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Workshop Planning Tasks
If you haven't already, join: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/railsbridge-workshops. You can email the list with questions, requests, panic, or jokes. We're all here to help.
The Railsbridge meta-organizers have introduced you via email to the contact person at the venue. You'll want to confirm that the dates still work for them, how much room they have (which you will use to guide the RSVP cap on Meetup), and lots of other details. So many, in fact, that we have a whole separate page: hosting venue questions.
If this is your first time organizing, the meta-organizers will set you up with a mentor to answer questions as they arise. Say hello now, in person or in the ether!
Contact Bosco & Caleb for organizer permission via sfruby.info/suggestion, so you can post to the SF Ruby Meetup. You will create:
- A student event
- A volunteer event
- A teacher training (can be scheduled closer to event)
Continue to send pings to your attendees through Meetup about Downloading & Installing XCODE so everyone's ready for Installfest.
Copy an old workshop, update the details with your own, and have someone else read through it before posting. Because most people forget to update at least one piece of information, to various levels of tragedy.
Todo: Post Meetup event templates
The pre-workshop survey helps gauge who actually plans on coming and what class levels they will be in.
Todo: Post a survey email template
While there is a project currently underway for a site that allows organizers to easily send volunteers and attendees questionnaire forms, our current Google Doc templates can be found and used. In order to not expose your attendee's email address and infos to the entire Internet, please copy the form (File -> Make a copy...). Send your students a link to the form created by your copy, and share a link to your spreadsheet with the workshop coordinators (the ones who set you up with the venue originally, probably Lillie or Rachel in SF) so they can add the info to a private cumulative spreadsheet.
Meetup likes privacy. So you don't have access to folks' email addresses. You can, however, email all the participants of various RSVP statuses (yes & waitlist being the most important).
Here is the form to copy: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Al9a5yeo4q0AdElLRHVuWFpDdGxqb3BVajE5dUF2THc
It bears repeating: please COPY this form before sending it to your students, so their responses aren't available to anyone who clicks on the link directly preceding this sentence.
The same is all true for the volunteer survey: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Al9a5yeo4q0AdFJZTlFxSkZWS2ZRRmI4c3FXVnJXMUE#gid=0
David at Triptych has catered many RailsBridge workshops and is super easy to work with. He has a standard menu for us that is both in our budget and deliciously accommodates all the diets (vegetarian, vegans and gluten free). To order food from Triptych, give them a few weeks notice, and email david (at) triptychsf.com with something like this:
Hi David,
My name is [Sarah]. I'm organizing a RailsBridge Workshop. RailsBridge gave me your contact information and said Triptych had catered several workshops in the past. We're having a workshop on [Saturday, August 11], and we've scheduled lunch for [12:30]. It's set for the [IGN office] at [500 2nd Street].
We're expecting [100] people, but RailsBridge suggested that we should give a smaller head count of [75% of the expected headcount]. As usual, we need a menu that accommodates vegans, vegetarians and gluten-free diets. I'm ccing my co-organizer, [Samantha], and including both our phone numbers below for when you need us the morning of. Do you think that will work?
Thanks, You
You can also pick your own caterer, we have some suggestions! In which case, as you are getting quotes for the catering, check out the sample budget. Totals will vary depending on the number of folks there and where you're getting the food, but you shouldn't spend more than $1,500 for the whole workshop.
Here are some SF Catering and after party location suggestions!
Installfest food is pizza and hopefully salad. If the host has a beer fridge or kegerator to share, that's awesome, otherwise, get some beer, too.
Amounts: 2-3 slices of pizza (20 inch) for each anticipated individual. (I.e. Total Volunteers + Attendees = 80, 60% = 48: Roughly 144 slices needed- so 9 pizzas with 16 slices)
Workshop breakfast is usually coffee & bagels. Arrange to have everything delivered about 15 minutes before Volunteers arrive, so there is food and coffee to greet them.
