Workshop / Training

Workshop

Jillian Simmons

Ball State University

Introduction

The purpose and goals of our Big Read Workshop was to reach a minimum of 20 people to a maximum of 50 people through spreading word about the event through organizations such as Big Brothers Big Sisters of Delaware County and Morris Woods Health Campus as well as sharing the Big Read event page created for the workshop through Facebook and Twitter. Word about the event was sent out to an estimated 1,000 people. One of our main goals of our workshop was to bring a few books to the Morris Woods Health Campus for the employees and residents to read before the event and at the actual event, watch the Fahrenheit 451 movie, then have an open discussion about the book compared to the movie, themes of the book, the author, and their personal feelings and thoughts about the book and/or movie. We were also hoping that members from another organization, Association of Lifelong Learners would attend the workshop. Another main goal of our workshop was to encourage the participants of the workshop to want to read more as well as want to participate in other Big Read events. Our goal is reach a maximum of 50 people and a minimum of 20 people. Big Brothers Big Sisters of Delaware County and Morris Woods Health Campus agreed to spread the word about the event to members as well as people outside of their organization and facility, such as family members and friends. Morris Woods Health Campus also agreed to allow us to have the event at their facility. Another goal that we had for our event was to have a younger age group coming from Big Brothers Big Sisters, and an older age group coming from the Morris Woods Health Campus, come together in order to share their life experiences, ideas, differences and comparisons of technology during the time the book was written as compared to the technology now. “Activities provided by these civic agencies can support an individual's desire to be engaged in philanthropic activities, promote healthy living habits, and develop a sense of pride in community among youth and adults.” (Deggs, Miller, 2011, p. 27)

Workshop Plan

            The first part of our recruiting strategies began with speaking to Larry Strange about what marketing strategies we should use. He advised us to not start out asking for financial support, because that would take more time than we had to get the workshop up and running. He advised us to ask organizations and facilities for help spreading the word about the event and having the event at their facility. Our plan for recruiting participants started with making phone calls and sending emails to organizations. We contacted Ball Memorial Hospital, Morris Woods Health Campus, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Delaware County, The Boys and Girls Club, Westminster Village of Muncie, Muncie Central High School, The American Electric Power Company, and more. After making phone calls and sending out emails, some responded no to the program right away and some just didn’t answer any of our calls or emails. The reason they said no was because they felt that the Big Read program was just something that they could not relate with their organizations or there just wasn’t enough information provided to them in order to persuade them into participating in the event. Westminster Village of Muncie, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Delaware County, and Morris Woods Health Campus agreed to either participate in the program or to meeting in person in order to exchange more information with them, before they would make their final decision as to whether they would spread the word to the members of their organization or not. In-person, we brought flyers to the organization as well as having a discussion with them about what the Big Read program and Fahrenheit 451 was about. We also asked for permission to hold our event at their facilities. After having in-person meetings with all of the organizations, Morris Woods Health Campus and Big Brothers Big Sisters were the only two that wanted to participate in spreading the word. Morris Woods Health Campus agreed to let us hold the event at their facility.

Another plan we had for recruiting participants was to create an event page with information about the workshop on Facebook, then share it publicly as well as to our Facebook friends. We also shared the page to Twitter and the Big Read website. We also sent out an email that went out to all the students and faculty at Ball State University. Two of the members of this group were faculty members and teachers at Ball State University. We offered extra credit to our students in order to persuade them to come out and join the event.

We learned from one of the sources that the first thing you should do when marketing is “identify groups of potential learners, to decide who will be targeted, to determine the needs of the target group, and to actively promote the program to the prospective learners.” (Douglass, Valentine, Cervero, 1999, p. 3) This was our main focus that we had while recruiting participants and finding ways to make the workshop appealing to them and their specific needs.

A practice workshop was held at the Morris Woods Health Campus during our first in-person meeting with the organization. “Adult educators frequently provide workshops to share information and further their professional development.” (Burkhart, 1995, p. 11) During this practice workshop, 5 residents who were interested in attending the event were present. There was 1 employee present, which we thought was very important because “It is key that management encourages staff development, endorses the instruction to be provided, and recognizes the benefits of hosting a workshop.” (Glackin, Folkner, 2009, p. 76) We discussed the event with the residents. We told them what the book was about along with giving them ten copies of the book to read before the event. We told them about the movie we would watch during the event and some of the themes we would discuss.  We also asked them if they had any ideas or people outside of the facility who may be interested in also attending. One the residents was involved in Association of Lifelong Learners, a somewhat political group that consists mostly of people of elderly age that were once educators. They met on Thursdays at the E.B. Ball Center. She invited us to come to one of the meetings to pass out flyers and to discuss the event with other members. Brent agreed that he would go to their next meeting to bring flyers and discuss the event with them. Some of the other residents brought up the names of other residents that might be interested in attending the event. Some of them were not able to read well, so we also brought the big print version of the book and the soundtrack, which reads the book out loud. We also gave the facility employee a copy of the movie. We asked the residents if there was anything particular they would like to do during the event, such as have snacks or games for them to play. They said that the discussion and the movie was enough. We were planning to have the event from 6 p.m. – 7 p.m., but one of the residents suggested having it a half an hour to an hour longer. We agreed that it would be as long as they wanted within the time confinements of the facility. Before ending the practice workshop, we talked more about the book in relation to current events and the burning of books. Many of them did not believe that people would burn books. This lead to an idea to also include a small slideshow presentation of places and events where the burning of books has actually occurred.

