We had a GLOWing time!

This is the first issue of GLOW News, the weekly newsletter from the GLOW Communications & Social Team. We will publish this newsletter every Thursday to keep you updated with all the news, information and documents that are posted to GLOWeb through the week. The newsletter will carry brief summaries of what’s posted on the site, with relevant web links for you to find out more information.

Besides GLOW News, you may occasionally receive by email GLOW Flash, which will contain key information that needs to reach you urgently. However, our effort is to keep the number of emails low. That’s why we’ve set up the weekly GLOW News and GLOWeb which you can visit at your convenience.

If you have suggestions or comments about GLOWeb or GLOW News, feel free to tell us on the site http://glow.civiblog.org/blog/_archives/2005/3/15/436155.html or at glow-comm@unvolunteers.org.

Let’s make GLOW 2005 a successful event by participating in the planning & preparation process itself!

Best wishes,

GLOW Communications Team

THIS WEEK’S NEWS & INFORMATION

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FLASH NEWS! FLASH NEWS! FLASH NEWS!

Focus group discussions at HQs on Tuesday (22 March)

The Needs Assessment Team is organizing focus group discussions among the colleagues at the HQs on Tuesday, 22 March 2005. Here is the list of the groups and their members, along with the time and rooms allocated to them for the discussions. Colleagues at the HQs who are unable to participate in the focus group discussions on Tuesday, please inform Team Coordinator Robert Toe at robert.toe@unvolunteers.org so that alternative arrangements can be made. View the list here: http://glow.civiblog.org/blog/_WebPages/FocusGroupDiscussions.html

Read the objectives of the discussions here: http://glow.civiblog.org/blog/_WebPages/FocusGroupDiscussionsObjectives.html

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Introducing GLOWeb: Your work space for GLOW!

As we prepare for our Global Workshop in May, we will need to communicate regularly with each other. We need to share information, we need to discuss issues and we need to give our views on how GLOW can happen successfully and how best we can use the opportunity to plan the future of UNV as an organization. We've created GLOWeb as the central space for all these purposes: to share information, ideas and opinions and to work collaboratively. Here you will find all necessary information related to GLOW (including what alll fun things you can do during the event) and download relevant documents. And you can share with everyone, anonymously, whatever is on your mind. So visit GLOWeb regularly, should we recommend daily, to find the latest information and all relevant documents.

Visit the site here: http://glow.unvolunteers.org

What is the purpose of GLOW?

Why are we organizing GLOW? Read here the goal and the five objectives of the workshop and the principles that we should follow while planning and preparing for it: http://glow.civiblog.org/blog/_WebPages/GoalobjectivesprinciplesofGLOW.html

GLOW planning process

Here is an overview of the GLOW planning process, as described by Ad in his message of 28 November 2004. More than three months have passed since and the planning and preparations have gained momentum in the last few weeks. We'll soon post more details of the entire process.

Read Ad’s message: http://glow.civiblog.org/blog/_WebPages/MessagefromEConGLOW28Nov2004.html

To begin with, we've posted a few pictures from the General Staff Retreat, Senior Staff Retreat and the meetings of the Functional Team Coordinators’ Group. Have a look here!

View the photos: http://glow.civiblog.org/blog/GLOWpreparations

9 GLOWing Days for you!

Over the next nine weeks up to GLOW, every Tuesday will be a GLOWing Day, dedicated to GLOW preparations. Read more about this in Ad's message of 11 March: http://glow.civiblog.org/blog/_WebPages/AdsmessageonGLOWingDays.html

The meeting venue (Hotel Seminaris)

You may want to check the website of Hotel Seminaris, the conference site in Bad Honnef, Bonn, Germany: http://www.mpi-sb.mpg.de/FAPR/my_seminaris.html

Is GLOW on track? An interview with GLOW Project Manager

Exactly 60 days before 2005 UNV Global Workshop (GLOW2005), GLOWeb interviewed Douglas Evangelista, GLOW's Project Manager, to find out how the planning and preparations for GLOW are going. Read the interview, where Douglas gives us a status report of GLOW and also “thumbs up” to GLOW Communications & Social Team for setting up GLOWeb!

http://glow.civiblog.org/blog/_archives/2005/3/13/428281.html

Requested: GLOWing weather in May

For the Global Workshop, pleasant, sunny, and dry weather has been requested, however no confirmation has been received yet …. Jokes apart, the weather in Bonn in May is usually fine (average temperature around 20°C). But rain may be expected, and so better bring with you a raincoat or umbrella… It will help to check the weather forecast for Bonn the week before GLOW. You can check the forecast here: http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/GMXX0010_c.html?force_units=1

All ways leading to GLOW...if you arrive by train or by air!