Noah’s Bagels has a great catering delivery service on bagels. Order enough bagels to cover about 70% of attendees/volunteers with ‘Yes’ RSVP. If you order hot sandwiches, let them know when you order to cut in halves and wrapped individually. They're happy to oblige & it makes setup that much faster for you.
Search around the workshop’s location to find a coffee shop which will deliver it to you, if possible. Not everyone will drink, but make sure to have plenty as many will refill their cups throughout the day. Remember to request extra cups & cream. (Coffee Bean has a reasonable one which includes sugar, milk, disposable cups etc. A Cambro (5 gallons) is usually MORE than enough for 70 people as not everyone will drink coffee.)
Ask the host location if they have any recommendations for catering companies that they have used before. Give the Caterer estimated head count; usually 70% of that number of Yes RSVPs. Ask for a Vegetarian/Vegan option for about a third of the food, and if they will want help clearing away any of the set-up they bring.
If the host company is not paying for it, ask for a quote to submit to Austin for approval.
If lunch will be delivered, please make sure they come at least 30 minutes beforehand so you & your team have time to set up. When setting up, try to make sure the food is accessible by many at the same time (perhaps various stations?) as lunch time goes by so fast.
It’s always great to thank volunteers for their time and help with a free drink after the event. This also gives the workshop goers a chance to socialize more and really build some networking connections that will help support them if they decide they now have the bug and want to actually delve into this awesome world of Ruby programming!
Find someplace close. The closer the after-party is to the workshop site, the more likely it is that people won’t get lost or distracted between workshop and party. A deserted bar is ideal, a casual restaurant is also good. Most workshops end at 4:30 or so on Saturdays, which tends to be a slow time for bars and restaurants, but it pays to check.
Make arrangements with the location ahead of time. If you can tell a place that X many people will be coming and you will buy Y many drinks (one for each of your volunteers), that’s often enough to encourage them to go out of their way to support what you’re doing. Some places will offer specials (free drinks, extra food) to entice large groups but even those that don’t should be informed before a horde of people descend on them.
Mention the after-party early and often. The more times you mention the fact and location of the after party the less likely it is that people don’t come because they don’t know about it.
If a potential host demands a minimum bar tab or rental fee, go elsewhere! Plenty of places don’t, but some places are in the business of hosting parties. This tends to run $1000 and up, which is too expensive unless you have an after-party sponsor.
Set up a teacher training. This often happens during the week of the workshop. If you can't get a separate evening, you can do it during the Installfest, but try to get extra volunteers if you do that. Don't want to leave the student high and dry while teachers discuss best practices.
Take a look at the teacher training slides, which live at http://curriculum.railsbridge.org/workshop/teacher_training. Edit them as appropriate here: https://github.com/railsbridge/workshop/blob/master/teachers/teacher_training.md.
A few of the things you'll do:
- Post/announce the workshop to the RubySF Meetup mailing list
- Email the pre-workshop survey to the attendees, optionally including a deadline to respond
- Remind attendees to take the pre-workshop survey
- Remind attendees that if they have a Mac, they will need XCode prior to arriving to the Installfest
- Email the volunteer survey to the volunteers
- Send Installfest instructions to attendees
- Send logistical info (detailed schedule, parking info, etc.)
- Ask people at every turn to update their RSVP on Meetup.com if they can't come
When people join the SF Ruby meetup to attend a workshop, they don't always realize that by default they will be getting the Ruby-6 mailing list into their inbox. In one of your emails, it's helpful to address that and explain where the email setting are or encourage them to filter the messages (but still pay attention! for future learning!).
You can find templates for emails in the materials section under "Communication".
To do: develop physical items plans (#1 plan: don't lose the stuff)
- Templates and instructions live in Templates and Materials
- Use the grouping guide to interpret the results of the pre-workshop survey
- Anecdotally, few people take you up on childcare; more people tend to use nursing/pumping space, actually.
