Let's Workshop!

This week will be our group's first workshop! To help us prepare, I have written-up some tips for giving and receiving feedback.
=> Please review these guidelines before we meet! <=

BEFORE THE WORKSHOP:
If you would like to receive feedback on a draft during a scheduled workshop:
1. Include a brief statement describing the kind of feedback you hope for at the top of the draft.

2. Optional: To seek online feedback from the full group and give people the opportunity to read your draft ahead of time: (A) Save your complete draft as a Google doc. (B) In a comment on the workshop event page, introduce your draft and post a link to it with “comment” level access.

3. Check the # of RSVPs for the event the day of the workshop and print copies of the excerpt that you plan to read for the number of people who RSVPd for the meeting + 2. Note: If you don’t have access to a printer, email me the excerpt to print before noon on the day of the workshop.

If you plan to ask for feedback on something other than a draft (for example a story idea), write down some notes and specific questions that you’d like people to help you with and bring them to the workshop.

THE PLAN:
I. (30min) - To begin, we’ll go around the group in a circle and check-in with each person to see how we are progressing with our projects. It might be useful to mention what we found helpful (or what got in the way) of our writing since we last met.

=> When we’re done with the check-in, we’ll take a poll to see who would like their project to receive focused attention from the group during the workshop. If there are more than 3 people seeking feedback, we will ask for people to volunteer to wait until the next workshop. They will be the first to go during the following workshop.

II. (60min) - We will give 2-3 people the opportunity to receive focused feedback on their projects, following this pattern for each author seeking feedback:

1. The author will explain the kind of feedback they are seeking from the group, distribute drafts, and read the pages we have time for aloud.
2. We’ll pause for 5 minutes so that people can reflect and write comments on the draft they just heard.
3. We'll go around the group. Each person can pass or offer to share their feedback.
4. We'll return the printouts to the author with our written feedback and notes.

III. (30min) - We’ll have fun with writing prompts or games with the remaining time.