CIS-A2K/Events/Train the Trainer Program

Hashtags   : #TTT, #TTT2024

Train the Trainer or TTT is a 4 day residential training program. The program attempts to groom leadership skills among the Indian Wikimedia community members. The first iteration of TTT was held in Bangalore, India, during 3—6 October 2013. Six more iterations took place between 2015 and 2020, and the ninth iteration is scheduled for 18, 19 and 20 October 2024.

The program includes—

1. interactive training run by experienced Wikimedians and professional consultants on how to conduct outreach in an effective manner – training on presentation skills, audience engagement, public speaking etc.
2. mock presentations, with video recording for feedback.
3. sharing of best practices from across the movement.
4. Wikipedia policy discussions.
5. DIY Digitization.
6. crisp talks on FOSS, Openness, Social Media, Copyright, Creative Commons.
7. production sprints.
8. pre-event work to be done by each participant.
9. networking with Wikimedians from other Indian language communities.
10. idea lab sessions for collaborative project ideas on Wikimedia projects.
11. goal setting
12. (possible) field trip with a learning objective

Based on an internal needs assessment exercise undertaken by CIS-A2K during March-June 2013, it has been realized that:

• bulk of the Indian population does not know about the existence of Indic Wikipedias and sister projects.
• there is a lot of potential to do outreach in India but it is hampered by community member's lack of time, lack of availability of support material and/or ability to do outreach.
• though many Indic Wikimedia community members have desire to undertake offline outreach they seldom receive support and guidance.
• there is a need to further build the capacity of interested community members to conduct effective outreach sessions.

Thus CIS-A2K launched its first Wikipedia Train-the-Trainer (TTT) programme in 2013 with an aim to support and groom leadership skills in the community members who are interested to conduct Wikipedia outreach sessions in their own cities/languages and to spread the word about the Indic Wikipedias. CIS-A2K intends to make this into an annual event.

CIS-A2K will conduct this program for approximately 25-30 interested community members from different Indian language communities. We want to make sure that there is equal participation from each language community. CIS-A2K will use below mentioned parameters for selecting candidates.

1. Y The applicant should have made minimum 200 edits at the time of application on their respective Indian language Wikimedia projects and should have been a Wikimedian for at least 6 months. Newbie Wikimedians who are active for at least 6 months will also be considered.
2. Y The applicant should have created a minimum of 5 new articles on their respective Indian language Wikipedia or should have digitized 50 pages on Wikisource.
3. Y Motivation of the candidate to be a part of the program.
4. Y Community nominated Wikimedian/s will have advantage over self-nominations.
5. Y We discourage those Wikimedians who have attended the past TTT and suggest that they encourage others in their community to take part in the TTT.

We are glad to have you come for this program. We believe that you will take the learning from this program back to your community and help spread the word about OUR WIKIPEDIA to as many people as possible :) CIS-A2K will be extremely happy if YOU CAN

• Take lead in translating Wikimedia outreach documents like presentations, banners, FAQ in to your language for your community
• Give a small talk/presentation about your experience and learning from this Program
• Share ideas and tips you picked from the program with your friends and language community members
• Write a small report sharing your experience of being in this Program
• Tell us What worked :) and What did not Work :( in this programme

By joining this program, you'll—

1. get general training and presentation skills which you can apply not only during Wikipedia workshops, but also during delivering personal and professional talks.
2. receive detailed feedback about your presentation and training skills from professional consultants.
3. help design a training program that serves Wikimedia community in the long term.
4. share your skills with others.
5. meet fellow Wikimedia editors and have fun.