Virtual CarpentryCon Handbook#
CarpentryCon is The Carpentries key biennial community-building and networking event that brings together newer and more experienced community members to share knowledge, to network, to develop new skills, and to develop strategies for building strong local communities. This handbook details what is needed to run a fully virtual event with a focus on accessibility and inclusivity. A handbook detailing a hybrid event will be developed and made available at a later time.
Roles and Responsibilities of Committee Members#
The CarpentryCon Committee for a virtual event should include no more than ten community members and two primary Core Team liaisons. To support planning across time zones, there should be an Eastern Committee and Western Committee that has members located in time zones within the eastern and western hemispheres. Each group will include individuals serving in the following roles: Committee Chair, Program Lead, Communications Lead, Accessibility Lead, and Core Team Liaison.
This section of the handbook includes the roles and responsibilities of each committee member with a link to relevant guides and resources and the time commitment required. All time estimates are approximated based on implementation of past events.
Chairs#
The Committee Chairs provide overall leadership for the committee, ensuring the event is community driven. They work directly with the Core Team Liaisons.
Roles and Responsibilities |
Time Commitment |
|---|---|
Set agenda and chair CarpentryCon Committee meetings (Guide: Setting up Etherpad for Committee Meetings) |
1-2 hours / week |
Lead communication (i.e., send emails, post to Slack) with Committee members, following up with Committee leads on tasks as needed(Information: Communication and Collaboration Spaces) |
2-3 hours / month |
Lead selection of event theme in consultation with other Committee members |
1 hour |
Review keynote speaker recommendations from Program Leads and identify who will be invited (Guide: Process for Review of Keynote Speaker Recommendations) |
2 hours; 1 hour of independent review and another hour of discussion with other Chair |
Develop and lead opening and closing ceremonies for conference |
4 hours |
Support work of other committee members as needed |
1 hour / week |
Support event implementation as needed (e.g., notify backups or step in if a volunteer does not show up for a session, respond to questions about the event) |
8 hours during the week of the event |
Program Lead#
The Program Leads support the development and implementation of the conference program and schedule. They work closely with the Chairs who coordinate across all Committee members.
Roles and Responsibilities |
Time Commitment |
|---|---|
Attend weekly Committee meetings |
1 hour / week |
Lead identification and selection of keynote speakers in consultation with other Committee members (Guide: Process for Review of Keynote Speaker Recommendations) |
4 hours |
Send invitations to top candidates for keynote speakers, inviting backups as needed (Resource: Template: Keynote Speaker Invitation Letter) |
1-2 hour / presenter |
Develop submission and selection criteria for conference session proposals (Resource: Proposal Submission Form Template) (Guide: Process for Review of Proposal Submissions) |
2 hours |
Recruit volunteers to support proposal review process; number of volunteers needed will be dependent on the number of proposals received |
4 hours |
Manage proposal review process, including assigning reviewers and scheduling review panel discussion (Guide: Process for Review of Proposal Submissions) |
4 hours / week with minimum of two weeks |
Send communications to session leads on decision for proposal submission (Resource: Proposal Decision Email Templates) |
4-5 hours / week with minimum of two weeks |
Develop final program, one to share publicly and another with details for volunteers (Guide: Creating Program and Schedule) |
10-12 hours |
Recruit volunteers to support program, with each session requiring a session facilitator and Zoom helper (Resource: Email Communications for Recruiting Volunteers) |
4 hours |
Onboard session facilitators and Zoom helpers (Resources: Instructions for Session Facilitators, Instructions for Zoom Helpers |
1 hour |
Support event implementation as needed (e.g., notify backups or step in if a volunteer does not show up for a session, respond to questions about the program and schedule) |
8 hours during the week of the event |
Communications Lead#
The Communications Leads support communications leading up to and during the conference. They work directly with the Core Team’s Communications Manager.
Roles and Responsibilities |
Time Commitment |
|---|---|
Attend weekly Committee meetings |
1 hour / week |
Draft communications, including social media and blog posts (Guide: Sharing Content with Communications Manager) |
3 hours / month |
Draft content for conference website |
3 hours / month |
Ensure transparency of CarpentryCon Committee activities (e.g., make minutes available) (Resource: Setting up Etherpad for Committee Meetings) |
2 hours / month |
Recruit and onboard volunteers to support communications as needed (Resource: Information for Communication Support) |
2 hours for each recruitment and onboarding |
Support communications during the event as needed (e.g., post announcements to Slack, write content for social media) |
5 hours during the week of the event |
Accessibility Lead#
The Accessibility Leads ensure the event is accessible and inclusive to the community. They work directly with the Core Team’s Accessibility Manager.
Roles and Responsibilities |
Time Commitment |
|---|---|
Attend weekly Committee meetings |
1 hour / week |
Conduct accessibility audit (i.e., review and test accessibility features) of all conference platforms (Resource: Accessibility Audit for CarpentryCon 2022) |
2 hours per each platform adopted |
Update accessibility/accommodation questions to include in conference registration (Resource: Registration Form Template) |
30 minutes |
Update accessibility guidelines for presenters (Resource: Accessibility Guidelines for Presenters) |
1 hour |
Review and implement accessibility guidelines outlined in the Toolkit of IDEAS around accessibility (Resource: Toolkit of IDEAS) |
30 minutes to review; 2 hours / month for implementation |
Support translators and interpreters during conference |
On call during event for relevant time zones |
Core Team Members#
Members of the Core Team support all aspects of conference planning and implementation while ensuring the event is community driven. Two Core Team members serve as liaisons to the East and West groups. The Communications Manager supports the Communications Leads, and the Accessilibity Manager supports the Accessibility Leads. The Infrastructure Team leads website development and the adoption of platforms used for the event. All other Core Team members propose and lead sessions and provide support as needed.
Roles and Responsibilities |
Time Commitment |
|---|---|
Committee Liaisons |
|
Recruit CarpentryCon Committee members: includes drafting social media and blog posts, hosting two community discussions, interviews with applicants |
8 hours dependent on community interest |
Set timeline and major milestones for all Committee members in Asana before Committee onboarding |
4 hours |
Set agenda and chair CarpentryCon Committee meetings in absence of chair |
As needed |
Attend weekly Committee meetings |
1 hour / week |
Respond to inquiries sent to carpentrycon@carpentries.org (Information: Communication and Collaboration Spaces) |
1 hour / week |
Track task completion, timeline, and milestones and write weekly updates in Asana |
1 hour / week |
Send thank you gifts out to Committee members after the conference ends (Resource: Email Templates for Committee Members) |
2 hours |
Communications Manager |
|
Develop communications plan in collaboration with Communications Leads, building on plans from previous years, updating timeline with detailed tasks and deliverables in Asana |
4 hours during first two months of conference planning |
Scheduling and posting content from Communications Leads |
2 hours / month |
Monitoring relevant social media accounts |
2 hours / month |
Communicating and meeting with Communications Leads |
1 hour / month |
Develop graphics and images surrounding event theme |
4 hours |
Fundraising support if needed |
1 hour / month |
Uploading session recordings to YouTube |
1 hour per bulk upload; 2 hours / month (with captions) |
Accessibility Manager |
|
Develop accessibility plan in collaboration with Accessibility Leads, updating timeline with detailed tasks and deliverables in Asana |
8 hours during first two months of conference planning |
Identify contractors for accommodations (i.e., transcribers, interpreters, translations) |
20 hours to research and complete contracts workflow; start process ten months before the conference |
Process accommodation requests from registration |
1 hour / week starting when registration opens and ending two weeks following event |
Support translators and interpreters during conference |
On call during event for relevant time zones |
Director of Assessment |
|
Develop evaluation plan (Resources: CarpentryCon 2022 Evaluation Report) |
8 hours |
Create data collection instruments (Resources: Post Conference Survey, Committee Member Feedback Form) |
2 hours |
Analyze data and write report (Resources: CarpentryCon 2022 Evaluation Report, R Script to Analyse Post Conference Survey) |
20 hours |
Business Team |
|
Review and finalize budget |
1 month |
Process event contracts |
1-2 months from start of each contract |
Process reimbursement requests |
20 minutes per reimbursement |
Infrastructure Team |
|
Set up and support maintenance of conference website (Resource: GitHub repo) |
4 hours to set up; 4 hours / month maintenance |
All Core Team members |
|
Support event implementation, stepping in to help with tasks as they arise |
8 hours during the week of the event |
Attend sessions as participant and/or volunteer |
8 hours during the week of the event |
Support translators and interpreters during conference (as needed to support Accessibility Leads and Accessibility Manager) |
On call during event for relevant time zones |
Onboarding Committee Members#
When onboarding new members, roles and responsibilities need to be clearly defined and communicated. This is especially important for distinguishing tasks that need to be community-led and those tasks that should be the responsibility of the Core Team. Considerations include: ensuring the event is driven by community needs and interests, what are appropriate contributions for volunteers, and who can access planning and event platforms. It will be important to document how decisions will be made to bring further clarity to how Committee members will collaborate.
