I. August 29, 2009

Writing skills workshop, Fakoship Plaza - Buea

Workshop report

Ten journalists and students registered for the first workshop to be held by the Media Watch team. This was a reasonable number given the relatively short notice and given that the GCI team has yet to establish its credentials as worthy trainers.

However, only eight registered attendees were present. The two absentees sent apologies. Those present included staff from The Post and The Star newspapers and students from the University of Buea

Presentation and materials

Materials included an easy-to-follow manual, pens and paper for exercises, posters highlighting important points and a blackboard for the presenter. The workshop was held in the conference room at Fakoship Plaza. All attendees said they liked the venue.

The presenter took the attendees through the various topics, explaining best practice for each, and eliciting questions and debate, as well as giving two practical exercises, including writing a lead paragraph in three minutes flat. The presenter also took the attendees through a hypothetical story to elicit how they would approach and write the story.

An ex-journalist of many years experience, Paul Kode, gave a short presentation toward the end on writing for radio and the differences between writing for radio and print.

Normally introductions would be done at the start of the workshop but as two attendees were late this was left to the break.

PROS

Some of the ideas presented incited useful debate among participants, which lead to good insights and new thoughts on ways to present stories.

The lead par exercise showed how if one doesn't have much time to think too much about the intro, except to tell what happened, then one doesn't have time to fiddle around adding unnecessary detail.

Questions from some of the participants showed they were thinking carefully about how to make changes and wanted more knowledge.

Attendees said they would be keen to attend another workshop and suggested some issues they would like to cover.

CONS

Some attendees found the presenter a little difficult to understand. This was probably partly due to her Australian accent, and a little nervousness on her part on conducting her first workshop. Then flow from idea to idea could have been a bit smoother.

A longer time was needed so as to be able to include more writing exercises and allow for latecomers (although it might also be good to be stricter on the invitation about start times).

If another senior very experienced media professional had been present, it would have helped the presenter to know if she was making things clear or relevant to the Cameroonian situation. It would have added credibility to the workshop as well. The presenter did, however, try to make all hypothetical stories and writing exercises as relevant as possible to the particular problems the journalists face in Cameroon.

The range of topics was too wide and it would have been better to focus on just one or two that come under the rubric of writing skills, to allow for a definite comprehension. This also would have allowed more time for practical exercises

Evaluation

All attendees took time to fill out seven questions to give their feedback on the workshop and all were honest about what they did and did not gain, which will be of great benefit in planning the next workshop. Questions on the survey included whether they felt they had learned anything, whether they understood the facilitator and whether they would implement any changes at work.

Certificates

Some attendees requested a certificate of completion. It was an oversight on the part of the Media Watch team not to have some ready and this will be done for next time.

Summary

All in all, for a first workshop, and given the timeframe in which it was developed and the resources and expertise available, it achieved quite a lot, especially in regards to establishing credibility of the team and in developing even more useful workshops for the future.

Follow-up

It is planned to send follow-up emails to the attendees to see if they have any further questions or input.