Working Open Workshop 2017

An overview of the Working Open Workshop (WOW), a one or two-day, in-person gathering for people who want to make their work (projects, peer-to-peer learning groups, events, advocacy campaigns) open.

For beginners

Format

This exercise works well as an in-person workshop or an online exercise. It can be done individually or in a group.

Materials

  • Pen/pencil & paper
  • Collaborative document editor like Etherpad or Google Docs
  • Post-its

Introduction

Working together, we learn basics of open practice and apply them to our actual projects, doing real and useful work to move our projects forward

Open Mentorship + Workshop

We structured the WOW as a kickoff to a mentorship program for projects, called the Open Leadership Training Series (OLTS), and created a system of mentorship cohorts for leaders in "open work" globally.

The kickoff event was called WOW Berlin - Feb 2016, and attempted to onboard all projects to the principles of open practice before their remote mentorship meetings in the months that followed: check out this Presentation

Steps to Complete

  1. Exercise I

    Why run a wow in your community?

    Think about who to invite, criteria, outcomes:

    • > people who were eager to engage but we hadn't yet found a place for them
    • > people who are well-connected and have potential far-reaching impact
    • > people who are leading work in some way; we saw where they could apply the skills (they have a project)
  2. Exercise II

    Who in your communities would most benefit from these skills?

    Select/create the curriculum:

    • > poll invitees to find out what they need
    • > poll invitees to find out what they have to offer
    • > short presentations, and then work together sessions on real stuff, ie. setting up github, writing documentation, making plans
    • > look at the materials that are here-- what would you add/subtract? what might participants contribute?
    • > do you have any questions about what the materials are, why they were included
    • > setting up the schedule for networking, relaxing, etc
    • community events
  3. Exercise III

    Curriculum outline, build a schedule with paper prototypes.

    Think about logistics:

    • > Walkthrough website
    • > Go over WOW Montreal - March 2017
    • > Think about where will your WOWs be? (dates, location)
    • > Think about your budget?

    Use post-its to brainstorm a session schedule. One session idea/theme/budget line-item/whatever.

    For homework, consider the logistics you planned, review your timeline, scheduling, contact people who will make your WOW awesome.

Glossary

Working Open Workshop (WOW)

A one or two-day, in-person gathering for people who want to make their work (projects, peer-to-peer learning groups, events, advocacy campaigns) open.

Open Leadership Training Series (OLTS)

A set of mentorship activities and sessions conducted remotely with semi-regular video checkins to build robust open projects in preparation for the Global Sprint.

Follow-up Resources & Materials