Rosie Sherry

It's not just about building trust and rapport, it's about giving to people without the expectation of anything in return. When you give people will naturally reciprocate and give back when you're in need.

Practice, practice, practice. It seems incredibly simplistic. Watch someone else do a session. Ask them questions. Gather the processes required. Shadow someone. Most importantly build up your confidence and imagine scenarios failing so that you can be mentally prepared to tackle them.

In today's digital world, seeing examples or testimonials makes everything feel more real. Keep a diary or a scrapbook of all the positive things you achieve. From great performing posts. To positive feedback. To achievements and the proof of them. And of course, testimonials are great too. It makes it so much easier to slip these into your "CV" if you collect them as you go, rather than having to dig them out in a rush last minute panic.

Community organizing is the ultimate relationship power tool. When you attend an event you are just one of many people and it becomes hard to be seen. However, when you organize one, you are the person in the middle that people remember. The person that they come to for help. The person that can point and connect to other people. It's pretty powerful to be in that position and to then benefit from inbound enquiries, rather than chasing them after them.

As community organizers we need to know our purpose in addition to the purpose and goals of our people. Often these two things don't align. So much community work is about helping people where you are able to. Are you supported by your organization to truly do this? Or do you get stuck in the middle achieving no real progress?

Memes can be great for humor, education and spreading the word quickly and efficiently. It's a bit of an art to find and adapt existing images to represent how your community is feeling.