All About CarpentryCon

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

What is CarpentryCon?

CarpentryCon aspires to become a major learning, skill-building and networking event for our global Carpentries community. We want to help Carpenters develop the skills they need to get the careers they want. We want to help them create supportive local communities based on our values of openness and sharing. We also want to give newcomers the chance to network with more experienced people in our community, so that a range of hard-won knowledge can be passed along to a new generation of leaders.

Under the theme Building Locally, Connecting Globally, this first-time event will stand on three pillars – community building, professional development, and networking.

Community Building

By bringing together members of the Carpentry community, including instructors, partners, advocates, and staff, together with people sharing similar interests from around the globe, we will discuss tried and tested methods for creating local communities within the larger Carpentry community. Our “come and learn” format will include success stories from people who have built communities across six continents.

Sharing Knowledge

We will provide current and future Carpentry community leaders opportunities for continued learning and professional development. This will include sessions on teaching methods, curriculum development, and community organization. Professional development sessions might cover technical skills (such as writing R apps with Shiny), pedagogy (such as lesson maintenance), and leadership (such as recruiting and retaining local helpers, or leading projects).

Networking

We will provide networking opportunities so Carpentry community members can meet peers and share skills and perspectives. Participants can come together both formally and informally to share stories about challenges and successes, and to make new friends.

Un-conference

While there will be a range of structured sessions, we also want to include some ‘un-conference’-like sessions at CarpentryCon. This will allow for spontaneity, where attendees can decide the direction and discussions they want.

Where will it be held? And when?

As yet, we don’t know (though it will be some time in 2018). We have just posted a form to allow potential hosts to offer venues. Please send this out as widely as you can, or consider bidding to be a host yourself.

We do know that CarpentryCon will be a three-day, high-intensity event. Connecting people from different communities in both industry and academia, CarpentryCon will allow us to celebrate how far we’ve come as a community and make plans to go on to do even greater things.

How can you get involved?

• Join the task force headed up by Fotis Psomopoulos and Malvika Sharan
• Spread word about the venue bid form
• Publicise the event through your channels
• Catch up on what’s been happening
• Volunteer as a helper/organizer at our meetings