Emma Barr, events and training advisor for The Royal College of Midwives on the transition to online events, and how it helped the RCM engage more with its members.
The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) held their last face to face event on 11 March 2020 just before the world closed down. Looking back a year later I really miss the bustle of delegates, catching up with colleagues and watching a speaker bring a room to life. Now, hidden behind screens, relying on temperamental wi-fi and adapting to working at home I am eager to for the chance to talk face to face and pick up on the nuances of other people’s body language.
Prior to 2020 the RCM ran over 80 events a year for members and non-members across the UK ranging from conferences, workshops and training days, with a core part of the programme being for RCM Activists, which included 17 residential course, a conference and 48 training days. Events are a core part of RCM engagement with midwives, maternity support workers and student midwives. It has been essential to keep our members engagement and give them an opportunity for continued learning.
When the world went into lockdown my initial thoughts were will we ever go back to face-to-face events, and what will that look like. These were abruptly interrupted by how do we transition to online, and what systems should we use.
Engagement is crucial and this has gone hand in hand with accessibility, ensuring that members can access our events wherever they are. Our events have been accessed across all devices from the beaches of Scotland to those in Guernsey and many hospitals, car parks and homes across the UK. Being available on demand is a necessity to suit the nature of workforce working shifts and as succinct as possible. For the training programmes the RCM delivers we had to embrace the core elements whilst developing content that fits the virtual format.
RCM staff and members are predominately female with caring responsibilities across the generations. Traditionally this has meant a good proportion of our members have not been able to attend face-to-face events as it often means a night away from home and significant distances to travel. A positive of the pandemic has meant we have had far more engagement from our members and a different demographic attending our events which previously hadn’t been accessible.
Faced with all these thoughts and feeling nervous, I set about researching event platforms, arranging demonstrations and hoped that ultimately I made the right decision. With competing priorities, there was a need to manage expectations and better understand the needs of those facilitating events and those attending. It was important to get delegates to focus on the key messages and ask the right questions at the right time. Like many colleagues I often consider what could I stop doing to enable the transition to be easier, but as so often happens I couldn’t find that piece of work that wasn’t essential. Shouldering a larger workload and a rapid increase in skills in knowledge took its toll, but with conferences looming and needing and wanting to produce the best events I could from my bedroom I kept going that extra mile.
Most event managers I know are described as swans gliding effortlessly over the water. It is just a good job the delegates are not able to see the frantic paddling that goes on under the surface. I have been asked many times ‘how do you keep going in a global pandemic when the goal posts keep moving?’ At times it feels like you are caught in the breakers at the oceans edge, but a smiley emoji or thank you makes it worth it. I feel a great sense of satisfaction and triumph in being part of delivering events to key workers and as long as they keep going, so will I.
Over the past year I have learned a lot about myself and technology having been propelled into the expert role within the RCM by circumstances beyond my control. Yes, at times I have been overwhelmed and without my faithful dog the days would have been much tougher. Would I do it again? Absolutely, without hesitation. Being part of an association that has produced over 70 events in 2020 and is set to deliver more than 100 in 2021 is amazing. The RCM will embed online events into the event programme to keep members engaged and our activists courses will become blended, offering online and face to face when we are able to do so. The RCM event strategy moving forward is fluid; as the events environment changes we will adapt to the needs of our members.
If I could go back and give advice to myself it would be this: keep calm, it is usually the microphone that is on mute, and we are all in this together, so be kind to others and especially yourself.
