[grc] Creating training to attract volunteers and audience

[Spencer Graves]

Hello, All:


       I'm scheduled to lead a session at the Grassroots Radio 
Conference, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2-2:45 PM, on "Creating training to 
attract volunteers and audience".


       I'd be pleased to have any of you help me decide how to structure 
that time -- even become a co-presenter with me.


       This was inspired by Lisa Loving's presentations in last year's 
GRC, where I heard that part of KBOO's success rested on an on-going 
training program that has offered free training to thousands, roughly 
10% of whom have become volunteer news producers for KBOO, and virtually 
all of the remaining 90% LOVE KBOO and help the station in other ways.  
Hoping to replicate that, I've recruited a training committee at KKFI.  
I created an articles on Wikiversity on "Grassroots media training",[a] 
"Grassroots media training/KKFI",[b] and just now "Grassroots media 
training/KKFI/Audacity".


       I'm scheduled to discuss this briefly at noon today with KKFI's 
Equipment, Facilities, and Technology (EFT) Committee and next Tuesday 
at 4:30 PM with our Training Committee.  I don't know where we will go 
with this, but I'm hoping this will help KKFI improve the skills of our 
volunteers while recruiting more, both of which will help increase our 
audience, that will generate more donations and more volunteers 
demanding and providing more training, etc., in a virtuous cycle.


       And, of course, the material is on Wikiversity to invite anyone 
in the world -- including you -- to contribute with conflicts managed by 
the standard Wikimedia rules of writing from a neutral point of view 
citing credible sources.


       Comments?
       Spencer Graves


p.s.  I hope to see you at GRC.


[a]
https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Grassroots_media_training


[b]
https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Grassroots_media_training/KKFI


[c]
https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Grassroots_media_training/KKFI/Audacity


################


       1.  AUDACITY:  Do any of you have training materials for Audacity 
or leads on other good training materials for Audacity that I could 
copy, modify and use as I wish?


             * I ask partly because KKFI is about to start offering such 
training on a recurring basis more or less as often as we can attract an 
audience.  This plan was inspired by Lisa Loving's comments at last 
year's GRC that KBOO's on-going training curriculum helps increase their 
volunteer base thereby helping build the station and sustain their daily 
news programs.


             * Below please find an outline of my thoughts for the 
contents of an Audacity class.


       2.  OTHER THOUGHTS ON "CREATING TRAINING TO ATTRACT VOLUNTEERS 
AND AUDIENCE":  I offered to lead a session at the GRC on "Creating 
training to attract volunteers and audience", and that session will be 
much more valuable if others like some of you contribute to making it 
more than just Spencer Graves talking about what he and others at KKFI 
have been trying in this area.


             * So far, I've created articles on Wikiversity on 
"Grassroots media training" and "Grassroots media training/KKFI",[1] and 
I've gotten agreement in principle that KKFI wants to create a regular 
suite of classes inspired by KBOO's example.


       Comments?
       Best Wishes,
       Spencer Graves
       Secretary of the Board, KKFI.org
       4550 Warwick Blvd 508
       Kansas City, MO 64111
m:  408-655-4567


       I plan to create Audacity training materials to cover the following:


             1.  Downloading and installing Audacity on a computer; 
discuss without actually doing it.  [The room should be scheduled with 
an extra half hour before and after the session in case people want to 
bring a notebook computer and get help with this.]


             2.  Recording something on your cell phone and transferring 
the recording to a computer (Android or iPhone to Mac or Windows).


             3.  Reading the recording into Audacity.


             4.  Deleting material you don't want.


             5.  Zooming in on spikes and pushing them down to match the 
nearby sound level.


             6.  Amplifying a portion of a recording that may be quieter 
than other parts.


             7.  Cutting multiple pieces from different recordings and 
assembling them in a new recording, possibly in a different order.


             8.  Export as MP3 with file names matching the desired 
protocol for a particular show.


             9.  ISO 8601 international standard format for dates: 
YYYY-MM-DD, which is unambiguous any place in the world AND a standard 
lexicographical sort puts files with otherwise the same name in the 
order you nearly always want.  QUIZZ ON THIS:  A page on 
"treaties.un.org" gives, "STATUS AS AT : 04-09-2019".  Is that the 4th 
of September or the 9th of April?  [Hint:  You can't tell from the 
numbers, because they are not following ISO 8601.  If you wait until 
tomorrow and it changes to "STATUS AS AT : 05-09-2019", then you'll 
know.  Is that stupid?}


       What do you think?  Should the class content be different? Can 
this be covered in 90 minutes?  If we schedule 10 minutes for each of 
these tasks, that's 90 minutes.  You may think that ISO 8601 doesn't 
belong in this class, but I think it's important to think about for 
naming files -- and it should NOT take nearly as much time as the other 
items on this list -- and could be omitted if other things run too long.


       Spencer
m:  408-655-4567


[1]
https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Grassroots_media_training

https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Grassroots_media_training/KKFI