The 2015 CVC was in July in Manchester, the 2016 CVC in June in London. What happened to the 2017 CVC? Is volunteer engagement not considered important?
As per my information, said volunteer conferences / workshops for Community Volunteers and/or Registration Volunteers etc. are not enlisted or advertised openly but privately and remaining all relevant proceedings or communications are also done privately, that is, only concerned are approached. The reason of doing so, may be better elaborated by the concerned designated officials.
We don't run CVCs in every region every year, they run once every two years in each region. Last year was an exceptional year when we were able to bring together all regions in London to meet alongside lots of other groups of volunteers from within the IET. This descion was taken by the Communities Resourcing Committee several years ago.
There are three CVCs taking place in 2017. These are for the EMEA, Americas and Asia Pacific regions. If you are in the UK or the South Asia regions then there is no CVC this year, these regions will meet again in 2018. Local Networks within the three regions where CVCs are taking place have been asked to nominate someone to attend. Therefore it is by invitation only, this is why it is not publicly advertised. All Local Networks should be represented so please contact your committee should you wish to pass on any feedback or items for discussion.
I hope this helps to clarify the situation. Volunteer engagement is incredibly important to us and it's something that we try and support on an ongoing basis, not just through the CVCs. Most Communities Committees vary the location of their meetings and use this as an opportunity to meet volunteers in their local area. Each region hosts a PATW final every year and this is another opportunity to engage with young professionals, many of whom continue as volunteers. If you have any questions about any of this then please liaise with your staff contact or with the volunteers on your regional CC, all will be happy to help.
Yes, I was confused by the 2015 and 2016 CVCs. I don’t think anyone from our network apart from myself has paid them much attention in the time I’ve been a volunteer. I think a consistent annual event (UK at least) would be a good idea, but I would also shift the emphasis to volunteer training and feedback, rather than preaching the corporate gospel. I know most of the volunteers I deal with are vague on the suite of tools we are expected to use.
If any of the volunteers in the UK have any thoughts/suggestions for the UK CVC in 2018 I'd be delighted to hear from you - please email me direct or via ccuk@theiet.org
Alex Barrett you mention volunteer training - do you have any specific ideas?
Also to echo Alex Taylor's point, CC-UK holds meetings throughout the UK where we always welcome the local volunteers to come along and meet with us - our next meeting will be in October so keep checking back to see where we'll be!!
I was thinking of a run through of the 'suite' of tools that are provided for volunteers. I feel that these are a mystery to very many volunteers, I've only picked them up over a few years of trial & error - I was a guinea pig in the Adestra roll-out. In a half day session it would be possible to demonstrate the function and operations of the Communities, Rhythmyx, Plus4Events, the Marketing toolkit and Adestra. I was disappointed that this didn't happen at my first CVC.
We organized hands on training / workshop sessions for Eng Comms, Plus4Events, and Marketing Toolkit at EMEA CVC held last week and it was a huge success with amazing feedback.
