Tips & Tricks Day 6: Workshop Planning Notes

[chaneen]

Today, our series on How to Run Programming comes to an end! Today's post will give you some actual examples of workshops run by our attendees and how they planned them. Because your mod has limited internet access today, we invite everyone to post their notes in the comments and the post will be edited with the links tomorrow.

If you've hosted a workshop at CONfab, Wincon, or any other fan cons, and you'd like to share any notes you put together to prepare or advice you have for people who are new to running programming, please link them in the comments!

As always, we're happy to answer any questions you may have, so leave us a comment on our DW post, or send an email to programming@confabcon.com.

And don't forget tomorrow's the last day to submit your programming ideas, which you can do at this link!

Comments

[brynspikess]

I like to think I have a little experience from hosting the Plushie Workshop (and I've made mistakes over the years, lol!) A few things I've learned:

* Bring extra supplies! If you're passing out worksheets, make more copies then you think you'll need. You never know for sure how many people are going to show up, and you don't want to run out! Hope for the best!

* Keep your expectations low! If your workshop has a low turn-out, don't lose heart! You don't have control over what panels run opposite your workshop, and there's a million reasons why people might not be able to attend. If your programming submission makes it into the schedule, that means people want what you're offering! If only a single person ends up showing up, you made a difference to that person. The more the merrier, but don't neglect the people who do show up!

* Label your belongings! You don't want your scissors to get lost or mixed in with the Con supplies, so make sure your name is on them!

* Don't use anything you wouldn't mind losing! Even with the best of intentions, things break or people walk away with your supplies without thinking about it. Bring extra sharpies and pens!

That's all I can think of at the moment! The most important thing is to have fun! :)