Hot
Topic Archive
November
2003
Start
the conference carousel - I want to get on!
by
Andy Fryar
Anyone
that knows me will be in no doubt as to what a strong
advocate I am for the volunteering sector in the Australasian
region.
We
do most things as well as or in some cases better,
than our counterparts overseas. A fact I believe we
can be justifiably proud of.
There
are however several critical areas that we need to
continue to build, if we are to truly develop the
volunteering scene ‘down under’ to its
fullest potential.
One
of the most obvious of these relates to the apparent
lack of conference, workshop and seminar opportunities
dealing with volunteers, volunteering and volunteer
program management throughout Australasia. Unlike
other parts of the world, where population bases may
be larger, we do not have a strong infrastructure
for this type of learning opportunity - something
I believe is very much a weakness for the sector in
our region.
There
are a few notable exceptions.
Volunteering
SA, have hosted an annual state conference of a very
high standard over many years, while Volunteering
Australia also host a national event of some description
every twelve months (the last two years VA have
hosted closed conferences specifically for volunteer
centres around the country).
A
little further abroad, the National Centre for Volunteering
in Singapore also host an annual volunteering conference,
while Volunteering New Zealand hosted its first ever
national get together earlier this year – an
event I’d truly love to be able to add to the
above list as a new yearly occurrence.
To
my knowledge (and I am quite happy to be corrected)
other professional development opportunities have
tended to occur in a much more infrequent and haphazard
manner. In fact I’d go so far as to suggest
that with the exception of the above, I could probably
count on two hands, the number of generic volunteer
conferences held in our region over the last 5 years!
This
lack of conference opportunities is a cause of concern
for a number of reasons – here are just a few:
Geographical
Spread
Our region is just far too vast not to be
making available a variety of conference opportunities.
At present, it appears volunteer program managers
in Adelaide and Melbourne are well catered for, but
should you live in far north Queensland, Western Australia
or New Zealand, then the additional costs associated
with travel and accommodation begins to make those
existing conferences on the calendar a more costly
exercise.
Personal and Organisational Development
One of the most beneficial elements in attending conferences
is the opportunity for Volunteer Program Managers
to be able to bring new ideas, contacts and enthusiasm
back into their home organisation. The personal growth
opportunities are immense as the conference environment
often creates opportunities for dialogue that challenge
our current biases and reframe both our thinking and
ways of operating.
Whether as the result of listening to a motivational
speaker, learning about some new research or simply
networking over a cup of tea, the ideas we learn can
be life changing in terms of the way we approach our
work or structure our programs.
Development of the sector
Having been lucky enough to attend volunteering
conferences all over the world, I can attest first
hand to the developmental benefits that can be attained
from meeting together as a sector and discussing common
themes and problems. Without regular opportunities
to network in this way we tend to get too easily caught
up in the day-to-day operations of running our programs
and are never challenged to do anything meaningful
outside our organisations for the broader volunteering
community.
Is
it purely coincidence that South Australia (who
do host an annual conference) are also considered
by many to be the Australian ‘hotbed’
for volunteer development?
Another
developmental consideration is that conferences offer
a great breeding ground for independent trainers &
consultants to practice their craft and share their
knowledge with the broader volunteer management community.
This may be a key reason why we have so few volunteerism
specialist consultants and trainers in this part of
the world.
So
what’s the solution?
Clearly, the hosting of major conferences and workshop
opportunities is both an expensive and a time consuming
operation, and as a result the organisation of such
events really needs to be hosted by an organisation
with good resources.
There are however many good ideas that could be considered
in helping state, regional and national volunteer
groups to host more regular opportunities of this
kind.
I
invite you all to add your own thoughts to this list:
-
Start small. Give consideration to the
hosting of ‘mini’ conferences and one-day
workshops. This may make the coordination of such
events seem a little less daunting to host organisations
and may be a great stepping stone for groups to
gain the confidence to run larger scale conferences
later on.
- Co-host
and co-operate. Up until 2000, state volunteer
centres around Australia used to host the national
volunteering conference on behalf of Volunteering
Australia on a rotating basis, which meant that
at the very least you could count on a national
volunteering conference being hosted in your state
at least once every seven years! This at least minimised
the attendance costs for delegates living in those
states and gave this group exposure to the benefits
of a conference experience they might otherwise
not have the chance to participate in. The co-hosting
of rotating conferences between state and national
– or even regional and state volunteer centres
may well be something that should be explored again.
-
Communicate and coordinate. With
proper coordination, national, state and regional
centres could minimise some of the costs of bringing
international guests to our region. For example,
if concurrent workshops were planned across several
cities, the volunteer centres in those areas could
cost share the expenses associated with airfares
and accommodation for overseas experts.
- Promote,
promote, promote! The sector should be
careful not to make the assumption that people will
not travel to other locations for high quality workshop
and training opportunities. All too often we don’t
promote well enough the opportunities that are available
in our own part of the region meaning that some
great opportunities are lost.
-
Look outside your immediate interest areas.
Similarly, we should remember to promote all opportunities
that arise dealing with volunteers. Let’s
remember that there are a lot of learning opportunities
that deal with volunteer issues that are not necessarily
called ‘volunteering’ conferences.
- Offer
a menu of opportunities and not just ‘meat
and three vegies!’ We need to become
smarter in what we offer in order to provide conference
and training opportunities that cater to all levels
of experience in volunteer program management. Sadly,
the feedback from conferences is that it was ‘all
too basic’ or alternately ‘it went straight
over my head’. We need to be mindful of the
large number of new people entering employment in
this sector while balancing this with the need to
provide advanced training to those of us who have
been around forever. The merit in ideas such as
both master classes and beginner conferences must
be more fully explored, and conference organisers
must get better at grading the workshop sessions
they offer.
- Establishing
resources. Why not develop a national or
regional database of resources that could be accessed
by groups wishing to organise conferences? This
resource could include:
- a list of suitable venues in each state or city
- a directory of speakers and their specialties
- feedback reports of previous conferences held
around the world
- a register of individuals who had been involved
in arranging previous conferences, and who were
willing to volunteer their services to other organisations
embarking on arranging conferences and workshops
for the first time.
- Establishing
sponsorship. Let’s all get more creative
in finding sources of sponsorship for both conferences
and for professional development opportunities for
volunteer program managers. We need to be careful
not to assume that large multi nationals or government
departments will only fund national volunteer bodies.
I know of several smaller groups who have been able
to secure funding of this kind at a local level.
The
time and effort it takes to organise professional
development opportunities such as those mentioned
in this hot topic are substantial. We must however
look at this as being an investment rather than a
chore, for the down payment of this labour will surely
be repaid with interest and in time will be evident
by an even stronger volunteer management community
in the Australiasian region.
So
let’s hear what you think
-
Do you agree or disagree that there are / are not
enough opportunities of this kind in our region?
- Do
you have ideas to add to the list above that could
be considered by organisations wishing to organise
professional development sessions?
-
Share with us your own personal experiences that
have come from attending conferences.
- If
you are a visitor to this hot topic from overseas
(particularly North America), do you have
any observations about the impact of more regular
conferences on the volunteerism sector in your part
of the world?
Respond
to this month's Hot Topic
(Be
sure to add your name, title and organisation to your
message)
Last
response November 30, 2003
Read
other people's responses
PRINT
VERSION
The
contents of this Hot Topic are copyright © 2003
OzVPM.
You may reproduce this Hot Topic in part or in full
on the condition that the author, source and website
address (www.ozvpm.com)
are quoted.
Visit
this month’s ‘Hot
Topic’ on the Energize web site.
|
