Communications Training

13 Feb 2019

Remind leaders to get ID photos next year!

Greetings

Hello!

Hi there! How are you today?

Do you have an nickname you prefer to be called by?

Have you met waddles yet?

Hi, I’m ___. One of your leaders this year. Are you from Dunedin? What school did you go to?

Hi, I’m ___. What do you study this year? Are you excited?

What do you want from us?

What are you excited for this year in Locals? Tone is important

Hi, I’m ___. What’s your name? Oh!

Oh, you study ___, (insert relevant statement here)

Hi, where are you from? What high school did you go to? How was it?

Are you from Dunedin originally?

What school did you go to?

Hello! (T-Pose)

What papers are you taking this semester?

What are you most looking forward to this year?

What paper are you most excited for?

Are you thinking of joining extracurricular?

Oh I see you have a ___ textbook. I studied that last year, how are you finding it?

___ that looks interesting, are you enjoying that?

Do you know anyone else that has come ot Otago?

Do you have any other mates in Locals?

Why did you want to come to Otago?

What are you studying?

Are you attending any OUSA O-week events?

What hogwarts house are you in?

What kind of sports do you play?

What are some of your hobbies?

What are your hoodies?

Is there anything you did at school that you want to continue here

If you were a colour what flavour would you be?

Do you play Uno?

Favourite food?

What’s your favourite food?

Try to shake hands with someone when you first meet. Physical contact makes people feel more at ease and shaking hands is a non threatening way of doing this. If they say their name it’s a good idea to repeat their name back to them.

How to tell someone needs to talk

Jumping off the balcony

Sitting alone crying, knees weak, arms heavy

Their friend tells you that they are not okay

Ask them, dummy

They say that they want to talk

When they are crying, or look like they are about to cry

They are crying or their eyes are sweaty

Significant change in personality

Uncharacteristically loud or quiet

Change in personality

Usually loud or quiet

Responds with irregular responses, e.g. one word responses when usually would be very talkative

Sneaky looks, continually glancing over at leaders but never making eye contact

Slamming text books, big huffs, sighs etc.

Someone appears really stressed and their friends haven’t picked up on it

Makes an effort to sit away from everyone

Sitting on the balcony alone

Quiet and sitting alone

They have an unusual lack of energy, sluggish

Lack of engagement - they usually come to events but don’t, they usually come to HQ but don’t any more

If someone looks very tired that can be an indicator

Very low energy being given off from the person

Haven’t been showing up or acting normally

They seem upset, or downtrodden

Spending too much time in Locals

Ignoring friends and people around them

Withdrawn

Nervousness and hostility

Short fuse when they are normally very patient

Very defensive when approached

When someone is approached and they say “Yeah, I’m okay, why wouldn’t I be?” Then they probably need to talk.

(Thumbs Up)

They will either look really confused or look upset

Will try to give everyone advice

This is something that people will do. If someone is not feeling okay they will try to help someone else instead of helping their own situation.

Hold them in a loving embrace

We’ve talked about touching. Ask first before hugging.

Hello fellow human, are you the alright? I study rats, isn’t that fun? Let’s play uno.

Withdrawing from a conversation halfway through and then leaving

Abrupt changes in behaviour

Positivity

Maya’s Notes and Tips

Have a couple ways to introduce yourself that you practice before o-week. Have some set non-threatening open ended questions you can ask first years to get them talking, rapport building questions.

Fake it till you make it – I am not an outgoing person I’m quite shy and I hate being put into a room and having to talk to people BUT I’ve learnt to put on an act and play a part and that works for me. Find what works for you and do it.

Some people can just tell that someone needs to talk about something. This has actually been a really hard section of the training for me to write because this is something that is completely intuitive for me so I’ve had to think really hard about what I see. There is the obvious way to tell, the person comes and starts talking to you. Even in this case, they won’t come up to you and just come out with whatever they want to say, just keep the conversation going, listen to them and if they feel comfortable they will eventually tell you what they wanted to from the start.

Generally the first year students won’t tell us, you will have to look at body language. What I look for is someone who looks small, sitting slumped over, arms crossed, head hanging down, that kind of thing. Sometimes, I find, they will keep looking over at you, almost trying to get eye contact but quickly looking away when you look. In these situations try to naturally (but on purpose) start a conversation with them, or the group of people they are with. Make them feel like they can come to you without saying it. Then hopefully when they are ready they will come to you. If they are more visibly distressed, like actually crying or ranting, then ask them whats wrong and talk them through dealing with it.

This isn’t easy and the only way to get better at it is to practice. I’ll try and point out when I’m seeing what I see in HQ with you if you are there. If you ever feel uncomfortable or like you aren’t helping you can call me, or one of the other leaders who you think is good at talking to people and they will come help.

Follow up

• Make a note to tell everyone that if an event is deleted from the shared calendar then it disappears from the main one