You may wish to check schedules of trains from different parts of Europe and from main German airports to Bonn and Bad Godesberg. Remember, many paths lead to GLOW! Just take a look at the website of Deutsche Bahn: http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en?ld=212.18&newrequest=yes&

If you are arriving by air, here are some sites that can help you with general information:

Koln/Bonn airport: http://www.airport-cgn.de/index.php?lang=2

Duesseldorf airport: http://www.duesseldorf-international.de/

Frankfurt airport: http://www1.frankfurt-airport.com/cms/default/rubrik/3/3405.frankfurt_airport_en.htm

Building on lessons learned: Link to Final Evaluation Report of GLOW 99

The GLOW organizers also encourage you to read the final evaluation report of the last GLOW 99, which gives us some idea about what the participants liked during the last workshop and what they did not. This report is available on the CO-NET here:

http://www.conet.unv.org/events/global99/final5g.html

Ad's Message to COTs (January 2005)

Here's Ad's message (in PDF) to COTs. Worth reading...always, to keep us focused!

http://glow.civiblog.org/Message_to_POs_PMs_January_2005.pdf

What do you think of GLOWeb?

The Communications & Social Team is eagerly waiting to hear from you what you think of GLOWeb. What do you think of the look? How can we make the features useful for us? What else could we do with this site? Tell us all! We look forward to your ideas and comments! Give your comments here: http://glow.civiblog.org/blog/_archives/2005/3/15/436155.html

How to use GLOWeb? Read the FAQ

GLOWeb is a common collaboration and communication space for everyone involved in GLOW 2005. This site is designed to help us not only to publish information about GLOW preparations, but also to participate in GLOW from wherever we are and to share our ideas and views about issues around the event. Here is everything you wanted to know about GLOWeb but were afraid to ask…

In English: http://glow.civiblog.org/blog/_WebPages/FrequentlyAskedQuestionsaboutGLOWeb.html

In Spanish: http://glow.civiblog.org/blog/_WebPages/PreguntasyRespuestasFrecuentesPRF.html

List of Functional Team Coordinators, Alternate TCs, Focal Points

All the Functional Teams (FTs) for GLOW have nominated Team Coordinators (TCs) and also Alternate TCs (ATCs) who will help the TCs in coordination tasks and also back-stop the TCs. Most teams have also nominated Focal Points or Observers to regularly liaise with other FTs on key issues. Find here (Excel sheet) the latest list of the TCs, ATCs and FPs: http://glow.civiblog.org/FocalPointsObservers.xls

What is Bad Honnef like?

GLOW will take place in Bad Honnef, on the other side of the Rhine from Bonn. Even the German scientist Alexander v. Humboldt (1769-1859) called Bad Honnef the "Venice on the Rhine". At that time he meant the mild climate and the bright Southern living style of the Rhineland inhabitants. Find out what this place is like today, from the official Bad Honnef website. The site is mainly in German, but parts of it is in English, with some nice pictures.

http://www.badhonnef.de/portait/stadt_engl.html

GLOWeb now in French, Spanish & German

You can now read all information on GLOWeb in French, Spanish or German, using automatic online translation service provided by AltaVista. Click on any of the language links at the top of the GLOWeb site and the contents of the site will be translated automatically into the respective language. When you subsequently browse through the blog, all the pages will be automatically translated. We hope that even if the translation may not be fully accurate, it will help you get an idea of what is being said. Do tell us how you find this translation feature. We look forward to your opinion!

http://glow.civiblog.org/blog/_archives/2005/3/16/442081.html

ToRs of Functional Teams

We've now posted the summary Terms of References (ToRs) of all the Functional Teams, as they've agreed to. The ToRs will give you a clear sense of which team is responsible for what in GLOW.

http://glow.civiblog.org/blog/_archives/2005/3/17/445151.html

GLOW 2005: Moving forward together