Open Source Comes to Campus/Logistics/Email templates

Here are current versions of our email templates. I've tried to bold all sections you'll need to change but I may have missed some.

Staff Recruitment Email
Hi,

(Insert appropriate introduction or greeting, based on whether/how you know the potential staffer.)

We’re running an event on date at place and I was wondering if you would be interested in helping out!

The event runs from 9:30am to 5pm with coffee, bagels and socializing for an hour beforehand. (Staff won't need to show up at start of day sharp, but should be there by start of instruction if possible.) You can find out more about the event at this url.

We're looking for people to help mentor attendees as they learn how to contribute to open source projects. Instructors with a variety of backgrounds are welcome: while it's great if you have tons of experience using git and setting up development environments, we're also looking for people who've been involved with open source as non-programmers, who know a bit about picking bugs and submitting patches, or who just like to talk about their experiences with open source.

If any of this sounds appealing to you, and you're available on date, email us back at email to coordinate. If you're interested but not available, I can put you on a list of potential volunteers to contact when we next run an event in the area. And feel free to pass this along to others in the area who you think might be interested.

Thanks!

As applicable, you can insert:

"We'd love if you would be interested in speaking briefly on a 'career panel' that helps students understand how open source software has fit into the professional lives of some of their instructors. We're still nailing down the details, but in the past this has taken place before lunch to give students a chance to learn more about their instructors so they can chat with them in greater depth at lunchtime."

and/or

"We are also looking for a few people to give tutorials on the command line, open source communication tools, the history and ethics of free software, and using git. We have materials that you can work off of or use as inspiration, if needed."

When sending to on campus lists
My name is name and I work with OpenHatch, a non-profit focused on welcoming new contributors to open source software projects. We run introductory workshops on college campuses.

On date at location, we'll be running such an event. I thought students affiliated with name of department/club/list might like to attend.

If you're interested, please send the publicity email below to relevant lists. If you do, please CC email.

best, name

When sending to off campus lists
My name is name and I work with OpenHatch, a non-profit focused on welcoming new contributors to open source software projects. We run introductory workshops on college campuses.

On date at location, we'll be running such an event. Our hosts at host have graciously opened their doors to all students, and I thought students affiliated with name of department/club/list might like to attend.

If you're interested, please send the publicity email below to relevant lists. If you do, please CC email.

best, name

to CS departments/clubs
On date, OpenHatch and host are inviting you to a day-long open source software immersion event.

In the morning, open source contributors from various projects will teach you about open source licensing, collaboration tools, and how free software projects are organized. In the afternoon, they'll help you make contributions to open source projects. And throughout the day, they'll feed you, get to know you, and talk with you about opportunities for students in open source.

Open source software -- software that is shared freely and available to build upon -- is a great way to apply your programming skills to real-world projects and social causes. This event specially welcomes newcomers to that style of development, and the day begins with teaching workshops that anyone can follow.

Open source participation is one way to gain real-world skills and make connections that will last you through your career. Volunteer staff will include professionals and academics who use open source daily, from entities like examples.

The event is open to all students, not just those from Northeastern. Learn more, and sign up, here: URL

to science departments/clubs
Using the template below, you can substitute in:
 * the name, department, and institution of the person/list you are contacting
 * the open source project relevant to the department, which can be found here

On date, OpenHatch and host are hosting a day-long open source software immersion event. We invite you to join us! You can sign up here: URL

You don’t need to be a programmer to contribute to open source, or to attend and enjoy our event. Most open source projects are also in need of designers, translators, documenters, bug-finders and testers.

Open source software -- software that is shared freely and available to build upon -- has become part of our daily lives. Popular projects like WordPress, Firefox, Adium, and Ubuntu have millions of users. In the field of field, people use and contribute to specific projects. You can learn more about these projects, and start helping out with them, at our event.

In the morning, open source contributors from various projects will teach you about open source licensing, collaboration tools, and how free software projects are organized. In the afternoon, they'll help you make hands-on contributions to open source projects. And throughout the day, they'll feed you, get to know you, and talk with you about opportunities for students in open source.

Open source participation is one way to gain real-world skills and make connections that will last you through your career. Volunteer staff will include professionals and academics who use open source daily.

The event is open to all students. Learn more, and sign up, here: URL

Quick confirmation email
Hi,

You recently signed up for our Open Source Comes to Campus event on date. That's great! The event runs from time to time. We'll be sending you another email closer to the event with more details, so keep an eye out for it.

Please let us know if your plans change and you are unable to attend. If you’d like more details about the event, you can check the website (URL) or feel free to email me with any questions. We’re looking forward to seeing you on the date.

Form one week out reminder email
Hi,

You're signed up for our Open Source Comes to Campus event, which will be running on date/time at location (optional link to directions). I’m emailing you to remind you about the event, and to confirm that you can come. We provide breakfast and lunch to our attendees, so please RSVP -- we don’t want anyone to go hungry because we didn’t get enough food. Our event will kick off at around 10am, but we’ll be there from 9:30 onwards, with coffee, pastries, and good conversation.

