Want a Rural Edge workshop in your community? Please read the below information and complete the workshop request form.

Rural Edge continues to receive high levels of demand for our business skills workshops all across WA.

Thanks to the support of our partners, Rural Edge is able to continue to deliver farm business workshops to regional communities at a subsidised participant rate. Workshop delivery locations are currently based on partnership support received for particular workshops and requests from local host communities.  However, all of our workshops are ready to hit the road and we know there are lots of communities that want workshops now.

For those workshops that currently do not have partnership support, Rural Edge has introduced a flexible co-investment model with farming communities. By co-investing, Rural Edge can guarantee the delivery of any of our suite of workshops at a timing that is most convenient to you.

Options for accessing a Rural Edge workshop:

Option A

$2,000

Your group or organisation provides $2,000 co-investment (can be through funding, grants or local sponsorship)

Rural Edge can guarantee* delivery of your requested workshop in your town with participants paying the Rural Edge registration fee.

Rural Edge participant fee applies which is $350 + GST per participant (and $175+GST for additional participants from the same farm business)

Option B

$5,000

Your group or organisation provides $5,000 co-investment (can be through funding, grants or local sponsorship)

This co-investment allows you to effectively ‘buy’ a one-day workshop of your choice, which means you can offer the workshop ‘free’ to your community**.

Option C

Wait

Wait until Rural Edge can source funding to deliver in your community.

Rural Edge participant fee will apply.

An estimated time frame is a minimum of 6 months. We will be back in touch in six months to let you know how we are progressing.

*Assumes a minimum of eight paying participants. **Maximum of 20 participants per workshop

A few additional points of information:

Grant applications – Rural Edge will happily provide a detailed letter of support to any group applying for grant funds. Please email Debra Mullan via admin@ruraledge.org.au with details. A number of communities have already successfully applied to funding sources (i.e. NRM sustainable farming grants, some local governments have funding rounds, Department of Communities Grants for Women etc)  for a Rural Edge workshop.

Corporate sponsorship– We will happily include your sponsors’ logos on the workshop marketing materials that we provide and the sponsor is also welcome to formally open and close the workshop (five mins. maximum). Due to degree of negotiation involved in corporate partnerships, Rural Edge is not able to negotiate individual sponsorships, however, if you know of a business that is interested in supporting three or more workshops in your region please let us know.

Workshop format- Content and format of workshops is set to ensure quality and continuity of training. Workshops run for 6 hours and we recommend timing of 9am to 3pm- changes to this timing may incur additional expense.

Rural Edge will continue to advocate for access to high quality, accessible, industry specific, business skills training and PD on behalf of farmers in WA.

Information about hosting a Rural Edge workshop

Rural Edge organises the facilitator, workshop materials, undertakes all registrations and payment (online via our website), provides a pdf marketing flyer and online marketing support via social media and our ‘In the Loop’ eNews. However, it really helps the workshop run smoother if we have a local contact/host on ground to coordinate (this can be an individual, Community Resource Centre, grower group or other community group). We ask for assistance with:

Booking and liaising with a suitable local venue

The venue needs the following requirements:

  • Can seat up to 20-25 people, workshop style (participants seated at tables)- needs to be set-up prior.
  • Has a data projector, screen (or smart TV) and whiteboard
  • Is available from 8am – 4pm on the day of the workshop
  • Has wifi connection (not mandatory)

Organising and liaising with a local caterer

A local caterer/ community group to provide the following for the workshop (we will update on numbers and dietary requests closer to the workshop date):

  • Tea and coffee on arrival (sometimes venues provide this as part of their hire), morning tea (10.30am) and lunch (12.30pm)
  • If caterer is not able to provide clean-up of dishes then please ask them to provide disposable plates, cutlery (if required), cups and napkins and include this cost in their quote.

Spreading the word

You know your community best and have established networks so we ask that the local host:

  • distribute the marketing flyer to your community / colleagues/ networks, etc.
  • About 4-5 weeks out places the flyer in any local newsletters (b+w only).
  • Share and re-tweet Rural Edge’s social media posts about the workshop.

On the day

We ask that the local host be available to:

  • Welcome participants and help facilitator with registration if they require;
  • Liaise with caterer; and
  • Take a few snaps so that we can share your great work in organising the workshop with our social media following.

Invoices

All marketing, venue, catering and equipment hire costs are covered by Rural Edge. When we book your workshop date we give an approximate budget for each. As the local host we ask that you provide suppliers with our name and contact details for invoicing.

WA Workshop Request Form

Fill in the details below to request a workshop in your local area.

  • Please indicate how your community plans to access the workshop(s) requested.
  • Face-to-face workshops run from 9am to 3pm. Please state your preferred date period and days.
  • We require a minimum of 8 participants at a workshop
  • Preference is given to requests where a local contact/ host is available.
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.