UF Carpentries Club

UF Carpentries Club

Organizers of Software and Data Carpentry workshops at the University of Florida

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2020-11-03 Board Meeting

UF Carpentries Board Meeting: November 3, 2020

Attendees:

Brian, Brandon, Max, Trista, Vijay, Narayani, Audrey (Secretary)

Agenda

Agenda:

  • Introductions.
  • Approve minutes from meeting on Oct. 20.
  • Sponsorship email update.
  • Discuss which workshop to host before year’s end.

Notes

Approval of minutes from Nov. 3 meeting

* Meeting minutes not accessible online so could not be passed.
* Postponed to Nov. 17 meeting.

Sponsorship Letter

* Contents of the sponsorship letter discussed. 
* Board members to edit prior to next meeting on Nov. 17.

2020 Workshop Participants List

* Brian tried to find it but could not locate it. 
* Workshop info folder should be updated. 
* The list can be taken from the registration forms. 
* Alethea will pull up the list of RSVP participants to get an estimate of participants. 
* Brian will contact Eve to get the list; once the list is available Brandon will get the number to fill up in the potential sponsorship letter. 
* Contents of the sponsorship letter discussed.

Funding & Sponsorship:

* Consider reducing the amount of funding the Club requests from sponsors.
* Could ask for $1000 but indicate we are happy to accept whatever is offerred/they will provide.
* Since the beginning, the club has struggled with determining/deciding what sponsors should receive in return for their support.
* Previously, priority registration seats for sponsoring departments has been condsidered an option.
    * (i.e., priority for participants from departments who have dunded Data Carpentries)
    * Potential issue with this- may result in all workshop participants coming from departments that have funded Data Carpentires- lose diversity.
    * Althea suggests we base this on the focus of individual workshops; e.g., Spatial Ecology, Geospatial- depending on needs of department participants.
        * Potential issue with this- may result in all workshop participants coming from departments that have funded Data Carpentires- lose diversity.
* Could provide workshop tailored for/offered exclusively ot funding department if they can guarantee a minimum number of participants.
* Another idea: Solicit from sponsors/funders what workshop they see as most udeful to their department & potential participants.
    * Brandon: Provide short form to solicit requests, rather than sending and receiving random emails with suggestions requests.
    * Send 'short form' to one conatct name from each department.
        * Althea: We have contact names from previous sponsors/departments; for new sponsors we will have to identify designated contact name.
* All agree, we will ask for $1000 instead of $1500.
* However, do we include sponsors that contributed a substantial amount and ask for a lesser amount?
    * This may not be advantageous in the long run for the Club.
    * We could ask for same sum of money from donors of larger sums (i.e., amounts previously provided by these sponsors).
    * UFBI have consistently supported Data Carpentires but may not have the funds this year.
        * No dollar amount listed for UFBI.
    
### Action Item for Next Meeting:
    * Come up with list of departments to ask for funding/sponsorhsip.
    * Pharmacy seems interested in providing funding; Eve had contact with this department.
    * Can begin with Pharmacy main office admin person as contact.
    * Create spreadsheet with departments we want to reach out to as potential sponsors.
    * Brandon created google doc; need to fill in contact persons, etc.

Workshop ideas for 2020-21:

* How far apart do we space out specific worskhop themes? E.g., Geospatial topic- annually or more like once every 18 months?
    * May want to offer Intro to R more reguarly.
    * Geospatial fills up- once a year is not too often.
    * Earlier in 2020: Feb.- Social Science; May- Geospatial; Genonomics- (?); Sept.- Intro to R.
    * Social Science workshop may be of broad interest.
        * SNRE- interested participants and potential sponsor.
    * Ecology workshop has not been offered in a while.
    * Python workshop: there has been some interest in the past but not likely to fill up.
    * In the past, offered workshops of mixed topics- this is an option.
        * Identify topics of interest for mixed workshop.
* Do any board members have time to organize a workshop this semester (Fall 2020)? 
    * Most present at the meeting indicate they do not have time until December at the earliest.  
* Discussion of what organizing a workshop entails.
    * Pulling all the pieces together; responding to influx of emails, etc. 
    * In the past, some workshops too long/have too many parts.
    * Previously, Alethea and Flora have taken care of setting up registration and organizing space to hold workshops (latter not necessary for virtual).
* Consensus: Early Spring Semester 2021 most feasible to organize workshop.
    * We should begin planning spring workshop now.

Next Meeting Nov. 17, 10am

* First agenda item- nail down workshop topic, etc.
* Positions for next meeting: Chair- Brandon; Secretary- Trista.
* Action items: sponsors letter; donors list (potential funding departments); list of 2020 workshop participants.

Updated: