Step One - Getting Started

[Amanda Olson]

David Wees (who chaired the organizing committee for the BC's first
edcamp) says the first step to organizing one is to find others who
are interested in putting it together. So, I think our first step is
to find out who is interested and to what degree.

Are you interested in attending?
Are you interested in being part of the organizing team?

Lets start by creating a list with the names and emails of people who
are interested in some way. What do you think?

Also, here are two links with some great information on Edcamps:

The Complete Guide on How to Start and Run Your Own Edcamp:
http://edcamp.wikispaces.com/file/view/HowToEdCamp.pdf

Edcamp Wiki: http://edcamp.wikispaces.com/

[Amanda Olson]

If you don't want to post your email here you can email it to me at
amandagr...@gmail.com. I'll share it amongst the other interested
people in a private email.

[Mark McVittie]

I am away for the weekend, but will post my thoughts tomorrow when we get home.

Definitely interested though.

[jameliaeaston]

So happy to hear that this is being considered in SD73. Yes, I am
interested! And, I am willing to help out with organization. My
email: jameli...@gmail.com. Thanks for starting this up and
getting the ball rolling. Very exciting.

[Mark McVittie]

Originally I was thinking we should do this on an upcoming PD day, but I think the idea for a Saturday is much better for a variety of reasons.

The first and most important is in relation to the Job Action, and if we did it on a PD day, we (the BCTF members) would not be able to work with Principals and VP's on this.  I think having it on a Saturday would avoid all the Job Action issues.

Also, we can invite people from outside the district more easily, and not have to worry about if their PD day aligns with ours.

So I am all in, and more than happy to help organize anything.  I've organized PD conferences before, although I think this will be much easier (or just different).  As far as facilities, I have no doubt that we can get access to a school to host this at.  I see the advice Wiki suggests that venue is the most important starting point, then picking a date.

So, I'm going to throw out South Kamloops Sec as a suggestion, partially because I am familiar with it, and know there are people there who would likely be interested in helping to organize, it has wifi access, is centrally located and well-known for out-of-town people.  It doesn't have restaurants close, but I expect we could likely encourage the cafeteria folks to be open - or have a caterer come in with food.

As for dates, here are a few to think about:

Saturday, Feb 25 - Pros: the day after the District PD day, so people will be in the PD mode, and may be interested in contrasting the traditional with EdCamp.  May be able to entice a few presenters who will already be in town for the day before.  It is the week after other district PD days, so that may work in favour or against.  I was going to say that a con would be people not wanting to attend two PD events in a row; but those people probably wouldn't attend on a saturday anyway.  It is far enough away that we can spread the word.  Feb may be a challenging time to get people to drive to Kamloops though (big con?).

Satuday, April 14 - Pros: Later in the year, weather not as much an issue.  Another PD day on the Monday (16th), so may be able to get some presenters to attend.  Similar thoughts to above.

Saturday, May 18 - the day after another PD day (Fri, 17th). 

Anyway, just a few thoughts at this point.

Ideas?

Mark

[Cecile McVittie]

Hi all,
In discussing this with Mark,
Sahali Secondary might be a better option. Food & accommodation are more easily accessible. Like Mark, I've organized conferences before, so I'm excited by the possibilities for EdCamp!
Cecile

[Amanda Olson]

I am excited to hear that there are others interested and it sounds
like we have a few people who can bring some expertise to the
group! :)

I agree that a school would be the best place to hold it, and either
South Kamloops or Sahali sound good to me. The edcampfv offered boxed
lunches for $5. Participants indicated whether they wanted one on
their registration form and then paid the day of the camp. The box
consisted of a sandwich, juice box, fruit and cookie, and I believe
quite a few people ordered one.

I prefer the idea of holding it sometime in the Spring, since I think
the roads will be better for driving. I'd love to have people from the
surrounding districts involved! Plus I think there might be some
people from Vancouver interested in coming up. This would also give us
time to talk to and learn from the edcamp43 and edcampdelta
organizers. Does anyone know when Spring Break is this year for #SD73,
and the surrounding districts?

Is anyone planning on attending one of the other edcamps? I'm going
down to edcamp43 on Jan.14th...

On Dec 11, 9:03 pm, Cecile McVittie <cec...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
> In discussing this with Mark,
> Sahali Secondary might be a better option. Food & accommodation are more
> easily accessible. Like Mark, I've organized conferences before, so I'm
> excited by the possibilities for EdCamp!
> Cecile
>

[Jeremy Reid]

I agree that the best time would be in the Spring and the most central
location would be Sahali Sec.
As most edcamps seem to happen on Saturdays, my guess is that that
would be the best day of the week.
The first step would be picking a date and confirming a location.

I don't know alot about edcamps, but will look over the links posted
here over the christmas break.
I am myself not going to be able to attend the Jan edcamp, but perhaps
anyone who goes can give us a summary and provide some organizational
context.

