After a year of uncertainty due to the current epidemic situation, our partner in Slovenia “Simbioza” was postponing workshops month after month. But finally Simbioza’s team came up with a plan to carry out the project before the end of the summer. A concrete scenario for localized workshops was prepared by a new member of the team.
The preliminary plan was to run only half of the whole curriculum nationally and have the second part for all the participants in a face-to-face training in Malta. It would be tough for participants to remember first half of the content, then having a few months long break before starting with the second half. Based on that it was decided that, no matter what is going to happen with a planned trip to Malta, Simbioza would go through the whole curriculum in one piece. If “Malta” happens, it will be just a special gift for our participants.
The whole curriculum is divided into seven smaller four-hour sessions held once per week. Promotion started last week through mailings, website, and social media.
The first promotional results were discouraging. In those epidemic times internet is full of free educational lectures and training offers. Who needs another one?! Especially if you are a senior with a lack of skills of using internet and computer – what this workshop is all about. Plus that target group is the most vulnerable regarding Covid-19, so they are more cautious about live gathering.
However, Simbioza’s new staff member is also over 55 years old, which is perfectly synchronized with the generation of potential participants. She started to spread the news among her generation, and interest started to raise. The main breakthrough was made with the 15’ long radio broadcast on the main national radio Slovenia 1. A few minutes later Simbioza got so many calls that internet subscription had to be closed after the 10th applicant.
The original plan was to start the face-to-face session on 15 April. At least the first one was planned live, but since gathering in Slovenia is still forbidden, it was postponed for one week. Simbioza team and participants hope they can finally start the training on 22 April.
By Simbioza