Month: March 2021

How to host a successful Mendeley training event in 5 easy steps

Susan Jenkins

[Editor’s note June 2022 – we’ve updated the hyperlinks in this article to the new event resources for Mendeley Advisors]

Mendeley’s Advisor program boasts over 5,500 active Advisors in 130 countries around the world. From small agricultural colleges to major international universities, Advisors are enthusiastic “subject-matter experts” on Mendeley’s reference management solutions and are devoted to sharing good research skills with students and researchers in their regions. Mendeley training “events” are the most common way Mendeley Advisors share Mendeley know-how.

So how do you create a successful training event? Here are the key things to know when your organize your first (or 50th) event – plus helpful links and answers to the most frequently asked event questions we receive from Advisors.

Make a plan

Know your audience and their needs.

  • Who will be attending your Mendeley training? The best people to offer Mendeley training to are those in your own department, lab, school, or institution, who are doing academic research and writing theses or articles.
  • What are you going to be sharing in your training? Mendeley offers teaching materials and guides you can share with your attendees. But also listen to your event feedback – are your attendees interested in a specific topic?
  • When will you host your training? Understand your audience and their schedules. Are they full-time students? Do they work? Make sure you pick a time that most of your audience can attend. Offer them enough notice to make a plan.
  • Where will your event be held? Virtual trainings are a flexible option for people who cannot commute or be physically in the same room as you. In-person events require enough space and resources (like electrical outlets, chairs, a projector screen). Hybrid events (virtual and in-person) require attention to detail and possibly an assistant to monitor the virtual event while you address your physical audience.
  • Why does someone need Mendeley training? Maybe they are first-time users or need to know the newest feature updates.
  • How will they benefit from training? Will training help them with their research or to become more organized? Is the training also serving as a networking opportunity?

View our Mendeley training lesson plan

Promote your event

Fist, be sure to register your event on our special Advisor’s event platform. Include all the details that will prepare your audience like what to bring, helpful resources, and what to expect to learn. Also consider including a link to an attendee signup form (using resources like Microsoft Forms or EventBrite). This allows you to learn more about your attendees’ interests before the event. You can also collect contact details to build your outreach list for future events. The event platform does a lot of work for you – sending automatic reminders and generating personalized certificates of attendance for registered participants.

Download an event poster

Request merchandise. After your event is approved you can request free Mendeley giveaways to offer your attendees (please allow 4 weeks’ notice). If your event is virtual, or a hybrid (virtual and in-person), you can request merchandise for all participants or only those you’ll see in-person. (Note that a few countries’ import regulations limit what you can receive without paying an import tax. We’ll contact you in advance if we know this about your location).

Promote your event on social media by sharing the unique link provided in your event confirmation email.

Create a promotional image with our template

Prepare (practice, practice, practice)

Review the available Mendeley teaching materials and familiarize yourself with the content. You can edit the presentations for your local needs. Set aside time to practice giving your presentation.

Present and teach

Wear some Mendeley gear – a button or a t-shirt will make you feel smarter, we swear – and give yourself enough time to make sure the space is set up well before people start to arrive.

Perk up your virtual classroom with optional Mendeley backgrounds!

Conclude and share

Take the opportunity at the end of your event to ask for feedback about what people have learned and create a way for them to stay engaged. Some ideas:

  • Send a follow up email to your participants thanking them for attending. Ask them how Mendeley is helping them so far, and what else they want to learn
  • Create an advanced workshop that addresses specific kinds of research or writing
  • Create a social media group where people can ask you questions or collaborate
  • Host regular Mendeley “office hours” where anyone with questions can come in for guidance and one-on-one help

Take a photo with your group! Tell everyone in your network about your successful training with a photograph of you presenting, or a group photo with all your participants.

Be sure to share it with us too at community@mendeley.com. It really helps inspire the team behind Mendeley. A photo is a great way to connect everyone in the Mendeley world.

Interested in becoming a Mendeley Advisor and hosting your own training event? Sign up to become an Advisor.

Advisor of the month: Dora Dayu Rahma Turista

kristinblye

What is your name and job title?

My name is Dora Dayu Rahma Turista, I’m a Biology Lecturer.

Where do you work/study?

