News Article

Online Workshops

2020 was a year when we all needed to adapt. Although schools reopened for face-to-face classes in September, Eye Heroes volunteers struggled to find any schools interested in hosting workshops, even from teachers who had previously been welcoming. Since we had already adapted our resources to deliver workshops online, we wondered if there was potential to advertise the workshops online and recruit parents directly.

Fortunately, in November we welcomed  a new communications team, a brilliant cohort of volunteers with great skills in media, marketing and journalism. I described the challenge and we put our heads together to come up with a plan. Eventbrite made ticket sales easy, since the platform doesn't cost anything for free events. We set about writing a description for the workshops, and in no time we had an engaging summary of what children would learn.

Once marketing materials were ready, we set to work promoting the workshops online. We joined all the available Facebook groups for homeschooling, as well kids activities, education, lockdown ideas and so on. Using a bright, “Eye Heroes purple”-coloured banner, we posted to the potential reach of hundreds of thousands of people. Registrations slowly came in until all ten spaces for the first event were filled.

After a false start due to technical issues, we ran our first workshop on 3 December 2020 with a group of children who were engaged and enthusiastic about the videos and activities. We learned a lot from the experience, and we were able to use a recording of the session to start training other volunteers. We have been reflective about our work, and this has enabled us to make improvements as we fine-tune the materials we use online. At time of writing, we have completed a total of six online workshops via Eventbrite for 22 child attendings, plus another two online workshops for a London-based school, attended by around 50 children. 

From 9 January 2021, we began the Workshop 2 sessions that children attend about a month after Workshop 1. In Workshop 2, children return to let us know how many people they were able to talk to about eye health, how many said they would go for an eye test and if anyone has actually had an eye test. While Covid may have limited children’s scope in spreading the Eye Heroes message somewhat, we have been excited to see the creative ways children have approached this challenge. 

Meanwhile at Eye Heroes HQ, our next mission is to try to connect with other groups who might be interested in hosting Eye Heroes workshops, either online or in person. Do you know any  Brownie or Scout leaders who might be interested? Or a holiday club or after-school group that might be appropriate? If you can think of anyone, please reach out and help us form connectionsLet’s fight avoidable blindness together!

Watch this space for more updates!

~ Liz Wilson - Project Lead