- It's worth checking with the people who said they needed childcare to make sure they still really do.
- We have a list of contact info for sitters; email the workshop mailing list (which you should already be subscribed to!) at https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/railsbridge-workshops for access.
Remember that you have tons of volunteers eager to help, Allow them to by Assigning them tasks.
- Post the wireless SSID & password often and visibly.
- Power outlets will guide how the space is set up, but RailsBridge's rolling chest of power cords should help with. The Installfest should be one big room with different tables, ideally marked with OSs so that folks with similar issues can help each other. (This usually means getting more granular than just Mac/Linux/PC and breaking out older Mac OSs into their own pods.)
- People will show up early. Sometimes 30 minutes early. Be ready. Depending on the space you are in, it's easy to let people slip by without checking in. Don't let them! It helps to have signage stating that everyone, including volunteers, needs to check in and make a name tag.
- Tip: set up the welcome desk (with clear signage) before setting up the rest of the Installfest. People will make themselves at home, so if you need to bail on that setup to check people in, do it!
- Use the pre-workshop survey results spreadsheet to check people in. If someone didn't take it, ask them to get out their laptop and take the damn thing right there.
- For those who did take the survey, tell them their class level and a brief description of what it means. People tend to horribly underestimate their skill levels, so encourage upward shifts. Emphasize that they can always change classes during the workshop.
- When volunteers check in, have them mark their name tags in some way (star stickers or a drawn star have worked). Make sure the students know they should not be shy about asking anyone with a star (or your chosen signifier) for help.
- Having one person checking people in works well at first, but around start time, there will be a crush of people. If you're using Google docs for the survey form, share the survey results spreadsheet with the second welcomer so you can have two lines.
To Do: further questions to get people to admit their actual skill level
One (or two) people should own the updates. If you have someone around who has commit rights, they can merge your pull requests live. If not, fork the Installfest and use your own app like so:
- Fork the installfest app somewhere in here: https://github.com/railsbridge/installfest
- Create a heroku app named like: http://installfest-railsbridge46.heroku.com, push to that app
- Make changes and every time a change is made, push and tell the organizer or announce the change
- Submit a pull request (Even if a pull request is not accepted as is, it still helps prompt a solution, so don't worry if your requests don't get accepted verbatim.)
- At the end of the evening, delete the Heroku app, and tell students the canonical URL is http://installfest.railsbridge.org
To Do: More detailed instructions on doing this, for people new to Github.
- Wireless bandwidth is always difficult at workshops. Preparing for this and communicating it repeatedly to your students is the best bet, but people will still show up at the Installfest not having downloaded gargantuan necessary files. Having said files on flash drives will help dramatically, so make sure to have those. And don't lose them!
- As an organizer, people will expect you to solve their problems. Help them if you can, but if someone asks you about something outside of your expertise, delegate swiftly and without guilt. If it's 7pm and it looks like it's going to be 6 hours for a student to download a necessary file, this probably isn't the weekend that the workshop will work for them. Since we do this regularly, telling people that they can't do the workshop this time isn't the worst thing in the world. It sucks, but it's better than having someone sitting in the workshop on Saturday unable to do anything or derailing their section because of their incomplete install.
Carve out some time to review your Schedule for Saturday:
- Count your Logistical volunteers so you know who you can count on. Cross reference the Workshop task list and to sort out the tasks that can easily be taken care of (door greeting, Signage (WIFI & hashtag, Class Room Levels), time keeper, etc.)
- Know (or sort-of know) who is working the Registration desk, (if they're not there,at best send them a quick email) let them know how much you appreciate them for taking on a very important position & that you'll see them bright and early on Saturday.
- Teacher Training Night is a good time to do this also
These bulletpoints make great checklists. If you need to refer to them day-of, copy, organize them to your liking, and print out a copy for your back pocket.
- Figure out where you're going to send people who show up without an Installfest Success Sticker so that a volunteer can check their install.
