The Right Atmosphere Meeting Notes

RightAtmosphere.markdown

• "The Right Atmosphere" is a pretty fuzzy term. Break it down:
• "Right" - go back to goals of evangelism
  • Goal = make people fall in love with code, to do that you need to get to know them.
    • Get to know people requires...
    • Friendly
    • Welcoming
    • Fun
  • What are some environments you've been in that weren't friendly/welcoming/fun?
    • School
      • Teachers often hard on students
      • Feel pressure not to look stupid in front of classmates, don't ask as many questions
      • Not very tailored
      • Assigned work, not work you want to do
    • Competitions
      • Sometimes
      • Competitive means people too focused on their own things
      • Feels bad whenever you make a mistake
      • People acting like they're better depending on how well they're doing
      • If you don't win, feels like you wasted your time trying
    • (Both serve a purpose, but often not the best for promoting the love of something to beginners.)
  • Let's look at some friendly vs nonfriendly atmospheres:
    • What are the stated goals? How do you accomplish them?
    • What expectations were put on you? How did you find out about those expectations?
    • What happens when you are doing well? Not so well?
    • Who is considered good? How are those people spotlighted?
    • How do the people talk? What sort of words do they use?
    • How do people who are "in charge" interact with people? Are they commanding? Like a friend? In which situations do they take on each role?
  • Most of those things are surprisingly small -- think of e.g. school vs a workshop at a conference, or a big competition vs playing a board game with friends
    • What makes one different from the others?
    • Go deeper, what are the specific tells? If I were super socially awkward, how would I be able to tell how I should behave?
• Make a list of tells -- little things that hint that you're in a friendly, welcoming, fun atmosphere
  • CodeDay:
    • Pre-kickoff
      • Welcoming everyone at the door
      • Dressed like students, other than bright green jacket which is very visible
      • Nametag
      • Activity where you have to talk to people
    • Kickoff
      • We tell you what's important
      • Stupid pitches
      • Everyone pitches, people can join teams at the event
    • During the Event
      • Going around talking to people
      • Fun activities (Which ones?)
      • Workshops at events which have them
    • End
      • No prizes
      • Pre judging, no focus on presentations themselves
      • Ask people to clean up after themselves
      • Special awards on the fly which you couldn't really be competing for