1         Identify Technical Topic / Initial Planning

The IEEE primary sponsoring organization needs to identify the technical topic, any internal and external cosponsors for the event, and Chair for the technical leadership team to execute the goals.

• Assess interest in the topic / theme from Section, Chapters, Affinity Groups (recommends including state of the art applications or programs and artificial intelligence for the workshop).
• Consider topics of interest for summer workshops for pre-university students at school campus of choice (Recommend parent registrations with school administrative support for workshop by utilizing IEEE faculty volunteers or corporate sponsor expert on programs such as TRY engineering, STEM, and AI).
• Identify desired outcome for successful workshop.
• Establish technical leadership team for implementing the workshop program.
• Invite IEEE HKN.
• Assess benefit for conducting in-person or if hybrid workshop possible.
• Determine feasibility of promotional campaign such as websites, email, advertisement, v-Tools, e-Notice, Newsletters, Knowledge-base, and social media.
• Define budget: estimated costs, revenue and net benefit of the workshop (Identify total workshop expenses, expected fund sources and benefit to IEEE region and overall IEEE community. Identify effects of potential cancellation of workshop).
• Set up registration process (Recommend limit of 30 to 70 registrants and tiered registration fee depending on membership grade such as IEEE student member, member or non-member. Recommend IEEE student member registration fee be paid by the respective Section; IEEE volunteers exempt from registration fee as well as invited speakers / presenters of the workshop. Recommend registration be handled through vTools as it allows registration cutoff, payment by credit card, different pricing, dietary menu selection, and other options. Identify effect of potential cancellation of workshop if criteria are not met or found not feasible).

2         Select Date, Time & Venue / Logistics Planning

Technical leadership team and the sponsoring organization determine the date, timing, and venue for the workshop.

• Consider conducting Half-Day workshop on Saturday from 8am -12pm to allow student off-time participation if planned during regular semesters, or any suitable day during AM if planned for summer.
• Decide venue based on the above and logistics considerations below.

Technical leadership team plans / ensures the proper setup for the workshop as well as its logistics.

• Determine planning duration for the workshop (typically 6 to 8 months).
• Determine number of subject matter expert presenters needed and their specialization tailored to workshop topic and subtopic (typically 2 to 4).
• Determine number and type of IEEE support staff needed for the workshop if any.
• Determine number and type of IEEE volunteers needed to help during the workshop.
• Determine location infrastructure needs (audio, visual, Wi-Fi, chairs, tables, power, room setup).
• Assess / determine food/beverage needs, vendors, and costs (e.g. snacks, water, coffee during workshop, and boxed lunches at 12pm after workshop).
• Prepare for speaker and attendee materials needs (marking boards, computer hookup, pointers, remote presentation clickers, slide / exhibit presentation devices for speakers, pens, notepads, microphones).
• Select a volunteer team leader and co-leader for the workshop.
• Determine badge or T-shirt needs for IEEE volunteer identification. (Volunteer leader / co-leader implement selection of volunteer team for the workshop)
• Identify a clear individual who will be present at the workshop and responsible for handling logistics and technical issues during the workshop (Plan to handle or resolve technical problems that arise such as failure of the facility’s Wi-Fi).
• Establish a Welcome Desk (Registration Desk) to distribute registrant name badges and any other materials that registrants should receive prior to the workshop beginning.

3         Develop Agenda / Content Planning

Technical leadership team develops an agenda in consultation with the subject matter expert speakers. The technical team provides a timekeeper among them to ensure the workshop meeting remains on schedule per agenda and determines any Q& A discussion topic to be deferred and handled offline.

Recommended Workshop Agenda

• Workshop Start (8:00AM).
• Welcome to the workshop / Opening remarks / Logistics at the beginning of the session (5-minutes) by the Sponsoring organization.
  • State basic scope of workshop / duration (4-Hours; 8:00AM – 12:00PM).
  • Wireless network (Service Set) Identifier / SSID and Wi-Fi Password, if applicable.
  • Location of restrooms.
  • Direction for Emergency evacuation / Fire exits.
  • Silence mode for electronic devices.
• Technical Team Chair’s introduction of workshop goals and speakers (10-minutes).
• Four technical speakers, each with 20-minutes talk time (80-minutes) and a 5-minutes for Q&A on each topic (20-minutes).
• 5-minutes break between sessions (20-minutes).
• 5-minutes group discussions within 10 tables for 4-subtopics (20-minutes); 2-minutes table lead talk time on topics of interest within 10 tables for 4-subtopics of workshop (10 x 2 x 4 => 80-minutes).
• Technical Team Chair Wrap up / Workshop feedback, Workshop Dismissal (5-minutes) (12:00 PM).
• Box lunch at designated location provided by workshop.

4         Execution

2 or 3-days before the event:

• Remind volunteers of their respective duties and thank them in advance for the helping as IEEE volunteer (action of Volunteer team leader and Coleader).
• Confirm all amenities needed for the workshop such as badges, registration materials, audio-visual equipment, speaker tools, supplies for registrants are at the onsite Registration facility.
• Execute the Plan as scheduled.
• During the event make a point of handshaking new people trying to appreciate their affiliation and interest in the workshop.
• Help the new people meet others with similar interest to be at ease with the setup.
• Make sure to thank guests.