On Nov 21, 2010, the flat collective <theflat.bikecollective@gmail.com> wrote:
Hey,About a month ago, someone asked if anyone had some volunteer "training" material kicking around. I'm finalizing a really sexy, or at least nicely-designed, volunteer handbook at the moment, including anti-oppression and hands off! sections. When it's all done, I'll distribute the .pdf as well as a file with just the text, so that if you just want to work with that you won't have to retype the whole thing.Zintathe flat.mtl.
On Tue, Oct 19, 2010 at 3:56 PM, <thethinktank-request@lists.bikecollectives.org> wrote:
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Today's Topics:
1. Re: Volunteer *training* manual request
(Bend's Community BikeShed)
2. Communication Tactics (Godwin !)
3. Guide to Buying a Used Bike (Chris DiGiamo)
4. Re: Communication Tactics (Dugan Meyer)
5. Re: Communication Tactics (Leslie Peteya)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2010 10:18:58 -0700
From: "Bend's Community BikeShed" <bendsbikeshed@gmail.com>
To: The Think Tank <thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org>
Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Volunteer *training* manual request
Message-ID:
<AANLkTi=se-_gXnU3wK9MnTHrJ8DSCzsfCRgk3x-o+NHV@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Jonathan,
We've also slowed down for the winter here at Bend's Community BikeShed.
I'm in the process of revamping our volunteer manuals, and I'd love to chat
with you by phone, let me know when is a good time, mornings are best for
me.
Sami Fournier
Sustainability Coordinator
Bend's Community BikeShed
Whole Bikes = Whole Communities
www.bendscommunitybikeshed.org
On Thu, Oct 14, 2010 at 12:15 PM, Jonathan Morrison <
jonathan@slcbikecollective.org> wrote:
> It is that time of year when it gets cold and a little slower, so we
> are assessing what we did this year that worked as well as what
> didn't, while not forgetting the things that we didn't get a chance to
> try. Luckily there is always next year. So...
>
> Have you quantified your volunteer incubation process in the form of
> documents or some coordinator position that wouldn't mind spending
> some time on the phone with me? It turns out the heat lamps we
> tried were unsuccessful, so we aren't doing that again. In Utah we
> want to solidify the way(s) in which we turn a first timer into a core
> volunteer, and hopefully do it more often.
>
> One thing we DID do, that was great, was steal and modify the Yellow
> Bike Project's volunteer tracking software
> (volunteer.slcbikecollective.org) which has resulted in automatic
> contact lists, community service letters with truly valid hours, the
> ability to keep track of Department of Workforce Services employee
> hours, increase enrollment in our email list, a slightly more formal
> way to keep track of people trading in volunteer hours, and the thing
> we always wanted -- valid statistics. So we will certainly be
> continuing that practice.
>
> Now that we are collecting info more efficiently, we need to work on
> how we use that info effectively as a way to engage volunteers at
> higher levels.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Jonathan Morrison
> Executive Director
> Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective
> 2312 S. West Temple
> Salt Lake City, UT 84115
> w: 801-328-2453
> c: 801-688-0183
> f: 801-466-3856
> www.slcbikecollective.org
>
> The mission of the Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective is to promote
> cycling as an effective and sustainable form of transportation and as
> a cornerstone of a cleaner, healthier, and safer society. The Bicycle
> Collective provides refurbished bicycles and educational programs to
> the community, focusing on children and lower income households.
> _______________________________________________
> Thethinktank mailing list
> Thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org
> To unsubscribe, send a blank email to
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>
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Message: 2
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2010 12:45:31 -0600
From: Godwin ! <goodgodwin@hotmail.com>
To: The Think Tank <thethinktank@bikecollectives.org>
Subject: [TheThinkTank] Communication Tactics
Message-ID: <BLU151-w361516D8C2F8E31DB0577FD05B0@phx.gbl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Hey folks, since the recent breakdown at our shop the issue of how to communicate with volunteers and members has come up as major issue. I'm just wondering if any of you have found what you consider to be an efficient means of notifying members and sarting discussions with volunteers.
In the past we used three email list serves, one for all members, one for volunteers, and another just for organizing members. We have found these lists difficult to keep up to date as we seem to have a constant flow of volunteers and members. We have also found that many people get annoyed when discussions happen over email and often stop reading what could be important notices.
