Working Group

Survey Results

How many volunteers are active in your working group?

Median: Seven volunteers per group

How many of your working group members have taken the Anti-Oppression workshop this year?

Count: 1

Please rank your sense of accomplishment regarding your working group activities this year

Meeting Stated Goals: 82% of groups Satisfied or Very Satisfied - 9% dissatisfied
Raising Awareness: 46% of groups Satisfied or Very Satisfied - 9% dissatisfied
Attracting Volunteers: 46% of groups Satisfied or Very Satisfied - 9% dissatisfied
Contributing New Research: 64% of groups Satisfied or Very Satisfied

These findings will be explored in more detail with working groups at future orientation and networking meetings.

NOTE: No groups were "very dissatisfied"

Usefulness of OPIRG Supports:

Of the eight supports listed (Networking Meetings, Consensus Workshop, Anti-Oppression Workshop, Working Group Budget, Working Group Special Project Funding, PIRGTOPIA display, OPIRG Webpage, Working Group Wiki) the top supports based on the sum of all top three rankings were:

WORKING GROUP BUDGET
NETWORKING MEETINGS

These were followed in diminishing numbers of top three rankings by

PIRGTOPIA*
- Consensus, Anti-Oppression, and OPIRG Website
  - Working group Wiki, and Working Group Special Fund

*PIRGTOPIA was rained out this year so it is unclear how many groups would have been at the event

Number of people at event is the number one measure of success for groups (82%). This measure could be mined further to get feedback from attendees (ex. how they found out about the event, did they get value from the event, did they sign-up for further action); just over half the groups say they use surveys.

OBJECTIVE - Increase use of relevant data to help evaluate group activity/success by 40% of groups by end of second term 2017-2018.

Outreach (in conjunction with "Communication Tools") can significantly impact a group's success if done well: Making an announcement in class is often the best way to reach a lot of people with a 3-5 minute presentation, but can be difficult to arrange to speak to a lot of large classes. Tabling in the student centre is valuable more for the direct contact made with people who choose to come and talk or pick up information. The one-on-one opportunity is great if you are prepared (enough volunteers to answer questions, take-away action material)

SUGGESTION: next time you have a good turnout at an event or meeting, ask people how they heard about it. Keep track of the responses. Have useful info available at tables people can take away.

Working Groups are reminded to ensure OPIRG McMaster is clearly identified at your table display.

Communication Tools Used by Working Groups

The majority of groups (82%) - not surprisingly - use Facebook Groups to carry out their internal communications (as does the Coordinator of Volunteers for Working Groups and General Volunteers, et. al).

Adding events to the OPIRG Calendar (55% of groups) is made easier by our new website which can automatically import events from working group Facebook groups.

OBJECTIVE: Increase use of event calendar by working groups by 45% by January 2018.

Social media tools should be used based on your understanding of what your audience is using: A little less than half (46%) of groups are using Twitter, and the same number use (46%) their own group's blog or website.

Groups should be using online calendars to post their meetings and events (only 27% are) since they are easy to use and widely available (see WIKI for Media contacts which includes online calendar links); 18% of our working groups use Instagram, same as groups using email as communication tool. One group is using Slack and no groups are using Snapchat.

All groups and volunteers are encouraged to take OPIRG's Passion to Power skills workshops in the fall and winter, which include communication strategy.

Suggestions on ways to improve the working group experience

Everyone at the OPIRG office is a ton of help
A video tutorial of how to use the new OPIRG website would be fantastic! I know that Randy is already working on something, so this will be very helpful to guide working groups in using this new platform.
I think the group needs to improve on ways that we can create change. OPIRG provides this great opportunity and I think the group should brainstorm on some ideas on how Threadworks can use this opportunity to create change!
Having a conflict resolution workshop would benefit all groups. When asked this at the Consensus Decision Making workshop, 100% of participants agreed and said they would attend this if offered. It would also benefit groups if AOP, consensus decision making, and conflict resolution workshops were made mandatory for at least the 2 liaisons to attend in order to make all groups aware of how OPIRG Working Groups should run.
Having a larger established network in social and environmental communities at McMaster. From this developing a repository of forms etc. that can be used when organizing and training volunteers to deal with social and environmental issues appropriately. For example I was unaware of all the permits involved in the protection and conservation of species and had I not partnered with Dr.Dudley and the Chow-Fraser Lab I could have had volunteers interacting illegally with turtles. Perhaps a repository is not necessary but simply warning working groups they need to be careful and speak to the relevant parties already involved in their issue about any potential legal ramifications they may not have thought of.
Continue as done. Randy was always open and amenable to feedback- and always gave plenty. We were more than supported, and were always aware that OPIRG was a major source of support for our activities.

Additional Comments

Let me know if you need me to fill anything out in greater detail. Other than that, thanks guys, it's been a slice.
A big thank you to Randy, Cecilia, and Shelley for the warm welcome when I began this role in January. It has been a pleasure to get to know everyone and the wonderful work that you do on-campus at McMaster. Your help was greatly appreciated and it was always enjoyable to stop in to the OPIRG office. I look forward to seeing you next year!
Thank you OPIRG for providing a space to inspire, educate and change the world!
I found all the OPIRG supports very helpful- I don't think my ranking produced any meaningful data. In particular, I found the networking meetings inspiring, the working group budget (which we didn't use a lot of) useful and needed, and PIRGtopia to be helpful. Particularly, we appreciated the use of being able to promote on the OPIRG website and email list.

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