Hi Sharlyn,
Jessica from the Bike Bike workshop organizing committee here... (a fancy name for the two of us doing this!)
I'm trying to firm up our workshop schedule, so I'm wondering if you are definitely coming, and definitely still into doing this workshop (which sounds awesome, I personally will be in attendance).
If so- can you write a short description up for the program? And, let me know if you have any time constraints (leaving early, arriving late, really hate mornings, whatever). Right now the workshop slots are 1 hr 30 mins long, two in the morning and two in the afternoon on Saturday and on Sunday, roughly 9 am - 5 pm. We can also do a 45 minute slot if you'd like, although I think this topic would be one people could easily engage for an hour and a half.
thanks! -Jessica
--- Sharlyn Grace sharlyngrace@gmail.com wrote:
I can coordinate this and get it to be mostly sharing, brainstorming and writing up lists of ideas, discussing what does and does not work. I'll post it on the bike!bike! website. Meanwhile, let's start a list somewhere on the bikecollectives website where we can gather ideas for keeping volunteers. Simple personpower is always one of our biggest problems at The Recyclery as well.
We've mostly done hands-on teaching to try and get people feeling comfortable with the tools, but we combine it with food and fun times (bike-in movies are on the way) and a new "secret" time to use the shop for regular volunteers so they feel like they get a kick-back for their hard work. (This also functions as a casual party-ish time in the shop when we can all hang out and work on our own bikes.)
On another note: can I ask people for more suggestions on where to get bikes? Right now we have a shortage. Our usual avenues are police confiscations, individual donors, apartment buildings storage rooms getting cleaned out. Sometimes we get them from alleyways or scrappers. Do others have ideas for regular avenues of bike donations?
Thanks all! Looking forward to seeing you again/meeting you at Bikebike!, Sharlyn
On 5/15/07, Jessica McPherson jessica_mcp@yahoo.com wrote:
sounds like a good idea for a workshop at
bike!bike!
I bet it would be a great discussion if different groups all offered their suggestions & experience. Anyone want to coordinate?
-Jessica (Free Ride)
--- Macho Philipovich macho@resist.ca wrote:
we've been having a similar experience at the
bike
dump. a few folks stuck around from our volunteer workshop series
this
spring, but not as many as i'd hoped. volunteer pot lucks and
special
events have worked all right at getting new folks feeling
comfortable
in the space, in getting older volunteers to come back who
haven't
been around for a while, and generally helping volunteers to feel appreciated and like the shop is a fun space. but all in all, i think we also need more and better strategies. i'd be really interested in hearing in things others have tried, or even ideas about what else might work.
macho http://bike-dump.ca
rachael spiewak wrote:
hiya, folks.
something sopo's always struggled with is
finding
volunteers and
convincing them to stay. many people who
visit
our shop would rather
have a hands on demonstration than look up how
to
do repairs in our
manuals. we tried having a few bike
maintenance
101 classes to get
people feeling like they have the capacity to
help
others with basic
repairs, but that didn't stick. does anyone
have
ideas or experience
in this department? or is it sufficient for
us to
tell people that
reading about repairs in our manuals is part
of
their process at our
shop? i tend to doubt the success rate of the
last one. i'm thinking
food incentives might be a good idea.
love/peace/bicyclegrease, rachael
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