Writing a Workshop Description

You've done all of this great work, so how do you get people to come to your workshop or use your tutorial materials?

Title

Make it clear and simple. Include the language or technology you're using. If you're focused on a specific package or library, name it. You may even signal the level of the workshop if it's easy to define.

Examples

• Instead of "Webscraping" or even "Webscraping with R", consider "Webscraping with R and rvest" or "Webscraping with R and rvest for Beginners" or "Scrape your first Web page with R"

• We informally call this tutorial "The Workshop Workshop" but other people don't know what that means. So depending on when you're taking this, the title we used to advertise it and encourage people to sign up is either "Build a quick, effective coding tutorial" or "Data Science and Programming Workshop Design"

Description

Aim for 2-4 sentences; keep it under 100 words.

• Who should take this workshop? What type of people would be interested or benefit?

• What problems will this workshop help people solve?

• What will participants learn how to do?

Goals

• Get people interested in your workshop/tutorial.

• Help them determine whether it is likely to be a good fit for them and worth their time.

Examples

• For this workshop (so not the template, one-hour format): This full-day workshop will guide participants through creating materials to teach a data science or programming workshop. You'll focus your topic to create interactive materials that work well both virtually and in-person. The workshop will be useful for those who may be teaching or TAing a data science, statistics, or programming course in the future.

• R: Introduction to Map Functions: Have you ever needed to use a function on multiple elements, such as datasets? Perhaps you want to run the same regression on different subsets of data. Or maybe you want to compare how different models perform against each other. Instead of copying and pasting your code repeatedly, map() functions can do this for you! In this workshop, we will first review the structure and uses of lists. Then, we will discuss how map functions work with lists and how these functions can be used to streamline your workflow.

• Next Steps in Python: Saving and Using Your Own Functions: Do you find yourself writing the same piece of code in every script? Do you have equations or data cleaning steps that you want to reproduce exactly in multiple notebooks? This lesson covers how to save your own functions and how to import your functions into other scripts and notebooks. We will walk through several different examples to highlight common times you might want to store user-defined functions.

• Next Steps in Python - Series description: Designed for Python coders who have completed the Python Fundamentals workshop series or a similar beginning Python tutorial, these individual lessons will cover the coding skills that answer the question, “What should I learn next?” These topics explore the shortcuts and tools that aren’t usually covered in Python Intro level workshops, but that are regularly used by intermediate and advanced Python coders.

Prerequisites

Prerequisites are important to list, even if there aren't any. Be explicit about what knowledge you're assuming and what you aren't. This helps signal to participants if the level is correct for them. Consider pointing participants that may be too advanced or too beginner to alternative resources. If you can, point potential participants to resources they can use to fulfill any prerequisites.

Examples

• Basic familiarity with R and RStudio. Some understanding of the theories of social networks is helpful but not required.

• Python Fundamentals or similar beginning Python workshop, tutorial, or book.

  • Note: "Python Fundamentals" is another offered workshop; this is indicating one workshop as a prerequisite for another.

• This workshop is designed for beginners with limited or no prior programming experience; however, we strongly recommend you also register for the Programming Concepts workshop if you are unfamiliar with any of the following terms: working directory, vector, boolean, string, list index, function, or any of the other content covered in the Programming Concepts workshop.

  • Note: Programming Concepts is another offered workshop.