Distributed workshop organization

Keypoints

• If another university/organization wants to run the course, they can easily join our existing course at little cost/risk to them and to us.

• Each organization that joins provides a great benefit to us (helpers, instructors).

• They can reserve an in-person breakout room and provide mentors while watching the livestream: A great experience for their audience.

It is easier to join and follow than to start or lead

Organizing a course is time intensive and so is developing a course. Many courses given in country A are also relevant in other countries and instead of developing and possibly re-inventing courses independently in different places, it is so much more rewarding to collaborate and share.

In our courses we wish and try to make it easier for teams and organizations and universities to join, at little risk and cost to them, possibly for a short period of time, possibly only as observer. Later observers can progress to exercise leads, expert helpers, instructors, and co-organizers.

One model that we have successfully tried is that the course is delivered via live-stream to all partners and all the partner needs to do is to reserve a room and motivate few people to help local learners as exercise leads during exercise sessions which can happen in-person.

Lessons learned from organizing larger workshops

• One person is needed to coordinate the registration process and this person should not have teaching duties in addition to this role.

• Generally it helps to have well-defined roles (see Workshop roles).