This page deals with how curators can best approach onboarding new organisations to become part of the PlaceCal Partnership. Curators nominate their own organisations, find them through referrals or through research in the community.
For each new organisation you identify, you will need to:
- Conduct initial research to determine suitability.
- Decide who to meet (the potential PlaceCal Manager) and think of what to say.
- Meet with your representative, introduce the person to PlaceCal, and help them decide if they want to join the Partnership.
- Work with your representative to publish information about their organisation on PlaceCal.
- Identify the key contacts who will manage and maintain the information (Admins).
- Agree a schedule for adding event information, and optionally creating a news article.
Initial contact
Before meeting up with your potential Manager, it’s important to find out as much as you can about the new organisation before you begin. This will save time for everyone involved by ensuring that the group is suitable and you’re meeting the right person.
A partial checklist of relevant information to research is:
- Information about the group as a whole.
- Website, Facebook and Twitter links.
- What kinds of events they organise and places they manage. If any of these are currently published online.
- Paper posters or flyers you might have been given.
- Recent news stories.
- An idea of who you’re meeting with and what their job involves.
Create a ticket in your chosen project management system (for example, Trello) with all this information to later review with the group when you meet.
When your preliminary research is complete, contact the group. Explain the benefits of the PlaceCal project for both the neighbourhood and the group itself so they are more motivated to meet with you.
[Coming soon: boilerplate introduction emails]
First meeting
While it’s possible to do it in less time, we advise setting aside two hours for initial meetings. In these meetings you will:
- Introduce the PlaceCal initiative
- Complete the paperwork and onboarding process, filling in relevant consent forms.
- Review the group’s information based on your initial review and publish it on PlaceCal.
- Identify who will be responsible for keeping the information up-to-date
- If possible and time allows, set up a calendar feed. If not, schedule up a followup meeting. If the organisation already has a custom website, refer it to Geeks for Social Change.
- Update your project management system as needed.
We will work with you to conduct the first few onboarding meetings to help you through all these stages.