The following tasks need to be completed by the Core Team liaisons to onboard new Committee members.
Tasks to complete before onboarding Committee members at their first meeting.
Set up a project in Asana using the CarpentryCon template. Make adjustments as needed.
Set up a Google drive folder with relevant files, copying over templates from previous years.
Set up a mailing list for the committee and Core Team liaisons. Only have one mailing list or other communication channel to increase transparency and streamline communications.
Schedule a one-hour meeting for east and west Committee members. You will likely need to have two meetings.
You can adapt the CarpentryCon 2022 Committee Onboarding Presentation.
In the meeting, you should inform committee members that you will be adding them to the Asana project, Google drive folder, and the mailing list. Do not send invitations to Committee members before this meeting to avoid confusion. This will ensure they know to watch out for communications to join these various platforms and how they will be used.
Tasks to complete after onboarding Committee members at their first meeting.
Add all Committee members to Asana, Google Drive (provide edit access), and the mailing list.
Send a communication via the mailing list that they have been added to the various platforms and to contact the Core Team liaisons if there are any issues with access.
Offboarding Committee Members#
The following tasks need to be completed by the Core Team liaisons after the event ends.
Send a communication to the Committee shortly after the event ends thanking them for their service and providing information on any next steps, including offboarding procedures.
Send a communication to the Committee to get feedback on their experience. Send reminder emails out as needed to improve response rate. You can adopt or adapt the 2022 feedback form.
Begin processing thank you gifts to be sent out to Committee members and reimbursements for conference participants. These tasks can take some time so best to start as early as possible. You should also check that these expenses fit into the conference budget.
When access is no longer needed, Committee members should be removed from all conference platforms (e.g., mailing list, Google drive, Asana projects).
Communication and Collaboration Spaces#
This section includes a list of communication channels and collaboration spaces that support members of the CarpentryCon Committee. Participants in these spaces are expected to follow The Carpentries code of conduct. A description of the tools listed can be found in the community glossary.
Task Management#
Until an open source platform is identified that supports the committee’s task management needs, Asana will be used. Asana is a project management tool used by The Carpentries Core Team that allows access to external project contributors. All members of the Committee will be added to the CarpentryCon Asana project for that year and be given an overview of the tool as part of onboarding. The project will include a list of tasks to complete, an assignee to each task, and a deadline. Weekly updates will be posted to the project by a Core Team liaison to ensure the project stays on track.
Collaborative Notetaking#
Etherpads are used for collaborative notetaking for the Committee and for a space to take notes during CarpentryCon sessions. You will need to follow the instructions for creating an Etherpad for the Committee meetings and creating Etherpads for CarpentryCon sessions found in the step-by-step guides. Once the Etherpads have been created for each year, they should be linked here.
Add link: Committee meeting notes
Add link: CarpentryCon Session Etherpad template
Messaging and Communication#
Slack is the software platform used by The Carpentries to support synchronous and asynchronous communications. Channels support communications, collaboration and co-creation among a subset of community members, depending on the channel’s purpose. You can join The Carpentries Slack workspace to follow conversations on the channel relevant to this role:
#cc[year]-planning: channel used by the Committee members and Core Team liaisons for planning the event
#carpentrycon: channel used for making announcements, facilitating discussions around sessions, and to ask general questions about the event
#carpentrycon-helpdesk: channel used to post and troubleshoot technical issues that arise during the event
Session leads can also create separate channels for their sessions if they would like.
If you are new to Slack, please check out our Slack Quick Start Guide.
Mailing List#
You can access all The Carpentries mailing lists from TopicBox. Here, you will find the Committee mailing list. Emails sent to carpentrycon@lists.carpentries.org will be received by all members and Core Team liaisons. All new members of the Committee will be added to the mailing list and outgoing members will be removed by a Core Team liaison.
File Sharing#
A Google Drive folder for each event will be created by a Core Team liaison. All Committee members will be invited and given access to the folder. Once the Google drive folder has been created for each year, it should be linked here.
Add link: CarpentryCon [Year] Google Drive
Conference Website#
A website for each year’s CarpentryCon will be created and administered through GitHub. Members of the Committee will be able to create Pull Requests or Issues. For more information about using GitHub please follow these guides. Once the year’s website has been created, please add a link to both the website and its GitHub repository.
Add link: GitHub repository
Add link: CarpentryCon website
Step-by-Step Guides#
Adding Committee Members to Mailing List#
Go to the TopicBox mailing list for CarpentryCon: https://carpentries.topicbox.com/groups/carpentrycon.
Select “Edit Members.”
Select “Add Members.”
Add email addresses in the “Choose to Add” box. You can also upload email addresses as a .txt or .csv file.
Setting up Etherpad for Committee Meetings#
Type in https://pad.carpentries.org/carpentrycon[year] to create a new Etherpad for that year’s event.
You may want to use and review the Etherpad from the CarpentryCon 2022 Committee as an example.
Process for Review of Keynote Speaker Recommendations#
The Program Chairs and other Committee members should identify potential keynote speakers, considering the event theme and review criteria listed in the README tab of TEMPLATE: Keynote Presenter Review.
Once identified, the Program Chairs should record the relevant information into the speaker review tab of the template (i.e., Speaker Recommendation, URL, Speaker Fee) and any notes you would like the Committee Chairs to know as part of their review.
The Committee Chairs should review the speakers recommended following the guidelines in the README tab of the template.
Following the review, Committee Chairs will send invitation letters to those identified with a “yes” in the “Invite?” column. Those listed as “backups” should be invited only if one or more of the primary invitees are unable to attend the event.
Process for Review of Proposal Submissions#
Preparation:
A decision should be made prior to the review of proposals on how many can be accepted in each category to fill the program.
Review should begin the day following the submission deadline.
A minimum of two weeks should be blocked to conduct the review, but the time required will be dependent on the number of proposals received and the number of reviewers.
All reviewers should submit their reviews using the proposal submission form, which should be copied each year from the proposal submission form template.
Any submission not including all required content should be automatically rejected.
Each proposal should be assigned a minimum of two reviewers, with a third review brought in if the first two reviewers disagree on whether a proposal should be accepted.
The following criteria should be considered by all reviewers. Each criterion should be given a score of 1 to indicate if a proposal is not ready, 2 if the proposal has potential and 3 if the proposal is a good fit. It is up to the discretion of the Program Leads, in consultation with other Committee members, as to whether to request an updated proposal for those submissions initially rejected.
Level of Preparation
1 (not ready) The proposal is unclear or not well developed
2 (has potential) The proposed session needs minor revisions to meet carpentries’ expectations and available evidence of expertise suggests the applicant can do so successfully
3 (good fit) The applicant’s proposal and other evidence of expertise suggests they understand how their session fits into the event and can make an achievable contribution with the session
Scope of Session
1 (not ready) Scope of session is either too broad to be reasonably covered in session, or too narrow to reasonably fill any of the conference session types
2 (has potential) Scope is clear but may need tailoring to fit in conference sessions
3 (good fit) Scope of planned material fits well within the framework of conference sessions
Fit with theme
1 (not ready) The proposal is not well aligned or too vague to determine if it fits the theme of “Expanding data frontiers”
2 (has potential) Has potential to be valuable and could be appropriate for theme, with revision or elaboration
3 (good fit) Proposed topic resonates/fits well with the conference theme and is likely to help wider community
Fit with Carpentries’ mission and values
1 (not ready) Value of session is unclear, misaligned, or in conflict with Carpentries’ mission and values
2 (has potential) Session does not conflict with Carpentries’ mission and values, has potential to advance them with refinement
3 (good fit) Proposed topic clearly upholds and/or advances Carpentries’ mission and values
Openness to collaboration
1 (not ready) Seems closed to collaborative ways of working
2 (has potential) Seems open to involving others but without clear ways of doing so
3 (good fit) Sees value in involving others and proposes workable ways of engagement
Reviewers are also asked whether they would recommend an application. The available answers are “No”, “Yes”, “Unsure” or “Wild-Card/Red-Flag (request to discuss)”. Proposals who have ratings of “No” or “Unsure” across all reviewers will be rejected. All other candidates will be discussed at the panel selection.
Section should be included for reviewers to write comments if needed.
We ask all reviewers to finish the review with a few summary sentences to describe the application and the motivations for their scores to facilitate conversation during the selection panel discussion.
A selection panel discussion should be scheduled to discuss those proposals, focusing on those proposals without reviewer alignment in the recommendation on the proposal.
Creating Program and Schedule#
There are many ways that someone can pull together the program and schedule once all the sessions have been identified. This guide is a recommendation so Program Leads should feel free to modify it to what works best for them.
Use the Time Blocks and Scheduling Spreadsheet to record information on each accepted session by type. Selection will have been based on the number of sessions needed by type to feel the program (Step 1 of Process for Review of Proposal Submissions).
Transfer the relevant information for each session from the Proposal Confirmation of Acceptance Form Template into the spreadsheet as described in the README tab.
Create a new spreadsheet with the dates and times available to schedule the program. Doing this will allow you to view the Time Blocks and Scheduling Spreadsheet in a separate window. We recommend listing the times in 10 minute increments to make it easier to build in concurrent sessions, sessions lasting 1.5 hours and breaks.
Build the schedule, noting the following:
Ensure the schedule includes programming across each of the three primary time blocks. The target for number of sessions by type within each time block can be found in Appendix A of the CarpentryCon 2022 Evaluation Report. Consider those sessions that can be repeated.
Ensure sessions are scheduled when presenters and sessions leads confirmed their availability.
Do not run programming for more than 3 consecutive hours. Three hours is a long time to be attentive in a virtual space even with breaks.
Leave time for participant breaks, lasting a minimum of ten minutes.
Leave time to transition virtual rooms between sessions. In some cases, the volunteers supporting the next session will be rotating and will need time to get set up.
Lightning talks can be grouped by theme. In 2022, each lightning talk session lasted 50 minutes. Five 5-minute talks were aired followed by a breakout discussion (Resource: Email on how lightning talk session will run).
Have all members of the CarpentryCon Committee review the draft schedule at the next meeting, identifying any concerns or changes that need to be made.
Finalize the draft schedule based on the meeting discussion.
Send an email to the session lead to confirm the date and time of the session(s) they will be leading.
Monitor responses to the Proposal Confirmation of Acceptance Form so communications can be sent out quickly to reschedule sessions.
Once all sessions have been confirmed, finalize schedule and add to conference website.
Setting Up Conference Session Etherpads#
Create a new Etherpad by typing https://pad.carpentries.org/cc[year]-[session short title] into your browser. For example, https://pad.carpentries.org/cc2022-informal-meetup-au-nz. If a session is repeated, you do not need to create an Etherpad for each repeated session.
Copy the Etherpad link for each session into Column G of the detailed schedule next to the appropriate session.
Copy content from the template into the new Etherpad, replacing text where appropriate (e.g., timezone, Zoom link).
Detailed information for each session can be found on the CarpentryCon website.
Remove colour from the Etherpad by clicking the button at the top left that looks like an eye with a line through it.
If you have questions about this process, please email carpentrycon@carpentries.org.
Conducting Conference Evaluation#
Prior to the start of event planning:
Begin by reviewing evaluation report from previous year’s event and use results to inform planning of this year’s event.
Two months prior to the start of the event:
Develop an evaluation plan that centers on measuring the intended outcomes of the conference.
Consider building a basic logic model or theory of change to guide this process and ensure you are capturing all outputs and outcomes of interest.
Create a complete list of metrics of interest and a plan for where to collect these data from. * Examples: * Registrations from Eventbrite * Attendance information from Zoom * Social Media engagement from Twitter, YouTube, etc. * Net promoter score and others from Survey
One month prior to the start of the event:
Create/adapt survey questions and build survey in Typeform. Review previous year’s survey in Typeform. Note. Where possible, use questions from previous years’ surveys. This will: (1) allow for comparisons across years, (2) save time as previous surveys can be duplicated in Typeform and R scripts can be reused to analyse data.
Create/adapt a form to collect feedback from Committee members. Review previous year’s form.
Two weeks prior to the start of the event:
Write/adapt communications templates to request feedback after the conference.
Send out communications requesting feedback. See communications templates.
At closing ceremonies (verbally and using a QR code and link in the Zoom chat)
On the last day in the Slack channels
Send an email to attendees on the last day of the conference
Send a follow up/reminder email when you see responses start to slow down (about 3 days later)
After the event:
Collect data and store in a central location
Download data from Eventbrite
Download data from Zoom
Collect Social Media data
Download attendee survey data
Download Committee feedback data
Analyse data from:
Eventbrite
Zoom
Social Media
Attendee Survey (Resource: survey analysis R script)
Committee Feedback Form
Synthesise results and write conference evaluation report. See report template and previous year’s report.
Resources#
Planning and Onboarding/ Offboarding Resources#
Planning Timeline#
Timeline for major activities happening each month during conference planning.
