Community Leader Training

Training for Community Leaders

How to complete this training 1.

2.

3.

Read through each slide and take notes on important bits you want to remember.

When you reach a task in this training, complete it in a Word doc or on paper.

You’re not going to be marked on it because this training is independent and just for your own understanding. If you would like feedback, you can email your work to the Communities Coordinator (amethyst.reardon.su@uca.ac.uk).

When you reach the end of the training, you can type in your name and details so that UCASU knows you’ve completed it! If you haven’t yet set up your Community, head to ucasu.com/activities, and do it there!

What makes me important A feeling of community at University can make a huge difference to your wellbeing, your academic success, and your overall University experience.

This is what Communities are trying to achieve: providing opportunities for support and fun to everyone who studies at UCA. By volunteering to be a Community Leader, you bring a new Community to your campus that makes it a more diverse and exciting campus to be on.

Your time as a Community Leader could totally change yours or someone else’s experience at UCA for the better!

What are Communities? ➔ ➔

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Communities are groups started by students, for students.

Communities can be based around identity groups, faith and cultural groups, and hobbies and interests! Some examples of existing Communities include Gaming club, BAME Community, Islamic Community, Yoga, and more.

Students can register as member of a Community for free on our website.

How do I run my Community? ➔

It’s up to you how often you want to meet and what you want to do with your Community.

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We have a pot of funding for each campus which you can request funds from to put on activities or events. There is a simple funding request form at ucasu.com/leaderhub

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We can also book rooms for you through a form on the above Communities page.

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In addition to the Communities themselves, Union staff organise Community events that are free for all students to attend, such as the Winter Market. As a Community Leader, you can volunteer to help out with these events too.

If you need any other kind of support, you can contact the Communities Coordinator at amethyst.reardon.su@uca.ac.uk

How do I promote my Community?

On the same page as this training presentation, you can download UCASU’s social media guidelines and a poster template.

These documents are key to promoting your activity well!

These are the options you have for promoting your Community or activity through the Union: ●

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Facebook - Main UCASU Facebook page - Campus Freshers groups Instagram - Posts on the main page (must be photos of people and activities, not just graphics or posters) - Instagram stories (you can request access to takeover Instagram stories, or just give us content to share) Twitter - UCASU Twitter account Posters on campus (you can design your own, or if you request at least two weeks before your activity, you can request for the Union’s graphic designer to design for you) - These can be printed by a Union staff member in the office

How do I promote my Community?

You don’t have to go through the Union - you can be creative and take the lead on your own advertising. ➔ ➔ ➔ ➔ ➔

Create your own Facebook group Create your own Instagram page Make Tiktoks Make a zine or newsletter Promote in person to groups of students around campus

Tip: If you need to do any printing, you can request funding from us on the funding form to help you pay for it.

Identity Communities Each campus has four Identity Communities: LGBTQ+, Women, Disabled, and BAME. Unlike other Communities, the Union makes sure that there is a Community leader for these Communities each year, so they are always available to students.

These Communities are also unique because they are only open to students who identify as part of that group. No other Community has restricted membership except for the four Identity Communities.

If you’re already a Community Leader, you may want also to volunteer to be a Community Leader for an Identity Community. You can ďŹ nd out if these positions are vacant at ucasu.com/communities

How do I plan an activity?

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Gather feedback about what kinds of activities students in your Community would like to take part in.

Plan a date, time and location for the activity. Check in with your Union staff contact if your preferred time and place is available, and if it isn’t then they can help you to find a more appropriate setting.

Figure out what materials you need for the activity. If anything needs to be purchased, complete a funding form, and Union staff can complete the purchase. You must submit this request one week before you need your materials. If you haven’t given enough notice for this, you can still submit a funding form and claim back the cost of your purchase (as long as it is approved). If it’s too expensive for the Community budget, the Union staff member can tell you this and discuss possible alternatives. This includes if you need an instructor or external person to be paid to help run the activity.

Tasks One and Two Task One Gathering feedback is an important part of your role as a Community Leader. You would typically do this by talking to people you meet at activities, or going out to talk to people on campus. Can you name three other ways that you might gather feedback from your Community about activities they’d like to try?

Task Two The previous slide explains how to organise an activity. Can you create an action plan for an imaginary activity, including a date, time, location and materials needed?

How to Fundraise The union has a pot of money that communities can apply for, but sometimes this may not cover everything you need! There are many ways you can fundraise independently as a community, a few ideas are listed below: ➔ ➔ ➔ ➔ ➔

Run a bake sale or arts and crafts sale on campus.

Run a student auction - students can auction off services such as baking, cooking, teaching a skill, taking someone on a night out, creating art for someone etc.

Host a quiz or bingo - you can have entry fees or sell snacks to fundraise.

Get sponsored to do something - run a marathon, play video games for a whole day, your imagination is the limit!

Get the saabs involved - ask them to join in with fundraising challenges or put out requests on their social media.

Task Three See if you can come up with some alternative fundraising ideas relevant to your planned community. You might want to think about what you need to consider when planning a fundraiser and whether there are any rules or local laws and guidelines you need to consider when fundraising.

Tip: Think about different times of year and ways you can use certain seasonal events to your advantage e.g. how can you fundraise around Halloween?

How do I run an activity?

If you are attending and running an activity, these are the things you need to consider: ● ● ● ● ● ●

Confirm with your staff contact that any equipment needed has been arranged and make sure you know where to find it, at least a few days before the activity.

If the room or area you are using is locked, go to reception and sign out the key.

If you need anything printed, please go to your campus Union office the day before your activity and someone can print it for you - don’t wait until the day, in case no one is available to help you!

Make sure you are set up and ready to go before the time the event is due to start. Depending on what you need to set up, you may want to arrive 15-30 minutes early.

Consider putting on music, or requesting refreshments for your activity to make it more inviting! If you need anything purchased for you, make sure you’ve requested this a week in advance.

Take down the names of people who attend and encourage them to join your Community at ucasu.com/communities.

Task Four This is a challenge intended to get you more comfortable speaking to people you might not know. On campus, go up to someone and ask them for directions to a room. The most challenging part of speaking to strangers is often approaching them and getting started!

If you’d like to take this challenge a step further, try approaching someone you don’t know on campus and invite them to an upcoming Community activity. This might help you prepare to lead an activity, where you might have to introduce yourself and give directions to people.

Task Five We post a lot of photos, tweets, and posters online to encourage people to take part in our activities and opportunities.

Come up with an idea for a poll, competition, or other activity you could create on a social media platform that would help promote an activity.

For example, you might want to promote a badge making activity and so create a hashtag and ask people to share some slogans they would put on a badge. Be creative about getting people to pay attention to your activity!

Congratulations! You’ve completed this training.

If you have any further questions, or would like feedback on your completed tasks, please contact the Communities Coordinator (amethyst.reardon.su@uca.ac.uk).