Montgomery County Data Event

M on tgom ery Cou n tyCom m u n ity Data Even t Actionable Plan Univer sity of M ar yland Capstone Student Em m a Sh iah

Emma Shiah | University of Maryland Capstone Projectgoals of a community data event 01organizing a community data event 02 03 preparat i on 08 market i ng 09 event day rundown 10suggest i ons 15post community data event

Emma Shiah | University of Maryland Capstone Project 1\"make sure participants have fun, collaboratewith people from different fields, and makeconnections to broaden their networks\" Goalsof a Community Data Event The primary purpose for hosting a community data event is to build awareness for the Montgomery County. In this way, residents and participants will be able to understand current trends happening within their neighborhoods. Other than expecting participants to build fully functional apps during a community data event, the event is more about making sure participants have fun, participants collaborating with people from different fields, and participants making connections to broaden their networks.

Emma Shiah | University of Maryland Capstone Project 2 o r g an i zi n g acom m u n ity data even t

Emma Shiah | University of Maryland Capstone Project 3 Preparat i on L ocation Date Du r ation - able to An event could happen accommodate both during another community An event usually last participants and event so that more people from one day to three staff members. would attend. An event can days depending on the also happen when there is a size of an event. If it - contain different hot topic going on in the happens on one day, the rooms to separate country or in the county; for day will usually be a participants. example, the presidential Saturday or Sunday. If election. If this happens to the event is longer than - strong WiFi. be a school event, then an two days, it will usually - accessible by public event should happen in the start on Friday night and beginning or in the middle end in the middle of transportations, and of a school semester, and Sunday. close to other not before the end of a recreation areas. semester, or summer

Emma Shiah | University of Maryland Capstone Project # o f Par t i c i p an t s 4 Preparat i on The number of Volu n teers participants should be Tar get G r ou p dependent upon the - Staff members budget, the number of within the The event should target volunteers, and the dataMontgomery anyone with different number of staff members team. backgrounds. In this way, to make sure the venue we could attract more has enough space to - High school attendees, and accommodate everyone. students in the ultimately, engage Montgomery County participants with the who need SSL hours local government. for graduation. - Neighbors in the Montgomery County neighborhoods.

Emma Shiah | University of Maryland Capstone Project 5Preparation - Volunteer InformationHow many volunteers do we need?The table below shows the number of participants, and th number of volunteers in San Mateo's pastcommunity data events. Number of Participants Number of Volunteers Number of Judges NotesHackathon 1 80 15 3 Organizers believedHackathon 2 120 having 15 volunteers was too many. 10 8 With 6 subject matter experts.How does Student Service Learning (SSL) hours work?How to sign up to become an official organization for SSL? 1. Attend a mandatory SSL orientation (see ht t p:/ / www.mont gomeryserves.org/ nonprof i t s-government / ori ent at i on-organi zat i ons). 2. Follow these additionals steps (see ht t p:/ / www.mont gomeryserves.org/ nonprof i t s-government / ssl -nonprof i t s-government-organi zat i ons). 3. Points of contacts: a. Molly Callaway, Montgomery County Volunteer Center (mol l y.cal l away@ mont gomerycount ymd.gov) b. Kimberly Brooks, lead for SSL, who approves potential SSL opportunities ([email protected])Alternatively, students can submit Form 560-50 to their school-based SSL coordinators to get their proposedservices approved.

Emma Shiah | University of Maryland Capstone Project 6 Preparat i on Bu dgets Sp o n so r s Th em es Since we might not be We could find sponsors able to use taxpayers? that the Themes could be based money to host a dataMontgomery on a hot topic in the community data event, department is familiar country or within the we could first determine with by reaching out IT Montgomery County. We a budget from the vendors that are in can determine a topic Human Resources charge of the office?s IT; from current events, department. Usually, we for example, the cable news, or the Dataset should control the cost company or the electric suggestion page from spent on each company. The event is the DataMongomery participant by making also an efficient way for website to see what sure food is $7 per sponsors to market their residents care most person per meal, snacks companies, or hire about . and drinks is $10 per potential employees person, and T-Shirt is $5 from a pool of to $8 per person. participants with different skill sets.

Emma Shiah | University of Maryland Capstone Project 7Preparat i on Ju d g e s Code for America brigades near the Montgomery County:Judges could be ChiefInformation Officer ofthe county,subject-matter experts,fellows from Code forAmerica, data owners, orsponsors.