MONTH 0-1
Create skeleton of website for adding content from Communications Leads
Set up Asana project with detailed tasks and milestones
Recruit Committee members from community
Write blog post
Post to social media
Host two community discussions to accommodate time zones
Develop event budget, including accessibility costs
MONTH 2
Set up communications for all committee members
Finalize communications and accessibility plans
Onboard committee members
Begin weekly committee meetings
Identify date of the event, and add to website
Send out SAVE THE DATE communications
Identify conference theme
Identify and begin inviting keynote speakers
MONTH 3
Finalize keynote speakers who will be presenting
Early bird proposal submission open
Recruit volunteers to review proposals
MONTH 4
Close early bird proposal submission
Onboard proposal reviewers
MONTH 5
Proposal review
Program development
Send communications to session leads on decision for proposal submission
Identify contractors for conference and beginn paperwork
MONTH 6
[Optional] Latebreaking proposal submission open for new community members and if needed to fill gaps in program; close after 3-4 weeks
MONTH 7
Program finalized and added to website
Set up infrastructure around final program (website, Etherpads, etc.)
MONTH 8
Open registration, include a way to accept accommodation requests and provide a deadline for those requests to receive full consideration
MONTH 9
Review registrations and identify participation gaps for marketing event
All event contracts need to be in place at least three months before the conference
MONTH 10
Recruit volunteers to support event implementation
MONTH 11
Onboard conference volunteers
MONTH 12
Host event; registration open until last day of event
Evaluation and assessment
Committee member offboarding
Finish processing fund reimbursements for accommodation requests
Budget Template#
This spreadsheet can be used to develop a budget for the event. An example is provided from CarpentryCon 2022.
CarpentryCon Committee Member Application Template#
Google Form template that can be used for receiving applications to serve on the CarpentryCon Committee. Please copy the template and make updates for each year of the event. If needed, updates to the template can be made as well.
CarpentryCon 2022 Committee Onboarding Presentation#
This presentation was given at the onboarding meeting for Committee members supporting CarpentryCon 2022.
External Conference Planning Resources#
Links to external resources that can support planning for CarpentryCon.
Email Templates for Committee Members#
Email to send to committee members after event ends#
Email communication sent to committee members following CarpentryCon. It requests that they complete the feedback form and send their address for sending a thank you gift.
Hello CarpentryCon Committee members,
Thanks to all of you for your support of CarpentryCon! We could not have done it without you. It was a busy week, but I think we delivered a great event for the community. I just sent out a request for those who registered to complete a post-conference evaluation, and I will share the results back to all of you.
There are a couple of follow-up requests I have for you:
Please take some time to provide your feedback on your experience as a Committee member [LINK TO COMMITTEE MEMBER FEEDBACK FORM(#committee-member-feedback-form]. This really helps us improve the experience for future Committee members and should not take more than 5-10 minutes, depending on the amount of feedback you want to provide. If you prefer, I’m also happy to set up a phone call to chat.
We would also like to send a thank you gift to each of you for your service. Please send us your name and mailing address for shipping the items to carpentrycon@carpentries.org.
Many thanks again for your contributions to this important event for our community. It is so very much appreciated, [NAME]
Accessibility Resources#
Accessibility Guidelines for Presenters#
Guidelines to be sent to all presenters to improve the accessibility of presentations and sessions. Please update as needed.
Accessibility Audit for CarpentryCon 2022#
This audit was conducted by the Accessibility Manager for The Carpentries for CarpentryCon 2022. It assessed the accessibility of all platforms used for the event, including Zoom, Etherpad, and YouTube.
Context
In preparation to make CarpentryCon as accessible as possible, we knew we needed a video conferencing software, a real time note taking program, and platform to show videos and allow users to view sessions post conference. The top three choices for these programs were Zoom, Etherpad, and YouTube. In looking for accessible options it was important to have programs that could be accessed on a variety of operating systems and meet WCAG standards including being screen reader compatible and captions for video platforms.
Zoom
Zoom can be used on a variety of devices including, desktop, mobile devices that use Windows, MacOS, Linux, Chrome OS, iOS, Android and Blackberry or users can dial in on a phone line to participate.
Zoom can be used with screen readers - most commonly JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and Android Talkback. Zoom can be controlled with Keyboard shortcuts.
Zoom has auto generated captions, allows for someone to type in captions, and integrates with third-party closed captions.
Video options for Zoom include multi-spotlights - meeting hosts can pin a specific speaker(s) to allow for the sign language interpreters to be pinned.
Multi-pinning and changing the gallery view allows individuals to rearrange and view specific tiles.
Text settings in chat and for captions can be customised.
When using breakout rooms, captions are not usable.
Most importantly Zoom meets WCAG 2.1 AA Standards, a set of global standards that we value. The Carpentries already used Zoom for a number of community meetings, so members of the community did not have to get used to another platform.
Etherpad
Etherpad can be used with a variety of devices and operating systems.
Etherpad is fully screen reader accessible.
Keyboard shortcuts are usable with Etherpad.
Users can choose background and font text and colour.
The Carpentries chose to use the Etherpad for collaborative notes because many community members are used to this platform and it has features that make it accessible to a wider audience.
YouTube
YouTube can be used with a variety of devices and operating systems.
Youtube is screen reader accessible.
Keyboard shortcuts are usable with Youtube.
Users can choose background and font text and colour.
Related to videos on YouTube, captions can be added to videos and in a variety of languages. Youtube also has automated captions that can help provide a transcript of a file and then be edited for accuracy. It is The Carpentries practice to add captions in at least one language.
During the Conference
To support accessibility during CarpentryCon we provide Sign Language interpreters for the Keynote sessions and would have provided them for other sessions as requested. All sessions were closed captioned in English. Spanish translation was provided as requested. There was one keynote presented in Spanish, this was captioned in Spanish and English and Interpreted into American Sign Language.
During the conference Zoom helpers were given information on how to turn captioning on and how to identify and assign the captioner to type. During the interpreted session, a Carpentries CoreCare Team member was in charge of pinning the speaker and the interpreter in zoom so they could be easily seen.
Toolkit of IDEAS#
The Toolkit of IDEAS (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility Strategies) is a practical resource for Carpentries’ Instructors, helpers, and workshop hosts running workshops. The guidelines provided for workshops can be applied to other events like CarpentryCon.
Email Template: Information for Participants Requesting Accommodations#
Email communication sent to individuals who requested funding support to attend CarpentryCon.
Greetings [NAME],
I hope you enjoyed the conference. On your registration form for CarpentryCon, you indicated you are interested in receiving funds for accessibility.
You are requesting [AMOUNT] USD for [REASON]. This has been approved. You will need to provide a receipt as well as fill out the attached form [ATTACH RELEVANT PAPERWORK] to be reimbursed. There is a .xlsx or a .ods file. If neither of these work for you, please let me know and I can work with you to get a file that does work. Once the form as been submitted, reimbursement will take two to three weeks.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Email Template: Paperwork Submission Deadline for Participants Requesting Accommodations#
Email communication sent to individuals who requested funding support to attend CarpentryCon.
Greetings,
I hope you enjoyed CarpentryCon!
If you requested funds for Mobile Data, Childcare, or Caregiver Services while you attended CarpentryCon Sessions, all reimbursement documents must be submitted by DATE. If documents are submitted after this time, you will not be reimbursed. You will need to provide a receipt as well as fill out the forms sent previously to be reimbursed. Once the form has been submitted, reimbursement will take two to three weeks.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Communications Resources#
Communications Schedule#
Template for generating a communications schedule around significant activities surrounding CarpentryCon.
Program Development and Communication Resources#
Template: Keynote Speaker Review Spreadsheet#
Google Sheets template that can be used for selecting keynote presenters to invite to the conference. Please copy the template and make updates for each year of the event. If needed, updates to the template can be made as well.
Template: Keynote Speaker Invitation#
Template letter that can be used for sending invitations to potential keynote speakers.
