Module 1 orientation notes for brands and communities
- 1. Orientation Notes For Brands And Communities 1
- 2. The Develop - an Entrepreneurial ecosystem certificate online course is well designed to optimize entrepreneurial experience and education. It will help entrepreneurs and community members realize individual business goals. Although, not a mandatory area of study. It is recommended that you review this guide and utilize all resources. STUDY GUIDE 2
- 3. 3 Part A. - Getting started with study - Study Position? - What to do before you begin study? - Be fully immersed into the program - What if I just keep putting things off? Part B. - Effective Learning Strategies (Time Management) - Listening, Note taking, and using visual organizers - How do I know which community project to engage or participate? Part C. - Practice the Kaizen Principles: The art of remembering and continuous improvement - Get your rhythm for remembering things - Increase your basic knowledge before hand - Practice Selective information generation - Meaningful Information - Strengthening Neural connections (Recitation) - Visualize Mentally - Associate familiar things - Giving time to absorb materials provided - Distributed Practice Taking Notes Things to cover here.
- 4. 4 Part A 4
- 5. 5 The first step in commencing your study journey is to get rid of every form of distraction, create a study schedule to go through session notes, B&C slack community engagement topics, preparation for next online class. In addition, One- One session must be thoroughly thought out to get the best of your time and add value towards your entrepreneurship journey. There are some major things that need to be taken care of as well and they consume a large amount of time and efforts. These include, research and evaluation, business planning, bid writing, Fundraising strategy, and Community consultation. You must figure out the best way to deal with interruptions and distractions from family, friends, phone calls, associates, and others, take stock of time used to study, time spent implementing processes required to kickstart identified community plans, also look into the kind of interruption experienced and take a sincere appraisal of what has been accomplished and what is left to be done. The results obtained will help you understand better your strength and weakness, how to readjust study pattern, ambience, and work activities. Getting started with your study:
- 6. 6 But why all the fuss about having the right posture in front of a desk, table and on a straight back chair. It helps improve the rate and speed of studying, you have more focus and better stamina in concentrating and getting the job done, you grasp information and understand what your studying with ease, having the right study position helps improve focus on work activities and provides longer concentration period. Most times this works, other times people can barely stay put in a position for an extended period without getting muscle fatigue, distracted and being unfocused. Generally, you are advised to use study position method that works best for you, use the right or ideal posture to study, that works best for your body, be in a comfortable position, but not too comfortable. You can stretch, take a break, move around, do a quick exercise to relax neck and muscles. But remember to sit upright, keep your back straight and use the ideal study posture. Study Position:
- 7. 7 This is an integral part of the course study and must be taken very seriously. It dictates the pace and success of the program. First and foremost you need to decide where to commence study, choose an appropriate location in your home or convenient place in your local community center, the next step is to get required information on the course materials and online study platform log-in credentials. In addition, the B&C slack community needs to be visited daily to get latest information, tips, and directive for the weeks k’s program. All materials required including educational material, notebooks, writing aid should be kept in safe places, where they can easily be retrieved and utilize for study or the day program. The one month online taught program builds the foundation for the matchmake, support services and entire program, thus adequate planning is required for all participants to be fully involved and ready to getting fully on board with the program from the first day. What to do before you begin study:
- 8. The Develop entrepreneurial ecosystem program comprises of an online training, an in-depth matchmaking process and strategic support. Participation on this entrepreneurial program requires sharpness, stamina, focus and dedication during and after the program. Most individuals have what it takes to focus, the issue is deciding what to leave out of your schedule for a particular period of time and give full concentration and attention to another most important task or opportunity, the other aspect is the ability to stay put on a particular task for very long. Generally, people try to solve this by multitasking, as humans, we can do two things at the same time, but it becomes near impossible to concentrate on two tasks simultaneously. Switching cost is the price paid for multitasking or switching intermittently and that takes precious time out of a planned day schedule. No one time solution exist in resolving minds that wander during important repetitive action, the idea is to decipher what you should be doing at any time, this is very individualistic, as everyone is unique in their ways and must figure out a way to control their concentration level. In the business world, some businesses have been successful in using Buffett, simple 