Emma Shiah | University of Maryland Capstone Project 8 Market i ngWays to market an event...There are many ways to market a community data event. For instance, handing out fliers toresidents?mailboxes, sending out emails to local high schools and community colleges,posting event information on social media like Facebook or Twitter, promoting this eventthrough the original dataMontgomery website, or even have someone from the communitydata event team to speak at different locations like high schools, colleges, or communityevents.If there a community data event is themed, then there should be a specific logo designed forthat theme. In addition, there should be a website detailing event information. This websitecan either be built separately, or attached to the dataMontgomery website.In general, we need... - Fliers to post in community boards, and to send to neighbors in the Montgomery County, high school teachers, and college professors. - A website detailing important event information: - Date/Time - Theme - Sponsors - Location - Incentives - Sign up page

Emma Shiah | University of Maryland Capstone Project 9 Event Day RundownThis is rundown sample for a small one day community data event for around 30 people:8:45-9:30AM Registration and breakfast9:30-9:45AM9:45-10:15AM Welcome Speech: Instruct participants the goals of a community data event.Talk: Subject matter experts briefly talk about goals of their projects 9:45AM Team Forming (for those who do not have a team) Data event begins12:00-1:00PM Lunch is served3:00-3:30PM team presentations3:30-4:00PM judges confirm winners4:00-4:15PM Announce winners, award prizes, and thank participants

Emma Shiah | University of Maryland Capstone Project 10 su ggestion s

Emma Shiah | University of Maryland Capstone Project 11 1Who should we target and how? - If we want to target students (high school or local colleges) ? Reach out to high school counselors or professors in the field of information and computer science to understand some of the students?current projects and topics. Then, the data event will be related to that topic. - If we want to target the community ? The participants will have will wider age range, and the event could be held based on a current topic in the community. We could print out fliers and put them into neighbors?mailboxes, or post fliers in community boards, and email fliers.

Emma Shiah | University of Maryland Capstone Project 12 2Where should we host an event? - Cafeteria, gym, or big classrooms at a high school or college that have good Wifi, and space for people to move around. - Community center that is accessible by public transit with different rooms, and has good Wifi. - After comparing different locations, the Rockville Memorial Library within the Rockville Town Center would be a consideration since it has Wifi, is close to metro, close to the dataMontgomery office, has adequate parking spaces, close to metro stations, in downtown area with other recreations participants could do before, during, or after a community data event. This venue has 5 collaboration rooms, and each fits up to 8 people, so this should be adequate for a small community data event . - Another place would be the within the Montgomery County Executive Office itself since it has Wifi, and is close to the metro station, and is close to restaurants, Rockville Town Center, and Regal Cinema.

Emma Shiah | University of Maryland Capstone Project 13 3What format should we cater to our target audience? - The event should be themed. - We should not limit the coding languages participants would like to use. - We should promote the event in a way to engage participants to build a closer relationship with the government, and not to intimidate them to build something out of this event. - We should have other events like speaker series, and different company information booths to attract more participants who do not want to be in a team.

Emma Shiah | University of Maryland Capstone Project 14 4 How should we staff the event? - We could ask staff members within the dataMontgomery to help out. - We could ask neighbors in the community and show them the incentives they will get by helping out. - Reach out to high school students, and tell them they could use these volunteer hours for SSL that is required for graduation, but the Montgomery County Public Schools department has to approve the volunteer event first.

Emma Shiah | University of Maryland Capstone Project 15post com m u n ity data even t

Emma Shiah | University of Maryland Capstone Project 16 1Participants get to keep their projects as their own intellectual properties, and usually,organizers have trouble keeping these projects because it would be hard to find expertsto maintain and take on the projects. Moreover, in San Mateo, CA, the top five winningteam in one of their hackathon event got to work with the county to further develop theirapps for three months (but only if a county department would like to do so), and theycould market their apps to other government agencies; however, the projects stillbelonged to the team. 2Create a survey to ask participants?community data event experiences to see how wecould improve the next time.

Emma Shiah | University of Maryland Capstone Project 17 Sample Survey Questions 1. Overall, did you enjoy this community data event? a. Yes, No, Neutral 2. What have you learned from this event? 3. Did you meet any new people to broaden your network? a. Yes, No, Somewhat 4. What are some improvements we could make for next time? 5. Will you consider coming to another community data event next time? 6. What are some theme suggestions for next community data events?

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