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Bored Meetings training course
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Training for young (and older!) people on committees was held alongside Development Conference in Manchester on the 28th-29th November 2009.
Young people aged from 11 to 20, from across the country came together in Manchester to begin a journey discovering themselves and how to make change happen. Driven by Debs McCahon and Rebecca Mattingly from the TREE programme, the training course was based on Act by Right, an accredited campaigning resource published by NYA and available online at www.actbyright.org.uk. The event was aimed at young people and adults who are currently on (or thinking of standing for) Woodcraft Folk committees. Within the group, there were representatives from General Council, Welsh Council, Scottish Executive, DF Committee, the TREE Steering Group, Standing Orders Committee, Wimbledon District Committee and Wimbledon Venturers and participating adults from all parts of the UK.
Participating in two days of interactive workshops and role plays – including the AGM of the International Cheese Appreciation Society, which comically highlighted some of the issues faced in meetings – they came face to face with both the problems and the solutions for meaningful participation within local and national Woodcraft committees. Ably led by Bill Badham, the author of Act by Right, the group journeyed together through some ‘Bored Meetings’ and came out with increased confidence and the skills required for situations where they may want to make change.
Young people attending the training shared what they had particularly enjoyed, or found valuable at the end. Some of their contributions were:
- learning team work skills
- learning what makes a good committee
- recognising what can go wrong in meetings and how to address this
- the mock board meeting
- making meetings more interactive
- comfortable beds
- keeping and framing the course of important issues in meetings
- socialising with each other
- knowing how to get point across
- to speak and not to be scared
With funding from the TREE programme and Regional Development project, Woodcraft Folk will be running similar training events in 2010, so watch this space! If you are interested in taking part in the next event, or have any questions about the training, please contact Rebecca: rebecca.mattingly@woodcraft.org.uk.
