TTT is Reaching Out!

Welcome to this newly formed project - actively reaching out to the people of Totnes and District in order to bring more people on board and enable TTT to be more authentically representative of the local population.

We are complementary to TTT's awareness raising activities thus far which will carry on as usual.  We are folk involved in other TTT projects who are passionate about getting more people involved.

We need help in this mission and there are a number of  simple opportunities to do this that involve little time commitment. Click here to find out how or read on to learn more about what we are up to.

 Our aims

• to engage more people with TTT activities, particularly the 'harder to reach' sectors of community,
• to raise awareness, profile and acceptance of TTT
• to provide ongoing evaluation of TTT in community (levels of awareness, understanding, resonance)
• to promote TTT to tourists (raising awareness and promoting Transition Network, and proving TTT's value to local tourist industry), and to non-Totnes locals (promoting neighbouring Transition initiatives, eg Transition Torbay, PL21, Sustainable South Brent, Ashburton etc)

Our methods

Step one.  Shop window

We provide a shop window for TTT - a positive and welcoming first point of contact that enables greater and more effective dalogue with the public and an access for them to become involved.

Shop window activities include:

• Market stand - our stall in the High St. Every Friday and every other Saturday when we have volunteers and the weather is nice!
• Totnes show - hosting a space at the annual Totnes Agricultural show
• Totnes Festival - hosting a space and providing a range of Transition activities at Totnes' fledgling festival
• Village shows and events - having a presence at the parishes in the Totnes district

As time and funds allow, we aim to support each of these events with a media campaign to maximise their impact.

Step two.  Training and workshops

We aim to provide a suite of training and workshops that will be of value to specific community groups.  It is our vision that we will be able to work with people around the issues with which they are most concerned, demonstrating TTT's comitment and potential value to the whole Totnes and district community.  For example, we plan to offer programmes this winter that will help people reduce their living costs and consider the role of 'community' in the face of anticipated economically challenging times.

Step three. Coordinated campaigns and maximising the media

We hope to support all TTT groups in their outreach needs, working towards maximising the publicity and outreach potential of their current activities. We have started by looking at how the programe events can be coordinated according to seasons, eg 'local food' at harvest festival time and 'domestic energy saving' at the end of autumn.

Should time and resources allow, we could potentially provide a mix of internal training and coaching activities such as:

Maximising the media - proactive press management, media training, coordinated issue and design of marketing materials (consistent branding)
Spreading the word - use of language in writing and speaking, speaker / sales training (helping TTT vols and staff get up to speed with the the keys issues and hone skills & confidence to communicate them effectively to ambivalent or hostile audiences).    
 

Supporting information

Attached below are extracts designed to help and inform anyone involved in promoting TTT.