First training of many

Well, my first workshop went well. Not spectacular, but I was happy with how it went over all. The beginning and final workshops were great (Deciding to run for office and Messaging and Communications) – the women were animated, participating, and grasping all of the material. However, the middle workshop about creating a campaign plan and Election Day was a bit more challenging, as there is so little information available about Election Day itself and the processes for political parties and candidates. Some of what I went over seems superfluous in retrospect, and I’m pretty sure some of it was lost in the translation to Arabic, even though I was keeping things very simple; however, key components such as how to vote by ballot at the polls and how to think creatively about getting-out-the-vote (GOTV) for women on Election Day were definitely important and held the women’s attention. Several women came up to me at the conclusion of the workshop to let me know how informative and helpful the training was, which was great to hear, and two women asked me to come to their universities to do the same training for younger women. Perhaps one or both will be able to happen. In the meantime, I’m hurriedly preparing a fundraising training for Tuesday.