Workshop Development Checklist

This workshop development checklist is meant to provide a way to get set up with the organization behind the workshop. The tutorial below assumes that you are a member of the UC Carpentries Club and have access to the relevant accounts (Github, Eventbrite). Please contact uccarpentries@gmail.com if you need to be added to the Github organization or need the credentials for the Eventbrite account. The tutorial also assumes that you are the lead instructor for the workshop, and have been requested to run a workshop via the request form

1. Find a location for your workshop

One of the most critical ingredients for a good Carpentries Workshop is finding a space that has the following if possible:

  • Enough space for everyone and their chairs
  • Tables for laptops facing one direction
  • A projector and screen
  • Reasonable distribution of power outlets for chargers (although extension cords can help)

There are a couple of nice spaces on the UChicago campus that many of us have taught in before that are worth reaching out to check for availability:

Once you have a confirmation that you have the space secured for the dates of your workshop, you can move on to the following steps.

2. Generate a workshop website

The primary front-facing portion of the workshop is the workshop website. The workshop website template is hosted by the Carpentries on their Github page. In order to use their template, you need to go through the instructions listed in the README.md file of the template repository.

When customizing your workshop website, please use the directions from the Carpentries

A couple of things to keep in mind when importing the repository for your own workshop.

  • Make sure that you are logged into the appropriate Github account. When conducting a workshop through the UC-Carpentries Club, please import to the uc-carpentries Github organization.
  • The imported URL should have the format YYYY-MM-DD-site. If you are hosting a workshop for a particular organization, make sure that site designates that organization (e.g. BSD, UChicagoConsortium, etc).

3. Officially register your workshop with the Carpentries

In order to have the workshop listed on the official Carpentries webpage, it needs to be appropriately registered. You can register your workshop at this link after creating your workshop website. Note that at least one instructor must be a certified Carpentries instructor for the workshop to count as an official Carpentries workshop.

4. Generate an Eventbrite registration page for your workshop

The final step before making sure that people can sign up to your workshop is to create an Eventbrite page. If you have access to the UC Carpentries Eventbrite account, you will be able to see past workshops and can duplicate one of them for your event.

Eventbrite is somewhat finicky, so make sure you check all of the information by previewing the event before publishing it. We have set up 3 custom survey questions to understand the demographics of those who sign up:

  • Academic division
  • Job role
  • How they heard about the workshop

5. Prepare to teach

We recommend that you schedule a time to meet with your co-instructor to split up the curriculum and decide what to teach. Additionally, try to speak with someone who’s taught the curriculum before if you can, to understand where sticking points may be.

These tips from The Carpentries are helpful and may help you prepare.