Posted by Elif Varol | Posted in Library, Uncategorized | Posted on September 7, 2011
I was at the Repositories Support Project workshop called Communications Skills for Effective Advocacy on 15 June in Manchester at the venue called The Studio.
I absolutely loved the venue! This contemporary venue with innovative design was a great place to host an event which, in my opinion, helped each of us to enjoy the event even more.
I have enjoyed all of the events organised by RSP however, this one was exceptional. One of the reasons was due to the fact that Deborah Dalley was the facilitator. She was certainly one of the best trainers I have ever come across.
The workshop consisted of various sessions ranging from Effective Influencing, Sources of Power, Understanding and Managing Resistance and Identifying & Handling Objections.
This was one of the rare occasions where I found it hard to choose which session I liked as each of them were very good and mind stimulating. I felt that I was able to contribute as much as everyone else which is not always the case in some of the events I have been to.
I picked up number of useful tips for example, identifying what power one has in order to develop an effective influencing strategy accordingly.
Another useful tip was about using different communication channels. The University is planning to have two staff rooms for academics where they would have an opportunity to meet another members of the staff from different departments during their breaks. I thought it would be a good idea if we could put few leaflets on the tables to promote the Institutional Repository. It’s a relatively cheap way of raising the awareness across the University which hopefully will encourage academics to deposit their work more.