Recently some volunteers started more lists for sub-committees (such as mechanics only) and then started using facebook and the online forum on our website and this has resulted in a complete breakdown of communication, sometimes many people are not included, often many of us get several emails about the same thing. Using methods like forums and facebook are great becuase anyone can read and join in and people don't get annoyed with emails, but at the same time people are likely to stop checking and reading if they don't get reminders.
One possible solution brought to the floor was to combine the use of email and forum discussions, such that notices are sent over email and if a discussion should happen, a notice is given over email and a link to the forum discussion. Do any of you have any more ideas that we might be able to use to get us back on track?
Thanks!!
.godwin
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Message: 3
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2010 14:53:42 -0400
From: Chris DiGiamo <chris.digiamo@gmail.com>
To: Thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org
Subject: [TheThinkTank] Guide to Buying a Used Bike
Message-ID:
<AANLkTim=K=dm2+7WQRGzh0vpCha3g012aNK3m6vPONVP@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Has anyone created one of these before? I wanted to create a somewhat small
primer on "what to look for" to hand out at the next bike swap.
Cheers,
-Chris D.
The Bike House
Washington, DC
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Message: 4
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2010 15:14:18 -0400
From: Dugan Meyer <dugan.meyer@gmail.com>
To: The Think Tank <thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org>
Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Communication Tactics
Message-ID:
<AANLkTim2L9w2q1LO9s3MBWp36XdGYSN+hCTuGMejyuCa@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Hey Godwin,
We face similar concerns at MoBo, but rarely suffer complete
breakdowns. My advice is to try to stop the negative momentum and look
broadly at your communication structures as they are. Mapping is a
good exercise to visualize it. Next, I recommend starting at shop
level. At MoBo we've been trying to root everything in our shop space,
so that all important info is posted there clearly and accessibly. We
try to regularly update our website and Facebook page in a similar
fashion, so that everyone knows that at least those three places have
important info.
Obviously, conversation/discussion-based communication can't simply be
posted, so we do use e-mail quite a bit. However, we mostly utilize
our organization-wide list for big announcements/newsletter stuff, and
only typically send out a handful of e-mails a month at most (using
Contact Contact). We also have a volunteer list, which is utilized
less frequently. (We're trying to get everyone to volunteer, so most
of what is sent out goes to everyone). Finally, the board/core
volunteers discuss things much more frequently with specific e-mail
threads.
As I said, this works pretty well, though of course things do fall
through the cracks. My impression, however, is that it's probably
better to have fewer avenues of communication and try to expand than
to have too many and try to mitigate confusion. Hope that helped.
Dugan
On Tue, Oct 19, 2010 at 2:45 PM, Godwin! <goodgodwin@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Hey folks, since the recent breakdown at our shop the issue of how to
> communicate with volunteers and members has come up as?major issue. I'm just
> wondering if any of you have found what you consider to be an efficient
> means of notifying members and sarting discussions with volunteers.
>
> In the past we used three email list serves, one for all members, one for
> volunteers, and another just for organizing members. We have found these
> lists difficult to keep up to date as we seem to have a constant flow of
> volunteers and members. We have also found that many people get annoyed when
> discussions happen over email and often stop reading what could be important
> notices.
>
> Recently some volunteers started more lists for sub-committees (such as
> mechanics only) and then started using facebook and the online forum on our
> website and this has resulted in a complete breakdown of communication,
> sometimes many people are not included, often many of us get several emails
> about the same thing. Using methods like forums and facebook are great
> becuase anyone can read and join in and people don't get annoyed with
> emails, but at the same time people are likely to stop checking and reading
> if they don't get reminders.
>
> One possible solution brought to the floor was to combine the use of email
> and forum discussions, such that notices are sent over email and if a
> discussion should happen, a notice is given over email and a link to the
> forum discussion. Do any of you have any more ideas that we might be able to
> use to get us back on track?
>
> Thanks!!
