Agora Kyiv – Agora Bergamo 01/12/2015 – 31/05/2016 Sharing Best Practices Meeting
Minutes of Sharing is Caring vol 2: Active Membership 05.05.2016
Present: 2 NetCommies, Network Director and 5 participants
Problems: 1) Involving people who join during the SU period a) low amount of resources to organise something for these members as the resources go to the actual organising of SU b) what to do with people who only join for SU and don’t get accepted c) involving them in a way that they not only want to go to SU, but also possibly join the board later 2) pushing members from fun events to serious ones and being in the board 3) getting new members involved and avoiding them feeling like an outsider of the main group 4) It is hard to get people into volunteering 5) everybody goes away during exam period 6) we need more free events as members don’t often have financial resources and to use Erasmus+ more because of that 7) previous board didn’t give proper KT 8) regular members often miss too much of the communication and understanding of the work that the local board is doing Solutions: 1) Involving new members who have joined because of SU: a) Involve them in the actual organising of the SU, they can help with small things as being helpers or sometimes they want to be really active and help a lot.
Agora Kyiv – Agora Bergamo 01/12/2015 – 31/05/2016 Sharing Best Practices Meeting b) Try to make a LTC as this is the most useful, but if that is not possible try to do small events every 2 weeks or so, for example a pizza evening, movie night etc. c) Inform them about AEGEE communication channels and give them general information, so they know how to get updated and involved with other events and topics of AEGEE. d) Involve them in local activities straight away, so that when they return from the SU, they know how to be active in AEGEE. e) Organise a SU memories night, for example similar to EN, where everybody will bring something and do a small presentation and show pictures of where they went and what they did. 2) When new members join, ask them which field they would like to work with: FR, PR, Local Activities etc, so that you can push them in the right direction straight away. a) Try to give small tasks to all of your members so they feel involved and needed b) Have teams/committees internally in your local so that members can be active even if they are not in the board. This also helps getting new board members as they are already somewhat aware of the tasks that need to be done to maintain an active local. c) You can organise workshops or trainings on areas your members are skilled at. For example if there is a law student, they can do a workshop about “What do you need to know when starting your job and what are your rights?”. That way this member feels involved and needed in the antenna and the rest have an interesting workshop on an important topic. d) Head-hunt and literally push people a little (not too much!) and compliment them to join the board/be active in other ways. Many currently active AEGEEans would never have started if they weren’t pushed and told that they would do good. e) Make sure that people know what the board positions are and what they actually contain. You can make a document for that, talk to people straight or even organise an event where people can talk to the board members about the positions, see posters
Agora Kyiv – Agora Bergamo 01/12/2015 – 31/05/2016 Sharing Best Practices Meeting about them (and find something that will attract people to the event - for example food). 3) Start a mentorship/buddy system where all the new members have some old member to talk to, so that they already know someone they can ask questions from. a) try not to make too many “inside jokes” in front of new members 4) Not everything in AEGEE is volunteering, there are also trainings, fun events and many other things. It is important to notice how you present your organisation and involve different kind of events in your plan, for example it is always good to add some small trainings (such as PR, HR etc), as they are very inviting for members. For that you can use also other members, so that they can do a small workshop or training on the topic they are good at, so you don’t need to look for trainers. 5) It is normal that people are not active during some periods of the year, for example national holidays, exam periods etc. Be understanding of that and if the period is long, you can make some small fun get-together events in the middle to relax together. 6) AEGEE is much more than one Erasmus+ project and potential and current members should be aware of that. You can also be involved with European initiatives locally in AEGEE. Also, it is very good if locals want to do more Erasmus+ events, you can definitely try to use this possibility as many locals are already doing. 7) Make sure that there is a proper Knowledge Transfer document so that every time a new board is elected nothing gets lost. It is very useful to use some kind of a document or manual that can be updated by every board. Template for it is also provided here: http://www.zeus.aegee.org/portal/resources/members-manual/ a) It also helps if one or a few members from the last board still stay in the new board for continuity. b) Have an advisor or advisory board for every new board consisting of old board members, so that they can ask for help 8) Implementing good communication:
Agora Kyiv – Agora Bergamo 01/12/2015 – 31/05/2016 Sharing Best Practices Meeting a) Make sure that all members are aware that they can give suggestions to the board and be actively participating in the local work. b) Get to know your members and ask them what are they missing, what are they interested in etc and change your work according to that. c) Make it clear which communication channels are used in your local d) Don’t underestimate your members and let them know about things as a board member ;) You can also publish minutes of board meetings or decisions taken at board meetings as CD does.
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Money should never be an issue when it comes to team building - it doesn’t have to be big. Maybe you can arrange a discount in a bar and meet regularly there or just play games in the park or in your office, prepare food together, have a picnic etc. The possibilities are endless
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You can try to organise a big motivational event together with other antennas near-by, similar to Renove in Spain. You can also ask your NetCommie to organise/help with organising this event if you are interested in it.
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Ask active members in your antenna to share their experience with others. Personal experience is always a better example than just theoretical approach.
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AEGEE history is actually really motivating! Look into it.