager of volunteers. Here are some questions to consider as you plan your next training event, working towards a successful outcome for both you and your participants.

1. What will my training event look like?

Develop a lesson plan well in advance. A simple table format with three columns and multiple rows will work well. The first column indicates the start time of each of the teaching elements within your plan and the second and third columns capture the content and handouts, audio visual or other materials you will need.

Consider carefully how long each element in your lesson plan will take. It is often most difficult to get the pace right and have the proper amount of content for the time available.

2. How will I make my content appeal to everyone in the room?

There are three types of learners – visual, auditory and kinesthetic – and they learn best by seeing, hearing and doing, respectively. Visual learners relate well to images, videos or demonstrations while auditory learners may like listening to guest speakers or participating in group discussions. Finally, kinesthetic learners may appreciate hands-on activities, role-plays and ice-breakers or other activities which get them up and moving around.

In addition, remember that some people process information more quickly than others. Consider distributing pre-reading or hand outs to give participants more time to digest your content.

3. What stories will I tell?

Think of how you can incorporate stories related to your content into your training session to really deepen participants’ learning.

4. What can I do to enjoy the teaching experience?

First, visualize in advance that your teaching event will go well. When the day comes, just try to relax and be authentic. Participants feel uncomfortable when they can tell that the speaker feels uncomfortable, so just imagine them wishing you well. If the topic warrants, use your natural humour and laughter to engage participants. If you make a mistake, just carry on. Never admit that you are not as good a trainer as you would like to be – chances are the participants will have no inkling of this unless you tell them.

Wear something professional that you feel good in. Try out different styles and you will begin to develop a preference for what “teaching clothes” work for you.

5. What will I do to ensure participation?

Build time for participation into your lesson plan. Ask open-ended questions and include activities that encourage people to contribute to the content in various ways. Pay attention to how much you talk. Allow others time to ask questions or interject their own experience. Remember that – especially with adults – you are likely not the only person in the room with experience in the content.

Guest speakers also may help liven up your classroom and allow your participants to tap into someone else’s experience with your subject matter.

6. How will I stick to my plan?

Sometimes things do not go exactly as planned. Participants may jump ahead or venture outside the scope of your content in their questions or discussion; this is where your experience and good judgment can help. Decide in the moment what questions to address and what to put off. Keep an eye on your lesson plan timings. Incorporate a “parking lot” to capture topics to address later or talk to participants informally at the end of the session if necessary.

7. What will my evaluation process look like?

Evaluate the training event right after the session using personal reflection as well as informal and formal feedback from participants. Consider what you could change for next time, then go back and revise your lesson plan as necessary.

Keep asking these questions of yourself and you are sure to grow your success as a trainer. Whether you deliver short information sessions to your own volunteers or large workshops at professional conferences, it pays to have a plan.

Our Training Initiatives

Each year Volunteer Victoria works with a wide variety of trainers to deliver workshops for our community participants. As the Manager of Training and Outreach for Volunteer Victoria, I’m pleased that we are able to offer a good cross-section of learning opportunities for our member agencies and others in our community who need to develop knowledge and skills in nonprofit management.

Just since September last year our staff or contracted facilitators have taught workshops in: fund development, media relations, social media, volunteer management, networking skills, succession planning, communication skills, story-telling, governance, public speaking, creating public displays, and emerging leadership. And we’re not even done the training year yet! I’d like to send out a big thank you to all of the trainers who continue to work graciously for the needs of our community by partnering with Volunteer Victoria in this vein.

On that note, I am starting to plan for the 2011/2012 training “season” which, for Volunteer Victoria, begins in September. I’m in the midst of reviewing what our member agencies’ knowledge needs are and will then create – as I do every year – a training plan of workshops designed to address those needs.

Do you have stellar teaching skills and a great knowledge base in a topic that could benefit nonprofits? Do you know someone who does? Individuals who wish to work with us as contracted facilitators are invited to contact me at any point throughout the year to discuss your ideas and skills. In addition, agencies are always invited to suggest topic ideas for me to consider as well. The more you keep telling us what it is that you need, the better we’ll be able to do just that.

Overview of Volunteer Management Course Graduates, Class of 2010