> .godwin
>
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Thethinktank mailing list
> Thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org
> To unsubscribe, send a blank email to TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollectives.org
> To manage your subscription, plase visit:
> http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.org
>
>
------------------------------
Message: 5
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2010 15:48:57 -0400
From: Leslie Peteya <lesliepeteya@gmail.com>
To: The Think Tank <thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org>
Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Communication Tactics
Message-ID:
<AANLkTi=HDyoXScV+efP2-5-XAY0jtq-PnqQGe4SeLN5H@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
We have similar levels of organizing at the Durham Bike Co-op,
from less-involved to more involved, if you will:
1) Facebook-anyone can join, mainly announcements about
events we're doing outside of regular shop hours are posted here.
We also will publicize cycling-related events that we may not
sponsor, but support.
2) membership listserve- open to all members (those people
that have paid $35 for a yearly membership or have
volunteered 5 hours at the shop, also get to put towards
Earn-A-Bike program). We do general announcements
about the shop, programming and cycling-related events.
This is moderated to prevent abuse.
3) Operations listserve- day to day operations, usually
open to core volunteers, shop keyholders and anyone
who has a high tolerance of email chatter. Our most
active list, we discuss things like shop vibe, incidents,
stuff we're out of, scheduling monthly meetings,
and occasionally off topic events like shows and the like.
4) Board- There are officially 4 of us, and we will
include key people depending on the issue. Usually
critical issues that can affect the DBC's future have
to be resolved at this level. We've discussed problem
volunteers, finalized our decision to move, etc.
here.
Best,
Leslie
Durham Bike Co-op
On Tue, Oct 19, 2010 at 3:14 PM, Dugan Meyer <dugan.meyer@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hey Godwin,
>
> We face similar concerns at MoBo, but rarely suffer complete
> breakdowns. My advice is to try to stop the negative momentum and look
> broadly at your communication structures as they are. Mapping is a
> good exercise to visualize it. Next, I recommend starting at shop
> level. At MoBo we've been trying to root everything in our shop space,
> so that all important info is posted there clearly and accessibly. We
> try to regularly update our website and Facebook page in a similar
> fashion, so that everyone knows that at least those three places have
> important info.
>
> Obviously, conversation/discussion-based communication can't simply be
> posted, so we do use e-mail quite a bit. However, we mostly utilize
> our organization-wide list for big announcements/newsletter stuff, and
> only typically send out a handful of e-mails a month at most (using
> Contact Contact). We also have a volunteer list, which is utilized
> less frequently. (We're trying to get everyone to volunteer, so most
> of what is sent out goes to everyone). Finally, the board/core
> volunteers discuss things much more frequently with specific e-mail
> threads.
>
> As I said, this works pretty well, though of course things do fall
> through the cracks. My impression, however, is that it's probably
> better to have fewer avenues of communication and try to expand than
> to have too many and try to mitigate confusion. Hope that helped.
>
> Dugan
>
> On Tue, Oct 19, 2010 at 2:45 PM, Godwin! <goodgodwin@hotmail.com> wrote:
> > Hey folks, since the recent breakdown at our shop the issue of how to
> > communicate with volunteers and members has come up as major issue. I'm
> just
> > wondering if any of you have found what you consider to be an efficient
> > means of notifying members and sarting discussions with volunteers.
> >
> > In the past we used three email list serves, one for all members, one for
> > volunteers, and another just for organizing members. We have found these
> > lists difficult to keep up to date as we seem to have a constant flow of
> > volunteers and members. We have also found that many people get annoyed
> when
> > discussions happen over email and often stop reading what could be
> important
> > notices.
> >
> > Recently some volunteers started more lists for sub-committees (such as
> > mechanics only) and then started using facebook and the online forum on
> our
> > website and this has resulted in a complete breakdown of communication,
> > sometimes many people are not included, often many of us get several
> emails
> > about the same thing. Using methods like forums and facebook are great
> > becuase anyone can read and join in and people don't get annoyed with
> > emails, but at the same time people are likely to stop checking and
> reading
> > if they don't get reminders.
> >
> > One possible solution brought to the floor was to combine the use of
> > and forum discussions, such that notices are sent over email and if a
> > discussion should happen, a notice is given over email and a link to the
> > forum discussion. Do any of you have any more ideas that we might be able
> to
> > use to get us back on track?
> >
> > Thanks!!
> > .godwin
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Thethinktank mailing list
> > Thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org
> > To unsubscribe, send a blank email to
> TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollectives.org
> > To manage your subscription, plase visit:
> >
> http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.org
> >
> >
> _______________________________________________
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> Thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org
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