First Timer's Guide

We’re excited you’re joining us for the Mentor Summit! To make the most of it, we recommend the following:

Prepare by reading and getting connected

We've provided a lot of information! Take some time to explore the pages of this website and inspect your badge - it contains a full schedule of events and quick reference information. Pay close attention to the announcement emails we send you. You can participate in the Mentor Summit in many ways:

Pace yourself and ask for help

Every day has multiple activities running from morning into the night. Enjoy an occasional coffee, tea or chocolate break, or some fresh air. Need help with anything? Please ask! Visit the Information Desk, email gsoc-support@google.com, or ask other attendees on the mailing list.

Met someone fascinating but can’t remember their name? We will send an email to all attendees based on your contact preferences when you registered. There will be a few contact directories at the Information Desk as well. Remember, not everyone has decided to share their information so it won't be 100% complete (more like 80%).

Find people who can help by spotting the purple badges that the Google volunteers wear or the green badge ribbons that say “Need Help? Ask Me! Mentor Summit Pro.”

Learn the way of the "unconference"

Un-conference sessions can be very informative and also fun, if not always life-changing balls of OMG!  But the odds of revelatory coolness emerging are greatly improved by a small amount of thought in advance. We recommend you read this article, but in case you don’t get around to that, here are condensed thoughts:

1. Start thinking of your session topics now

Start thinking about sessions you wish to facilitate.

Starting Friday after the opening session, you are welcome to propose a session following these guidelines: 

2. Example Session Categories

3. Scheduling

Once someone has put their session in a time slot please do not move it without asking them. If you want to combine your session with another person's session just reach out to them.

 Schedule boards (and markers) will be available for making room swaps, merging and forking sessions, cancellations, and any other changes throughout the weekend.

 You can still make proposals Saturday if you think of something cool to discuss after the intial Friday rush. There will be plenty of open slots left for last minute ideas throughout the weekend.

4. Honor your commitments

If you post a session, do show up! If you change your mind, please take the session off the board.

5. Small can be beautiful

Don't be upset if you only have 2 people show up - sometimes those are the best sessions for the people who do participate.

6. Don't be grabby

Please, only host two sessions per person. Pick the topic that you're most interested in and go with that. We will have some slots blocked off for people who arrive late and session ideas that emerge overnight, and if those don't fill up you can add one more when we release those midday on Saturday.

Leading a session

1. Conversations are more interesting than monologues

While some people do start with a presentation the best sessions involve framing a topic by posing a related question or situation and letting people share their ideas. After all, would you rather watch someone read a stack of slides or have dinner with smart people who share your interests? Our advice: the session leader should give a brief 2-4 minute intro/background about the topic to get folks talking. 

2. Be a good host: part one

Some people have a lot to say, but as the host, it's your job to pay attention to who is and is not talking and encourage everyone to contribute. Sometimes this means drawing people out - "We haven't heard from you - do you have anything to add?" - and sometimes it means shutting them down - "Thank you for that (bone-crushingly long-winded and only vaguely on-topic) comment - let's move on."

3. Be a good host: part two

We all love tangents (look, squirrel!) so don't assume that a session topic can't evolve from its starting point. If you find your session topic has shifted and everyone is engaged, just point this out: "I noticed that we're talking about "y" more than "X"; is everyone good with "y" or is there more to cover re "X"? If one person won't stop talking and it's all about "y", see Part 1 above.

Participating in a session

1. Brevity

If the session leader asks for introductions, keep it tight: name, project and maybe a very brief sentence about what you hope to learn from the session. It's super frustrating to spend the whole hour on lengthy intros and have no time left for the session.

2. The law of two feet

In un-conferences it is fine to slip in and out of sessions for whatever reason, just be quietly thoughtful of others as you do so.

3. Don't be that person

If you are making what you are sure is (yet another) crucial point, observe the room.  If more than one person in the group won't make eye contact with you or is checking their phone, finish your sentence and then stop talking to let others contribute for a while.

4. “Fake it ‘till you make it”

In general, pretend you're an extrovert surrounded by friends. The latter will be true so the former will be easier ;-) You'll have more fun.