Orientations Offered By Mentor Coaches

Apprentice Mentors are required to attend one orientation session in order to be placed into the Second Life Mentors group. Mentor Coaches are volunteers in the Mentor group who are able to offer these sessions to help new mentors become familiar with the available resources and guidelines.

• The Mentor Coach led orientations should adhere to a set of objectives and standards from Linden Volunteer Specialists (VTeam) to ensure all attendees receive necessary information to enter the program with some foothold; however, the host's style of presenting may vary or include other information as well.

Guidelines For Hosting Orientations

• Hosts must be part of the Mentor Coach role.

• Mentor Coaches should contact a VTeam Linden one week in advance to schedule a day and time for their orientation session. All orientations should take place on SL Volunteer HI.

• A guest speaking Mentor Buddy should attend the orientation and introduce the Mentor Buddy role to the newcomers. Please provide the name of the Mentor Buddy who will be guest speaking at the session to a VTeam member when you sign up to host.

• Sessions should be approximately one hour long with a maximum of 30 attendees. Those with reserved seats should be given priority over drop ins.

• Mentor Coaches should find a replacement Coach for their session if they are unable to attend, as well as notifying a VTeam Linden of the changes as soon as possible. Please remember many attendees have arranged their daily schedules to be present. Coaches should make every effort to not miss a scheduled orientation or be late.

• Mentor Coaches may teach alone or in pairs, along with having a Mentor Buddy guest speaker. Please give Mentor Buddies a reasonable amount of notice when asking them to speak at your session.

• Sessions can be done in English or another language, or both at once with one Mentor Linguist translating. If you have plans to do this, please let a VTeam member know or simply label your scheduled orientation link on the wiki.

• VTeam members will post your orientation sign up link to the wiki for Coaches.

• Sessions should take place in text only unless approval is given by the VTeam. Please discourage voice chat during a session that is not approved for voice.

• Use of a personal class template is encouraged for all Coaches. Copy and paste during your session is acceptable as well as ad lib.

• Use of the provided orientation class handouts is encouraged as it fulfills the intended objectives. An additional kiosk to offer your session materials is acceptable, as is any presentation screen or gadgetry you may have to offer. Please remember all materials given out need to be PG and nothing involving promotion or advertising.

• Please do take questions regarding orientation at some point in your session. It is acceptable to ask for questions to be held until you ask for them. Stick to session questions and topics only. Questions you need assistance answering can be directed to a VTeam Linden by you or the person with the question.

• Please take attendance during your session. This attendance list with your name, session date and time should be given to the VTeam Linden who scheduled your session right away. You may collect attendance manually or by using a visitor counter. If someone is not counted or there is a dispute over attendance, please let them know you will check with a VTeam member about the issue, and we will investigate from there.

• Please let the attendees know they will be moved to Second Life Mentors group within approximately 48 hours.

• End of session surveys can be very useful feedback for you. We encourage Coaches to use a free SurveyMonkey acct and offer an exit survey to their attendees. This is not a requirement but does help in improving one's session!

Session Requirements Checklist

Coaches: please include the follow points in your session. A sample session can be seen here

If you choose to create your own orientation plan, please use the checklist to ensure your plan goes over the following:

• Tao of Volunteers (video or text)
• Volunteer Mission/Purpose (An explanation of our open ended way of doing things, and some choices available for volunteering.)
• Hot Spots for Volunteering (Welcome Areas, Help/Orientation Islands, Infohubs, etc.)
• When To/When Not To Volunteer (Activate title when in best spirits!)
• Volunteer Resources
  • Wiki, Knowledge Base, Support Portal http://www.secondlife.com/support, TEAMWORK
• Mentor Buddy Guest Speaker (Introduce role, role's purpose)
• Group Instant Message Guidelines
• SL Volunteer Island
• Incentives / Parties

Please feel free to adapt this information to a format that is fun and functional for you!