Lessons Learned: Copy-editing is Worth the Time

Nearly every session of RAPP, Accelerating Racial Justice, or RAPPORT, people use handouts in learning activities.  Nearly every one of these handouts has been created or adapted in house - we use a variety of resources from a variety of academic fields and try to tailor each handout specifically to the group and activity.

Poor formatting, grammatical errors, and typos can confuse participants or simply distract from the purpose of the activity.  Finding these errors while facilitating a session can be triggering - facilitators can feel "off their game," embarrassed, or get lost in negative self-talk.

In the planning process, allowing ourselves adequate time for developing and editing documents as a facilitation team can prevent these issues.  We try to go through all handouts together in at least one if not two planning meetings before using them in an actual session with the group.

Maggie, Keshar, Megan, and Jojo use a handout during the 2013 RAPPORT Retreat.

Lessons Learned is a RAPP Blog initiative intended for folks who hold formal leadership positions in RAPP programs to share what they're learning through their process.