3-step productivity strategy, this tested and trusted method, help you quickly do away with activities or tasks that are not immediately required to make you succeed or get you to your required destination, instead you prioritize a work plan on the most important action or activity to undertake and you implement/ concentrate on it, till you complete it successful. Now that you understand the importance of good study posture and relaxing whilst studying, the next thing is learning how to remove distraction and finally, a reward system is necessary, once you succeed in pushing through planned tasks, this involves giving yourself a treat, like a healthy reward for your gift, food, movie or go out to visit friends. Again, prioritize your reward system, do not overdo it, small reward for small task and big rewards for major tasks. Be fully immersed into the program: 8
- 9. 9 when the value of doing something else outweighs the value of working on an important study project, then you have successfully put off action or put off until tomorrow. If partaking in a month training can be perceived as boring, or hard and we quickly make an excuse to not follow through then we need to think hard and design counter – measures for putting things off or procrastinating. First, we can start by giving a higher value to the month trainee program, whilst tagging other things that will not get us through to the completion of the month training as distraction or less irrelevant tasks. Other practical ways of getting things on track, includes: Making notes of the course topics and be prepared to contribute during the online program and ask questions, You will have people from diverse background as colleagues, so it’s a time to garner knowledge, learn and get exposed. Gather adequate research about your community and proposed business venture you are certain will be viable for your environment, this will help fast track the match making process between you and social entrepreneurs on our platform. The most important part of the process is getting mentally prepared for the field work in getting everything to make sense. No cause for worries, we are here to support for three years or till you get a business deal signed up. Finally review your goals at the beginning of the training module, during then matchmaking process and after the support period and when a deal has been signed up. What if I just keep putting things off:
- 10. 10 Part B 10
- 11. 11 Effective Learning Strategies (Time Management) Determine your value and priorities and set goals for your entrepreneurship journey. Monitor and Self-access your day-day goals and make necessary modifications. Before commencing the B&C program, make sure you have a plan (It could be a short, medium- and long-term plan on how you intend to carry through the program and achieve objectives). Again, stay focused and have time limits. 1 2 3 Design a meaningful plan that you intend using in achieving personal goal from the program. 4
- 12. 12 Keep learning, networking and get immersed in the entrepreneurial program, remember to commit yourself to the Kaizen philosophy. Monitor your work activities and time and prepare a SWOT analysis of social, economic, and/or environmental venture you would like to implement in your community. 5 6
- 13. 13 - Get accustomed to the month’s program schedule, have a clear understanding of the program’s intent, ask questions always, that is the only way to learn. - Familiarize yourself with the course module, identify what you need to understand in making the program a success for you. - Prepare to take lots of notes during the online training program. To be an active learner, taking notes in every online course, one on one session, matchmaking process and additional support process will help to you to be more retentive, better focused and become a successful entrepreneur. - Get active on the B&C slack community forum, network, make friends, learn from others, get feedback on questions, or projects you intend creating for your community, more importantly form partnership with entrepreneurs from diverse field, communities, and continents. - Be proactive, remember on your one-on – one session is the time to discuss what business you would like to partner on our platform for your community. - Be detailed and complete accurately the marketing plan workbook and get ready to learn all your options for finding qualified buyers. How the online program will work for you:
- 14. 14 Tips on Listening, Note taking, and using visual organizers. 1. Listening with questions in your mind or written on paper will help you to stay focused. 2. Note taking ensures vital information are recorded and stored for further analysis or use. 3. Active listening in class session helps you pinpoint questions and ask when it’s time to get clarity in class session, you can also invariably compile and send via mail to the trainer or post on the B&C slack community for further discussion and analysis. 4. Get as much information written or typed, document and summarize 5. Review PowerPoint notes shortly after every online session, this helps you to be able to interpret and fully understand every module session. 6. Review notes in the best possible ways, use flash cards, evaluate, and clarify information received. 7. If you are a visual person, the best way is to use graphic organizers to show relationships between concepts, this could be through graphs or tree chart, using visual organizers helps creates a deeper level, of understanding and make the information completely yours. 8. In concluding this part of the orientation, always plan ahead, develop a schedule for completing each steps of this process.
