Postcard from Townsville / Thuringowa
Earlier this month the national project team had the good fortune of visiting the NQ Small Business Network project in Townsville / Thuringowa.
Project manager Tony di Santo was a fabulous tour guide and took us to see some of the sights of Thuringowa and Townsville whilst we were there. As we came from much colder climes, it was fabulous to be enveloped by a warm tropical blanket when we got off the plane. Our stay was further enhanced when we found out that one of our bookings in the Holiday Inn ( locally know as the sugar shaker) was being transferred to a suite in the Jupiter’s Casino!
Our time there was spent at the offices of the NQ small business network , where John Larkin, the manager, introduced us to the tenants of the small business incubators. They were many and varied - ranging from a young mum selling second hand baby goods to a cabinet maker, graphic artists and many more.
The small business network is currently delivering a short course in business operations to 35 small business owners across Northern Queensland. The delivery is being supported by their partner, Barrier Reef TAFE - who are making a contribution through use of their i-learning space and their online conferencing system. We attended an evaluation / focus group session where 12 participants, who had just completed their first module, discussed their online learning experience.
The evaluation was conducted using a set of predetermined questions and software called AnyZing. It is a form of collaborative / brainstorming software which uses a multi key / multi cursor interface - i.e everyone has a keyboard and can type in asnwers simultaneously on to a computer screen attached to a datashow.
If is a very effective method of gathering a lot of information very quickly and worked well on the day- participants had plenty of opportunity to elaborate on their statements and discuss common themes. The quieter members of the group had a way of participating too!
If you would like to know more about this project, contact Tony on email at: tonydisanto[at]nqsmallbusiness.com (replace [at])
