If you're not already involved with your local Clojure scene, Google is your friend. First find your local Clojure user groups; in some cities Meetup.com is a hub for user groups. Ask the ClojureBridge mailing list if they know anyone in your city.
In addition to your local tech communities, think about finding organizations that are working with whatever demographic you're focusing on, like professional organizations, chamber of commerce-type organizations, and non-profits.
You can find a partial list of local Clojure- and diversity-in-tech-related organizations here.
Hopefully you have a friend or two helping you out. And maybe a few coworkers? Here are some of the positions you will need to fill:
- Organizers (that’s you!)
- Teacher trainers (might be you, as well)
- Teachers
- TAs
- Installers
- Greeters/door-people/pizza-getters
For your first workshop, you’ll probably want to keep it simple and just have two roles: teachers/TAs and greeters/door-people/pizza-getters.
The ideal ratio is 1 TA/Teacher to 3 students.
If you don’t already have someone who’s handling logistics (signup forms, coordinating with the event host, figuring out lunch, etc.), convince one of the people you find early on to take that role. Don’t be afraid to delegate to point people! Being the point person on something is not more work, just a different set of responsibilities. No one wants to die the painful, stressful death caused by trying to do everything.
Not much you can do without a space, and the space you find will determine how many students you can have at your workshop. Here are a couple ideas for where to find spaces:
- Local companies that use Clojure – this is a great recruiting opportunity for them
- Community colleges
- Community centers
- Coworking spaces
- Advocacy organizations that work with your target group (Workshop for Latinos? See if there’s an immigration advocacy group that would host you. For women? Maybe there’s a women’s business group.)
What you’re looking for is a place with classroom seating for 50-80, fast and reliable Internet connectivity, plenty of power sources and, ideally, break-out rooms or separate spaces that can be used when the group breaks out into classes.
Consider that participants and volunteers will arrive by a variety of transport modes. If the space offers free parking, mention that in your event posting and any publicity for the workshop. Cyclists will appreciate hearing of secure bike parking. Specify nearby transit stops in your communications to volunteers and attendees.
Ask the venue about barriers to wheelchair accessibility, such as staircases, high curbs and narrow doorways. Potential attendees need to know of these before signing up so include notices of them in your communications also.
Remember that you'll also need a space for Teacher Training some time in the week or so prior to the workshop. This will be an easier space to find, since it will be just for teachers and teaching assistants.
This really ties in with finding a space, as your sponsor might be the one to provide with a space. What is a sponsor, you ask? Well, think about the things you need that cost money – the two most common being renting the space and providing your attendees with lunch. If you can get a sponsor to donate the space, then you’ve saved yourself what could be your biggest cost. Sometimes, though, someone will offer you a space but require you to pay for security and whatnot. If so, then you’ll need another sponsor to pay for that. And of course, get somebody to pick up the lunch tab if you can. Remember, sponsors get publicity for their businesses or organizations out of sponsorship – which can mean an awful lot to them! But if all else fails, if you’ve got a space but no lunch, ask your participants to brown bag it.
You can also contact the ClojureBridge mailing list for ideas and help with sponsorship.
For more information about funding, check out the Money Things.
Plan the Installfest for a Friday evening and the workshop the following Saturday. Trust us, you need that extra day for the Installfest – students can’t do the workshop without it, it’s messy and takes everybody vastly different amounts of time.
A workshop’s no fun if nobody comes. Find out the capacity of the space you’ll be in so that you don’t sign up more people than you have capacity for. But remember, a lot of the people who sign up won’t show – could be as many as half. Plan accordingly.
In addition to reaching out to Clojure user groups, research local tech groups and communities that might include members interested in Clojure:
- SysAdmins
- Designers
- QA Engineers
- Product and Project Managers
- Devs working in other languages
Other people who are often interested in ClojureBridge workshops include:
- Lawyers
- College students
- Admins
- Career changers
- People from all backgrounds!!!
Now, how are you going to get the word out? Other ideas include posting to local forums, putting flyers in coffee and book shops with a link to a Google form that they can use to say they’ll attend, or connecting with community colleges/local IT businesses in your area to get the word out are also good ways to go.