Howto to workshop OTS in Berlin

Organising
1

Hi,

with the “programmers for beginners workshop” yesterday it was the first time for me (together with @matthias2342 responsible) to organize an OTS workshop.

We notices there is lacking a detailed description what exactly needs to be done, when you want to organize a workshop in Berlin. I think, such a list would definitely lower the barrier to organize a workshop for other people as well (especially less deeply involved in OTS).
Maybe this list helps others who want to organize the first time.
Also, there are still some open questions how it should actually work.

So, we took these steps in advance:

  • determine a date and check the co.op calendar that there is a free space (3rd or 5th floor) http://bit.ly/CoUpCalendar (ca. 2 months before)
  • post a thread at discourse for call for coaches (http://discourse.opentechschool.org/c/organising) (ca. 2 months before)
  • if there are enough coaches, make a reservation for the co.op space (-> TODO: how exactly is this supposed to work, I do not want to paste contacts here, I’d suggest to channel this through OTS)
  • create an event at meetup containing: date, location, topic description and that people should bring their laptop (TODO: put link here)
  • ask someone of OTS to activate the meetup (3 weeks before the event) (->TODO: whom, contact?)
  • at meetup remind participant twice about the event and ask to unsign to give the places free to members of the waiting list (2 weeks and 1 week before)
  • send a reminder to the coaches at discourse. ask them to come at least 15 min before and paste a link to coaching guidelines (1 week before)
  • arange for the key at co.op (->TODO: how exactly? )

Just before the workshop:

  • put papers with title and floor number at the entry downstairs, at the entry to the actual office and at least for beginners workshops at the entry to the area.
  • resupply fridge with drinks
  • prepare tables with pens and paper. Put tape and pens at the entry for name tags
  • make a short meeting with the coaches, repeat the coaching guideline, especially to new coaches
  • decide together about who will give the introduction, whether there is a round of introduction and wether there should be a presentation session at the end.

@ben, @andreas, @chiara, @bastianalbers, @patrick, @Marc_Foley, @matthias2342, @ellen we discussed a short “howto workshop”-workshop. Maybe this list might be some input for that.

Regards,
Inka

2 Likes
2

Cool, thanks! Just to confirm: What were the problems with the Workshop Organizers Schedule? Was it too general to be useful? Did it have any gaping holes?

3

Hi,
the infos on the page you linked, are very valuable in general. Yes, you are right, some thinks I listed are taken from the overall list, so to link it here is better of course :smile:
But for actually organizing an event, quite a few Berlin-specific information are missing, e.g. where to call for coaches, where to get info about a free location, where to publish the event (meetup), and the other points I listed.

Regards,
Inka