- Make sure you know how to turn on the projector for the opening presentation
- Double check that the classrooms/conference rooms have the necessary projectors or monitors & corresponding cords
- Helpful signs
- Directions to the bathrooms
- Classrooms marked by class level
- Giant "check in here" sign for welcome desk
- Put the food out in some kind of attractive manner.
- Pretty much the same drill as check in for the Installfest: confirm class level (ask them to remember or write it down), name tags, and if someone doesn't have the Installfest Success Sticker, send them to some area where their install can get checked. If they don't have a working machine by the time the opening presentation starts, send them home.
- When the first volunteer capable of this walks in, share your spreadsheet and delegate.
- Teachers & volunteers should again be clearly marked on their name tags
- This is where you tell the students a little bit about yourself, what brought you here, and go through those introductory slides that you updated. It’s also a good time to show a timeline for the day and mention that there will be a wrap-up session before everyone heads out the door. This beginning session sets the tone for the workshop and is intended to get people excited about what they’re going to learn today.
- If the hosting venue or sponsor is giving a pitch or demo, confirm the time limit before hand and hold them to it.
- It's also a great time to announce proper recycling/composting/landfilling procedures, where the water fountain is, and where the bathrooms are.
To Do: More presentation tips?
- One good workflow is to meet with the teachers elsewhere in the space while the opening presentation is happening. You can confirm who is TAing and who is teaching, and any class level preferences. If you haven't already assigned classrooms, this is a good time to send the teacher/TA teams out to claim spaces.
- There are a lot of different ways to get students into their small groups. Two strategies are outlined in great detail in the class level grouping guide.
- Depending on how late you started, you may or may not need to enforce a morning break. Generally people are very focused, and you have to remind them to get some fresh air. (The conference rooms of most offices tend to get pretty stuffy with that much learning.)
- A non-lunch afternoon break is essential.
- Nominate the loudest organizer or volunteer to do the post-break "go back to your classes" yell.
- If there's a class in the Installfest/presentation space, and that space is where the food is going to be, have them get their food first, so their class isn't interrupted by hordes of hungry coders.
- Deal with lunch when it arrives. Announce proper recycling/composting/landfilling procedures.
- Get your yeller to send 'em back to class.
- Sometime after the last break, email the attendees a link to the post-workshop feedback survey.
- Ask people for some things they learned, and get them excited about what they’ve learned and who they’ve gotten to know as a network of support to keep them involved. Encourage them to come back again, either as an attendee or volunteer.
- Make sure you've trained your teachers & TAs to encourage students to come back in each of their classes. If they had a great participant who would be able to volunteer next time in any capacity, get their name right now and pass it to the organizers.
- These handouts provide some resources for continuing learning.
- At the end of the presentation, put up a map of how to walk to the after party and a bit.ly link to feedback survey. Tell everyone to take the survey during the teacher retro and you'll all travel to the place of parties together.
- Draw a happy face, a neutral face, a sad face. Ask people to give you feedback for each of them, along with ideas and questions.
- Keep the discussion focused on what happened at that workshop. Kill tangents that go too far off-topic or need to have their own meeting devoted to them.
- Get feedback on curriculum and organization.
- Try not to lead the group down interesting tangents yourself.
- Keep it under 20 minutes.
- Take a picture of the whiteboard at the end and include those in your post-workshop write up.
- Pass out drink tickets!
- Go to the party.
- Celebrate!
- If you made pretty drink tickets, see if you can get them back from the bar for reuse.
- Within 72 hours, email students with:
- Links to resources to continue learning
- Post-workshop survey link, again
- Encouragement to come back and volunteer
- Email your teachers & host space thanking them
- You're surely already on it, but again: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/railsbridge-workshops
- What went wrong and right?
- Link to the the post-workshop survey results
- Send Austin, RailsBridge treasurer, the info and scanned receipts.
- Pretty please!