Open letter about open evenings

#21

I think part of the issue is that not “Everyone” is comfortable with hosting or even more critically the idea of hosting terrifies them in the first place, public speaking is not everyone’s cup of tea. So asking everyone to contribute in that way is pushing them way too far too soon out of their comfort zone, so I’m not surprised people are not putting their names down. Everyone I’ve met so far at the space has been absolutely lovely, even when they’ve said “No” :wink:

So not choosing to do an open day is not coming from a “I cant be bothered” place but rather maybe from a place such as this is too chaotic for me (“for me” is very subjective), its undefined, I have no clue what I’m spose to do, never mind say, this even though there is a really comprehensive document on the topic, not everyone likes to read a manual… They instead metaphorically need their hands held type thing to reassure them that everything will be OK and even then showing people around might really just not float their collective boats :slight_smile:

I dint start at level “Comfortable” doing open event and hosting at festivals, that took time, support and yes, training. And the first few times, I was like terrified I’d screw up which just made the whole thing worst as with that group of people I really dint want to be seen to screw up. It took me a while to accept that even if I screwed up they would be there to help me pick the pieces up rather than just blame me.

Our mantra was “the plan is always the first casualty!” in essence giving us permission to mess up and adapt to the needs of the situation you find yourself faced with.

I can offer hosting once a month on Wednesdays, Wednesday is my free day and as I’m planning to be there every Wednesday, if someone drops out you can come find me to help out.

We have a really good momentum going with the open days as a regular thing that people can plan around, every other week this brings in new members signing up.

Id be cautious at changing something that works… Id test first

lastly for people to whom public speaking and being in groups or those who plain just don’t have the time, id offer them an alternative method to engaging with the volunteering aspect of the space so we can all contribute while staying in our comfort zones

#22

This is a 5 year old thread, I think a lot of the original concerns are fixed now. The space has grown a huge amount since this thread and we’ve doubled in physical space and in member count, and instead of doing weekly open evenings we now do them bi-weekly, and we have an open evening host rota people can volunteer with and more people willing to step in.

One reason we encourage people to do an open evening or two is to contribute to the space and be a step closer to earning shutter access, but that can be earned by contributing in many other ways, not just open evenings, so even if public speaking isn’t for you there’s still alternative ways you can earn it.

I wasn’t here 5 years ago but by the sounds of it, things are a lot better now. :slight_smile:

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