Budget and Logistics

            Each group in the class was given a budget of $50. I decided that if we used technology for most parts of the workshop, it would be free and I would also be able to stay within the budget without coming out of our own pockets for the workshop. I used the television and DVD player that was already in the facility to show a clip from the Fahrenheit 451 movie of the author discussing the movie and the book. Brent Baumer spent $6 on the movie. This will not come out of the budget, because Brent stated that he does not want the reimbursement for the movie. Cookies were bought for the event, which was a bit over $6. Everything else, such as napkins, cups, and drinks were provided by the Morris Woods Health Campus facility. The cords for connecting my laptop as well as the Power Point for the presentation of the book, its themes, and the author, etc. were already owned by myself, Jillian Simmons. This also did not cost anything, which helped me to stay under the budget. During the discussion, I had a few slides on the Power Point with the themes, names of characters, and information about the author to help direct the conversation and keep people on task with having an open discussion. Being that mostly everything was provided by the facility and myself, there wasn’t much need to tap into the budget. The only money from the budget was spent on the cookies, which means that only $6 was used.

The location of the workshop was Morris Woods Health Campus. The address is 4100 N. Morrison Road, Muncie, Indiana 47304. The time of the event was 6 p.m. – 7 p.m. However, it lasted from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., because a few of the participants wanted to continue having a conversation about the book and how it related to them and their careers as teachers. There were 20 participants in the workshop. Most of the participants were residents of Morris Woods Health Campus. Other participants were employees of the facility and employees from Ball State University.

Workshop Activities and Results

            The workshop was supposed to begin with a showing of the film, Fahrenheit 451. However, due to a misunderstanding, the employees at the Morris Woods Health Campus showed the film to the residents earlier that day. The film is over an hour long and the content was a bit much for the elderly residents, so I decided not to show it again. Instead, we watched a special feature on the DVD that had the author, Ray Bradbury discussing the film, the book, and its themes. Before I showed the feature clip of the author speaking, I gave a brief presentation about the book, its themes, the author, and other background information.

            After watching the clip of Ray Bradbury discussing how he wrote the book, we had an open discussion while serving cookies to the residents and employees at Morris Health Campus. The discussion included subtopics such as technology, religion, and the burning of books. Most of the attendants were once teachers, which lead to them discussing how society treated books fifty or so years ago, the books they were reading, the books that they assigned their students, and times when they were told that certain books were “too hard” or unacceptable. They continued to discuss education and technology back in the 50’s until we had to stop for them to return to their rooms. “Clear communication directed to your clients’ interests, needs, and educational levels helps lessen the chance for a communication breakdown.” (Smith, 1987, p. 3)

            The employees and participants really enjoyed the workshop. They especially liked the discussion they were able to have with each other. The activity director, Karen asked if I would come back do more with a different book that didn’t have as hard a content as Fahrenheit 451. The residents of the facility also stated that they would like to continue to have these workshops.

Reflection

            The highlights of this event was how much fun the residents of Morris Woods Health Campus and the employees had as well as the professors from Ball State University who also attended the workshop. The discussion between the residents, employees and professors was another highlight of the event. It was also really nice when people in the hallway starting coming in to join the discussion and asking for a copy of the book. I did not really know how the event would go, because I was doing it by myself. However, the event went really well. Even during the times when the residents would get off of the topic of the book, they were all having a nice time and enjoying each other’s company. I think that having something to center on, such as the book, and using it as a conversation starter really made it great for them. It was also easy for them to relate to the themes of the book and build conversations off of that. There was supposed to be popcorn served by the facility, but since we were not going to show the movie again, popcorn was not served. Not many of them liked the cookies, but two of them ate the rest. I think that the workshop was definitely a success, even though other people from other organizations did not attend. The fact that they were asking for another workshop meant that it was a success. Also, the fact that many of them who had not yet read the book said that they wanted to read it and were really interested in it means that the workshop was a success. There wasn’t one dull moment.

            The only problem that existed was the content of the book causing an uproar between the residents before the event began. Apparently, a few of them had gotten into a huge argument regarding religion and the burning of books. There was also a complaint that the content of the book was too much for some residents and it was confusing.

References

Burkhart, J. (1995). Marketing Workplace Education to Business. Colorado, Denver: Colorado State Dept. of Education, Denver. State Library and Adult Education Office.

Douglas, K. H., Valentine, T., & Cervero, R. M. (1999). Marketing Adult Literacy Education: Administratirs' Perceptions of Effective Strategies for Program Development. Adult Basic Education, 9(2), 104

Glackin, B. C., & Folkner, C. A. (2009). Planning, Organizing, and Hosting a Workshop—It's All in the Details. Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, 47(1), 74-89. doi:10.1080/01639370802455216

Smith, B. (1987). Marketing your adult literacy program: A "how to" manual. New York: New York State Adult Literacy Program

Deggs, D., & Miller, M. (2011). Developing Community Expectations: The Critical Role of Adult Educators. Adult Learning, 22(3), 25-30.