- 15. 15 How do I know which community project to engage or participate? - Things needed in your community The most conclusive way of finding out what is truly required in your community is by engaging with people that live in your neighborhood or your proposed locality. This involves having high level interaction with stakeholder’s resident in that community, you can kick off the process by interacting with friends, getting to understand their plight about social, economic, and environmental issues in the community. If you intend to get a wide view of suggestion and opinion, you can setup a community suggestion drive, network and discuss with friends, neighbors, local government officials, non-profit associations and get a comprehensive outlook. After discussing and identifying the most pressing and challenging issues, the next step is to conduct an elaborate research, find out more, how did it all occur, how has it been addressed previously, Use the five whys analogy, unravel the root cause problems, this make it easier to get to the core or essential part of the issue and develop a sustainable remedy or business venture to tackle it and give succor to the community. - What are your strengths. Now take a quick stock and find out what abilities and resources are required in securing a sustainable business venture or solution in solving identified community issue. Be sincere with yourself, write down your answers to skills, resources, partnership and human resource required, but be rest assured that this program is designed purposely to help people like you and others in getting trained, matchmake with successful established business and social entrepreneurs with ventures, like the ones you seek to create in your community, that are globally recognized and that can help you solve your community problems and finally get prepared to be supported for three years or when you get a business deal secured. The three years support will help you as an entrepreneur; identify the project, develop a plan, Recruit volunteers, make a budget, make a timeline, raise funds, get publicity, partner with a social entrepreneur, partner with us and get the business done.
- 16. 16 Part C 16
- 17. 17 Practice the Kaizen Principles The art of remembering and continuous improvement Bring Kaizen into your everyday activities or into this training or learning process, you will be surprised at how big an impact small changes can make and how the culture of continuous improvement can help you to thrive. The use of Kaizen approach brings about Improved commitment and Improved retention in day-day activities and planning. You immediately get a fill of satisfaction and engagement to tasks, to truly achieve all these you must first be interested in whatever your doing, this helps you remember things learnt during the training, one-on-one discussion, business matchmaking and support. To build up your interest level and remember things learnt and practice continuous improvement, the following below should be adhered to: - Be prepared to learn, go a step further and write down your reasons why you need to learn and take a further step in designing your reasons and goals. - Get a buddy or a partner in progress on the B&C slack platform to keep learning, reviewing information obtained in the online course, network and keep improving. - Be enthusiastic, read more, research often and practice Kaizen - Give back to humanity, share your knowledge with colleagues from around the world on the B&C and slack platform. - Design your learning specific to you.
- 18. 18 Get your rhythm for remembering things The first most important thing is to develop a process that involves the ability to focus on the task at hand while ignoring distractions. Theory of attention suggests ways distractions can be screened out and help you focus better and remember things, Apps like focus@will and ommwriter are available to improve attention span and stabilize one’s brain and mind concentration. Having said all this a key factor to remembering things is having a positive attitude and being optimistic and say to yourself, I have the capacity and ability to remember things. To stay attentive in an online class, you can: - Ask questions or jots things down to research later. - Use a concentration check sheet to keep yourself focus. - Use a rubber band on your waist and snap it.
- 19. 19 Increase your basic knowledge before hand Getting a good grasp or knowledge about a particular subject depends largely on a great degree on how much you already know about the subject. The more you increase your basic knowledge, the easier it gets to build new knowledge on the subject. Practice! Practice! Practice! Helps in getting a good grasp and understanding of a subject, passion and/or project. Taking into consideration your favorite sporting game, recreation or best academic field, this is an area you have a good understanding or you know much about, the more you know about something, the easier it is to learn more. The following should be considered when committing to a course program. - After deciding to enroll in an online training course and before you commence, preview it. Survey the tittle and headings, study the pictures and charts. Read the summary, familiarize yourself with the modules, think about what you already know about the subject. Try to recall what you already know. Then proceed your study. - If you have decided to enroll on an online training course, review the topics that will be discussed and do some research on your own. The more you know about the subject, the easier it will be to take notes and listen actively to the online presentation. - Begin with the basic level courses in the subject. Do not skip prerequisites. - So extra research, visit your local library, search the internet, create ways tom experience the subject.
- 20. 20 Practice Selective information generation Determine what is most important to you and select those part to study and learn. The mind can absorb only a certain amount of information at a time. It is near impossible to learn everything about everything at once. The remedy, then, is to be selective. Choose what is important. Learn the important things and then build on the knowledge. How to successfully choose what is important. - Study the summary and review questions before and after you read, look for cues when studying online, use a survey method before you begin, look at headings, graphics, and bold prints. - During your online session, listen for verbal clues such as emphasis and repetition. - Build yourself up as a subject exert, through focus and commitment to the online study, constantly ask yourself, now that I have gone through this module, can I get things in this module done. - To learn more efficiently, create flash cards for information generation
- 21. 21 Meaningful Information Normally we remember only five to seven items at a time. Of course, we cannot have a great understanding of the course module. The way forward is to organize larger blocks of information in ways that are meaningful, we can organize 36 items into six groups of six, using this method will best help us to manage information more efficiently. We have some categories that are easy to organize and manage, like: online store, suppliers, sellers, buyers, but other categories are more complicated. We can work around categories that are not too easy to categorize or itemized through the following: - Search for meaningful information. - Alphabetize the list - Use a mnemonic device, you can use this by taking the first letter of each item and spell a word or make a sentence. At any given time, do not add more than seven times in any one category.
