http://www.meetup.com/sthlmrb/events/146644182/

notes.md

Rails intro course retrospective notes

2013-10-23 12:30-13:30 at Barsoom HQ

Attending

• Albert Ramstedt
• Gunnar Djurberg
• Henrik Nyh
• Joakim Kolsjö
• Karl Eklund
• Mikael Muszynski
• Mike Burns
• Tomas Skogberg

Misc

• Mike and Mikael had some feedback from students and it was all positive.
• Don't pronounce it "Free Rails intercourse".
• 4 times a year is fine, let's keep doing that.

Things we might do now

• Add a second event at the same time and place as the upcoming Project Night, something like "Rails intro course follow-up help session" [Mike]
• Send a mail to students [Gunnar]
  • We can do that via Meetup
  • We could possibly get names from the reception desk since we had "+1"s and some people signed in
  • Contents:
    • A survey. E.g. how did you find us, how did you like it? Google and Meetup have survey tools.
    • Encourage them to recruit students for the next event.
    • Encourage them to be coaches at the next event if they're up for it.
    • Mention the follow-up session event/Project Night.
    • Mention googling/using Stack Overflow if stuck.
    • Link to http://www.stockholmruby.com/learn
    • Link to https://learn.thoughtbot.com/ruby
    • Link to https://learn.thoughtbot.com/rails
• Link site to meetup.com discussions [Henrik]
• The noise level was a bit high. Talk to the venue about that. [Mike]
• Lighting wasn't great. Mike has talked to the venue, ETA is January.
• Start using the meetup.com discussion forum for discussions around arranging meetups. See if it's good enough. Possible alternatives: Discourse forum, IRC, mailing list. [Everyone]
• Use a private GitHub repo for things like contact lists? Or perhaps Google Docs or Dropbox?

Things we could improve next time

• Spread the word even better:
  • Contact universities beyond KTH (Datasektionen). E.g. Stockholms universitet, Nackademin. Try to have someone say a few words before a lecture.
  • Twitter - try to get access to @sthlmrb on Twitter [Henrik]
  • Our Facebook group
• Get contact info from students so we can mail them afterwards.
• Maybe tweak the name. "Free Rails course: build a web app in 2 hours"?
• Encourage students and coaches to use the meetup.com discussion forum.
• The follow-up event should be a week or less after the intro course.
• Explicitly state that students should raise their hand when they need help, so coaches know where to go.
• Have a host/greeter for coaches, not just students.
• Have written instructions or a checklist for coaches. "Every event we run should have a checklist." - Mike
• Announce breaks every now and then. Coaches can discuss common problems, students can relax and mingle.
• In the introduction, mention further goals beyond the first one, to encourage people to stay around even if they finish that one.