The Community Radio Skills Sessions

A series of extremely affordable half day seminars to introduce your team to some ‘must have’ skills to run a thriving community radio station, delivered by the Community Radio Foundation* and BECTU.

Summary:    Highly affordable training and networking sessions in Manchester delivered by BECTU’s Learning Co-ordinator Alison Surtees, Somer Valley FM’s Dom Chambers and the Radio Regen team, on Weds 24^th Feb (book here) and Tues 15^th Mar (book here).  The sessions are introductory and delegates’ further learning needs will be assessed for future events.  Wherever possible, supporting materials will be provided.

Detail:  The programme will start with a buffet lunch where the learners and trainers can get to know each other, followed by the training sessions, a feedback session, and an informal early evening networking social.

Delegates will be mainly drawn from community radio stations within half a day’s travel of Manchester, with an emphasis on licensed stations in the North of England.  Learners should be actively involved in the management of their station but can be paid staff or volunteers.  The programme is only open to not-for-profit bodies such as charities, social enterprises and co-operatives.

A £10 non-refundable admin fee is payable per person for each half day session.  Each station can register one delegate on each day (in order to maximise the number of stations that can attend) but ‘plus one’ standby places can also be booked for no fee (fee payable if place confirmed).

Programme: 

Weds 24^th Feb 

13.00 – 14.00	Registration, buffet lunch & networking
	Delegates can register to attend 2 of the following 1½ hr sessions, one in each time slot
14.00 – 15.30	o    Session 1 Supporting Volunteers & Safeguarding Alison Surtees  o    Session 2 Bid Writing & Governance Cathy Brooks & Phil Korbel
15.50 – 17.20	o    Session 3 Delivering Training Cormac Lawler  o    Session 4 Running a Successful Station Dom Chambers
17.20 – 17.40	Feedback
17.40 – 19.00	Networking social

Tues 15^th Mar

13.00 – 14.00	Registration, buffet lunch & networking
	Delegates can register to attend 2 of the following 1½ hr sessions *
14.00 – 15.30	o    Session 5 Effective Business Administration Cathy Brooks  o    Session 6 Social Enterprise & Pitching your Services Phil Korbel & Dom Chambers  o    Session 7 Social Media & phone-shot video editing Cormac Lawler & Alison Surtees  * The most popular session will be repeated
15.50 – 17.20
17.20 – 17.40	Feedback
17.40 – 19.00	Networking social

The trainers and host organisations

Alison Surtees – Learning Co-ordinator BECTU. Creative Producer and Trainer with a range of organisations including In Place of War, Manchester District Music Archive, Future’s Venture and Soup Collective.

Dom Chambers – Station Manager at the thriving Somer Valley FM in Somerset.  Dom has chaired the Community Media Association, currently chairs the Radio Academy Affiliate Members Group, and is the Project Director of The Community Radio Foundation. Dom has visited over thirty community stations throughout the UK so is very well researched in successful models of community broadcasting.

Cathy Brooks – Co-Director Radio Regen.  Cathy has run the operations side of the charity since its inception in 1999 and specialises in creating management systems and writing successful bids to a wide range of funders.  She is also the CMA’s Finance Manager.

Cormac Lawler – has been Radio Regen’s project co-ordinator for three years, delivering projects such as Connect:Transmit and Employment FM (which look at training in the sector) and the Social Media Toolkit.  These projects have enabled him to work with a wide range of stations across the UK.

Phil Korbel – Co-Director and founder of Radio Regen (see below).  Phil’s experience runs from presenting RSL breakfast shows in shop windows to making Radio 4 documentaries, lobbying Cabinet ministers for community radio licences, and feeding chickens.

BECTU is the UK’s media and entertainment trade union; sectors covered include broadcasting, film, independent production, theatre and the arts, leisure and digital media. 

Radio Regen ran two of the Access Radio pilot stations (ALLFM and Wythenshawe FM), as well as setting up North Manchester FM and dozens of temporary stations.  The charity had a long running partnership delivering training for a large FE college.  Radio Regen now focuses on research-based projects creating resources that community radio stations can use to get more revenue.

*The Community Radio Foundation is a major new collaborative project coordinated by Radio Regen which will both offer guidance, resources and training to stations on how to build and sustain thriving social enterprises, as well as developing funding opportunities for the UK sector.

The venue is in central Manchester, some ten minutes walk from both Piccadilly and Victoria Stations, five minutes walk from the tram stops at Piccadilly Gardens and Shude Hill.

Book here for 24th Feb sessions and here for 15th March.