Friday, December 7, 2012

How to organize a successful VoCamp - Part 2: VoCamp participants

In this post I deal with some details regarding VoCamp participants and that could be of interest both to people organizing VoCamps and to those participating in them.

Contacting participants 

In the previous post I already mentioned the need for having an open list of all those people that could be interested in the VoCamp's goal (or in its outcomes) and for contacting participants well in advance. Now, the million-dollar question is: which is the best way to contact participants?

To answer this, first we have to enumerate the different possible ways of contacting participants. Any approach here is valid: use mailing lists, social networks, individual contacts, etc. Nothing new so, again, which is the best way?

You can assault everyone in the next conference you attend; this surely will make everyone know about the VoCamp but don't expect a direct increase in participation (you should learn to interpret the kindness of the waiter serving coffees).

Experience shows that sometimes indirect contact (mailing lists, social networks) works and sometimes it doesn't and that sometimes direct contact to individuals works and sometimes it doesn't.

My guess here it that a main factor to take into account is the social one, that is, the existence of a community of interest (or of several) that will benefit from the VoCamp outcomes. These communities should exist, independently of its size. They should be identified them while preparing the VoCamp, and taken into account when disseminating the call for participation.

Therefore, disseminate your VoCamp to mailing lists, social networks and events that are specific to those communities; contact those people that are relevant in these communities since they can serve as an attractor for the VoCamp; and make the community goals align with the VoCamp goals, even if you have to change your initial plans.

Number of participants

Regardless of your success in attracting participants for the VoCamp, sooner or later you have to estimate the number of participants that you expect to have in the VoCamp. You will need this number to plan for rooms, meals, etc.

You will spend your nights awake thinking: Maybe 4 participants are too few for a VoCamp? Maybe more than 20 participants are too much for the VoCamp?

For this, try to be realistic and don't worry about the numbers. Success will depend on: the VoCamp goal, the commitment of participants, and your ability to adapt the VoCamp to the actual number of participants.

Participant profile

The other side of the story are VoCamp participants. Don't be naive here, you don't want everyone at your VoCamp. As I just mentioned: size does not matter; and you should avoid having people that won't contribute to the VoCamp's goals.

Participants should also know what you expect from them. Maybe this is something that you still do not have clear at this stage of the process, but sooner or later you will have to tell them.

Furthermore, you should have clear the pre-requirements that VoCamp participants should satisfy, and communicate them to any potential participant. You may require people with expertise in a concrete domain, in ontology engineering, in some concrete standard or technology, and so on.

The clear thing is that, the more the pre-requisites covered by a participant, the most suitable he/she is for participation. Additionally, participants with previous experience in VoCamps are always a plus, since they are already introduced in The Way of the VoCamp.

Do not disregard the profile of your participants, it may happen that you need to take decisions based in it. For example, I have a room for 20 persons and I have 40 interested participants.

The Way of the VoCamp

This last part of the post is about you. Yes, I'm referring to you. Don't look away from the screen. You want to participate in a VoCamp, but you are not sure of whether you have what it takes to do so.

Take a look at your inner self and check whether you will let the following principles guide your Way through the VoCamp:
  • I have interest in the topics of the VoCamp.
  • I have a personal goal for the VoCamp, and it is aligned with the VoCamp goals.
  • I know what is expected from me and I will participate actively in the VoCamp.
  • I am aware of the VoCamp pre-requirements and I will make my best to satisfy them.  


 How to organize a successful VoCamp:

Thursday, November 15, 2012

How to organize a successful VoCamp - Part 1: Before the VoCamp


Tomorrow I will participate in the 1st VoCamp on Energy Efficiency Modelling in Buildings, organized by the Adapt4EE project.

If you think about it, there is not much information in the Web that supports people organizing VoCamps. When you check the vocamp.org wiki, the page devoted to how to run a VoCamp was created during the organization of the first VoCamp in 2008 and has not been further updated.

Because of this, I will write a series of blog posts devoted on how to successfully organize a VoCamp, collecting the experiences and lessons learnt from the people in the Ontology Engineering Group who have organized or participated in these type of events.

For starters, in this post I will talk about what you should do before the VoCamp. The checklist is the
following:

Define the goal of the VoCamp.
This is something that has to be clear from the beginning: what you want to achieve.

Define a potential participant list. 
This list should include everyone interested in achieving your goal (or in collaborating with you to achieve it). Don't stay just with the people that you know, try to find new friends!

Make a budget. 
Even if you count with having free rooms in your institution, organizing a VoCamp entails some other costs (e.g., meals or drinks).
Since people come to work voluntarily, try to avoid registration fees. If you need money, you can always look for an sponsor to support the VoCamp or some extra activity like a gala tapas dinner.

Choose the location.
Make it easy for people travelling from far away. This usually comes in contradiction with making things easy for you.
Try to minimize costs in the room, maybe your institution has some working space and, if not, you can try another places. Don't restrict yourself, a pub will work.
Also, check the opening hours of the place if you plan to extend your working sessions in certain days (e.g., Saturdays).
Choose one or more rooms with enough space and where you can move chairs and tables; flexibility here is a must.

Choose the date.
Be aware of relevant events for your audience.
Here you have the option of collocating the VoCamp with some event of interest for your potential participants. This will increase participation, but can easily decrease it or distract people. You don't want participants to leave the VoCamp because they need to train for a marathon next morning (what kind of events were you thinking of?).

Prepare a participant pack.
Important things to include are: a hotel list, how to reach the city and the room, contact person with phone number, and an initial reading list (if needed).

Create a web page.
You can do it at the vocamp.org wiki, in your own wiki, in your preferred social network, etc. Microblogging is not recommended to host this page (unless you are an absolute master of the 140 characters!).
Here the important thing is that the page is open and accessible by anyone.
For the content, check the template in vocamp.org.

Contact participants.
As soon as possible if you want to gather a significant number of people.
But not before having things clear; take into account that after being contacted, people has to take the decision of whether attending the VoCamp or not, so they need some key information: goals, location, costs, etc.

As mentioned above, tomorrow (it is already today after finishing this post) I'll be VoCamping.
When you organized your VoCamps, did you make these things? And, if you had to organize one in the near future, would you do them?
Would be nice to know.


 How to organize a successful VoCamp: