Future Design School
A Near-Miss
Future Design School almost didn’t happen. We had a budget approved. We hung posters, emailed parents, and advertised in the school, but, in the end, we came up short on the number we needed for a "go."
Getting Participants, Scheduling Camp
We were a team of 3, and we needed 20 students. Instead of packing our bags, we reconvened later that year to identify what happened and what we can do about it.
We decided to survey the community. The results were overwhelming. Parents wanted the event, they just weren’t available at that time. So, to better meet their needs, we asked when a good time would be.
One of our insights from the survey was that families are very busy. We could not compete with after school activities like basketball, robotics, and cheer. Through some intense brainstorming, we developed a solution: host the 2-week summer camp in 3 days.
We turned to parents with a follow-up survey to confirm this new direction. Would people sign up for an intense, overnight weekend camp during the school year? If so, what weekend? Again, the results were overwhelming. Camp was a go, and we had a date.
New Recruitment Strategies
Still, we wanted to be sure we would have enough students registered. We knew, sometimes, people fill out surveys wishfully, underestimate time constraints.
As a response, we led mini-design challenges in classrooms to give students a taste of the process and cast a wide net for potential registrants. I met with three 4th grade classes to lead a 15 minute design sprint: build a better seating option for kids at school.
We wrote down the names of students who showed lots of interest and emailed their parents with a call to action. This direct-ask yielded a lot of sign ups. So many, in fact, we exceeded our goal and created a waiting list.
Getting Ready for Camp
We kept parents informed by email. I built a minimalist schedule-at-a-glance, packing list, and food menu.
I prepared for camp by taking an online course that mimicked the camp process (and built a grading app concept for teachers called On Your Marks!)
We finalized the budget, submitted release forms, and double checked all our medical information.
Running Camp
At last, we had all our campers in a room, with sleeping bags and pillows, eager to start. The days flew by. We led team building activities, taught the design process, had guest speakers, pitched our apps, and celebrated our work with pizza.
Lessons Learned
- Ask questions. Our community survey got us the information we needed to make camp happen.
- Get help from people doing similar work. We asked our friend Brain, who runs a similar camp, if he had any tips for us. He did. And he got us mattresses and bean bags for sleeping.
- Get feedback. After the event, we sent out a feedback survey. Several campers wanted the event to be longer, so we will have to explore that option in our next iterations of the camp.