Code & Learn at Node Interactive Austin

[hackygolucky]

Continuing the discussion from here #56 but also looking at how we can improve for November from the Amsterdam event. This was a really neat opportunity in Amsterdam filled with folks excited to learn. So much so that an overwhelming amount of people showed and we needed more help. Please let us know especially if you'd like to mentor. Let's plan the Code & Learn!

Please edit these things! This is a draft.

Organizers

• Anna Henningsen @addaleax
• Rich Trott @Trott
• ? Your name here ?
• Tracy Hinds @hackygolucky

Mentors

Folks who are excited to help with installfest funtimes, assist attendees in identifying issues to tackle appropriate for skill level, patiently wade through code with attendee, etc.(Please list OS you are comfortable helping on next to your name)

• Name @github-handle, Windows/*nix(not exhaustive because yeah)
• Evan Lucas @evanlucas, OS X/Linux
• Bryan English @bengl
• William Kapke @williamkapke
• Myles Borins @thealphanerd
• Bradley Meck @bmeck
• James Snell @jasnell
• Matteo Collina @mcollina
• Sam Roberts @sam-github
• Sakthipriyan Vairamani @thefourtheye, *nix/Vim
• Micheal Dawson @mhdawson, *nix/Windows
• Your name here please!

Day-of Agenda

Dec. 1, 2016
08:00-09:00 Breakfast
09:00-13:00 Installfest and Code & Learn(should this be a longer time frame?)
13:00 Lunch

AV Setup

• Big projector/screen with HDMI(do we need something else?) and audio output
• Microphone on podium
• Power outlets for tables
• WiFi
• File server for npm installs(see 'Logistics to prep' below)

Space Setup(proposed due to venue space available)

The events team has shared an image of the setup they thought should work.

Outreach

A description of what Code & Learn is will be a great way for us to spread the word so people will register and attend in Austin. Anyone who would like to attempt a bit of copy for this gets brownie points! PR and Marketing at the Node.js Foundation will happily share this and post the full agenda on the conference website

• reach out to local groups to encourage attendance(@hackygolucky and @mikeal have a list of these)
• share on Twitter, GitHub, other social media

Logistics to prep

• create a specific Code & Learn label, which picks good first contributions that can be completed in a shorter amount of time.
  • have folks from @nodejs/ctc help filter through issues to apply this label
• Publish installfest/setup ahead of time for those who would like to prep ahead(can also relieve burden on network for installs day-of)
• Prepare fresh clones on usb to pass around to alleviate network burden(potential security concern) or set up a file server ahead to bring onsite
• A plan on ways we can encourage those attending to celebrate when they have small wins. Something we can have for them to share that ex 1: a button on a website attendees can press whenever they achieve something(had problems with Installfest and it's finally working, debugged something and it is understandable now, got a PR up) and it does an audible 'woohoo!' to the Code & Learn workspace. Ex 2: tally shown on projector of folks pressing said 'small wins' button to show that we're moving along. This also lets mentors know when more folks are having trouble or are in the weeds because it is far less active.

Question(s):

• Do we still want to call this Code & Learn? Some folks expressed confusion and would like to combine efforts with @Trott's awesome work for NodeToDo.

UPDATE 10/31

• Diagram for seating was updated
• looks like more mentors have entered their info as well
• will ping folks soon to get on same page for mentors feeling well supported

UPDATE 11/16

• 306 registrants for event. Attrition expected to be about 50%.

[evanlucas]

I am really interested in mentoring at this event. I'm comfortable with OS X and linux.

[Trott]

I think a less classroom/presentation setup and more tables with people sitting around them and looking at each other (and helping each other, whether they're mentors or not!) would be better, but I also wasn't at Amsterdam so I'm mostly guessing.

[Trott]

I think it would be very useful to get some variation of these instructions that I use for NodeTodo out to attendees ahead of time if at all possible. Coming to something like this and only finding out then that you need to install XCode Tools or whatever can be frustrating.

[Trott]

3 hours seems like the minimum amount of time, 5 is probably the maximum before mentors and others start to burn out, and 4 is probably the happy median.

[Trott]

On the celebration question: Maybe buy a hundred or so of a custom hexagonal sticker that people can put on their laptop or their name tag or whatever they want? They get the sticker after they submit a pull request. One-of-a-kind item, people seem to like stickers, any people who don't can just throw them out, and it's not a huge expense.

[Trott]

Consider opening up the mentor role to anyone who has contributed already, not just Collaborators.

[thefourtheye]

If my Visa gets approved, I would love to help as a volunteer :)

I am comfortable with *nix and vim.

[mhdawson]

I'll be there and am I'm happy to be a mentor, preference is *nix, followed by windows.

[hackygolucky]

Fun times! Reporting in with registration numbers--currently, 306 people have registered for this O_o which is awesome and also a little terrifying. We tend to see attrition for these signups at about 50%. So that still means about 150 people.

@Trott We ordered a surprise small swag for folks who come to Code & Learn and have a celebration moment. :) It's already been delivered to my house, just gonna bring it to Austin with me. We should prob figure out what that moment looks like, I was just a little worried that filing a PR may not happen for everyone that day even if they are trying. Probably a good discussion to have with the mentors prior.

[sam-github]

Sam Roberts, Linux/OS X and vim. Also, not a member of this repo so can't edit description to add the info next to my name.

[Trott]

I'd propose making it the explicit goal to give attendees a map to getting a PR opened and get them as far as they can that day, but also give them a resource for getting further should they get stuck.

For Node Todo, this is what I give people: https://gist.github.com/Trott/4f527b7fc73d669aafa9858d865bc563

If people get to the point where they've submitted a PR, then 🎉. Awesome. But if they don't get that far, it's not a failure. It's an awesome start. The barrier to entry for a lot of people is getting all the compile tools installed and working, so even if that's all we accomplish for a lot of the attendees, that's huge. That stuff is way scarier to a lot of people than changing a few assert.equal() statements to assert.strictEqual() or fixing up some typos in a markdown file.

[Trott]

I'd also say that we should see if we can identify some advanced topics ahead of time for people that aren't there to learn the basic mechanics of contributions but are there to offer their pre-existing expertise for some darker corners of the code where we need a deeper bench. Why wouldn't someone like that just dive in rather than come to an event like this? I don't know, but if someone does, it would be nice to be able to help them and also to ask them what the barrier was for them. (Maybe it would be, "No one ever asked." :-D )

[cjihrig]

https://coverage.nodejs.org/ would be a great place to point more adventurous attendees.