Strengthening Communities
Through
Volunteer Program Development
Volunteering as an Ambassador – Manual for Volunteers
January 2017
Funded by:
Contents
Who is this manual for? 3
Acknowledgements 3
Ambassador Program Overview 3
CNIB's Commitment to You 6
Elements of a Presentation 7
Element #1 – Your story 7
Element #2 – Your CNIB story 8
Element #3a – CNIB's Programs and Services 8
Element #3b – The CNIB Story for a younger audience 10
Element #4 – Accommodation and Accessibility 10
Part 1: Individual Interactions 10
Part 2: The Bigger Picture – Interacting with Society 11
Element #5 – Calls to Action 11
Creating your Presentation 12
Think about the Best and the Worst 13
Sense of Purpose, Sense of Self 13
Body language 14
Organization and Preparation 16
Meeting the Needs of Different Audiences 17
Preparing Your Speech 17
What’s your point? 18
Headlines 18
Handling Questions and Bridging to your Agenda 19
Bridging 19
When nobody asks a question 20
Appendix #1 - Spirit of partnership 21
Appendix #2 - CNIB's philosophy on volunteerism 22
Who is this manual for?
This manual has been written for people who would like to be a CNIB Ambassador, telling their story – and the story of CNIB – to groups in the community. The Ambassador program plays a key role for CNIB, by helping people understand what it is to be blind today and spreading the word about the programs and services offered by CNIB so that no one accepts vision loss without help. While the manual has been written for CNIB volunteers, it can be used by anyone who wants to prepare themselves for public speaking in order to educate the public about a cause that matters to them.
We have created this manual using Microsoft WORD in order to make it accessible to as many people as possible – and to allow people from different organizations to be able to adapt and tailor the manual for their needs. If you do so, please provide an acknowledgement that CNIB created the original document.
Acknowledgements
Providing input into this document was a Working Group of volunteers and CNIB staff, including volunteers Betty Meacher, Brian Bibeault, Christopher Moore, Joe Eydt and Owen Parker as well as CNIB staff Jill Jukes, Kerri St. Jean, Mena DiRuscio, Rose Jobin-White and Shannon Simpson. Our sincere thanks go out to all of them.
Special thanks to Susan Ellis, founder of Energize, Inc. who provided valuable insights, and to the Strengthening Communities Through Volunteer Program Development Core Project Members – Jennifer Spencer, Kat Clarke, Marilyn McGale and Susan Cheeseman (all of CNIB).
Ambassador Program Overview
Who
· Ambassadors are people who have a personal CNIB story to tell.
· Ambassadors are clients (people who are blind or partially sighted, and who have benefited from CNIB programs and services), friends or family of clients, donors or volunteers.
· Ambassadors believe in the CNIB mission and are passionate about the work we do.
o CNIB mission statement: To ensure all Canadians who are blind or partially sighted have the confidence, skills and opportunity to fully participate in life.
· Ambassadors make an impact. They speak from the heart and from experience about the challenges and successes of living with vision loss, about including and accommodating people with vision loss, and about the difference CNIB makes in the lives of people who are blind or partially sighted.
What
As an Ambassador, you will be empowered to put our cause and our clients in the spotlight by giving presentations on the needs, experiences and issues faced by people who are blind or partially sighted. Presentations are usually about 15 minutes long and are based on each Ambassador’s personal story. Audiences can be as few as five or as many as 500 people.
Ambassadors also volunteer at our information tables/booths at community events in order to raise awareness of CNIB and the spectrum of blindness.
Ambassadors’ audiences include:
· Seniors’ groups
· High school and elementary school classes
· Community groups
· Corporate groups
· Event attendees
· Healthcare students and vision health professionals
Why
The Ambassador program promotes social inclusion by raising awareness, changing perceptions and inspiring action. Ambassadors’ presentations have four desired outcomes:
1. Audience members gain knowledge and understanding of the needs, experiences and issues faced by people who are blind or partially sighted.
2. Audience members learn things they can do to accommodate and ensure accessibility for people who are blind or partially sighted.
3. Audience members expand our reach by committing to tell at least two people one thing they learned from the presentation.
4. Audience members who are potential clients, or who know potential clients, request further information on CNIB programs and services.
Where
We receive requests for Ambassadors from all across Ontario. Geography and travel are considerations when assigning Ambassadors to presentations. You will have all the information about the location and travel arrangements before you decide whether to accept or decline an assignment.
Travel arrangements will be agreed upon with the host and may include:
· The Ambassador choosing to travel independently to the site
· The Ambassador being met by the host at a bus stop or other transit stop to be guided to the site from there
· The host offering to cover return taxi fare for the Ambassador
· CNIB providing a volunteer driver to accompany the Ambassador
When
The Ambassador role, for the most part, is a “set your own schedule” opportunity. You will finalize the presentation day and time with the host, based on mutual availability. Again, you will never be required to accept an assignment that does not fit with your schedule. Ambassador presentations could happen on weekdays, evenings or weekends.
How
1. The CNIB Ambassador Program Coordinator (APC) will communicate about the Ambassador Program to potential groups.
2. The APC will receive requests for presentations. In addition to responses from program marketing efforts, this may include internal requests – for example, to a new CNIB Board or Committee, or to attendees at a CNIB fundraising event.
3. The APC will have the host fill out the Ambassador Presentation Request Form. This will capture all the information, including: the type and size of audience, their goals for the presentation, the location, preferred dates and times, transportation arrangements, and the name and contact info of the host (your designated contact).
4. Based on geography and availability, the APC will identify which Ambassadors may be interested in the presentation and will send them the information.
5. Ambassadors are free to accept or decline assignments. If you feel you need more information, you are welcome to contact the host with clarifying questions.
