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<p>Hi Mark,</p>
<p>I hope you are doing well.</p>
<p>I would like to give you some updates on recent activities and
perhaps you have some suggestions for us.</p>
<p><b>Status:</b><br>
</p>
<p>Things that continue: We have our weekly check-ins with a group
of volunteers (4-8), monthly newsletter, and great Gunnar posts
daily calendar posts.</p>
<p>Because AfH-UK course support is basically shut down, we set up a
limited German support for lead/leader/join surveys to support two
course requests, one in Germany and one in Vienna. We have 2,8k
likes in facebook, around 2k german email adresses in your
database and 4k addresses in our database (but only 1,5k requested
the newsletter, which is probably not exactly as we intended it).<br>
</p>
<p>The course in Germany was cancelled with just two participants,
although the course leaders were very enthusiastic. The course in
Vienna started with 9 participants, but one would like to attend
online due to insecurity about covid.<br>
</p>
<p>We submitted "job offers" to volunteering portals, made online
calls introducing AfH to them (and recorded these calls for
further use).</p>
<p><b>Challenges</b>:</p>
<p>* I like Martin Seligman´s start of his discussion with Richard
Layard: Speaking about happiness in normal times is routine, but
in difficult times is crucial. Yet, I find it difficult to
describe what ActionForHappiness can offer during the pandemic.
It's not scientific to extrapolate from the one example in
Germany, but I guess it will be difficult to realize courses, even
if there are legal and safe measures to do so. I guess it is a
mixture because a) the sensitive people that are open to courses
may be also more sensitive to the insecurity involved meeting
other people in a room, b) what the course offers and how it is
announced is not linked to the covid-situation.</p>
<p>* UK seems to have reasonable success with the online groups (79
online) and zoom events. (<b>@Mark,</b> can you say something, how
you experience this?). I find it hard to copy this. Personally, I
find the idea of 10 keys online groups not so appealing (given my
80% online conference during my working hours). And currently we
don't have the experience and the broad audience to conduct such
zoom events.</p>
<p>* The every day tasks (emails, people wanting to contribute,
newsletter) requests some administrative activity. The time for
rethinking AfH in Germany is limited (we will have a strategy
weekend in the beginning of November).</p>
<p>Options:</p>
<p>1) Put AfH-Germany in a less active "preparation mode": Prepare
technical course support (surveys, promotional videos) and course
leaders to start with courses in the beginning of next year, in
the hope that corona will be somehow under control. (This has the
disadvantage that it's a bet on the future and just preparation is
not something that is so attractive from the volunteers´ point of
view).<br>
</p>
<p>2) Try to enhance the course content and more importantly the <i>course
communication</i> and promotion to link it explicitly to
difficulties in the covid-situation.</p>
<p>3) Mimic other successful UK activity, like trying to set up
something like the 10-days email program in German.</p>
<p>4) Pilot some zoom discussions as in UK, even with not so well
known people and with smaller scale.</p>
<p>5) Do something completely different, like asking ourselves, what
would I personally like to receive as a support for my happiness
in these times?</p>
<p>Is there anything you would like to comment on?</p>
<p>Best wishes</p>
<p> Tobias<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Ich werde versuchen, mehr Glück und weniger Unglück in der Welt um mich herum zu stiften.
(Action for Happiness Deutschland. <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.actionforhappiness.de">www.actionforhappiness.de</a>)</pre>
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