The first meeting of the Community Partner Team will set the tone and establish the expectations for the entire process. The Community Partner Team Leader must be prepared, enthusiastic and willing to fulfill promises made to the volunteers serving on the Community Partner Team. A good first meeting is the foundation for a successful campaign.
Good meetings do not happen by chance; they are planned and executed with consideration of purpose and participants. During the first Community Partner Team meeting, introduce the participants to each other, help participants visualize the process by outlining their role in the campaign and address their questions and provide other pertinent information relating to the Partners for Rural Traffic Safety program.
Mail an agenda to each participant prior to each meeting. Sample agendas for Community Partner Team meetings are included in this kit. Be certain that you have a suitable location for your team meetings, such as a room with a satisfactory audio-visual system and ample supplies. Also, be sure to begin and end the meeting on time. Finally, distribute copies of pertinent materials as each item on the agenda is discussed. If you use slides/overheads, Community Partner Team members should get a copy of the overheads so they will not be spending time writing notes when they could be thinking and listening to the presentation. Materials for this first meeting and subsequent meetings are included in this kit. Feel free to copy and distribute these materials. This first meeting should last approximately two hours.
Partners for Rural Traffic Safety Community Partner Team Meeting No. 1
Date, time and place:
___________________________________
Agenda
- Call to order and welcome.
- Community partner introductions using six-square activity.
- Traffic safety awareness quiz.
- Presentation about Partners for Rural Traffic Safety.
- Traffic safety awareness quiz answers.
- Forecasting.
- Next meeting.
Agenda Item 1—Call to Order and Welcome
Your enthusiasm and commitment to the process should be demonstrated by a warm and sincere welcome. Thank the members for agreeing to serve and tell them you believe this will be a positive experience leading to dramatic changes in traffic safety habits in your community.
Agenda Item 2—Community Partner Team Introductions Using Six Square Activity
For this ice-breaking activity, you’ll need a flip chart or grease board and markers. The question tool is called Six Square and is provided in the Tools section of this chapter. This tool is designed to serve several purposes. First, it requires that everyone on the Community Partner Team say something other than their name during the introduction. It establishes the fact that they have information to share and can help lead the development of the process. Second, it allows the members to share expectations and concerns. Third, some of the questions are meant to be fun and light-hearted, yet still reveal a little of their personality.
Distribute a copy of the tool to all members and ask them to fill in the answers to the questions. Give them two to three minutes to fill in the form. As you prepare to listen to their answers, tell them the idea is to empty their “six squares” in an expedient manner. As team leader, call on each member of the Community Partner Team. Allow the participants to give their responses to each question, and share with them the answers from your tool kit.
As the responses are given, pay close attention to their answers to the question about “my concerns about being a Community Partner Team member,” and “what I expect to learn by my participation.” Divide a sheet of flip chart paper into two columns and label the headings of the columns with the words “Concern” and “Learn.” As the participants answer those questions, record their concerns and learning expectations. If duplicate answers are given, such as “not enough time” and “lack of resources,” place a check mark next to the response when first recorded to indicate a duplicate response. This will save time. Even if someone gives answers that were stated previously, it is important to share those sentiments with the group because it may help some members understand the depth of other’s expectations or concerns. When you have completed the exercise, try to address any discrepancies using your overall knowledge of this kit and your commitment to the team, as reflected in the signed Community Partner Team Member Agreement form included in Chapter 4.
The answers to these questions should be typed on a separate sheet of paper and returned to team members along with the agenda for the next meeting. Therefore, you may want to ask a team member to take notes at each meeting and provide those notes prior to your next meeting.
Agenda Item 3—Traffic Safety Awareness Quiz
A quiz is included in the Tools section of this chapter as a pre-test before the next agenda item, a presentation about the Partners for Rural Traffic Safety process. This is a self-test and Community Partner Team members can score it themselves. The presentation will provide answers to many of their questions. The answers to this quiz vary from state-to-state, based on your local laws. Quiz answers are provided in the Tools section of this chapter. Read these questions out loud and ask team members to write their responses on a piece of paper. That way, it doesn’t seem so imposing. Remind them that it is all right not to know every answer because learning is a part of the process.
Agenda Item 4—Presentation about Partners for Rural Traffic Safety
A sample presentation with speaker’s notes is provided in Appendix E for use during the orientation meeting. Listed as “Meeting 1 Presentation” (consisting of Slides 1 - 12), the presentation is provided in two formats: on disk as a PowerPoint file and as camera-ready overheads. Both formats contain speaker’s notes to assist with the presentation. A preview of the PowerPoint slides is provided in the Tools section of this chapter. Feel free to make copies of the overheads on any copy machine using blank overheads designated for use in a plain paper copier. Note that there are logical points during the presentation to provide answers to the quiz questions.
Before making this presentation, you need to familiarize yourself with the materials in this kit. You should read all of Chapters 1 through 9, and look at the other materials in the Appendices. Appendix A is a good primer on traffic safety and occupant safety issues.
Agenda Item 5—Answers to Traffic Safety Awareness Quiz
Review the correct answers with the participants. Sometimes it is fun to re-read the quiz and let the group tell you the answers. It is a confidence builder and shows them that they, indeed, learned something.
Agenda Item 6—Forecasting
Forecasting allows participants to envision how their tasks and activities will affect individual people, organizations and their community. It helps the Community Partner Team to clarify how the process will work, who can help them, potential barriers and how the community will be different once the process has been completed.
Using another sheet of flip chart paper, record the answers to the following questions, employing an open discussion style format.
- Who will benefit from our work and how?
- Who (people or organizations) will help us and why?
- Who (people or organizations) may feel threatened and hinder us and why?
- How will the community be different after we are finished?
The answers to these questions should be typed on a separate sheet of paper and sent back to the members with the agenda for the next meeting. Note which members of the Community Partner Team members are identified as “helpers.” During the 30-day campaign you will need many extra hands, and these are the likely candidates to fill those roles.
Agenda Item 7—Next Meeting
Set the date and place for the next meeting, which is intended to train Community Partner Team members to conduct the Community Visioning Meeting (Chapter 6 materials). This second meeting should occur within two weeks of the first meeting. Keep the momentum strong by maintaining a steady pace.