Join Us in Strengthening Collaboration Before the Next Disaster
The Texas Gulf Coast Regional VOAD (TGCRVOAD) invites members, partners, and guests to participate in a new initiative aimed at enhancing our ability to collaborate during blue-sky days—so we’ll be better equipped when disaster occurs (grey skies).
The 4Cs—Communication, Coordination, Cooperation, and Collaboration—aren’t just principles; they’re skills we can practice and improve. With support from ConversaCorps staff in Aid Arena, we’re creating a shared, real-time space where trusted partners can develop these skills through guided, human-to-human interaction. The Aid Arena approach is different from what you might see with other online chat spaces. It’s based on decades of combat chat experience.
Aid Arena provides chat, video, and audio engagement with professional facilitators who help keep conversations focused, respectful, and productive. Whether you’re involved in planning, response, or recovery—here in Texas or across the country—you’ll discover meaningful connections, shared insights, and stronger partnerships in this space. Let’s build blue-sky strength—together.
What to Expect
There is a main TGCR VOAD Channel set up (#voad_tgcr) that will serve as our gathering spot to chat across all our organizations. There are also MANY other channels in Aid Arena where members gather to focus on specific events such as the Texas Hill Country floods or wildfires, as well as channels based on response sectors like food, shelter, transportation, tech, and more. We will start by connecting through #voad_tgcr and planning our preparations, including exercises. Over the coming weeks, our members will explore the full range of Aid Arena channels, complete the Collaborative Operations training, and begin preparing to coordinate with a larger community of organizations when a disaster occurs. We will stay in Aid Arena for both Blue Sky and Grey Sky collaboration.
Sign-Up, Orient, Train, Participate
Pnstall the Slack application on your desktop or phone. Here are links and instructions: https://slack.com/downloads
- To sign up for Aid Arena, click here: https://aidarena.chat, providing your full name, email you prefer to use for logging into Slack, organization, and in the Intent and Background box, enter “TGCR”. You will then receive an email inviting you to join the Slack tool. Login via a link.
- Once you’ve logged in to Aid Arena, join us in #tgcr_voad. Click here for basic Slack navigation help: https://slack.com/help/articles/205239967-Join-a-channel
- Training sessions (Aid Arena 101) are held weekly. Watch for announcements in the #training channel. Please sit in on one of those sessions to understand how this space works and how to get the most out of it.
- Participation is key. When you’re ready, greet your fellow VOAD teammates, then begin exploring and interacting.
See you in Aid Arena! Please don’t hesitate to email me or ops@conversacorps.org if you encounter any issues or have questions.