If you can't wait to get started, go ahead and make a GitHub account: https://github.com/

GitHub is a popular tool for housing open software projects. We’ll be talking a lot about how to use it tomorrow.

We’re looking forward to seeing you on date! Again - it’s important that you let us know if your plans change and you can’t make it. If you can only come for half the event, that’s useful for us to know as well.

Feel free to contact us ahead of time with any questions you may have. Looking forward to meeting you!

Form day before reminder email
Hi,

This is just a reminder about tomorrow’s Open Source Comes to Campus event. The event starts at instruction start time, but we’ll be at the space starting at event start time with fresh coffee and donuts for those who want to chat a bit beforehand.

If you’d like to get an even earlier start, you can go ahead and make a GitHub account: https://github.com/ GitHub is a popular tool for housing open software projects. We’ll be talking a lot about how to use it tomorrow.

If you’d like more details about the event, you can check the website, or feel free to email me with any questions. We’re looking forward to seeing you tomorrow!

Personalized one week out email
Hi attendee name,

You recently signed up for our Open Source Comes to Campus event, which will be running on date from time in place. I’m emailing you to remind you about the event, and to confirm that you can come. We provide breakfast and lunch to our attendees, so please RSVP -- we don’t want anyone to go hungry because we didn’t get enough food.

Personalized section - see below.

If you don't know yet, that's okay! We ask because, before the event, we collect bug reports and requests for our attendees to work on. If we know what you’re interested in, we can find you some contributions to make to a project you’re particularly excited about.

We’re looking forward to seeing you on the date! Again - it’s important that you let us know if your plans change and you can’t make it. If you can only come for half the event, that’s useful for us to know as well.

Feel free to contact us ahead of time with any questions you may have. And tell your friends about the event - we still have a few spots left!

best, your name

Here are some examples for the personalized section:

For an attendee with no stated interests. "I’m also curious if there are any areas of open source that you’re particularly interested in. There's pretty much every type of open source project you can imagine! Music software, open source video games, educational software, tools for scientific research, browsers, operating systems, mobile apps, mobile platforms, online tools like wordpress or wikipedia."

For an attendee who named areas of interest but not specific projects: I’m also curious if there are any areas of open source that you’re particularly interested in. On the sign up form, you mentioned that you're interested in music software, games, and internet browsers. Of these, do you have specific projects you use and would like to contribute to - for instance, Chrome or Firefox (browsers), LilyPond or RhythmBox or Audacity (music), Blender or Quake (games), etc?

For an attendee who has named a project or projects(s) that is expansive and could use narrowing: You mentioned in your sign up survey that you're interested in contributing to Chrome, Firefox and Ubuntu. These are all large projects with a huge list of reported bugs and requested features, so there's lots of ways for you to contribute. Are there specific aspects of those projects you're interested in working on? Mobile development, apps/plugins, the user interface, etc.?

For an attendee who has named a single project and we don't actually need more detail: We asked about your interests because, before the event, we collect bug reports and requests for our attendees to work on. If we know what you’re interested in, we can find you some contributions to make to a project you’re particularly excited about. We'll take a look at Banshee for you, but if you come up with anything else you'd like to contribute to, let us know. Either way, there will be a number of bugs/features/contributions for you to choose from at the event.

For an attendee who mentioned a project with a difficult set up environment: You mentioned in your sign up survey that you're interested in contributing to Android and the Wikipedia backend. Which of these would you say you're most interested in? I ask because, before the event, we collect bug reports and requests for attendees to work on. We're hoping we can find you some contributions to make that you're excited about! Also - have you done any Android development? Do you have a development environment already set up? If not, it's probably best to focus on contributing to the other three projects, as in our experience Android setup can take up most of the afternoon.

Follow up email
To attendees: Thanks so much to everyone who came to the event on date! Co-organizer (if applicable) and I and all of our staff had a great time meeting you and working with you throughout the day.

For those who couldn't make it - fear not! The information presented at the workshop is also available online, ob our wiki. We're not finished editing the materials, though, so if anything is confusing, please let us know.

We’ll be posting about the event soon on the OpenHatch blog. If you attended but don't want your name or photo in a blog post, tell us and we'll make sure that your preferences are respected.

You've all been subscribed to our alumni mailing list. This is a low traffic list that we'll use to keep you informed of opportunities such as internships and local open source meetups. If for any reason you want to be taken off the list, just send me an email, or use the automated unsubscribe option at the bottom of list emails.

And as always, feel free to contact us with any questions you have. You can reach us on IRC in #openhatch as well as at our personal email addresses or at hello@openhatch.org.

Again, thanks so much for working with us and taking the time to learn a little bit about open source. We hope to keep working with you in the future. :)