Meet Clinks’ new Events and Training Coordinator

Following consultation with the sector, Clinks has invested in delivery capacity by recruiting an Events and Training Coordinator. Now just over one month in post, Georgia Goncalves has written a blog introducing herself to the Clinks network.

Background

Once upon a time, I worked as a Partnerships and Projects Officer at the Voluntary Organisations Network North East (VONNE). I hadn’t worked in the VCSE sector before and this was a great deep-dive into understand the infrastructure, challenges and importance of the sector.

No two days looked the same as I worked on various projects across the organisation. Some of the key themes were digital adoption, reducing carbon emissions, working with funders and innovation.

The majority of my work focused on events and workshops – the whole process from ideation to delivery. My favourite part was usually during an event, particularly in-person, when I got to meet people and build connections. I’m quite chatty, so getting to have conversations with the people we supported was motivating and rewarding.

Feedback was another favourite. Utilising information and data to tailor and tweak events so they really met the needs of the sector kept things fresh and exciting. Generally, I take a ‘test and learn’ approach to my work, so any feedback helps to make things even better and more useful the next time round.

Why Clinks

I heard of Clinks whilst working at VONNE and given that I studied Law at university and worked as a Court Clerk in the Family Court, I was quite intrigued by their work. Drawn in by the intersect of my interest in the criminal justice system and passion for the VCSE sector, the role seemed like too good of an opportunity to pass up. Not to mention the role specifically focusing on events and training, which had been my favourite elements of my position at VONNE.

Armed with my experience in an infrastructure organisation; event problem-solving skills; understanding of the challenges faced by the VCSE sector and bucket loads of enthusiasm, I applied for the job and now here I am, about one month into the role.

I’ve loved my time at Clinks so far. My first day was our team away day, so I was whisked off to London where I got to meet the wonderful team in person. Everyone was so friendly, I immediately knew this would be a great place to work. Discussions focused on our strategy and what we want to achieve going forward, which I felt was a strong place to start and get a better understanding of Clinks.

Looking forward

We’ve got lots of exciting things coming up at Clinks. We’re in a transition period, looking at how we can utilise our tools to do things more efficiently. My segment of this work has focused on streamlining our events processes to make things smoother and support cross-team coordination.

Building capacity is a key part of my role. Now I’m in post, we’ll be able to deliver more events and training that address key sector challenges that impact organisations in an ever-changing landscape. We’re delivering our first webinar focused on what the Sentencing Act means for voluntary organisations on 18th August and we’re planning on utilising our resources to deliver more easily accessible updates to the sector.

There is so much potential for Clinks in the events and training space. Despite being new in post, we’re already dreaming of new, innovative ways of working that can support the sector. But each step takes time, so for now, the key focus is slick and seamless processes.