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OBJECTIVES 

FORMAT 

TARGET AUDIENCE

PARTICIPANTS' PROFILE 

SUMMARY REPORT

Trainer: Eric May

The Mastercourse was designed to first, introduce the toolkit to the participants, and second to give the participants a chance to "train" a module from the toolkit for the entire group, using effective training skills.

DAY 1 & DAY 2

After the introduction from the ASBU Damascus staff, the toolkits were handed out to the participants. The trainer and then went through each module, carefully and slowly, over the next two days. Consecutive translation (Arabic/English) was provided.

Module 1: “Your Job” was a group discussion based around the DVDs provided in the toolkit. Particularly useful to the participants were the DVDs from Algeria, from Denmark, and especially the ones from Croatia, which showed the transformation to digital workflow. Particularly resonant for the participants was the recognition that the news exchange at HRT in Zagreb is at the center of the news operation, in other words, that infrastructure has a direct bearing on the success of their operation.

The other part of module one which had particular resonance for the participants was the managing of breaking news, in which the trainer spent considerable time. There was considerable discussion about this issue.

Module 2: “Pictures and Sound”  was a series of examples, discussion, and practical exercises taken directly from the toolkit. Visual storytelling was covered on the afternoon of the first day; visualizing on visual stories and natural sound was covered on the second day.

Module 3: “The Dope Sheet” was also a series of examples, discussion and practical exercises.

Module 4: “Processes and Guidelines” was covered only briefly; none of the participants represented had the SuperPOP system in their stations, and their license agreements are with ASBU do not with the EBU. There was a general discussion of principles, and the summary of main ideas was discussed at the end.

At the end of Day 2, participants were divided into teams (3/3/4) and were assigned homework: that between them they would decide who would "train" elements from Module 2 and Module 3 the following day

DAY 3

Participant teams had one hour at the beginning of the day to prepare their presentations. In each team one person did visual storytelling; one person did visualizing non-visual stories, and the third person did either dope sheets or natural sound. The trainer left it up to them to decide who would do what. The presentations were limited to 20 minutes each, including discussion and questions and answers.

Participants were advised that their presentation structure should follow the toolkit closely: introduction / examples / exercises / summary, and they were free to do it in Arabic language.

Participants were also advised that the goal was not necessarily "complete mastery of the concepts" but rather their capacity for expressing ideas clearly; clear transitions between elements; proven interactivity with other participants; enthusiasm/body language.

Participants gave their presentations and the entire group critiqued them at the end of each. At the end of the day there was a discussion about "what was learned" and a general discussion about the experience of training the toolkit.

In addition to the material from the toolkit, throughout the three days the trainer gave tips on training techniques including: module structure, expressing ideas clearly, effective feedback and critique, presentation skills, enthusiasm/body language.