European Community of Practice

In our meeting today, 6/7/07, we have discuss the FACILITATOR's ROLE, here are the main conclusions:

1. Connection- between users, making sure conversations happen on the site;
2. Marketing and outreach - key to going out to find and help people into the site;
3. Technology competences - developing own and others technology competences;

So, what do these 3 dimensions mean?

Connection:

• knowing people and content to be able to link them up;
• tell 3 +/- stories about each tool's use;
• share/encourage summaries of conversations in national language;

Marketing and outreach:

• understand the target groups (policy makers; ESF managers; ESF promoters) needs;
• identify key people and champions in outside services;
• make contacts, make links within portuguese target groups, and help them contacting with others from other countries;
• give feedback and collect information from the tools authors;
• know how to "sell" the tools benefits/add value/advantages;
• collect tools from outside services;
• start/run groups in own national language;
• identify "stories" for newsletter (there will be one!);
• deal with the "it was not created here sindrome" or the "we like to invent the wheel ourselves"

Technology competences:

• be able to experiment and use all the plataform facilities;
• talk with others;
• reccord FAQs.

Well, these were the competences and chalenges identified for facilitators.