At the start of 2020 we had a full events calendar planned out for 数字她, 与场馆, 大学, schools all signed up and employers confirmed to deliver live interactive workshops for young women across the region. Not long after completing our first live event at Trafford College, we were forced to cancel all plans and make 数字她 an online programme.
T在这里 were numerous challenges to overcome with schools and 大学 closed, from the practicalities of safe guarding to ensuring students had the right equipment to access the online events. I’m please to say that thanks to an amazing team behind the scenes and some committed employers we made it work - although we have learnt a lot along the way.
As we aim to launch the 2021 calendar of (online) events, a couple of the challenges we faced and things we’ve learnt.
Online has definitely made it easier for us to reach a much wider audience, in fact we’ve over delivered on the target we set for ourselves and were able to reach women outside of Greater Manchester by teaming up with partners such as Tech Spark and IOC to deliver some of the events nationally. However not everyone has access to a laptop or computer, and accessing events via mobile phones doesn’t always deliver the greatest experience.
平台的选择是关键. We’ve trialled using different platforms through the events we have ran, keeping safeguarding and reach front of mind, 我们的选择有些受限. Hopin allowed us to create a safe space w在这里 we could limited the access between students,
Online delivery does impact the interactive element. 是否有对平台的限制, 为了安全起见，摄像机被关闭, or lacking the confidence to speak up on screen, we’ve noticed a reduction in the number of conversations and questions from people in the room. We’re missing the conversations amongst friendship groups during the sessions, and being able to walk up to groups and get involved in debates, and it’s much harder to build that rapport with the students when you’re on the other side of a screen. However building more time for introductions, 添加诸如投票之类的元素, shaping the workshops to be add more defined interactive elements and w在这里 possible delivery of smaller group sessions has definitely overcome this.
Most importantly, you can still make an impact. 虽然交付可能会有所不同, 的反馈, 吸收比赛, and messages we’ve received following events has proved the importance of keeping the momentum of programmes such as this, 即使面对逆境.
那么2021年的数字她会是什么样子呢? Whilst t在这里 is still so much uncertainty we’re planning to stay with online deliver for at least the first half of the year. We’ll continue to run larger online roadshows for young adults aged 16+ and will be opening these up to as wide an audience as possible. For the younger ages we’re going to take a slightly different approach, we’ll continue to deliver online but working direct with the individual schools to deliver sessions direct into the classrooms. 我们的播客将于四月初发布, and we’re also developing some additional partnerships, and programmes to support all women of all ages and backgrounds with their journey in digital and tech - watch this space.
If you’re a college or community group working with young people aged 16+ and would like to register for one of the online digital roadshows you can do so 在这里.
If you’re a secondary school and would like to arrange for an in school roadshow to be delivered, 登记你的兴趣 在这里 我们会再联系你了解更多细节.
