from Hacker News

Giving back, the workshop way

by dchs on 3/2/12, 1:50 PM with 10 comments

  • by vitovito on 3/3/12, 1:34 AM

    I ran two-hour workshops for designers in 2010. Fifteen in all, free to attend, with about 50% non-designer attendance.

    http://vi.to/workshop

    Workshops are a lot of work -- I'd spend 8-16 hours prepping for a two-hour one -- but they're one of the most asked-for types of local events in Austin:

      Presentations by my peers		95	92%
  Panel discussions by my peers		74	72%
  Hands-on workshops			73	71%
  Presentations by companies		60	58%
  "Field trips" to related industries	57	55%
  Happy hours				51	50%
  Social/networking lunches		42	41%
  Panel discussions by companies	42	41%
  Other					 2	 2%
    I'm happy to answer questions based on the workshops I held, you can reply to this or email me (contact information in my profile).

  • by keithpeter on 3/2/12, 8:55 PM

    "What surprised me was how long it took to write the course material. I had planned to spend two days doing this, but it took me closer to five."

    Yes, good resources take a long time to produce (I'm a teacher by profession). The article does not state the format of the workshop but I'm guessing one working day, so a five to one ratio isn't so bad.

    Anyone any feelings about swapping workshop materials? In the UK there are some grassroots teacher websites where people upload materials and then share in what else is there.

  • by loeschg on 3/2/12, 3:32 PM

    I like the article. I'm kind of at that point in my software development career where I have gained enough confidence in my abilities using particular technologies and frameworks that I feel perhaps it's time to start "giving back." I always immediately turn to blog posts as the way to help... I never think to run a workshop. I've enjoyed sharing my knowledge with the few friends and family that have "tech" interests.

    Hmm... any people in the DC area want to meet up and talk about Grails?

  • by brianbreslin on 3/2/12, 4:35 PM

    In Miami via the group I run RefreshMiami we organize workshops like this every so often. We as experienced techies forget that sometimes that initial learning is hard for others or not as common sense as we think.