Contact/s:
Marine Tessier
marine.tessier@seenovia.fr
Help the Organizers of Climate Farm Demo Demonstrations (or Other Livestock Open Days) to Close Their Demonstrations by Offering a Discussion and Conclusion Exercise with the Visitors/Breeders Present at the Demonstration
All zones
- Help with summarizing the day
- Improvements for future demonstrations
- Time saving by using a facilitating tool
Summary for Practicioners on the Main Finding(s)/Innovative solution(s)
As part of the Climate Farm Demo project, we are opening the farms of our breeders involved in the project. We have carried out several demonstrations to date. At the end of the first open days, we realized how interesting it is to conclude the demonstration with a final exchange with the participants.
This “closing” exchange has 2 objectives:
⦁ Collect feedback from visitors present at the demo (what you liked about the demonstration, on the organization of the day, what could be improved, etc.) with the aim of improving the next demonstrations.
⦁ Give feedback to the farmers who received us by proposing to the participants present to send them a positive point, a piece of advice.
The benefit is it helps to end the demonstration with an exchange between the participants.
To create this concluding exchange we suggest using the flower-shaped drawing below. A facilitator questions the participants and notes their feedback on the flower, either directly with a pencil on it or using post-its and positions them on the diagram.
This ‘flower’ tool, which we have adapted from the FARM DEMO toolkit, is proving to be a very interesting and powerful ally for DEMOs. It enhances the value of the farmer’s work and gets the participants involved. It strengthens exchanges and creates links.
Summary for Practicioners in Native Language
Dans le cadre du projet Climate Farm Demo, nous sommes amenés à ouvrir les fermes de nos éleveurs engagés dans le projet. Nous avons réalisé plusieurs démonstrations à ce jour. A l’issue des premières portes ouvertes, nous nous sommes rendu compte de l’intérêt de conclure la démonstration sur un dernier échange avec les participants.
Cet échange de « clôture » a 2 objectifs
⦁ Recueillir les retours des visiteurs présents à la démo (ce qui vous a plu sur l’exploitation, dans l’organisation de la journée, ce qui serait à améliorer…) dans l’objectif de s’améliorer encore dans les prochaines démonstrations à venir
⦁ Faire un retour aux agriculteurs qui nous ont reçus en proposant aux participants présents de leur renvoyer un point positif, un conseil.
Il permet ainsi de clôturer la démonstration sur une note d’échanges entre les participants.
Pour créer cet échange de conclusion nous proposons d’utiliser le dessin en forme de fleur ci-dessous. Un animateur interroge les participants et note sur la fleur leurs retours, soit directement au crayon dessus, soit à l’aide de post-its à positionner ensuite sur le schéma.
Cet outil “fleur”, que nous avons repris et adapté du “tool-kit” de FARM DEMO, se révèle un allier très intéressant et puissant pour les DEMOs. Il permet de valoriser le travail de l’éleveur / agriculteur et d’impliquer les participants. Il renforce les échanges et crée du lien.
Additional Information
This ‘flower’ tool, used at the end of the DEMO, fits in very naturally with the organisation of the days we schedule with our pilot farmers. We have simplified it compared with the model proposed as part of the Climate Farm Demo project, by focusing on a smaller number of questions (in the ‘petals’ of the ‘flower’) relating to what concerns us most in our day-to-day work.
This adaptation and transformation of the tool makes it more operational in the context of the way we currently operate as a company and is therefore more in line with the process of generating impact that we are seeking.
Indeed, participants in DEMO events have little time at the end of the DEMO and are more comfortable with this final workshop, which therefore seems less ‘impressive’ and a priori less ‘long’.
We plan to integrate this workshop into our routine process. It helps to meet the challenges typically encountered in organising a DEMO! Our aim with these demonstration open days is to find effective ways of communicating with breeders and renewing them to maintain a dynamic approach.
Preparing the logistics for the demo (messages to be conveyed, printing, stands, tables, microphones, etc.) is of course a key stage in guaranteeing a high-quality, smooth-running and enjoyable DEMO for the host farmer, the participants and for us too! We always think in advance about the best option for the way the demo will run, i.e. whether to set up groups or let the discussions organise themselves as they go along. This is decided based on the theme, the number of registered participants (and the type of participants – for example, if there are students from agricultural schools, etc.); whether there are invited experts for certain workshops; the type of demonstration materials, etc.
In our experience, the main factor in the success of a DEMO is its coorganisation with the farmer. Without the farmer’s motivation, the DEMOs will be meaningless! So, we always look first at what motivates the farmers.
We work with them on what interests them most, so that we can share the successes, problems and areas for improvement that they are facing on their farms, so that they can make progress. Co-organisation is an asset for creating a link with the farmer and gaining a more detailed understanding of the farm and the choices made.
Finally, these DEMOs as part of the Climate Farm Demo are a real opportunity to create links with our other activities on the ‘Climate’ topic.
The Climate Farm Demo project gives us the opportunity to work with a dozen ‘reference’ farms (our PDFs) over a long period of 6 years to look at ways of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This represents a training medium with the farmers, thanks to these concrete examples. This enables us to create a dynamic within a region or with farmers over the course of demonstration events, to make the issue of climate change less of a theoretical one.