Propose

How do I propose a session?

Once you submit your registration, your access to this site will be approved by the THATcamp administrators and you will receive a user account for this WordPress site and you will receive your login information by email.

Click here to propose a new session.

Your session idea will appear on the front page of this site, and other attendees can read and comment on it beforehand. (If you haven’t worked with WordPress before, see codex.wordpress.org/Writing_Posts for help.) The morning of the event, all THATCamp participants will vote on those proposals (and probably come up with several new ones).  That morning all attendees will collaboratively create a session schedule.

Remember that you may have to facilitate the sessions you propose. If you propose a hacking session, you should have the germ of a project to work on; if you propose a workshop, you should be prepared to teach it or find a teacher; if you propose a discussion of the Digital Library of the Caribbean, you should be prepared to begin the discussion.

When do I propose a session?

You can propose a session as early as you like, but most people publish their session proposals to the THATCamp site during the week before the THATCamp begins. It’s a good idea to check this site frequently in the week beforehand (perhaps by subscribing to its RSS feed) to see and comment on everyone’s session proposals. You can also come up with a last-minute idea and propose it to participants during the scheduling session, which is the first session of the THATCamp.

Why are sessions proposed this way?

Proposing sessions just before a THATCamp and building a schedule during the first session ensures that sessions are informal, topics are current, and participants will collaborate on a shared task. An unconference is fun, productive, and collegial.

See the About page for more information on the philosophy of unconferences.

What do I propose?

There are roughly four things people do in THATCamp sessions: Talk, Make, Teach, and Play. Sometimes one session contains elements of all these, but it’s also a fair taxonomy for THATCamp sessions. In a Talk session proposal, you offer to lead a group discussion on a topic or question of interest to you. In a Make session proposal, you offer to lead a small group in a hands-on collaborative working session with the aim of producing a draft document or piece of software. In a Teach session, you offer to teach a skill, either a “hard” skill or a “soft” skill. In a Play session, anything goes — you suggest literally playing a game, or you suggest some quality group playtime with one or more technologies, or what you will.

Talk session examples

Make session examples

Teach session examples

Play session examples

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