Training and Events
VCDD runs and/or promotes courses and networking events for local voluntary organisations, covering volunteering issues and good practice:
NETWORKS:
Volunteer Co-ordinators' Network
A chance to meet up with other Volunteer Co-ordinators/Managers in the area and swap ideas and information! Each session will look at a specific 'theme' and you will also have plenty of time to network. Venues alternate between the Northern and Southern Derbyshire Dales area.
Feedback from previous networks:
"I found the session very inspirational & thought provoking"
"Excellent motivational speaker - event had good focus & I got much more than I'd expected"
"Presentation was interesting & inspirational"
"Great to have opportunity to discuss volunteers in isolation from other activities."
"Enjoyable, relaxed and very informative."
"Meeting new people helps to get to know the area more. You make an outsider feel like a local! Thank you."
TRAINING:
The Volunteer Centre regularly provides free training on issues around managing volunteers & good practice for Volunteer Managers in the area. Details of any future courses will be published on the website.
Previous Training:
Supporting & Supervising Volunteers - Rebecca Cocker (14), a student on work experience from Lady Manners School, reports back on the event:
At the Methodist Hall of Darley Dale on the 1st July 2009, a volunteer manager training day took place. A vast number of organisations and charities turned up for the day, including Helen’s trust, Village Aid, Age Concern, and Victim Support, all hoping to get some insight into the world of managing volunteers.
The day was all about giving support and supervision to volunteers in the most effective way possible, because in some cases, without volunteers, there would be no organisation.
The main aims of the day were to understand the importance and benefits of having volunteers in an established organisation, to learn practical techniques to support them and to learn how to show appreciation to volunteers.
Recruiting volunteers can have many benefits for an organisation. You have somebody who is willing to make a difference, and the volunteers really do make a big difference to an organisation, no matter how big or small in numbers. Also, some small, maybe local organisations run on a very tight budget, and so most probably can’t afford to employ many paid staff, so volunteers are what keep many organisations alive.
However, volunteers can be difficult to keep track of, and the more you recruit, the harder it is to keep track off all of them, so you find that maybe shy and quiet people, who may have a problem, ‘suffer’ in silence, and decide not to mention anything.
The meeting gave ways to tackle this potential problem though. For example, a little thing like a query box, just spending a bit of time with them to see how they’re getting on, or appointing other volunteers as mentors, could make a big difference.
As well as providing information, the event was successful in networking different organisations together, to share ideas, or create new and better ideas, and schemes for the future, and I am sure that after the get together, a lot of new techniques will be put into place amongst the above charities!
A questionnaire was filled out to provide feedback on the event, and amongst all of the papers, was positive feedback on how successful the gathering was.
Some of the feedback…
“Excellent delivery & group participation”
“Very thorough & responsive to questions”
“Will help me with ideas on how to run sessions with volunteers”
“Will set up a buddy system!”
“Will say ‘Thank you’ more often and in different ways”