[pydata-outreach-staff] Email to attendees with logistics and laptop setup

[Asheesh Laroia]

On Fri, 14 Dec 2012, Vid wrote:

> On Fri, Dec 14, 2012 at 1:15 PM, Asheesh Laroia <asheesh at asheesh.org> wrote:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I wanted to check in on the question of if we've emailed the laptop setup
>> instructions to attendees.
>>
>> If not, I recommend wrapping it in the following logistics email.
>>
>> Also, vid, if you and I can reach consensus on what the attendee survey
>> should contain, I'd love to send it out too. In that thread, I had suggested
>> some wording to address your concerns, and I'm hoping you think it's OK. But
>> it's now much closer to the event than I hoped, so at this stage the survey
>> is a little less essential.
>>
>> If we can put the survey in, I'd love it if you'd integrate it into the
>> logistics email, or ask me to and I can send a new draft of this with the
>> survey properly integrated.
>
> Why not put the Logistics page up on the GH wiki, so that I can easily
> email the link to attendees.
> Also the wiki is easily editable by anyone with a GH account, and even
> easier to give folks push access to the repo.
>
> Isnt the survey supposed to be sent _after_ the event?
>

For logistics, I agree a copy should go on the wiki. Although most of that 
content is already there. I'm going by the marketing notion that the more 
actions you require of people before they do a thing, the fewer will 
actually do it. So I figure while they have their email client open, they 
might as well see all the logistics reminders/questions there.

In a past thread, you and I were discussing the details of an entrance 
survey, with information requests designed to help Chang ensure his 
lecture was appropriately targeted. From what I recall, I was waiting for 
your feedback on a rewording of a few questions. That's the survey I'm 
referring to here. Namely this thread: 
<http://lists.openhatch.org/pipermail/pydata-outreach-staff/2012/000010.html>

>
>> This email contains a few logistics notes you'll need to know to make the
>> best of the workshop, and help it run as smoothly as possible.
>>
>> What to bring
>> -------------
>>
>> We expect you to bring yourself and a laptop computer that can join a wifi
>> network. It can be running Windows, Mac OS, or a Linux distribution (or if
>> it runs something else, that's cool, but you might run into issues with the
>> workshop).
>>
>> It is important that you bring a computer you can program on, rather than
>> just a tablet or mobile phone.
>>
>> Planning for food
>> -----------------
>>
>> We plan to provide lunch, thanks to the Python Software Foundation for
>> sponsoring! We'll have vegetarian and meaty options.
>>
>> If you have dietary restrictions that we should know about, we'd be very
>> happy to make sure we accommodate that. Just reply and let us know, and
>> we'll email you back.
>
> Asheesh, I've been told, by multiple people who have organized many
> events in NY for a few years, to keep this simple and down to the
> basics--Apparently, in their experience, there will always be a
> dietary option that you (the organizer) didnt provide or accommodate,
> which is a hard act if you are on a budget, so you dont want to make
> promises you cannot keep.

*nod*, I can scale back the promise to "we will try to accommodate you if 
you get back to us by $DATE_AND_TIME".

The sooner we can collect this information, the better off we are, in 
terms of likelihood that we can do it.

> At one meetup I attended they only kept plain cheese pizzas - when I
> asked the organizers told me it solved the problem of people
> complaining about toppings, or about not getting the slice they liked
> because we ran out. I can go on about the stories I heard but I'll
> just stop with these pearls of borrowed wisdom. Since you are handling
> the PSF sponsorship, feel free to roll ahead as you deem fit.
>

I appreciate the warning, and definitely want to hear the horror stories. 
Probably best reserved for an in-person conversation....

For my part working with events outside NYC, I've never had a problem so 
long as we gather the info a little in advance. That's why the question is 
a part of the pre-event survey draft I sent out for your approval.

Given that we're so close, I think we can manage if we ask people very 
soon, and if we are lucky about the answers we get not being super 
limiting.

I do think it's definitely worth asking people before the event; if we 
have to disappoint people, it's if that we can tell them in advance so 
they can pack a lunch if we know we can't serve them something they can 
eat. Even if they hear from us the morning-of, that can be the difference 
between being able to make alternate plans, and not.

>> Laptop setup
>> ------------
>>
>> Getting your computer configured to contribute to pandas can be
>> time-consuming, so we wrote a guide that you can work through.
>>
>> You can find it here:
>>
>> https://github.com/svaksha/PyData-Workshop-Sprint/wiki/laptop-setup
>>
>> We strongly encourage you to work through it before the event. If you are
>> having any trouble, we can help out! Please come 15 minutes early (at
>> 9:45am) to the venue and we'll be there to work with you.
>>
>> Venue
>> -----
>>
>> The location is:
>>
>> * Pivotal Labs (8th floor), 841 Broadway New York, NY
>>
>> * Date: Sun 12/16
>>
>> * Arrive at 9:45 for laptop setup, or 10 AM for general meet&greet.
>>
>> * Full schedule:
>> https://github.com/svaksha/PyData-Workshop-Sprint/wiki/2012-NYC
>
> I've updated it with Chang's topics list and he has git push access,
> so he can update it if he wants to add/refine it.
>

Sweet

>
>> Other emails
>> ------------
>>
>> After the workshop, we'll send you an exit survey to find out what we can
>> improve about the event.
>
> I am writing a list of questions, which I'll put on a googledoc soon.

Great! I will start a separate thread with my experiences about those, in 
case it's useful in this case.

>> If you want to get in touch with us, email:
>> pydata-outreach-staff at lists.openhatch.org
>
> I'd suggest you open up the archives of the list. Also allow 
> non-subscribers to post to the list. When people get a "your post is 
> pending approval" it may seem stand-offish, hence the suggestion. 
> Alternatively, you could ask attendees to email you directly if you 
> want.

Cool, I'm happy to open up the archives. I've done that now.

I'll also permit anyone to send mail to the list. I've done that now.

In terms of next steps: As I see it, I'd very much like to include the 
pre-event survey in this email. It will help us gather much-needed 
information about food requirements, and IMHO helpful information about 
how people heard about the event. The updated survey link is here: 
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dFVKUzVTMGxTc0diYXN2S3NLeEh1OHc6MQ 
and it contains my extra-friendlier question text for the two questions 
you mentioned you thought were a problem.

Vid, can you ACK/NAK the survey text there? Whichever way you answer, I 
will adjust the suggested logistics email text lickety-split, and then we 
can send it out. If you ACK the survey text, I will remove the dietary 
restrictions question from the body of the logistics email, instead 
pointing out that we're collecting them in the survey (and also quickly 
update the text to make sure there are no other questions that are 
duplicated).

>From what I can tell on Eventbrite, I don't have access to the event and 
the email addresses and names that have RSVP'd, so I can't actually send 
it out. So right now, once I send you the text, it would be up to you to 
send it out. (I am happy to use use my mass emailing tool of choice 
<https://github.com/paulproteus/python-mailer> to send the mails once you 
approve them, which would also decrease the latency and permit you to do 
less work.)

-- Asheesh.