The In's and Out's of Outreach and Communication Summer Workshop

MCR’s Summer Workshops continued with an event, “Ins and Outs of Outreach and Communication,” led by MCR Treasurer Maehe Kunvvar and MCR Vice President Ashely Morales. The workshop kicked off first by introducing MCR-SGA and breaking down the basics of what the organization as a whole is.

Soon after introductions, participants read the objectives for the evening and got right to work focusing on networking and recognizing their strengths while networking by going into breakout rooms for a short period of time. They were asked to create an acronym for the word C.A.T.C.H. They were able to come up with Confidence, Able, Talkative, Consistent, Helpful.

The next topic of discussion was code switching. The presenters gave several examples of code switching. To provide an example, Morales modeled her advocacy voice and explained further, “If I was your friend or we were just talking casually, I’d speak closer to this,” as she used a more informal speaking voice. To practice, students were asked to share ideas in the Zoom chat feature for when a professional voice would be needed. Such as, in an interview, giving a speech, or talking to an adult.

Next, the event moved onto accessibility and Morales read the key takeaway, “If you’re going to be a leader, conducting outreach, or plan on having a leadership role anywhere, you should always be accessible and responsive to people.” Some tips she shared for making oneself accessible were: “Be friendly, have your social media as a source of communication, offer your email, use other language, answer any source of communication as soon as possible.”

Maehe shared that a website can be a part of accessibility and recommended “Linktree”, where individuals can link their social media. Additionally, she suggested using social media to engage people through Q-and A’s, lives, takeovers, and polls/questionnaires.

Next up was another interactive mission: creating a graphic for an event. Participants were given practice event scenarios such as a virtual holiday party, a picnic, Friendsgiving dinner, and a pool party. It sparked a friendly competition between participants: who could create the best graphic?

After sharing several different creative graphics from the breakout rooms, it was time to vote! After an abundance of votes, the presenters declared it a tie between all of the participants.

Last up was learning more about social media. After learning about the different types of social media, participants were put into breakout rooms for one last time to uncover the truths behind student government associations such as: who was the MCR President in 2017? What was current Vice President Ashley Morales’ position last year in Gaithersburg SGA?

The evening concluded with a summary of tips about outreach emails. The presenters gave a bulleted list of ideas to keep in mind when writing outreach emails. Morales wrapped up the meeting by reading a final slide of reminders which concluded another summer workshop.

Written by Allison J Khani

Published by PR Department