We should also have more people involved in the planning committee
because I don't have a prep next semester and am not sure how much
time/work I can put in.

Jeremy

[rcollins]

Just a couple of thoughts about organizing. As there is currently job
action taking place and admin involvement is potentially an issue you
may wish to have teachers only on the committee. Admin can be there
to help with bookings, custodial set up and rentals, but this does
have to be teacher driven.

Involvement from others outside of your district would be beneficial
as you are hoping to have as good a turn out as possible and the best
way is for people in other district promoting it as well.

You will probably want 1 or two people to set up a twitter account and
to monitor, retweet and promote the event as well as a form for
registration that will collect the info needed. The members of the
EdCamp43 will be happy to help you with any questions you may have.
It would be hugely beneficial for you to see an edcamp in person to
get a solid understanding of some of the structures and organization
needed. EdCamp43 and EdCampDelta are both on the 14th so if you are
able to come down to either one you would probably find that useful.

Vancouver Island is supposed to be doing an Edcamp in March and
Vancouver is doing their edcamp in April. The exact dates should be
on the EdCampBC site, make sure to add yours once you have decided.

Remi

[Amanda Olson]

Thanks for the advice Remi. I'm sure your team will be a lot of help
to us in the coming months!

I'd like to set up that Twitter account to help us recruit a few more
organizers and get the word out, but would like to ask everyone's
thoughts on our name. Do we want to stick with EdCamp73, or do we want
to change to EdCampKamloops? Most of the EdCamps listed go by the city
(only Coquitlam has the district number). What are your thoughts?

[Rémi Collins]

We went with 43 because it saves characters in twitter.  The longer the name the less you can put in the message.  If the hashtags are past 140 they do not always show up in twitter streams.

[Mark McVittie]

We should start going forward with this a little.  Any ideas on dates?  May 5 or 12? or June?

As far as job action goes, I see this event as something extracurricular that is not held during school time or PD time, and as such I don't think the Job Action applies, and whomever wants to be involved can do so.  As an outside group, we'd have to request use of the school facility anyway, or we could look at an off-site location as well.

Any other thoughts to get us going?

Thx
Mark

[Cecile McVittie]

I think it would be good if a few of us were to attend the Edcamp on the 14th (15th?).

Cecile

--
"Every thought you produce, anything you say, any action you do, it bears your signature."  Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen Buddhist Master

[Amanda Olson]

I'm headed down to Edcamp43 on the 14th. Is anyone else? I think May would be better than June, as the end of the year tends to get pretty busy. 

[Jeremy Reid]

Mark

Have you let Kerry Bootle know about the proposed dates in case there is some other conflict on those dates for some reason? It might be a good idea & he may be able to help get a location easier.

Thanks,
Jeremy Reid
Westsyde Secondary School
S.D. #73 Kamloops Thompson

--------------------------------------

My Classroom Website:

Mr. Reid's WSS Website

Class Homework Blog:

http://jreid.blogs.sd73.bc.ca/

Class Twitter Account:

www.twitter.com/bluewave95

[Mark McVittie]

I haven't asked him, but will.

I did check the union calendar, as well as the SD calendar, and there doesn't appear to be anything on either May 5 or 12th.  I see that the 13th is Mothers day, so it might be better to look at the 5th.

Thx

M

[Amanda Olson]

Do we want to set up a time to meet in person?

On Jan 4, 2:15 pm, Mark McVittie <mcvittie.m...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I haven't asked him, but will.
>
> I did check the union calendar, as well as the SD calendar, and there
> doesn't appear to be anything on either May 5 or 12th.  I see that the 13th
> is Mothers day, so it might be better to look at the 5th.
>
> Thx
> M
>
>
>
> On Wed, Jan 4, 2012 at 2:09 PM, Jeremy Reid <jr...@sd73.bc.ca> wrote:
> > Mark
>
> > Have you let Kerry Bootle know about the proposed dates in case there is
> > some other conflict on those dates for some reason? It might be a good idea
> > & he may be able to help get a location easier.
>
> > Thanks,

> > *Jeremy Reid* <http://jr...@sd73.bc.ca>*
> > *Westsyde Secondary School

> > S.D. #73 Kamloops Thompson
> > --------------------------------------
> > My Classroom Website:

> > Mr. Reid's WSS Website <http://wss.sd73.bc.ca/course/category.php?id=56>

[David Wees]

Don't worry about planning around Edcamp Vancouver. Unfortunately, the
original planning team for Edcamp Vancouver is extremely busy, and as
I will have a new child arriving in April, I cannot take the time to
run the organizing committee again. It doesn't look like Edcamp
Vancouver is going to happen this year, unless someone wants to step
up and organize it.

David Wees