How to run an Edcamp
Edcamps are the new rage in professional development. They are the choose your own learning adventure that allows educators, parents, and/or students to learn about what they want to.
I have had the amazing privilege to co-plan two Edcamp Ottawa’s and plan the last Edcamp Ottawa by myself. I LOVE planning Edcamps because all the work is beforehand, so you can spend the day learning with the other campers.
If you are wondering what a Edcamp is, check out our Edcamp Ottawa site to know more.
Here are the steps I used to plan Edcamp Ottawa:
Create a team: The 1st Edcamp you will run will be the hardest. There are so many decisions to make so it’s nice to have a team to make big decisions with. Ask on Twitter or email people you think that will be interested. The best way, I’ve found to share between your team is using GAFE (Google). You can create a folder and share it with your team so all the details in that folders will be shared with them as well.
Decide a date: Choosing a date is the most important part of planning an Edcamp. Usually an Edcamp is on educators own time so you want to make sure it is at a time of year where they are not stressed ie: Report Cards, Beginning of the Year… Make sure you talk to other boards to determine when their due dates are.
Decide a location: Schools are great locations for Edcamps. Edcamps are meant to be free so make sure you are not paying too much since you will not get that money back. You will need a large gathering space for the morning greeting and lunch and you will need around 10 classrooms with technology (computers/projectors) for different sessions. You will also want to have somewhere that is close to restaurants and coffee shops if you are not providing lunch and coffee.
Registration: Before you set up a website, you want a way that campers can register. We have used Google Forms and it has worked well. Here is Edcamp Ottawa’s example. You will need to have some specific questions when campers register: Name, email, twitter handle, Role in Education Field, and ask “Are you thinking about offering a topic or idea for a session?”
Schedule: You will want to decide with your team what the day schedule will be. Edcamps can happen all day, after school or even half day, so you have to decide what you want your schedule to be. Here is Edcamp Ottawa’s latest schedule as a guideline.
Sharing your Edcamp: Next you will want to create a website, facebook page, and twitter account under your edcamp name. You will need a edcamp Logo for the pictures on your website, facebook and twitter. They usually include this crazy looking apple and something about the place you are hosting it. On the website you will want to include the date, the location, what is a edcamp, schedule, and contact information.
Sponsorship: Sponsorship is wonderful to have but a lot of work that I don’t believe is necessary at an Edcamp. I would suggest trying to get someone to provide coffee, tea and water and some giveaways. It’s a great idea to keep this all in a google doc so your whole team knows what is going on.
Promoting your Edcamp: It is so important to promote and share your edcamp. Get your team to tweet and blog about your upcoming edcamp. I found it useful to create a poster telling people what edcamps are all about. This is the one I created for the past Edcamp Ottawa. Also sharing it local schools and boards is helpful.
The night before: I always go to the location before the event and create the schedule, post your hashtag information, wifi info, arrows to rooms, and signs on doors. Make sure to print off the Google Sheet with all attendees info.
The morning of: You will want to be at the event around one hour before it begins. Most teachers are punctual and will probably be there earlier. Get campers to sign in by highlighting their own name or have someone in charge of this. Have labels so campers can create their own name tags. Have one of your team members at the schedule explaining how it works and grouping together similar ideas. In the morning you will also have to give a presentation welcoming everyone, introducing your team, the schedule of the day, the edcamp rules, and so on. Here is my presentation for the 2014 Edcamp Ottawa.
Some other things to consider:
Wifi will go down, it has at every Edcamp Ottawa so have someone’s number that you can call in case this happens.
Food: Food for lunch can be great but hard to pay for. At Edcamp Ottawa we are so lucky to have an ongoing agreement with Big D’d Dog House, a local chip truck who will come to out on location on the day of. This might be an option for you or just make sure your location is close to restaurants and coffee shops so camper will be more likely to come back after lunch.
Resource Sharing Table: At the 1st Edcamp Ottawa we had a table where campers could bring resources that they didn’t want anymore. Others could come and grab some new to them resources. Might be a neat idea to try at yours.
Tshirts: We have Edcamp Ottawa T-shirt made so that campers would know who we are and could ask for help. This is not a necessary thing but a nice touch.
Need any more help? Just reach out to anyone who has hosted an Edcamp. We all know how amazing they are and what to help you make your successful.
Good Luck!
