CLC- Ways of Communicating

Tuesday, 18 June 2013

Learning by Doing

In May 2013, the Community Learning Centre (CLC) initiative focused on Ways of Communicating (WoC). Over the past few years, we have realized that communication is an essential task of coordinators to inform our stakeholders about the great work we are doing and helping reach out to our English-speaking communities across Quebec.

For three days, we "learned by doing". At the conclusion of the conference, coordinators put together lessons learned and resources to share.

This "Way of Communicating" blog is a work in progress. I invite you to share resources, images and lessons.

Tuesday, 4 June 2013

You Tube

The RIGHT purpose & the RIGHT people

Create video ‘briefs’ to enhance messages (text) on other social media
Show video of CLC projects from beginning to end – so that the partners can see this
Extended announcements – for example promoting a book club event by video (simple video of the book title and an animated introduction)
Document projects for purposes of evaluation and archiving the history of the CLC
Create a ’Programs Offered’ video. Find volunteers – target specific program needs. Promoting this will also attract participants
People read so much that they appreciate the passive way of getting a point visually. A message is captured and communicated in a brief and powerful way
Reaches a mass audience, could never speak individually to this great a number of people
Useful tool for presentations at partner or community kiosks

The WRONG purpose & the WRONG people

Caution should be exercised in posting images of students etc. as permission may be necessary. Be aware of privacy laws and practices of School Boards
Coordination of Action Plans of Partner and Theory of Change would determine timing of posting of videos etc
Content providers may request packaging of their product in You Tube format to be viewed through the network

Tips for Newbies

Plan out sufficient time
Tap into student videographers and other IT masters already in your schools

Resources & Explorations

iMovie

You Tube (Key word search ‘How to use You Tube’ and ‘You Tube and non profit organizations’ and ‘Effective messages through video’ etc.)

You Tube is the second biggest search engine.

LEARN Quebec offers video production workshops as PD to schools.

Youtube for nonprofits

The CLC YoutubeChannel is CLCQuebec1 (you can get the password from PRT members if you want to add to the channel).

Twitter and Facebook

The RIGHT purpose & the RIGHT people

Partners,
Community organizers
Students and young people (under 60)

The WRONG purpose & the WRONG people

Some seniors or parents who are not online
Without clear guidelines, tweeting with students can be inappropriate, and in many cases it is not recommended being facebook friends with students. Explore social media sites like Edmondo which are designed for educator-student online communications

Tips for Newbies

Create event pages on FB for special events, activities to promote the event or call out for volunteers
A main information page
Make specific groups for specific functions, activities, events
Recruit a committee of volunteers to help you use social media
Use it wisely, be aware of privacy issues

Resources & Explorations

See the folder that Kim submitted on facebook
See CLC communications guide
Search and help functions in Twitter and FB
Speak with other coordinators or people in your community using it

Check out some CLC champions that use twitter
@Christie Learns

@cbslquebec

Powerful Presentations

The RIGHT purpose & the RIGHT people

Powerful presentations can have impact on people and places where communication takes place:

People	Places	Purpose
Partners	Media interviews	Convincing
Potential partners	Elevator speech	Influence
Funders	Mobilization meetings with your partners and your schools	Inspire
Parents, Staff, Students	Media interviews	Connect
School Boards Commissioners	Governing board	Mobilize
Politicians	Keynote speeches	Delivering a message
School board or principals meeting to let them know what you’re doing	At a kiosk during a community day	Motivate

The WRONG purpose & the WRONG people

Students (especially young ones), unless you keep it really short
Those with hearing impairment or language barriers
In environments with many distractions (noise, etc)

Tips for Newbies

Keep it simple, less is more
Play to your strengths, be yourself
Prepare well, mentally and physically with power poses
Non-verbal communication is so important
Devil is in the details: pay attention!
Practice makes perfect
Visuals are important (your words & content are only 7% of what your audience will take away)
Keep Handouts to the end
Making a bad presentation can affect your credibility!
Start and end on time
Make sure the technology works: check, check and triple check
Practice, practice, practice (can’t say it enough)
Use appropriate humour
Film yourself

Resources & Explorations

Amy Cuddy on TED Talks, or any TED Talks to check out what good presenters do

Youtube searches on “giving a good presentation”, “non-verbal communication”

Watch Kid President!

PowerfulPresentation

AmyCuddy Ted Talk (22 minutes)

Power Pose

Playback Theatre

The RIGHT purpose & the RIGHT people

Partnership tables

Students

Staff meetings

Governing Board

Parent Participation Organization (PPO)

“it can be used to break the ice, help people listen more deeply to each other and for demonstrating and simplifying difficult emotions within a framework. It is also excellent for team-building”

The WRONG purpose & the WRONG people

The use of playback theatre must be judicious. Traditional experimental theatre does not sit well with some business types or right brained thinkers.

Tips for Newbies

Book-end the presentation with introduction to the process, the theatre work and then a de-briefing. Be prepared to deal with any strong emotions that may be brought to the surface when acting upon sensitive materials