Dear [NAME],
On behalf of the CarpentryCon [YEAR] Committee, I would like to invite you to be a keynote speaker at this year’s event [LINK TO WEBSITE], which will take place online from [EVENT DATES].
CarpentryCon aims to develop the next generation of diverse, international research and data leaders. Unlike conferences that focus on advances within a discipline, CarpentryCon will teach the practical skills people need to lead 21st century research within academia and industry. The theme of this year’s conference is [ADD THEME] to advance open research and data skills beyond borders with a focus on skill development, community building, co-creation of open source resources, and networking. If you would like to learn more, please take a look at the CarpentryCon [YEAR] schedule [LINK TO PAST CONFERENCE WEBSITE] and recordings [LINK TO YOUTUBE].
Keynote sessions will be 50 minutes, which includes 40 minutes for the talk and 10 minutes for questions and discussion. As a recognized expert in [ADD CUSTOMIZATION], we invite you to present [ADD CUSTOMIZATION]. Your story and vision for the field will facilitate discussion sessions that will be held throughout the event and will ensure conference attendees leave with a better understanding of [ADD CUSTOMIZATION].
If you are able to accept our invitation, please let us know by [DEADLINE]. We will need to approach potential replacement speakers if you are unable to attend. If you can’t join us this time, please let us know if you would be willing to participate in a future event.
We sincerely hope you will be able to join us at CarpentryCon and be a part of this growing community.
Thanks for your consideration,
[NAME]
(On behalf of the CarpentryCon [YEAR] Committee)
Language to add for those unfamiliar with The Carpentries:
The Carpentries is an open, global community teaching the skills and perspectives to turn data into knowledge. We build capacity in essential data and computational skills for conducting efficient, open, and reproducible research. We believe in a world where more people have the computational skills and perspectives to work with data to address their questions in science, scholarship and society. We aim to build that world by scaling evidence-based teaching, creating inclusive environments, and building communities of practice based on open principles. We have a large community of instructors and contributors, and a much larger community of users. We use evidence-based teaching practices to teach the core skills for effective computational and data work, and we promote reproducible research and open science/open source widely. All interactions in The Carpentries community and spaces, both virtual and in-person, are governed by our Code of Conduct and guided by our core values.
Proposal Submission Form Template#
Google Form template that can be used to collect CarpentryCon proposal submissions. Please copy the template and make updates for each year of the event. If needed, updates to the template can be made as well.
Proposal Decision Email Templates#
Email templates that can be used for contacting individuals who submitted a proposal for CarpentryCon about the decision of the review panel.
Email Template for Session Proposal Acceptance
Subject: ACTION REQUIRED: CarpentryCon [YEAR] Proposal Submission Acceptance
Dear [session lead],
Congratulations! Your session [Insert session short title] has been accepted for inclusion in CarpentryCon 2022.
Your session is currently scheduled for DATE at [time in UTC]. To confirm your participation, please complete this form [LINK TO Proposal Confirmation of Acceptance Form] by [DEADLINE]. If the date and time indicated for your session do not work for you or your co-leads (if applicable), please complete the form as soon as possible so the Program Chairs can work with you to identify a new time for your session(s). Please be as flexible as you can so we can make programming available to as many of our global community members as possible.
We are dedicated to the accessibility of this event, so we ask session leads to follow these guidelines to ensure their session is fully accessible [LINK TO ACCESSIBILITY GUIDELINES] to all attendees. In addition, the conference is being live-Tweeted to support asynchronous participation. If you prefer to have specific slides, figures, or content notincluded on social media, please announce this and include the No Social Media icon when and where appropriate during your presentation and in your slides or materials.
Thanks again for your interest in leading a session at CarpentryCon; we look forward to having you at the event. If you have any questions about your session or the overall program, please contact the Program Subcommittee at carpentrycon-programs@lists.carpentries.org. All other inquiries can be directed to carpentrycon@carpentries.org.
Sincerely,
The CarpentryCon Committee
Email Template for Lightning Talk Acceptance
Subject: ACTION REQUIRED: CarpentryCon 2022 Proposal Submission Acceptance
Dear [session lead],
Congratulations! Your lightning talk [Insert session short title] has been accepted for inclusion in CarpentryCon 2022. To confirm your participation,please complete this formby 27 June.
Lightning talks are strictly limited to 5 minutes and must be pre-recorded so language captions can be added to the video. Your video should be uploaded to this Google drive by 18 July in a digital format with high-quality audio and discernable speech. We are dedicated to the accessibility of this event, so we ask presenters to follow these guidelines to ensure their presentation is fully accessible to all attendees.
Your Lightning Talk is scheduled to be shown as part of the program on [dates] at [times]. There will be a discussion and Q&A following the synchronous viewing of all videos in this segment. We welcome your presence during this time, but it is not required. We will be providing an opportunity for asynchronous Q&A as well throughout the event.
Thanks again for your interest in presenting a lightning talk at CarpentryCon; we look forward to having you at the event. If you have any questions about your talk or the overall program, please contact the Program Subcommittee at carpentrycon-programs@lists.carpentries.org. All other inquiries can be directed to carpentrycon@carpentries.org.
Sincerely,
The CarpentryCon Committee
Email Template for Session Proposal Declined
Dear [NAME OF SESSION LEAD],
Thank you for submitting your session proposal [PROPOSAL TITLE] for inclusion in CarpentryCon DATE.
Unfortunately, we were unable to include your session in this year’s event. We received many strong submissions and were unable to accommodate all of them considering the duration of the program. We invite you to consider inclusion of your session in future community events, like our Community Discussions. To learn more about ongoing opportunities, please email community@carpentries.org.
We invite you to register to attend CarpentryCon as a participant. Registration opens on DATE, and there will be no registration fee. You can view information on the program and sign up to receive updates by visiting the CarpentryCon [YEAR] website [LINK TO WEBSITE]. Thanks again for your interest in CarpentryCon, and we look forward to having you there.
Sincerely,
The CarpentryCon Committee
Proposal Confirmation of Acceptance Form Template#
Google Form template that can be used for confirming the date and time scheduled for a session with the session leads. Please copy the template and make updates for each year of the event. If needed, updates to the template can be made as well.
Time Blocks and Scheduling Spreadsheet#
Google Sheet to support developing a schedule for the program across three primary time blocks. Please copy the spreadsheet to use for each year of the event.
Email Communications for Lightning Talk Presenters#
Email on how lightning talk sessions will run#
An example email for communicating with lightning talk presenters and session supporters on how the lightning talk sessions will run.
Hi everyone,
This email is being sent to all lightning talk presenters, facilitators, Zoom helpers, and their backups to provide you with detailed information about how those sessions will be ran. As a reminder, the lightning talks sessions are going to be repeated three times during each of our three primary time blocks set up for CarpentryCon. This is to make the event more accessible to our global audience. For many of us, the first session will be hosted Sunday night, which is Monday morning in Oceania. Lightning talk presenters have been asked to attend the sessions in which their presentation is being aired, but this is not a requirement because it could be aired in the middle of the night for them. Therefore, these sessions are being set up a bit differently than the others. I wanted to provide these details for you so you have them, but members of the Core Team will be the primary facilitators for these sessions and will be there to provide support as needed.
The main facilitator (a member of the Core Team) will live stream the videos of each lightning talk from their computer. All videos will include Spanish and English captions. More languages will be added once the videos have been uploaded to YouTube.
After the videos have been aired, we will be going into breakout rooms so attendees can discuss the content from the presentations. The number of breakout rooms will be dependent on the number of attendees, but the rooms will be set up where attendees can choose the room they want to join:
Room 1 will be named “Captioner,” and the live captioner will join this room for anyone needing live closed captioning.
