BEST: The Regional Meeting experience

Last weekend I went to Coimbra, in Portugal, for an internal BEST event, in this case, to a regional meeting - an event that gathered all the local BEST groups of a specific region.

Even knowing that my English it’s not so great as I would like, I was crazy enough to go as EDU-ID (BEST Educational Department) delegate, where my role would be facilitate and deliver some sessions about the work developed within the department.

Apart the material missing, the first session it was "okay" and was about the process of writing a paper, since we (department) receive the outcomes and the reports of some events (related with education), until we attend a conference, in order to present our work. Because I wasn't understanding the standard case study that I was supposed to deliver, I decided to change it for something that I was familiar with. In other words, I applied the knowledge acquired on the Erasmus+ TC (training course), in Czech Republic, about storytelling.

Using the Hero’s journey, also known as The Monomyth, I split up some papers all around the room with different stages of the journey. In each stage, there were a sentence of a movie, with the aim of contextualize the participants about what was happening in that moment of the story. At the same time, I was doing a parallelism between the passage of the movie and the work that a paper team is supposedly doing at that moment.

Maybe because I’m still lacking in English skills, the message wasn’t transmitted as I would like, however the session it was quite nice. It was the first time that I used this technique, which allowed me to see her potential as a facilitation tool. This way, I’m quite sure that I’m going to use it again.

                   

This session was followed by a discussion group that happened in the next day. The participants were quite amazing, they were very active, which was felt through the quantity of distinct points of view that were shared. 

After 2 days just speaking English, my confidence increased a lot, however in my last session everything fell apart. The last session was quite terrible (at least the beginning). For some reason, I got too nervous and my pronunciation disappeared completely, which was really scary. Once that I was sure that I hadn’t been able to transmit the message, I asked the participants to organize a Local Event on Education (LEoE) as they were doing it in their LBGs (local group). In the end, they had to present their work and give feedback to the other groups. This way, I allowed myself to make sure that they were understanding how to plan an event like this one.

As conclusion, I’m just happy that I went to the TC in the Summer, it allowed me to learn a lot of techniques and exercises that can be used during all the kind of workshops. About this regional meeting in Coimbra, it wasn’t perfect (or I should say I wasn’t perfect), I still have to improve myself in some many ways, however it was an amazing experience, allowed me to evaluate my skills and analyse my progress. In other words, my English, my facilitating skills and the tools that I know now aren't the same as when I began the EBEC Study, or when I was in Denmark as a facilitator, which is quite satisfactory. 

*I've to say that going to this type of experiences is allowing me to meet wonderful people. In this case, it was a pleasure to meet the portuguese neighbours (from Madrid). 

All the hero's managed to finish the session!!!

[Workshop] Gamification & Way of Council: Skills Assessment

It’s been some years since I realized that I would like to become a trainer. This way, I began by taking the CCP (Certificate on Pedagogic Competences) in Portugal, however it wasn’t enough. I had the certificate, but I was lacking in knowledge. Due to that, I started to do e-learning courses on EdX and Coursera, they gave me the information that I needed, but I was still feeling that I didn't have the necessary experience in delivering workshops. After being a volunteer in the organization SPEAK, where I was teaching English to foreign people, and a facilitator in a full week course in Denmark, the experience that was missing began to appear.

By this time, there was just one thing missing, the confidence to do it! Fortunately, it didn’t take much to obtain it. A month after being in Denmark, I went to an Erasmus+ training course, where I had the opportunity to meet people that really inspired me. The secret of the inspiration it’s that also brings with her some motivation and a sense of adrenaline. This way, I returned to Portugal with the willing of facilitate my first workshop.

The workshop happened in the organization BEST Almada, where I was a member, and it was about the topics approached in Czech Republic, gamification and way of council.

The gamification part it was great. I began by doing a get to know activity, that it would be used during the workshop. I asked to the participants to draw the face traces of their peers in a paper sheet, the final result it was a nice avatar.

As the workshop was going, we talked about what is gamification, why gamify, the advantages and disadvantages of it, what is intrinsic motivation, which game elements can be used, how can we apply them, the type of players that exist and, in the end, we did an exercise where the participants had to apply the knowledge that they acquired by gamifying one of the events of the organization.

On the second part, I did a briefly introduction to the storytelling technique way of council: what was, the intentions behind the technique and how can be used. We proceeded by applying the technique on ourselves, which resulted in a very nice sharing moment. To finish the workshop, I asked to the participants to draw their feelings about the organization BEST (after the way of council) in a big paper.

The workshop it was really nice. I really appreciate this opportunity, that was given by BEST Almada. It allowed me to evaluate my competences, mainly where I need to improve, which in my opinion it’s my communication and also the content that it’s being delivered (once that I wasn’t really mastering it). Also, a big thank you to the trainers of the training course of Czech Republic, this workshop it wouldn’t be possible without the knowledge and the inspiration that they transmitted.

*Sorry for the mistakes, but for some reason I think that I know how to write in english. Anyway, if I want to improve, the best way to do it is through practice.

Training Course: Share the Right Story (Reflection)

In the last months, after long reflection, I set some goals to accomplish in the next years. Due to my recent work in EduCo (BEST Educational Department), I'm aware that there exists an inconsistency between the skills that universities are providing and the competencies that the companies are looking for, also called employability skills. For these reasons, I would like to dedicate part of my life to finding and organizing activities that would help to close this gap.

As my university studies aren't directly connected with my goals, I was worried that my degree wouldn’t give me the needed knowledge. This way, I began to search for trainings that would help in my mission, by giving me the confidence and the information that I need to proceed.

In my research, I found the Salto Youth website with several training offers. This discovery left me really excited, however as I was reading the course information, some thoughts came to my mind, "maybe the training courses are just for trainers". With nothing to lose, I applied for some courses that were going to happen between July and September.

After some answers of "we are sorry but you were not accepted", finally I received a positive answer in my inbox, saying that I was accepted in a course in Czech Republic, called "Share the Right Story". I was really happy, firstly that it would be an opportunity to learn more about gamification (that was my main goal), but also about storytelling (the essential structural elements in a story and how to use it to build bridges between people).

After being on the course for 2 days, I realized that it wasn't what I was expecting- it was much better! The participants and the trainers were awesome, people who were running their own organizations and I was really inspired. The course, on the other hand, it had a spiritual approach that I wasn't expecting. Due to that, maybe I didn't avail of this part as much as the other participants, however it helped me to clarify my goals and the journey that I intend to follow in the next months and years.

Now that the course is finished, I have returned to Portugal a "richer" person. Not because I have more money, but because I brought (right in my pocket) a lot of stories and experiences that were shared with me.

Besides these aspects, I now feel capable of delivering some short workshops (with some extra research) about how to use storytelling to connect people and how to use gamification to learn about a specific topic or to promote an event.

In the end, I'm just grateful for this opportunity. It's hard to put into words, but after meeting all these people and hearing their stories, I feel this strange energy spreading out all over my body and I can't take the smile off my face.

The ecological center of Olomouc (Sluňákov)