Workshop tasks

Set up: welcome desk, presentation space, classrooms, & food

• 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
  • "Don't get comfy" signage where the opening presentation will be. (Or just tell them when they check in that they don't need their laptops until they break into smaller groups.)
• Put the food out in some kind of attractive manner.
• Whoever is giving the opening presentation (or any announcements): if there is no microphone, practice projecting.

Greet, check in, and nametag students and volunteers

• Pretty much the same drill as check in for the Installfest: confirm class level again (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.
• Teachers & volunteers should again be clearly marked on their name tags

Give opening presentation

• 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. This may also be where the sponsor and/or the venue stand up and talk about who they are and what they’re up to. 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.

To Do: More presentation tips?

Figure out who really showed up; match students & teachers accordingly

• 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.

To Do: Describe the fifty different way to do this step

Keep time: remind/make all groups take breaks, eat lunch

• 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.

Email post-workshop survey link

• Sometime after the last break, email the attendees a link to the post-workshop feedback survey.

Closing presentation

• 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 volunteers next time in any capacity, have them ask that person to put their name on a “volunteer next time” list.
• 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.

Teacher retro

• 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.
• 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!

Party party party!

• Go to the party.
• Celebrate!
• If you made pretty drink tickets, see if you can get them back from the bar for reuse.

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