3.8. How to gain experience?

One of the most important things when wanting to create and conduct great workshops is the need to practice. The more workshops you will do the more confident you will feel about being in the role of a trainer and the easier it will be for you to develop the right workshop for the right type of group.

At the beginning you might not be able to make money from doing the workshops but t is all about gaining experience and when people recognize that you are doing a good job, money and fame might come along eventually.

But how to find possibilities to practice?

Tell others!

Make sure to tell others about the workshops you are doing or wanting to do. Tell not only your friends and your family but also strangers you meet. You never know, maybe you have person in front of you who might just need on what you are doing or who has some ideas on how to realize your plans. Your friends and family might also be a valuable source of support and information. The more people you will tell about what you want to do, your goals, the more information you will receive on how to realize them.

Search the internet!

Check the internet for volunteering possibilities. There are many NGO’s who are in need of people who want to get engage and share their knowledge with others. Use a search engine or check various country pages where NGO’s or other institutions ask or search for help.

Example given of such pages in Poland:

www.ngo.pl

www.mojwolontariat.pl

Example given of such pages in Norway:

www.ung.no/frivillig/

www.unginfo.oslo.no/?post_type=verden&p=523

Example of such pages in Romania:

hartavoluntariatului.ro

www.centruldevoluntariat.ro/ro

www.imparte.ro/Voluntariat

gratuitor.ro/voluntariat/

www.voluntar.ro/

www.ajutaunong.com/

www.provobis.ro/

Ask around!

You can visit the local school, or even your old school where they might still know you, and ask if you could do workshops for the youngsters in this school. Other good places to ask are libraries as well as youth and cultural centers. But you could also ask in child care homes. However, make sure to keep in mind that those places have their rules and regulations and that organizing a workshop at one of those places might be connected to providing some references and information about yoursel