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CodeDay CS Fest School Helpdesk

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At the Event

Safety & Security

Registration

Rules & Legal

Workshops

Do we need to bring anything with us?

Students with unusual dietary restrictions will need to bring their own food only if this dietary restriction was not conveyed to us at least three school days before the event.
Students are welcome to bring their own laptop! We provide laptops for any workshops requiring them, however they're provided first-come-first-serve.

What is the Student Showcase?

At the start of each event, students have the opportunity to display their projects to students from other schools.

Each school can register which projects they'd like to display as part of the school registration process.

At events with at least five student projects, students will have the opportunity to cast a vote for their favorite project, and an audience choice award will be presented.

How do you ensure our students are safe?

Our events are held in closed locations, and students and chaperones have wrist-bands, and volunteers have ID badges, so we can ensure everyone present is authorized to be there. We provide volunteers (and, at larger events, contract security) to ensure that students are behaving safely and not attempting to leave the venue.

That said, the safety of students is ultimately up to your chaperones, particularly when walking to or from the event area. Please ensure your chaperones regularly check-in with students.

Is there a waiver or other paperwork required?

Because we'll be photographing the event, and other media outlets may be present, students, teachers, and chaperones all need to bring a signed media release form. Minors will need to have this form signed by their parents.

We will send you this form after your registration.

My region doesn't have an event, how do I start one?

Successful regions need:

A commitment to attend from local schools or districts.
A committed venue, or several potential venues.
About $5,000-10,000 in funding from a local sponsor.

If you think your region would be a good fit, please get in touch.

Will you provide transportation for our school?

Unfortunately, it is generally the school's responsibility to provide transportation. Everything else is included, however!

How does my class register?

Once registration opens, links to register will be located on the website.

Don't see a register link? Registrations may not have opened. Check back soon.

How can my AP students participate in the CS Fair?

While our standard workshops should have plenty of content for students of all skill levels, there are several additional opportunities for motivated advanced students to participate.

Participate in the Student Showcase

Students of all skill levels can receive a booth to show off their projects. Larger events include voting and an award for the audience choice project.

You can learn more about participating in the student showcase in our related answer, or register your students here.

Lead a Workshop

Motivated students with experience in an advanced CS topic have the opportunity to work with our curriculum team to teach a workshop. If you have an interested student, you'll be able to submit a workshop as part of the registration process.

What workshops will you be hosting?

Each event has its own schedule customized to local startups and industries. Once your city's event is scheduled, you will be able to find detailed information on your event's workshop schedule on the website.

We typically have 3-4 tracks, each comprising 4 x 45-minute workshops on topics like:

Cyber Security
Video Game Development
Blockchain
Electronics (presented in partnership with DigiKey)
3D Printing/Laser Cutting
Android/iOS Mobile App Development
Machine Learning
UI/UX
Computer Networking
College Preparedness
Women in Tech and Diversity in Tech
Startups and Entrepreneurship

Workshops are designed to spark further interest.

Our workshops are designed to offer students a hands-on sample of real-world technologies which may be exciting to them. For example, electronics workshops have students build a basic circuit on a breadboard, cyber security workshops walk through examples of real-life security problems in software, and in 3D printing workshops, students leave with a 3D printed object.

At the end of each workshop, students will be able to:

describe how each technology relates to their own life
identify at least one technology they're excited to pursue further
take the next steps to start learning about that technology

Students can run workshops, too!

We are actively soliciting interesting workshops which promote the above educational outcomes. If you have an advanced (AP or Post-AP) student with interesting experience in technology, they can submit a workshop idea here!

What happens during lunch?

Lunch is an opportunity for students to socialize, both within school groups, and with students with similar interests at other schools.

To encourage on-topic conversations, we have fun activities planned during lunch including:

Icebreakers
Group polls and quzzes
Coding interview puzzles, with (small) prizes

What's for lunch? Do my students need to pack their own?

Your school group registration includes catered lunch for your students. This is typically either pizza or boxed sandwiches, and:

will include a limited number of vegetarian meals.
will include a limited number of milk-free meals.
will not include nuts. (However, we cannot ensure all meals will be prepared in a nut-free environment.)

If you have students with unusual dietary restrictions, please contact us in advance.

Can we arrive late? Can we leave early?

Yes, you can arrive late, and/or leave early.

If you're arriving late: we'll do our best to catch your students up when you arrive, but please go over the schedule with them in advance (either in-class the day before, or during bus ride over). Students will be expected to enter in-progress workshops quietly.

If you're leaving early: please ensure you have communicated a meeting time and place to all your students. Most venues do not have a global PA system for announcements, and making announcements is disruptive to other students staying throughout the event.

What happens after we arrive, but before the kickoff?

When you arrive, we'll direct you to the appropriate unloading spot (if necessary), and then your students will enter the venue and check in.

All students, teachers, and chaperones will receive a wristband at check-in which must be worn at all times in the venue for security reasons. Students without a signed release will receive a "No photos" sticker which they need to wear on the upper-front of their body during the event.

At T-15minutes, we'll host an icebreaker activity, where students will have the opportunity to talk with students from other schools. Then we'll get things started!

Is registration free? What is provided with our registration?

It's free! You may attend at no cost. You registration includes:

Access to all workshops and talks.
Any required workshop materials.
Lunch: food and drink.

Transportation to/from the event is not provided.

How can my Intro or AP CSP students participate in the CS Fair?

Beginner-level students will be able to participate just like anyone else.

In particular, note that workshops and talks are not advanced sessions: the learning objective for each is for students to understand that field of study and its relevance to their lives.

Will I need to submit a list of students attending?

No, we do not require an exact list of which students will attend. (We do require an accurate count, however.)

Our school has students sign a release form for field trips. Can we bring that instead of your form?

Unfortunately, students still need to bring a signed copy of the official release form.

While your school release may indeed contain similar language, we would need to consult with our lawyers to make that determination, which is prohibitively time-consuming.