Training for Community Activators
How to complete this training 1. 2.
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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. However if you would like feedback on your tasks, you can email your work to the Head of Membership Engagement (sjackson.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 signed up to be an Activator, please go to ucasu.com/activate 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 an Activator, you help to make Communities more relevant and more visible to your fellow students. Your time as an Activator could totally change someone’s time at UCA for the better.
What are Communities? ➔
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Each Community has a theme which focuses on an interest or identity, and every month a calendar comes out with activities and events organised by Activators or staff within each Community Communities include “Active”, “Education”, “Wellbeing”, “Sustainability”, “International”, “BAME”, “LGBTQ+”, “Women” and “Disabled Students” You don’t have to register or pay a membership fee, Communities are intended to be flexible and open to everyone, whether they want to attend regularly or casually Every campus has their own monthly Communities calendar, packed with activities and events that relate to the themes of the different Communities
Examples of Communities activities ➔
“Active”, “Education”, “Wellbeing”, “Sustainability”, “International”, “BAME”, “LGBTQ+”, “Women” and “Disabled Students”
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The Active Community is purposely very broad and flexible, so an Active activity could be: a basketball session, a Spanish lesson, a knitting meetup, or anything else that doesn’t fit into another Community.
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The Education Community aims to bring Course Reps, School Officers, and any student interested in influencing their academic experience into one place. An Education activity could be: an Education forum, a discussion about inclusivity in the curriculum, feedback sessions…
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The Wellbeing Community offers a space for students who want to take part in relaxing or self-development activities. A Wellbeing activity could be: a yoga session, a self-defence lesson, Chill and Chats and anything related to mental health or welfare.
Continued examples of activities ➔
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The Sustainability Community is all about the environment as well as ‘sustainability’ in other unexpected ways, like volunteering in the community. Being sustainable means building something that lasts, so it covers volunteering and eco activities. A Sustainable activity could be: soap-making, Extinction Rebellion workshops, litter picks, and more. The International Community aims to bring together International and Home students through fun activities open to all. An International activity might be a shared Potluck meal or language sessions. The four identity Communities (BAME, LGBTQ+, Women, and Disabled Students) are only for students who identify as part of that Community. An Identity activity could be anything, as the activities are not focused on a theme, they are focused on providing a space for the people who are part of that Community. Some examples might be discussions, crafts, coffee mornings, and more.
How are Communities calendars planned? ➔ ➔
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Plans for a Communities calendar are finalised two weeks before the first activity on that calendar. This is explained more on slide 7, ‘planning timetable’. Different Union staff are responsible for each of the Communities and will plan activities for their Communities based on student and Activator feedback. This means that you might see slightly different stuff happening on each campus, depending on the feedback we have received. Some especially keen Activators may also independently plan activities themselves! We can support this by booking rooms, and providing the funding for any activity costs, and then add these activities to the Communities calendar. Details for any activities must be given to us by the final deadline, which is one month before the next calendar begins.
These are Communities calendars. They are released every 3 weeks and are shared online, on ucasu.com, and in large posters on every campus. Each campus has their own campus colour! Green is Epsom Yellow is Rochester Blue is Canterbury Red is Farnham
Planning timetable ➔
The calendars have 4 weeks of activities on them. They overlap by 1 week so the last week of the previous calendar will appear as the first week on the next calendar.
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Information for an upcoming calendar must be received by the relevant Union staff member two weeks before that calendar begins: Our next Communities calendar will cover 28th October - 24th November Plans for this calendar must be received by: 14th October Then: 18th November - 14th December Plans for this calendar must be received by: 4th November
What if I miss a calendar deadline? If you’ve got a great idea for an activity and you miss the deadline, we can help you to organise it for a later date so it can make it onto the next calendar! If you’ve already organised an activity and forgot to send it in before the calendar deadline, we will help you to rearrange it. If it cannot be rearranged, let us know as soon as possible and we may be able to help you promote it with a poster and/or social media posts separately from the calendar, but we cannot guarantee this. Our Digital Communications and Design Coordinator is very busy, which is why we have clear deadlines in place.
Who to contact Vanessa (Activities Coordinator): Sustainability Community (all campuses) vsilva.su@uca.ac.uk Sophie (Student Engagement Coordinator): Active Community (all campuses), Identity Community (Canterbury and Rochester) Callum (President Surrey): Identity Community (Farnham and Epsom), International Community (all campuses) surrey.su@uca.ac.uk Molly (Advice and Representation Coordinator): Wellbeing Community (all campuses), Education Community (all campuses) molly.new.su@uca.ac.uk
How do I plan an activity? 1. 2.
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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, let your Union staff contact know, and they can complete the purchase. 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. Staff the activity. Speak to Sophie Holden, as she is in charge of staffing activities, and let her know whether or not you wish to run the activity yourself. If you do not, she can find a staff or student staff member to cover it (as long as you give at least one week’s notice).
Tasks One and Two Task One Gathering feedback is an important part of your role as an Activator. 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 do I run an activity? If you are attending and running an activity, these are the things you need to consider: ● ● ● ● ● ●
Confirm with the Student Engagement Coordinator that any equipment needed have been arranged and make sure you know where to find them, 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 register for updates or register as Activators. Give the names of attendees to the Head of Membership Engagement afterwards.
Task Three 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.
How do I promote an activity? 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
Continued activity promotion The Union is focused on promoting Communities calendars, as well as encouraging people to sign up to be Activators. We do not tend to design or share promotion for individual activities on the calendar. This is why it is important for Activators who are involved in an activity to take initiative on promotion, either by talking to people directly or using social media and posters.
Task Four 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 complete this training. If you have any further questions, or would like feedback on your completed tasks, please contact Head of Membership Engagement (Sophie Jackson) at sjackson.su@uca.ac.uk