UK User Training

I attended a one day user camp in London, UK last Thursday. The experience level ranged from people wanting to know more about CiviCRM and if it would be a good fit for their organization, to people who have decided to use it and were now keen to get more training. Instead of having a set agenda from the beginning, the topics were voted on or suggested by the attendees and presenters. Some sessions were presented to the whole group, while some sessions were broken into smaller groups so people could ask specific questions particular to their organization. Having a flexible agenda and breaking into small groups turned out to be a good idea for our group because some people had a list of questions ready to ask, while others needed help trying to figure out how to incorporate CiviCRM into their already existing day to day work. Some of the topics presented to the whole group – How to get support and be involved in the CiviCRM community – read about or ask questions on the forums http://forum.civicrm.org/ -How to use IRC: http://forum.civicrm.org/ from this page, click the IRC tab to chat with a live person and get questions answered CiviEvent CiviReport CiviCase One attendee that had CiviCRM installed in the organization that she works in expressed her frustration because she felt that the staff was not given enough training to learn their new system and use it to their advantage. Or at least know where to get help and support via the forums and the IRC channel. At the end of the day, after the group sessions, one on one training in the small group sessions, and presentation on how to get help and support through the CiviCRM community, she left knowing a whole lot more, knew that she was not alone, and now had the resources to get help and support. Two other attendees from a different company, were very familiar with CiviCRM and had their questions printed out and ready to ask. Seeing that they were using an old version of CiviCRM half their questions were solved when during the training they were upgraded to the latest version. These two attendees were learning about CiviCRM so that they could teach future clients how to use it. Another attendee was a programmer that was new to CiviCRM. He attended the UK developer training camp and came for the user training camp as well so he could get a complete perspective form both the developer and user side. I attended the user training to get more ideas for future screencast tutorials that would be of help to other users, but instead what I got out of the training and what I feel is important to share is a message to organizations thinking about making the transition, and to the users of the organization that will be key to making the transition a success: For the organization: Assemble a team that fully represents the organization so that all interests and needs are met. Also, make sure the budget accounts for user training so your staff will be knowledgeable and prepared to make the transition. Read Chapter on Evaluating Your Needs from the new and free book: Understanding CiviCRM http://en.flossmanuals.net/CiviCRM/Needs For the user who will work on it on a day to day basis and to all involved members of the organization -check out the free demo site - http://civicrm.org/node/17 so you can begin getting familiar with the system -if things are not working how you think it should, you’re probably right and probably not the only person who is experiencing the same problem. Check out the forums to see if others have the same problem and how was it resolved or post your problem in the appropriate forum - http://forum.civicrm.org/ You will have to register to join the forum discussions, but the time to register is small compared to all the resources that will be available to you. -or if it’s a bug in the system, you can file an issue - http://forum.civicrm.org/ at this page, click the tab: Issue Tracker to file your issue. You will have to register to file an issue, but be happy to know that your extra time and effort can only make CiviCRM work better. -For documentation read: http://wiki.civicrm.org/confluence/display/CRMDOC/CiviCRM+Documentation Read the new and free book : Understanding CiviCRM - http://en.flossmanuals.net/civicrm As you get more knowledgeable about CiviCRM, and are feeling the vibe to help others there are many ways for you to participate - http://civicrm.org/participate

Comments

Hi Mari,

Interesting reading. Thanks for the write up :)

When's the next CiviCRM training in the UK? Any possibility of it being held further north - Scotland perhaps?

Are there video based resources on lynda, lullabot or other?

Thanks

Dan

You can check the screencast tutotorials at:

http://wiki.civicrm.org/confluence/display/CRMDOC/Screencasts

lobo