Room 2 will be named “En Español,” and will be a room that attendees can join if they want to discuss the presentations in Spanish. Each of the three themed sessions has at least one presentation given in Spanish.
Rooms 3-x will not need a name and the number of rooms required will be dependent on the number of participants (with ~5-8 per room). We will ask the presenters attending each session to put in the chat which room they will be joining so attendees know where to go if they have a question for them. Presenters are welcome to join the “captioner” or “en español” rooms if that is their preference, and multiple presenters can be in the same room.
Thanks again everyone for all of your efforts to support CarpentryCon and please email carpentrycon@carpentries.org if you have any questions.
Email reminding presenters to upload lightning talk#
An example email for communicating with lightning talk presenters and session supporters on how the lightning talk sessions will run.
Thanks again for your participation in CarpentryCon [YEAR] as a lightning talk presenter! As a reminder, the video of your lightning talk should be uploaded to this Google drive [LINK TO GOOGLE DRIVE] by DATE in a digital format with high-quality audio and discernable speech. This will allow us time to add captioning in multiple languages to your videos and get them uploaded to YouTube before the start of the event on DATE. Lightning talks are strictly limited to 5 minutes and we ask all presenters to follow these guidelines to ensure their presentation is accessible to all attendees [LINK TO ACCESSIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR PRESENTERS]. Please let us know if you have any questions and don’t forget to register if you have not already done so [LINK TO REGISTRATION]. Thanks again, [NAME]
Email Communications for Session Leads#
Informational Email to Session Leads: Two Weeks Out#
Example email sent to session leads two weeks prior to the start of the event.
Hey CarpentryCon Session Leads and Co-Leads,
Thanks again for your support of CarpentryCon [YEAR]. As of today, we have [NUMBER REGISTERED] people who have registered to attend so we’re looking forward to an exciting event. I want to share some information with all of you as you prepare for your sessions over the next two weeks.
If you have not already done so, be sure to register for the event (it is free!) [LINK TO REGISTRATION]. Please note that you will need to register separately for any sessions that you would like to attend that have an attendance cap. They are marked with an R on the schedule.
If your session is one that had an attendance cap, we will send you information on who has registered no later than 24 hours before the start of your event. If you need that information sooner, please email carpentrycon@carpentries.org.
For each session, we will be assigning a volunteer facilitator and Zoom helper. Facilitators will have a script to open up each session, which will include important information that participants need to know (e.g., code of conduct). They will also be available to support other aspects of your session as needed. Zoom helpers will be available to support all things Zoom related, including connecting your session to our live closed captioning service. Once a facilitator and Zoom helper have been identified for your session, we will send a communication out to the whole group so you can coordinate as needed.
A volunteer from the CarpentryCon Committee set up an Etherpad for all sessions. You will find it linked to the calendar invite you received for your session. If you have not received a calendar invite or are having trouble finding the link to your session’s Etherpad, please email carpentrycon@carpentries.org. You are welcome to add any content you would like to your Etherpad, and these will be available for collaborative note-taking throughout your session.
As a reminder, we have set up a folder for each CarpentryCon session so you can upload your presentations and any related materials. Please do this by DATE. Members of the community who have already registered have requested access to materials in advance so this will ensure we make the event as accessible as possible. A README is available in the parent folder (CarpentryCon [YEAR] Session Materials) with additional instructions.
If you have any questions moving forward, please direct them to carpentrycon@carpentries.org. All members of the Core Team will be monitoring this email address and will be able to get back to you.
Thanks again for your support of CarpentryCon. We look forward to welcoming you to the event in a couple of weeks.
Reminder Email to Upload Session Materials#
Example email sent to session leads reminding them to upload their session materials to make the event more accessible.
Hey CarpentryCon Session Leads and Co-Leads,
Sending a reminder to please upload your presentations and any related materials for your sessions by [DEADLINE] to the appropriate folders in our gDrive [LINK TO FOLDER]. This will support accessibility of our event by making materials available in advance for those that have requested them. Please also review the additional requests we sent out on DATE OF FINAL INFORMATIONAL EMAIL found below. As of today, we have [NUMBER REGISTERED] people who have registered to attend. Questions? Please send them to carpentrycon@carpentries.org.
Many thanks, The CarpentryCon Committee
Informational Email to Session Leads: One Week Out#
Example email sent to session leads one week prior to the start of the event.
Hey CarpentryCon Session Leads and Co-Leads,
With CarpentryCon only five days away, I wanted to provide you with some additional information to help you adequately prepare for your sessions. As of today, we have 391 individuals who have registered to attend.
Unfortunately, we were not able to find a volunteer facilitator and Zoom helper for all sessions. You can find the sign-up sheet here [LINK TO VOLUNTEER SCHEDULE]. If you currently do not have a volunteer listed to support your session in either of these roles, please consider adding a name of a member of your team if anyone has the capacity to serve as a facilitator or Zoom helper during your session. You can view the Instructions for Facilitators [LINK TO INSTRUCTIONS FOR FACILITATORS] and Instructions for Zoom Helpers [LINK TO INSTRUCTIONS FOR ZOOM HELPERS] to see what is involved. Members of the Core Team will be filling in the remaining slots as needed.
Zoom helpers and facilitators have been asked to log in at least ten minutes before the start of your session. Please use this time to coordinate with them to make sure your session runs smoothly (e.g., when to start/stop recording, needs for breakout rooms, identifying a notetaker). If you need more time, or would like to connect with your facilitator or Zoom helper directly to discuss details about your session, please email carpentrycon@carpentries.org so we can send out a communication to connect all of you.
An Etherpad has been set up for all sessions. However, if you do not want to use the Etherpad for collaborative notetaking, please add a note to the Etherpad re-directing attendees to the appropriate location. The Etherpad contains additional information important for participants, so we want to maintain that as a resource for all sessions. As a reminder, you will find your Etherpad linked to the calendar invite you received for your session.
Related to above, everyone who would like to attend your session may not be able to. Therefore, we added a section to all of the Etherpads where participants can add questions for you to answer asynchronously. Please respond to these questions when you have time as the Etherpads will be serving as a resource for the community during and after the event. This is why it is also important to have a dedicated notetaker for your session.
If you have not, be sure to upload your presentations and any other session materials to your session’s folder in the parent folder [LINK TO PARENT FOLDER] as soon as possible to make them available to attendees. A README is available in the parent folder with additional instructions.
For any sessions with an attendance cap, I will be sending an email out to you tomorrow with the number of attendees that have signed up for your session. We’ll also send an additional communication out 24 hours before your event so you can plan accordingly.
If you have any questions at all, please direct them to carpentrycon@carpentries.org. The entire Core Team will be monitoring this email address so that you will receive a faster response. You can also paste general questions into #carpentrycon in Slack or technical questions into #carpentrycon-helpdesk to get support as needed before and during your sessions. We have a host of volunteers monitoring those channels as well.
Thanks again for your support of CarpentryCon. We look forward to welcoming you to the event next week!
Etherpad Template for CarpentryCon Sessions#
This Etherpad template should be used whensetting up conference session Etherpads.
Registration Resources#
Template: Registration Form#
A template to use for conference registration. This form is also available to members of the Core Team in Eventbrite.
Please complete the information requested below to register to attend CarpentryCon [YEAR]. Sessions will be held virtually throughout the day in multiple time zones from [DATES OF EVENT]. Registration is free and will be open the day up until the event, [REGISTRATION DEADLINE]. The program and schedule are available on the conference website CONFERENCE WEBSITE. If you need any support completing this form, would like to view the form in another language, or have any questions, please email carpentrycon@carpentries.org.
