Workshops in 3 countries of Latin America

We want to share with you our experience of being part of the organization of 6 Django Girls Workshops in 3 different countries and motivate you to organize one by yourself because… We think it’s just an amazing thing to do and it make you really happy!

Thanks to the project “Argentina en Python“ we were able to organize 4 Django Girls Workshop in 4 months (since August to November) and 2 more are coming in January. Wohoo!

The first one was in August 22, in Cochabamba, Bolivia (pictures). It was our first experience and we were too nervous. Hopefully, it was just amazing and a lot of women from different background went to the workshop -chemistry, lawyer, mechanic engineer, designer, journalist, odontologist, that was amazing. Besides, a woman with her little some-months-aged boy sleeping in her lap worked during the whole day on the tutorial and she made it!. Unhappily, we had to leave people out because we had around ~70 appliances and our spaces was available up to 30.

The week after this one, we went to Santa Cruz, Bolivia (pictures) where we repeated the experience in the university, so the background was more homogenize. Most of them were studying in the same university and they almost didn’t need help from us.

In October 3, we organize another in Puno, Perú (pictures) in another university. Besides the appliance was over exceeded not too many people came. We suppose that we made a mistake with the email confirmation, because after the workshop I was told that some people receive the email in their SPAM folder. On the other hand, local developers told me that Puno is not an “easy city” -they tried to do some Software Libre events before and they didn’t have too many concurrence so… Who knows?

By the middle of November, we organized Django Girls Mendoza (pictures) at the PyCon Argentina. I can say this was the biggest one. First, because we already had more experience on the topic and also because “LinuxChix Argentina” joined us on the organization and they worked really hard! Second, because it happened inside a PyCon and we had everything we requested without too many worries, even the public. Some days after we opened the registration, we have all the seats covered.

• Finally, I want to say that, yes, it takes some time to organize an event, but I will guarantee you that it takes too less time that you could ever imagine (we organize the second one in ONE WEEK!). You have to read all the manual guides written by Django Girls and I personally recommend you to follow them as much as you can (because they are great!), but don’t hesitate if you can’t follow some specific things. For example, we had to adapt some things to make them more local / regional to the situation in Latin America:

• Many people here do not have email account (or even Internet): we went to some local newspaper to spread the word about the workshop. We also went to a local TV show :D
• Ask for other ways to communicate with attendees: ask them not just for email account, but maybe Twitter, Facebook or WhatsApp. People here is more likely to use those social network than an email account.
• A lot of people want to be in touch with the technology but they don’t have a notebook: we talked to “Proyecto mARTadero” who helped us by providing a HackLab with about 20 desktop PC to develop our workshop.
• If you can’t get money from sponsors do not cancel the workshop. For example, add a FAQ were you explain that attendees will have to pay for their food at lunch. That’s totally normal, we are sharing knowledge, not buying food. That’s an extra point ;) . The same happen with T-Shirts, pins, stickers and all the material that it’s mentioned in the guide. They are *not a must*
• Ask local universities for a room they maybe can share with you for that day. Saturdays are not a too populated day in the universities, so they won’t have any issue with that and you will have a really good place to spread the word.
• Before starting the hard work the day of the workshop, try to create an atmosphere. Prepare a welcome talk and talk about the local communities and why is so important to share the knowledge. It’s not just about coding, it’s also about create/grow communities. Even more in those small cities where there are no too much IT movement.
• Be careful with the forms. Ask questions that allow you to have a bare idea about how much the person is motivated. You don’t want people in the workshop that is not motivated with the technology…
• Please, allow men in your workshop. Apply the “+1 rule” if you want. You will want to avoid the gender discussion in all the social networks about "Why men are not allowed?”. This could cause some problems to the organizers that later will have to explain that it’s an initiative to empower women in the IT world. So, you can make the convocation to women, but in the website you can explain better about the “+1 rule” (but giving priority to women) and invite them to come to the Workshop with a girl friend to be accepted.
  
• Buy some fruits not just cupcakes. They are nutritive, tasty and not too expensive. Besides, it’s too much “easy” to eat and keep working on what you have been doing. If I eat a lot of cupcakes I want to go bed ;)
• After the workshop try to create some kind of contact network about the participant. They will want to be in touch each other but without sending you a message to ask about the email of another person. So, make them to participate in a way that “maybe” doesn’t involve you. Here, mailing lists are not an option, nobody knows about them. Try to adapt the medium to the region. Here is Facebook, and yes, I don’t like it but it works :(
• Take pictures and record some small videos during the workshop (maybe a little interview to the attendees) and in the goodbye talk show them to all the attendees. It’s always good watching yourself in the data-projector next to your new friends and listen to other class-mate thoughts. This will also help for the next point :D
• At the end, before leaving, invite attendees to share their experience in the front desk (you will be surprised -they have a lot to say and it’s an amazing/emotive feedback. I cried sometimes), if they are shy and don’t want to talk, motivate them by giving something as a gift: stickers, TShirt for example.
• Let them know that “nothing is required” to organize another Django Girls: “After doing this workshop, you have all the knowledge to be a coach in the following, right? You finished it! So, you will be able to help others with the problems you have already solved. Also, there are a lot of people that will help you to make it even better than this one”
• Certificates. Please, if you have the chance, give to the attendees a paper saying: “This person has participated in the Django Girls Workshop”. It hasn’t to be official and it means nothing, but sometime there are people that need it for the job. Maybe the company has paid the trip or maybe the workshop was in a work day and they need to justify the absence. You can ask about this in the appliance form.

Now, the best part of this blog post: let’s talk about donations :) . Why I say it’s the best part? Because it’s the engine of all we have done. Without donations, it had not existed. So, we need your help to keep bringing Python, Django, programming, and Software Libre to many more cities in Perú, Ecuador (next March) and Colombia (we don’t know the date yet). Would you help us? Please donate here.

It’s not just about money. You can collaborate with us by providing us contact of people that could be interested in helping us on the organization of a new workshop in those countries. We rely a lot on the local communities to get some accommodation help, sponsors for the workshops, suggestion about where to fix the car o places we should visit, teacher of some university and advice like “You shouldn’t leave the city without tasting the local beer” :D

Thank you all for what you are built with Django Girls and I hope it keep growing! It’s an amazing community.

If you want to follow our adventures, we are @argenpython in Twitter and “Argentina en Python” in Facebook. I hope to meet you soon in an international Django Girls Workshop :D