Pre-Semester Committee Meetups
Before the start of the semester, the EXCO committee should meet up to discuss the events happening in the upcoming semester. This is a good time to plan out the semester's events and workshops and to make sure that everyone is on the same page. As much as possible, try to nail down the dates as early as possible, and consider to any unforseen circumstances that may arise.
Event forecasting
The first thing to do is to forecast the events that will be happening in the upcoming semester. Start with thinking of rough ballpark dates for the events and workshops happening, then continuously work to refine the date until it is finalised.
Warning
Speak to the lecturers as early as you can about the dates you've finalised. They might give you some feedback on the dates and help you to avoid any potential clashes.
Also consider periods where people may be busy, like Common Test and assignment periods, holidays, official school events, and more.
From the 2023 batch
A major shortcoming of the 2023 batch was that we didn't sufficiently verify that the dates we finalised had any potential conflicts. This led to a lot of last-minute changes and a lot of stress. Be careful; always start work on the dates as early as possible.
Use the timeline document (if any) to give you a better idea of the events that will be happening in the upcoming semester. Remember to scrutinise the timeline document continuously to make sure that everything is accounted for. Continually check for conflicts and make sure that the dates are finalised as early as possible.
Workshop planning
Workshops are a key event that Overflow provides, and planning them is a crucial part of the pre-sem meet up. Follow the steps below to plan a workshop:
Brainstorming
Most workshop topics come from a brainstorming session during one of the meet ups. How do you think of things to teach? Brainstorming is a lot easier said than done, here are some general tips:
1. It can be anything
A workshop topic can be anything1 !
- Have you been working on something interesting over the holidays?
- Did you see an exciting new web framework?
- Your friend introduced you to something called Infrastructure as Code?
These are some possible guiding questions you can ask yourself. During the meet up, don't be afraid to bring up anything that comes up in your mind - there's no harm.
2. You don't have to be familiar with the topic
A common misconception or worry when brainstorming is that you might not be familiar enough with the topic to teach it, and that's totally natural.
A workshop is as much of a learning experience for the teaching team as it as for the Overflow members. This is why most workshops are planned at least 2 weeks in advance, so there's ample time for the teaching team to familiarize themselves with the content.
The content covered also doesn't have to be complete, or go deep into the topic. Sometimes, a high level overview is enough!
If you found something that helped your brainstorming process, please feel free to add on to this list!
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Anything relevant to technology, of course! ↩
Created: August 23, 2024