Dallas precinct training is off to a good start!

Well, what I have been working on recently has finally come to pass: our DFA group presented the first "volume" of our precinct training to the DCDP Precinct Coordinators last night, and it was an outstanding success. Honestly, it is such a pleasure to work with the people on the training committee, especially Kim and Doug who were key in getting this one off the ground. But the entire group always has such wonderful, intelligent feedback and have been simply outstanding to work with. I feel really lucky to be around such a professional, businesslike group of activists.

The training attempted to emphasize "soft skills" for activists. So we discussed networking within the precinct, such as getting out and meeting people through the HOA or other organizations. We did a lot of small group activities, such as a brainstorming session about what drives volunteer activists away, and how to remedy that. We discussed all of the different types of "jobs" there are in a precinct, and there were lively discussions about which types of volunteers would fit best with certain types of jobs, including an exercise about how to work with some more "problematic" types.

I also heard from an SDEC member who attended that we have managed to produce stuff that does not duplicate the existing training that the TDP is working, so that was VERY good news. Since we developed the class with an eye on the existing TDP and DCDP manuals, I'm not too surprised, because we made an effort to cover things that everyone seems to expect activists to "just know" but that nobody really sits down and goes over in details.

Anyhoo, everyone who attended was very impressed, and, YAY, there were no major flaws found in the presentation! Now we just need to gear up to ensure that we have enough trainers available to handle it for the rest of the county -- and start working on the NEXT one, hee!

Anyone else doing trainings? PM me if you wanna share notes, etc.

Congratulations on preparing this crispini and glad the training session went so well.

Make sure you bring some of that knowledge down to DemFest.

Sonia

And second question: can precinct captains go to those trainings?

I'd love to, they sound great.

About HOAs, I've recently gotten more active in mine. It covers almost my whole precinct and they are having a meeting this Monday I'm going to.

I also NEVER miss school board meetings.

PM me and tell me your legislative district.

And, yes, that local stuff is VERY important. :)

Edited to add: LOL! Yes, to the second question, not YES to "Do you know you rock?" Ha ha ha! Well, it's funny, so I guess I'll leave it even though it makes me sound like an arrogant twit. :P

:D

But you do! Ok I'll PM ya.

(know you rock, that is) :P

Please bring your materials to DemFest. I'll bring the stuff from the recent training I went to. It was more "nuts-n-bolts," how to access the databases and so forth, less "soft skills." So frankly the more-shy-than-I types were feeling intimidated by the task; the break-out sessions to brainstorm ideas about HOW to get in touch with people for the first time would have been good. Actually our county chair (Jerry B.) sorta stepped in and saved it at the end by encouraging people to just tackle their BLOCK if the whole precinct seems too overwhelming. It's one more block than would have been organized before, right?

Anyway, look forward to seeing you there.

:yourock: ha!

...crispini is NOT just tooting her own horn. It was all that and more. I can't wait to turn them loose on the precinct chairs!!
:yourock:
I'm so proud of the hard work of the grassroots volunteers in Dallas County. If this same activity is going on all over the state, I see the state turning blue. (Okay, maybe purple.)