- 22. 22 Strengthening Neural connections (Recitation) We learn word counting, we recite, we practice writing alphabets and spell words in school and this help sharpen our foundation and make us more proficient in doing these things. Reciting words helps in different ways, some of the reasons are as follows: - When you decide to recite something in your own words, the principle of intent comes into play and this makes you remember and pay more attention. - When you can explain something in your own words out loud, you understand well enough and you get immediate feedback. - Lastly when you hear something this trigger an entirely different part of the brain. More Tips for Recitation. - The use of flashcard are an important tool to use in learning - Always stop and recite when you finish reading a paragraph, when you explain something out aloud, this helps you learn what your studying easily. - You can equally find a partner on the B & C slack platform and ask each other questions and answer out loud.
- 23. 23 Visualize Mentally Make a mental picture of what needs to be remembered, by visualizing, you use an entirely different part of the brain than you did by listening or reading. We most times remember what we see much larger and better, than what we read or hear. We, therefore, need to try to visualize everything we learn. No matter how abstract. Determine a way to visualize each new concept. - Check to see if it can be converted to a chart or graph - How well can it be illustrated or drawn out? - Can you make a mental video of the process? Using a mnemonic devise to learn something can help create a mental video of the word or sentence. - Can you tell the image of individuals you are studying, if not, make it up?
- 24. 24 Associate familiar things When you associate facts to be learned with something familiar to you, memory is increased. By recalling something you already know and making a link to the brain file, that contains the information, you should be able to remember new information more efficiently. Always ask yourself the following: - Is this like something I already know - Are the numbers, fact, or concept familiar - Is the sound familiar - Can I get to use it for something similar? - Is there an existing file I can use instead of creating a new one? - How do you remember things? Memory principles are interrelated, when you use the principle of association, you will probably want to use such principles as visualization, interest, and intent.
- 25. 25 Giving time to absorb materials provided New information takes time to be understood, short term memory will only hold five to seven bits of information. We are usually confronted with much information than we can remember, we must therefore, allow time to absorb such information. In fact, we must ensure we devise an effective method to absorb information. The following are ways to absorb or consolidate information. - Whilst reading or reviewing or during an online session, we should ensure we take proper notes. - When we do not understand a particular statement or point, we should write down questions. - Review notes continually - Have some constructive break in an online training, for example stop after each paragraph read and write the concept or idea in the margin, this helps identify and explain the paragraph much more. - Continually visualize - Practice recitation - Crate flash cards - Formulate and design tests questions.
- 26. 26 Practice Selective information generation Determine what is most important to you and select those part to study and learn. The mind can absorb only a certain amount of information at a time. It is near impossible to learn everything about everything at once. The remedy, then, is to be selective. Choose what is important. Learn the important things and then build on the knowledge. How to successfully choose what is important. - Study the summary and review questions before and after you read, look for cues when studying online, use a survey method before you begin, look at headings, graphics, and bold prints. - During your online session, listen for verbal clues such as emphasis and repetition. - Build yourself up as a subject exert, through focus and commitment to the online study, constantly ask yourself, now that I have gone through this module, can I get things in this module done. - To learn more efficiently, create flash cards for information generation
- 27. 27 Distributed Practice By using distributed practice, we can optimize our learning, we tend to remember things at the beginning of a list or study session and things at the end. For instance, if you remember what you learnt in the first thirty minutes of your study and you remember what you learnt in the last thirty minutes. Which would be more effective? Distributed practice allows time for things to consolidate and for you to build a basic background, it also uses what we know about the nature of short-term memory. How to use this principle. - Take a 15-minute break after each hour of study and review what you just learnt, recycle this procedure every hour. - Have a scheduled time to study each subject. - Make use of daylight hours and time that you normally waste. - Use flash cards - Make each paragraph of your textbook with a question or label.
- 28. 28 Taking Notes. Note taking is still the primary means of sorting, organizing, processing and subsequently learning materials. Getting organized is the best way to deal with large amount of information. Get a standard size notebook, this will help you to insert pages and rearrange your own notes. Put a heading and a date on your notes for each day. If you have questions, making notations. If you do not come across an answer in your readings, then send an email to – member@brandsandcommunities.com
- 29. Thank you for watching 29