Jacqueline and I planned to have General Meetings every Friday evening fortnightly. We took a lot of effort in planning the agenda for each meeting so as to make it as effective as possible. Including Jacqueline and me, there are 17 people in Inspiring India 2013 team. The meetings are held in school because it is the most convenient location.
Fortunately, our fellow committee members are outgoing individuals and this made our ice breaking sessions an effective and well- used time of team bonding. Apart from that, having an engaging introductory presentation also played a part in making everyone step out of their comfort zone to interact.
Usually the meetings will consist of the following contents:
Team Bonding Game
team members are split into groups of 3 (“group” used twice in same sentence). For each meeting, one group will lead and facilitate a team bonding game. At the end of each game, the group members have to conduct a reflection session to explain the rationale of the game. Besides strengthening team dynamics, such an activity provides committee members with opportunities to enhance their leadership and facilitation skills in preparation for our eventual project in India.
Lessons
During the lesson period, skills and knowledge which we feel are important for the members to understand or learn are shared. During the first meeting, we provided the members with the basic understanding of YEP – consists of experiential learning and service learning. We also touched on our endorsing organisation (NUS OSA) and partner organisation (Project Happy Feet). The members will also get the chance to contribute by doing their own reading and sharing their own knowledge with others such as information regarding Bangalore, India.
Sharing session
Some time is also allocated to the respective appointment holders to provide updates for the rest of the team in matters of fundraising events, logistics and administration.
Homework
Jacqueline and I decided that it is essential to include homework in every meeting. These tasks are to be submitted before the next meeting. As our meetings are held 2 weeks apart, we feel that it will be good for members to be consistent in their own YEP preparation so that they can contribute to this project as best as they can. An example of a homework is to let come up with games to be played in Bangalore, India.
Through this process, I’ve learnt a lot about proper planning. From my experience of attending meetings, the ones which I particularly enjoyed were intense and engaging. We hope that after every meeting, the members will feel inspired, motivated and looking forward to the next meeting.