The Carpentries is collecting and processing personal data collected with this form in accordance with our Privacy Policy (https://docs.carpentries.org/topic_folders/policies/privacy.html).
General Information
*Name
*Did you submit a proposal to lead or co-lead a session at CarpentryCon?
Yes
No
*Do you commit to abiding by The Carpentries Code of Conduct as a conference participant? You can review our Code of Conduct in our handbook: https://docs.carpentries.org/topic_folders/policies/index_coc.html
Yes
No
Would you like your name included in a daily raffle drawing? If you answer yes, your name will be announced during the event and we will be asked to provide your mailing address for shipping your prize.
Yes
No
Volunteer for CarpentryCon
Would you be willing to volunteer to serve in one or more of the following roles while attending the event? We will send out a form to sign-up for supporting specific sessions and will provide any necessary training. Select all that apply.
Lead facilitator: will open session, make relevant announcements, and support session leads by monitoring questions and comments from attendees
Zoom support: will assign hosts, create breakout rooms, mute participants, and provide technical support as needed
Communications: will help share information about the conference via social media and address questions coming from participants via our Slack channel
Accommodations
We strive to host inclusive, accessible events that enable all individuals, including individuals with disabilities, to participate and engage fully. Accommodation requests made by [Deadline for Accommodation Requests] will be given full consideration. Our goal is to meet all accommodations requests, dependent on the number of requests and availability of funds. For inquiries about accessibility, please contact [Name and contact information for submitting accommodation requests].
Please let us know what you need to fully participate by selecting from the options below.
Electronic copies of materials in advance
Sign Language Interpreters
Closed Captions
Translation services
Language Preference
Other
Please specify
Funding Support
Funding is available through [list funding sources] for conference attendees who require access to specific services to fully attend the event. All requests for support will be reviewed and funds will be distributed dependent on the number of requests and availability of funds. Session leads, co-leads, moderators, and helpers will be given priority access to this support. Please select the services you would like to request funds for below:
Mobile data
Caregiver services
Childcare services
Other
Please provide an estimate of the amount you are requesting.
Consider Contributing to our Accessibility Fund
There is no registration fee for attending CarpentryCon. We are accepting donations of any amount to our Accessibility Fund. Donations to this fund will be used to support access to this and future events hosted by The Carpentries. This includes, but is not limited to, the following services: live closed captioning, translation services, caregiver services, and providing mobile data. To give to this fund, please visit the Accessibility Fund website [include link to website].
Templates: Emails to Registrants#
Email to send to registrants two weeks prior to event#
Email communication sent to registrants two weeks from the start of CarpentryCon 2022.
We’re excited to have you joining us next week to launch CarpentryCon 2022!
To ensure you get the most out of your participation, we wanted to share some important information with you.
All conference participants must abide by The Carpentries Code of Conduct. If you have not already, please familiarize yourself with it before joining your first session at the conference.
The full conference schedule is available on the conference website. There have been a few updates to the schedule over the past few weeks (some sessions removed and others rescheduled) so be sure you have the most up-to-date information on the date and time of all sessions you wish to attend.
We’ll be using two Slack channels in The Carpentries workspace to support CarpentryCon. #carpentrycon will be used for announcements, initiating discussions relevant to sessions, and asking general questions about the event. Technical issues should be directed to #carpentrycon-helpdesk. If you are not on Slack, you can email carpentrycon@carpentries.org with any questions.
If you are unable to attend a session but have a question for the presenter or session leads, please add those to the Etherpad of the appropriate session under “Questions for Presenters/Session Leads.” A link to each Etherpad is provided in the information for each session.
For anyone who asked for materials to be made available to them in advance, all session leads have been asked to upload materials to the Google folder CarpentryCon 2022 Session Materials by 27 July.
There are several sessions that require separate registration for CarpentryCon because they have an attendance cap. These sessions are listed below along with the link for registering for them. You can read abstracts for these sessions on the CarpentryCon website.
Name of Session - Date, Time in UTC (attendance cap of 20)
If you have any questions, please submit those to carpentrycon@carpentries.org. We look forward to welcoming you to the event in less than a week!
The CarpentryCon Committee
Emails to registrants to take post conference survey#
Email communication sent to registrants requesting they take the post conference survey.
As a reminder and if you have not already, please take a little bit of your time today to provide us with feedback on your experience as a participant in CarpentryCon. The original email request can be found below. Your feedback helps our organisation plan future events, so thanks so much for your time.
Thank you for joining us for CarpentryCon 2022! If you joined one session or many over the two-week period, we were happy to have you with us.
Now that the event has ended, we would like to request your feedback on your conference experience. This event is for the community, so this allows you to let us know how to improve future events. The information you provide will also be used to report back to our funders, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. It should take no more than five minutes to complete, and your feedback is greatly appreciated.
After the survey has been submitted, you will be given the option to provide a testimonial that will appear on The Carpentries website. This will be for our primary website, not the conference website, so we are looking for any testimonial about your experience as a member of the community. This is entirely optional, but it would be great to hear from many of you so we can highlight your experience with the organisation to showcase on the site. If you have any questions about the feedback form or the request for testimonials, please email community@carpentries.org.
Many thanks,
The Carpentries Community Development Team
Volunteer Management Resources#
Instructions for Session Facilitators#
This document provides a template for instructions, including an opening script, for facilitators supporting sessions at CarpentryCon. This resource can be updated for use in future events.
Instructions for Zoom Helpers#
This document provides a template for instructions for Zoom helpers supporting sessions at CarpentryCon. This resource can be updated for use in future events.
Information for Communication Support#
This document provides a template for information for individuals supporting communications during CarpentryCon. This resource can be updated for use in future events.
Email Communications for Recruiting Volunteers#
Email recruiting session facilitators#
Email communications sent to individuals who indicated interest in serving as a session facilitator when registering for CarpentryCon. The first paragraph includes a follow up communication with the original pasted following it.
Hey everyone,
We are still looking for volunteers to help facilitate sessions during CarpentryCon. See below for communication that went out on DATE with details. If possible, please sign up no later than [DEADLINE] so we have plenty of time to coordinate with everyone supporting each session. Thanks so much for your support, The CarpentryCon Committee
Thanks for informing us of your interest in serving as a facilitator for one or more CarpentyCon sessions. You can find a full schedule and details of each session on the CarpentryCon website [LINK TO WEBSITE].
Please visit this spreadsheet to sign up for sessions that you would be interested in facilitating by [DEADLINE]. Each tab of the spreadsheet provides a detailed schedule for each day of CarpentryCon. Add your name next to those sessions you can support following the guidelines provided in the README tab. You do not need to provide an email as we can retrieve that information from your registration.
Once you have added your name as a primary or a backup, a calendar invite will be sent to you for the session you are assigned. We will also send a communication out to you, the Zoom helper, and the session co-leads so you can coordinate as needed. All the information you need to support you in your role will be sent to you no later than DATE, a week before the start of the event. If you have any questions, please email carpentrycon@carpentries.org.
Email recruiting Zoom helpers#
Email communications sent to individuals who indicated interest in serving as a Zoom helper when registering for CarpentryCon. The first paragraph includes a follow up communication with the original pasted following it.