6. Once you decide to accept an assignment, advise the APC. Then contact the host to finalize arrangements: date and time, transportation, etc.
7. Once the presentation is complete, you must fill out a short "Presentation Outcomes - Ambassador’s Report":
- Name of the group and host
- Date, time and location of the presentation
- Size of the audience
- How successful you feel the presentation was in terms of meeting the program goals
- Any questions, issues, problems or concerns that arose from the presentation
- Any other general comments
This report will be available as an online questionnaire through Survey Monkey, or you can copy and paste the template from your Ambassador's Toolkit into an email, include your responses, and send it to the APC.
8. The host, and in some cases, the audience members, will also be asked for feedback on the presentation by completing the "Presentation Outcomes - Host’s Report":
- How successful was the presentation in meeting the program goals?
- Do they have any constructive feedback to help Ambassadors improve their presentation skills?
- Overall, how satisfied were they with the presentation?
Important: If you are not prepared to receive this kind of feedback, the Ambassador role may not be for you.
We need to ask these questions in order to evaluate program outcomes, to determine whether the Ambassador Program is achieving its specific overall goals.
Feedback received will be shared with Ambassadors when it is constructive and provides Ambassadors with opportunities to improve their presentation skills.
CNIB's Commitment to You
As an Ambassador, you can be assured CNIB will:
· Provide you with comprehensive orientation and training
· Provide the support and supervision required for your role
· Provide you with appropriate materials to assist you in promoting CNIB
· Welcome your feedback on the program and provide constructive feedback to you on your presentations
· Welcome you and treat you respectfully as a valuable and important representative of CNIB
· Provide quick and courteous service when responding to presentation requests or inquiries
· Recognize your contributions
· Respect your privacy - your personal information is kept confidential according to CNIB’s Privacy Policy
Elements of a Presentation
Presentations usually last between 15-30 minutes, and you should leave at least 15 minutes for questions. Therefore, most speaking engagements will be booked for between half an hour and an hour, depending on the audience and other factors.
You can and should tailor presentations to specific audiences. Ideally your presentation to a group of eight-year-olds will be different from your presentation to a group of 80-year-olds. There will, of course, be exceptions when you are given more or less time. There may also be times when you are asked to deliver a custom presentation on a specific topic. Each Ambassador should develop a standard or base presentation they can build on.
Your base presentation should include these five elements:
1. Your personal story
2. Your CNIB story
3. The CNIB story
4. Accommodation and accessibility
5. A call to action
Element #1 – Your story
Your audience is curious. They want to know how you became blind or partially sighted.
If you were born with vision loss, they want to know how your parents managed, how you learned, your experience at school, choosing a career, working, living and thriving.
If you experienced vision loss later in life – they want to know that too. How did it start? What were the symptoms? How did you feel? How did you manage? How did you get from there to standing here in front of them today confidently and independently?
They want to know about a “day in the life”. Describe how you accomplish everyday tasks that sighted people take for granted. How do you use a computer? How do you read? How do you watch TV? How do you get around? How do you make dinner?
What are the biggest challenges and issues you overcame? What issues continue to confront you?
Important: Your story is personal. If you are not comfortable sharing your personal story openly and honestly, and answering questions that may arise, then the Ambassador role may not be for you.
But if you are comfortable, the impact on your audience will be immediate and profound. Because you have an amazing story to tell.
Element #2 – Your CNIB story
Chances are that most people in the audience don’t know much about what CNIB does. This is your opportunity to tell them how CNIB helped you. Once they know that, they will remember and may pass the information along when someone if their life could benefit from CNIB's help.
· What services did you receive?
· What skills did you learn?
· How did you become confident and independent?
Everyone’s CNIB story is different, because services are tailored to each individual’s needs. Some of the elements that might be part of your story include:
· Emotional and practical support: counselling, adjustment to vision loss groups, other peer support groups, the Vision Mate program
· Skills training: learning to travel independently using a white cane, learning skills for daily living, learning to maximize the vision you have using low vision techniques, aids or devices, learning to use adaptive technology (e.g. JAWS, Zoomtext, iPhone, etc.)
· Social and recreational opportunities: camps, leisure programs, social groups
Element #3a – CNIB's Programs and Services
Ideally, there are three things an adult audience should take away about CNIB. They are easy to remember because they consist of the three CNIB pillars that provide programs and services to meet the needs of three different client groups.
1. Rehab
Post-vision loss rehab therapy is an essential service, funded primarily by the provincial government, that allows a person who is blind or partially sighted to restore abilities that are critical to their safety, mobility and independence. It involves personalized training in the use of sight enhancement and sight substitution skills, strategies and assistive devices. It helps people of all ages in the following areas:
· Spatial and directional awareness without visual reference points
· Safe travel, use of mobility aids such as white canes, and way-finding
· Essential self-management and personal care skills
· Environmental modifications to enhance safety and daily function
· Reading and writing with vision loss, including braille literacy
· Use of optical and non-optical devices, and other adaptive technology
2. Foundation
CNIB’s Foundation offers services that pick up where the Rehab programs end. These focus on social inclusion and improving the quality of life of people with vision loss over and above the rehab therapy they have received. Services include everything from peer support and public awareness programs like the Ambassadors, to camps like the one we have at Lake Joseph in Muskoka where people with vision loss can enjoy nature and outdoor activities.
The Foundation works on two levels:
· Working with external audiences to educate communities about the changes we should be making to have an inclusive society where people with vision loss feel welcomed and safe.
· Working with our clients to help them gain the self-confidence they need to live fully and demand their rights, whether it is in the school system or in the workforce – or anywhere.
Too many people with vision loss live lives of isolation. The Foundation's goal is to put an end to that.