Special Events Monthly Report: March 2016.

This is the first report for special events in order to reflect on our activities and goals. Idea taken from @Advictoriam

Events in March 2016.

We have had 13 events on 7 Cups throughout the month of March:

1st: Self-Injury Awareness Day | Organisers: @YayyySphere
1st: Zero Discrimination Day | Organisers: @QuickJazz
3rd: University Mental Health and Well-Being Day | Organisers: @starryKoala69 and @YayyySphere
7th: Sleep Awareness Day | Organisers: @akaAlex and @pray4theheartless
8th: International Women's Day | Organisers: @pray4theheartless
13th: Special Events Anniversary | Organisers: @QuickJazz
15th: True Confessions Day | Organisers: @starryKoala69 and @YayyySphere
18th: Cancer Awareness Day | Organisers: @Dillion and @Eunoia
19th: Brain Awareness Day on 7 Cups | Organisers: @MelAllyouneedislove
21st: Stories Day | Organisers: @pray4theheartless
21st: International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination | Organiser: @QuickJazz
30th: World Bipolar Day | Organiser: @QuickJazz
31st: International Transgender Day of Visibility | Organiser: @QuickJazz

Congratulations to all organisers for your work on events this month!!

Team Activities Overview.

As part of our special events, we have had 81 discussions in March in total.

We have had this many discussions thanks to the following wonderful discussion leaders:

@2genpoet @akaAlex @amazingrea @Annie @AutumnLeigh @Beccaboo98 @CalmingStar @calmRose33 @CaringBrit @Casscass @conbon @Cyci @DancingAlong @Dillion @Disneykstew @Emily619 @Eunoia @guidingMusic @InfiniteSusana @Isaac_ @JaceofSpades @juliebeth47 @Kayrosesnowflake @KRNGRFL @Lee @LonelyAngels @ManzanaDeAmor @MayaRainbow2 @MelAllyouneedislove @milalove111 @mscoxie @MissZ @NadineH @obscureSam @pray4theheartless @RonaldMunodawafa1993 @Savana13 @ShadowFaerie @skyisblue @StandforFreedom @starryKoala69 @Titi1985 @vivelespatates @wonderfulPumpkin71 @wonderfulolive @XiTalksSoft @YayyySphere

The member side of 7 Cups has seen more discussions than the listener side. This is very typical regarding special events activities this year.

You can see this information represented in the following chart:

In addition, there has been an increase in efforts to collaborate with various group support teams this month. This involves group support teams leading sessions related to our events in some way for that day/week.

Teams who have led sessions in honour of events this month include: Anxiety Support, Depression Support, Events Team, LGBTQ+ Support, Mindfulness Support, Parenting Support, People of Colour Support, Relationship Support and Student Support.

By collaborating with those who already have time slots for the day, week or month, it helps our efforts to avoid overwhelming the chat rooms with discussions during events whilst still being able to reach out as much as possible.

We have also collaborated with the Feed Team, Forum Team, Social Soldiers and Stigma Warriors this month. There has been an increased effort to collaborate with the Stigma Warriors, due to many of our events topics crossing within their area.

This time of year has been very busy for a number of people, so gaining participation has been more challenging than it is in some other months - particularly from the teen side. This was the case last year too and thus expected. Nonetheless, there are many helping hands who have even swooped in at the last minute.

All in all, Id say its been a successful and active month!

Hopes for April 2016.

The number of active organisers took a dramatic fall this month. Therefore, the number of events is expected to fall with it in April.

Having said that, we are potentially introducing newcomers given that we are currently processing applications for April. (Interested? Click here!).

Being prepared for this month so far:

Autism Acceptance Month | Organiser: @QuickJazz
↑ Complimenting Autism Awareness Day (2nd) organised by @ApricityLife
7th: World Health Day | Organiser: @QuickJazz
15th: Reach As High As You Can Day | Organiser: @RebeccaEmily

Long-term goals for the team.

● To increase supportive discussions for listeners.
　→ More specific content for listeners that ultimately serves to help support our members.

Progress: We are moving towards this with the help of initiatives by volunteer listeners to create listener guides and "how to handle chats on..." discussions. For example, How to Handle Chats on Self-Harm took place for Self-Injury Awareness Day (March 1st).

● To increase and strengthen collaborations with various teams and projects on 7 Cups.
　→ Get more teams involved with working together to create events and work more smoothly with others.

Progress: This is going well so far and improving slowly but surely, as we begin to work with more and more teams. The biggest progress has been with group support teams and the forum team. We have also developed the special events representatives officially in order to help with this, and already have teams ready to potentially collaborate for Aprils events.

● To include members in the organisation stages of events.
　→ Giving members the option of seeing and/or getting involved with the creation of special events.

Progress: Since March 13th, we have provided the opportunity for members to get involved in helping with events. This comes due to feedback from members who wished to be notified prior to events happening, in order to share their ideas and/or help with creating content. The anticipation is that low numbers will be interested or able to do so. However, it is available within a trial period for now to see how it goes.

● To avoid any last-minute events or preparation for events.
　→ More time dedicated to making sure we are prepared and are preparing our volunteers properly.

Progress: Doing things at the last minute can lead to late posts for details on events, a lack of sufficient help for discussion leaders and last-minute cancellations of events. This is an area of which will be heavily focused on for the month of April. A few new things will be put in place for the team in response to this increased occurrence for this month or so, which will hopefully help the situation more.