Hey everyone,
We are still looking for volunteers to help with Zoom during sessions for CarpentryCon. See below for communication that went out on DATE with details. If possible, please sign up no later than [DEADLINE] so we have plenty of time to coordinate with everyone supporting each session. Thanks so much for your support, The CarpentryCon [YEAR] Committee
Thanks for informing us of your interest in serving as a Zoom helper for one or more CarpentyCon [YEAR] sessions. You can find a full schedule and details of each session on the CarpentryCon website [LINK TO WEBSITE].
Please visit this spreadsheet [LINK TO VOLUNTEER SCHEDULE] to sign up for sessions that you would be interested in supporting by [DEADLINE]. Each tab of the spreadsheet provides a detailed schedule for each day of CarpentryCon. Add your name next to those sessions you can support following the guidelines provided in the README tab. You do not need to provide an email, as we can retrieve that information from your registration.
Once you have added your name as a primary or a backup, a calendar invite will be sent to you for the session you are assigned. We will also send a communication out to you, the facilitator, and the session co-leads so you can coordinate as needed. All the information you need to support you in your role will be sent to you no later than DATE, a week before the start of the event. If you have any questions, please email carpentrycon@carpentries.org.
Best,
The CarpentryCon Committee
Informational Email for Conference Volunteers#
Email communications sent to individuals who indicated interest in serving as a session facilitator when registering for CarpentryCon. The first paragraph includes a follow up communication with the original pasted following it.
Thank you for indicating that you are willing to volunteer as a Facilitator or Zoom helper during CarpentryCon! With the event only a couple of days away, we wanted to provide you with some additional information to help you adequately prepare for your session.
If you have not signed up yet as a Facilitator or Zoom helper, you can find the sign-up sheet here. [LINK TO VOLUNTEER SCHEDULE]
You can view the Instructions for Facilitators [LINK TO INSTRUCTIONS FOR FACILITATORS] and Instructions for Zoom Helpers [LINK TO INSTRUCTIONS FOR ZOOM HELPERS] to see what is involved.
Zoom helpers and facilitators are asked to log in at least ten minutes before the start of each session.
An Etherpad has been set up for all sessions. The Etherpad contains additional information important for participants, so we want to maintain that as a resource for all sessions. As a reminder, you will find the Etherpad linked to the calendar invite you received for each session.
If you have any questions at all, please direct them to carpentrycon@carpentries.org. The entire Core Team will be monitoring this email address so that you will receive a faster response. You can also paste general questions into #carpentrycon in Slack or technical questions into #carpentrycon-helpdesk to get support as needed before and during each session.
Thanks again for your support of CarpentryCon. We look forward to welcoming you to the event next week!
Evaluation Resources#
CarpentryCon 2022 Evaluation Report#
Report summarizing findings from evaluation of CarpentryCon 2022.
Post Conference Survey#
This is the post conference survey distributed to those who registered for CarpentryCon in 2022. Surveys are available in TypeForm.
Thank you for joining us for CarpentryCon 2022!
We would like feedback on your conference experience to understand the benefits you got from participation and to inform the development of future events. The information you provide will also be used to report back to our funders, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
If you have any questions or need any support completing this survey, please contact us at carpentrycon@carpentries.org.
From what time zone did you join the conference?
From what country did you attend the conference?
Prior to attending the conference, how involved were you in The Carpentries? Please select on a scale from 0 (Not at all involved) to 10 (Extremely involved).
Please select how strongly you agree with the following statements: Please select on a scale from 1 (Strongly disagree) to 5 (Strongly agree).
The Carpentries met my expectations
Participation in the conference was worth my time
My personal goals for attending the conference were met
My contributions to discussions were heard and valued
I intend to stay engaged with the Carpentries now that the conference is over
I feel more prepared to serve in my role in the Carpentries community
The conference provided a welcoming, positive, and supportive environment
The conference had enough sessions that were convenient for my time zone
The conference helped me develop new skills
Please provide any comments relevant to your above responses.
Please select how satisfied you were with each of the following components of the conference. Please select on a scale from 1 (Not at all satisfied) to 5 (Extremely satisfied).
The use of Zoom for streaming sessions
The use of Etherpad for collaborative note taking
The use of YouTube for asynchronous viewing of sessions
Communications surrounding the conference
Level of interaction with other community members
Keynote presentations
Please provide any comments relative to your above responses.
Please select the types of accommodations you requested during registration.
I did not request accommodations
Funds for mobile data
Closed captions
Translation services
Funds for caregiver/childcare services
Electronic copies of materials in advance
Sign language interpreters
Other accommodations
Please select which types of accommodations you used during the conference
I did not use any accommodations
Closed captions
Translation services
Electronic copies of materials in advance
Funds for mobile data
Sign language interpreters
Funds for caregiver/childcare services
Other accommodations
How satisfied were you with the following accommodation: Please select on a scale from 1 (Not at all satisfied) to 5 (Extremely satisfied)
Electronic copies of materials in advance
Sign language interpreters
Closed captions
Translation services
Funds for mobile data
Funds for caregiver/childcare services
Other accommodations
Please provide any comments relevant to your experience with accommodations.
What do you feel was the most useful part of the conference?
What would you like to see at a future CarpentryCon event?
What is something you learned through your participation in the conference?
How likely are you to recommend CarpentryCon to a friend or colleague?
Please provide any additional comments relevant to your experience as a CarpentryCon participant.
Thanks for providing input on your CarpentryCon experience!
R Script to Analyse Post Conference Survey#
R scriptused to analyse the 2022 Post Conference Survey and produce the figures for the 2022 CarpentryCon Evaluation Report.
Committee Member Feedback Form#
Google Form distributed to Committee members to get feedback on their experience supporting CarpentryCon.
Frequently Asked Questions#
What if I am no longer able to serve on the Committee?
We understand that unexpected personal and professional life events happen and must take priority when they do. Email carpentrycon@carpentries.org to let members of the Core Team know that you need to step down from your role.
What file format should you use for recording a lightning talk?
No specific video file format is required; however, please ensure that the file has one of the following extensions:
.MOV
.MPEG-1
.MPEG-2
.MPEG4
.MP4
.MPG
.AVI
.WMV
.MPEGPS
.FLV
3GPP
WebM
DNxHR
ProRes
CineForm
HEVC (h265)
You can record your video using Zoom and download the recording directly from your account or use a built in recorder such as Quicktime player to share with the committee.
How much time will I have to invest in this role?
The amount of time required for all the primary duties of each Committee member role is included in the Roles and Responsibilities section of this handbook.
What are the areas I can be involved in?
There are four primary Committee Member roles (Chair, Program Lead, Communications Lead, Accessibility Lead), and there will be additional opportunities to support the event outside of serving on the committee. If you have interest in supporting CarpentryCon in any capacity, please email carpentrycon@carpentries.org.
What duties are associated with the various Committee member roles?
The roles and responsibilities of each committee member is outlined in the Roles and Responsibilities of Committee Members.
Glossary of Terms#
Accessibility
Blog Post
CarpentryCon
Code of Conduct
Community
Community Development Team
Equity
Etherpad
Slack
TopicBox
Zoom
About This Handbook#
The CarpentryCon Committee Member Handbook is a resource for members of The Carpentries community who are serving as a member of the CarpentryCon Committee. This handbook provides information on how to receive relevant communications and includes step-by-step guides for serving in this role. The Carpentries Community Development Team manages the content of this handbook. It is reviewed before planning starts for CarpentryCon and updated after each event. To provide feedback, please email community@carpentries.org. If you are unfamiliar with any of the terms used in this handbook, please refer to our Glossary of Terms. Funding to develop this handbook was provided in part by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.