I work on Medical Laboratory Technology, STIKes Hutama Abdi Husada, Tulungagung, East Java, Indonesia and Biology Education Departemen, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Mulawarman University, Samarinda, East Borneo, Indonesia.

How did you get into your field?

First I got my Bachelor of Biology from State University of Malang, Indonesia, then I continued my study in the master’s program of Biology Education, also at State University of Malang, Indonesia. After I got a master’s degree, I became a lecturer at the Department of Medical Laboratory Technology, STIKes Hutama Abdi Husada, Tulungagung, Indonesia. And now I am also a lecturer on Biology Education Departement, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Mulawarman University, Samarinda, Indonesia.

How long have you used Mendeley?

About 3 years.

What were you using prior to Mendeley?

I was using Zotero.

Why did you decide to become an Advisor?

I use Mendeley for writing articles, and as a journal editor, I teach authors to use Mendeley. I also teach Mendeley to my students and my partners.

Do you have a tip when training new users on Mendeley?

I always explain the advantages of Mendeley. I make a tutorial using Mendeley that is equipped with step-by-step images, then I put it into practice. I also give special gifts (special souvenir from Mendeley) for attendees who can use Mendeley well.

What do you hope to achieve this year as an Advisor?

To introduce Mendeley more widely. To become a good and helpful Mendeley advisor, and an advisor of the month. Getting merchandise from Mendeley helps me to introduce Mendeley more widely. Also, I really want to get research funding.

What researcher would you like to work with or meet, dead or alive?

There is no specific researcher, but I would like to meet and collaborate with researchers in the same field.

What’s the most interesting thing you’ve learned this week?

SARS-CoV-2, COVID 19, Education and Colaboration during COVID-19 pandemic.

What is the best part about working in research?

Carrying out the research process and writing scientific papers.

And the most challenging part about working in research?

The research process.

What is the one thing you want people to know about Mendeley?

Mendeley is a magic tool for a researcher, not only as a reference manager tool, but also as social media for researchers who can connect with other researchers around the world and help to promote their publications.

Do you have any advice for young researchers? 

Research is useful when published and Mendeley helps simplify the publication process. Mendeley brings research to life so you can impact tomorrow, and I absolutely agree with it, so use Mendeley for your scientific papers.

Interested in becoming a Mendeley Advisor yourself? Find out more about the Advisor Community here.

Mendeley refocusing announcement: mobile app retirement

kristinblye

[Editor’s Note: We’ve updated this 2021 post to include a current link for sharing your input about mobile functionality for Mendeley.]

At Mendeley, we aim to help researchers work even more efficiently so they can spend their time making discoveries. Sometimes this means withdrawing lesser used products from service to allow us to focus on those products that are used by more of the Mendeley Community.

Users of the mobile app were informed on 10 February 2021 that the app would be withdrawn from the App Store and Google Play on 15 March and that they would no longer be able to sign in to the app.

While we understand that some users do indeed value the native Mendeley mobile apps, unfortunately overall usage figures show us that this feature does not support the majority of Mendeley users in the way that we had hoped. In line with our continued aim to support researchers as effectively as we can, discontinuing the mobile app will mean we can focus on the solutions that the majority of our users tell us they value most. This includes making improvements to Mendeley Reference Manager, Mendeley Cite and Mendeley Web Importer.

As Laura Thomson, Senior Director of Product Management explains, “Our team’s mission to develop solutions that most effectively support researchers means that we sometimes have to make some hard decisions about where we can focus our efforts. We’re really excited about our plans for 2021 and look forward to bringing researchers new and improved ways to simplify their workloads.”

In order to continue the use of their Mendeley library, app users are advised to sync their library to the cloud in advance of 15 March, 2021. Users can then access their library on Mendeley Reference Manager web or desktop application.

Offline reading is available for Mendeley Reference Manager web, more information can be found here.

Your experience matters

If you are a regular user of Mendeley on mobile devices, we would be interested to understand more about how you use it via this feedback form. This information will help us to improve the mobile experience on the main applications. While we will be unable to respond individually, your message will be reviewed by our team and suggestions may be incorporated in future releases of Mendeley Reference Manager or Mendeley Cite. Provide feedback.