Continuing the notes I wrote in Update #1, got a few more things done last week:

• Received confirmation that the event was approved, good!
• Logged in to the admin site and did these things (about 10 mins):
  • Set the call for speakers end date
  • Picked vegetarian as a lunch option (there are others you can add, I think this is different than last year)
  • Set our preferred hotel (grabbed info from last year)
  • Removed all but the “regular” session in part because we won’t do anything besides those, but also just to try it out. We’ll see if that causes any pain!
  • Copied over the sponsor plan from last year (in fairness the default plan is reasonable, this was as much about working through the tools as anything). One gotcha is that we the links had to be updated to point to the site for this year, not a tough thing to edit but easy to miss.
• Wrote a blog post for here to go out about the same time the site goes live. Nothing incredible in it, but it is the ‘official’ announcement that we will be seeking 2 pre-cons this year.
• Updated the  team list, one volunteer taking a break this year and a new one joining!
• There is now a “go live” button so you can activate the site when you’re ready. Nice to have.

Next steps:

• Set up a meeting to discuss the Student to IT Pro seminar with our sponsors at the college.  Would like to get done before our first team meeting, but scheduling may be a challenge.
• Write all the messages that need to go out and get them scheduled. Sometimes we get busy and struggle to keep up the flow, so going to invest in doing them all up front.
• Plan and schedule a first time speaker training session. Has to be pretty soon if its going to get done so they have time to attend, write an abstract, and get it submitted.

Our first planning meeting is mid June, will try to post update #3 soon after that.