Workshop in a Box Universal Workflow

Planning for a workshop

Connect with Project EDDIE

• Before applying to run a project EDDIE workshop - check with EDDIE leadership to make sure you are coordinating with other project efforts.
• Determine who your SERC contact or support person will be and what other resources you have to help you run the workshop.

Consider logistics:

• Determine if the workshop will be in person or virtual.
• Understand the durations of workshop times available. Often this is either 4 hours or ~8 hours with a break.
• Decide minimum and maximum participant numbers (typically 10-40 in person). Make sure you have the right number of conveners or support people to manage the participants, usually not more than 10:1 or 30:2. The meeting organizers may require a minimum number of registrants to allow the workshop to happen.
• Ask about room set up for in-person workshops. You will need a projector, internet access for everyone, tables with chairs and power cords in the room. Ideal set up is 6 person round tables with power to each table and free wifi. Make sure there isn't a cap on the number of wifi connections or that it is much higher than the number of participants. This can be an issue at hotel venues. 
• If the workshop runs longer than ~4 hours, consider how lunch or snacks will be provided and if there are catering options available from the organizers. Ask about how this is paid for - if it comes from participants' registration or is to be paid by the conveners.  Work with SERC staff to understand if there is catering funding available before you commit. 
• Ask if you will have access to the participant list and e-mail addresses prior to the meeting and when you can expect them. This is critical if you decide to have them do pre-work or if you want them to have SERC accounts so they can work in private workspaces during the meeting. 

Apply for the workshop:

• Apply for the workshop through the host organization's regular process.
• Announcements/abstracts should emphasize the interactive nature of the workshop and value to the participants
• Include information about expectations (homework, having a laptop, participating in the whole workshop etc.) 

When the workshop is approved

Advertise 

• Work with SERC staff to create a workshop overview webpage that includes 1) the meeting, date, time and location of the workshop 2) the specific title and meeting goals and 3) the convener team and contact for getting more information 4) a link to the registration 5) a link to the online program either on the EDDIE website or on the conference website. 
• Advertise the workshop to the EDDIE community and other communities you think will bring new interest to the workshop 
• Use other networks or communication platforms that are specific to your meeting 
• Examples of workshop announcements:
  • ADD HERE 

Communicate with participants

• Not all conference planners or meeting structures will allow you to get access to the participants beforehand. Sometimes participants choose which session they want to go at the time it starts. Sometimes there just isn't good communication with the meeting organizers. If you don't have access to the participants beforehand, make sure you are ready for the biggest and smallest number of people who could be in the room. Have a program introduction that will start participants from no knowledge of Project EDDIE or Quantitative Reasoning to get everyone caught up before the workshop starts. 

If you do have access to participants by e-mail: 

• Consider if you will have participants do pre-work. Typical pre-work might include things like :
  • Deciding which course they will add an EDDIE module and finding the syllabus for that course
  • Looking at the existing modules and considering which they might want to use 
  • Exploring a module (for example: Climate change) or completing part A of a module ahead of the meeting
  • Reading the page about how modules are developed 
• Consider if you want a pre-meeting survey and work with SERC staff to create one if needed. Typical survey questions might include:
  • Demographic information not included in registration or provided by the meeting organizers like what institution or department
  • Something about who the participants teach - what level, discipline, course, format
  • Information about what the participants expect to get from the workshop you would use to tweak the program. 
  • An exploratory question to get participants thinking about how they might change their courses. 
• After the workshop registration deadline, get the participant list and ask SERC to create a workshop e-mail list with the participants and conveners (see below). 
• Communicate with the participants that they are registered for the meeting, the time/date/location of the meeting, the workshop overview page URL and opportunity for getting more information and a reminder to bring a laptop. If there is a online program, share that also. 
• Communicate any pre-work expectations and other materials (such as a syllabi) they need to bring to the workshop. 
• Consider how to communicate with late registrations if the conference allows late registration. 

Virtual meetings 

• Make it clear how to connect to the meeting - if Zoom connections are going to be sent out the day of the meeting or if they will be behind a log-in, make that information front and center in your messages. 
• Remember to send a just-in-time reminder an hour before the meeting starts. 
• If there are significant, scheduled breaks communicate that ahead of time. Duration of time on the computer matters to some participants. 

Communication with meeting organizers

• Request participant lists after the early bird registration closes and updates after the main registration closes. Make sure you understand if they will add late registrants and have a plan for updating those people. 
• The week before the meeting, double check the room set up and particularly the internet connection.
• Double check catering reservations if there are any. 

Running the meeting

Create a program 

• Use the example programs to adapt your agenda to the time and audience of your workshop
• Make sure to follow the guidelines of a Workshop in a Box: The workshop is interactive, encourages active learning pedagogy, makes best use of the EDDIE materials and generally follows the outline of the WiaB template. 
• All workshops must include: Code of Conduct, Exploration, ..., Action planning or individual next steps after the workshop. 
• If possible, provide a mechanism for feedback from the participants. SERC can help you set up an End of Workshop web based survey. There may be other mechanisms through the conference organization. 

 

Convene the workshop 

In Person 

• Consider bringing sundries like AV cords, power cords, markers, pointers etc. 
• If you want to have back up paper copies of some of the materials, bring those with you. 
• Arrive early on the day of the workshop to have enough time to fix issues like tables not set up correctly or disabled wifi.  Check your tech in time to fix it. 
• See if you can identify the person who can help manage problems that may come up like the conference organizer or the venue tech person. Conference centers will often have a 'red phone' in the workshop room. 

Virtual meetings

• Open the meeting early. 
• Remember to send a just in time e-mail about connection information 
• Set expectations about norms for a virtual meeting. For example if people should keep their cameras on and microphones muted, if they need to raise hands or say their names before speaking etc. 

Both modalities 

• Take attendance and ask if people want to be added to the EDDIE community e-mail list (if this wasn't done earlier). 
• Start and end on time 
• Have fun with the participants!

Following the workshop

• Provide feedback to Project EDDIE about how thing went and what changes or supports would be helpful for future workshops
• Forward us your participation information including how many people and their contact information if relevant. 
• Remind your SERC support person to mark the workshop pages as being in the past. 
• Send a thank you message to your participants (if you have their contact information) and let them know how to stay involved with the project.