• Schedule and Scheduling

    Well folks – the time is just about on us.  Only a few days until we converge on the MSU campus for Great Lakes THATCamp.  In preparation, I wanted to say a few words about scheduling.  Check-in will start at 8am (though, we’ll be there earlier if you are wanting to come in earlier). There will be food (bagels, muffins, danishes, fresh fruit) and drink (coffee, tea, juice) for all attendees. The check in table will be located just outside the LookOut Gallery on the second floor of the Residential College of Arts & Humanities.  The layout of the building can be a tad confusing, so there will be signs spread out all over the place with directions as to where you need to go.

    For those who are looking for directions to the Residential College of Arts & Humanities, we’ve prepared a handy dandy Google Map – which also has other info like nearby parking, etc.

    The opening/welcoming session will start at 8:30 and run to 10am.  This opening session is important because it is not only a chance to welcome everyone, but its also when we’re going to collaboratively build the schedule for Saturday and Sunday.

    We’ve decided not to pre-process the topics into sessions.  Instead, we’re going to take a slightly more collaborative (and fluid) approach to scheduling.

    In the opening/welcomming session (at 8:30), we’ll project a calendar (possibly a Google calendar which will be made public after the fact) for all to see.  Only a few sessions will be pre-scheduled (like the opening session, the Hacking Wearables & E-Textiles Workshop, Dork Sorts, the closing session, and lunch on both days – because, in all honesty, meal-time is just as important a session at these kinds of conferences).  From there, we’ll start going through the posted session descriptions – sticking them on the schedule.  There will be lots of opportunity for calling out “What else?” and pencilling things in or combining them on the fly. This method will also allow people to squawk if two popular sessions are “pitted” against each other. A simple show of hands will establish whether there is enough interest to bother putting a particular session on the timetable (wouldn’t be productive to schedule a session that is only attended by one or two people).  A session leader will be asked to volunteer (or be volunteered) for each session.  The good thing is that there has already been a good bit of discussion on the site around posted session topics – and it looks like, in some cases, several campers have already decided to combine their sessions.

    So, if you haven’t read the session descriptions, do so before Saturday morning – it’ll help the scheduling process enormously if all campers have at least a passing idea of what sessions have been proposed.  If you haven’t posted your session description yet, now is the perfect time to do so!

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