1.
Empowering New
Programmers Through
Introductory Arduino
Workshops
Hailee Kenney | @HAIL_9000
SeaGL November 15, 2019

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Hi I’m Hailee!
My pronouns are she/her
I’m a “Full Stack” Software Developer at Bright.md
I’m a co-organizer of Django Girls PDX
My degree is in Electrical Engineering
You can find me at @HAIL_9000 and haileekenney.com
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What to Expect From This Talk
⋆ My lessons learned from organizing introductory
workshops
⋆ What I believe makes a workshop successful
⋆ Hopefully a little inspiration for running your own
⋆ NOT a technical deep dive on Arduino (or much
technical diving at all)
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First a big Thank
you!
⋆ Terian Koscik
⋆ @spine_cone
⋆ pineconedoesthings.com
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Me Lilah Terian Nate
Elsa Anna

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Why Am I Giving This Talk?
⋆ I think programming is neat
⋆ Getting started with programming can be tough and
discouraging
⋆ I want to help folks get started with their own
workshops
⋆ I don’t want other organizers to suffer as I suffered
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Django Girls
⋆ 1.5 days, 40 attendees, 15 coaches
⋆ Workshop for women
⋆ Building a blog with Django (includes git, databases,
“deployment”, etc.)
⋆ Attendees work through self-directed tutorial in
small groups with coach
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Project Object Workshop
⋆ 4 hours, 15 attendees, 2 coaches
⋆ Series of workshops for women
⋆ Programming small vibrators which interface with
an Arduino shield
⋆ Attendees work individually on a self directed
tutorial, two coaches float
⋆ Introductory presentation with some basic info
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Key Ideas
1. Positive experience > extensive toolbelt
2. Make it fun and relatable
3. Doing more with less
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1.
Positive experience >
extensive toolbelt

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When did I know I loved
programming?
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Programming has ups and downs
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Programming Has Ups and Downs
We can tolerate the lows when we know
how the highs feel!
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Think About When Programming
Feels Bad
⋆ You’re stuck and you’re not making any progress
⋆ You’re bogged down learning something that’s
boring or confusing
⋆ You feel incapable and unintelligent
⋆ You’re not seeing the results of your hard work
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Think About When Programming
Feels Good
⋆ You’re seeing the results you want, the computers
do what you say!
⋆ You’re learning things that excite you
⋆ You’ve built something cool that you’re proud of
⋆ You feel smart, accomplished, like you can do
anything!!
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We Want to Cultivate Mostly the
Positive Parts!
⋆ We’re not going to make someone an ace
programmer in one workshop
⋆ Attendees will forget most of the specifics of what
they learn
⋆ A positive experience motivates continued learning
⋆ Focus on filtering out the bad parts and lifting up
the good parts
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A Few Tips
⋆ Don’t be afraid to give the answers away
⋆ Strive to show results early
⋆ Create a safe, fun, and welcoming environment
⋆ Read about being a good mentor & teacher (and
make sure your other mentors do too)
⋆ Accommodate for different paces and skill levels
⋆ Don’t make it too long, grueling, and overwhelming
⋆ Communicate expectations
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We Can’t Take Away All the
Negative Parts
Normalize the things that are difficult and universal
⋆ We all search for answers online
⋆ We all get stuck and frustrated
⋆ Programming is collaborative - we need help
from others!
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The impression stays
It’s most important that attendees leave
feeling encouraged and motivated to
continue learning
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2.
Make it Fun and
Relatable

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It’s Easy to Love Programming
When it Connects us to
Something We Already Love
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Technology Pairs Well With Most
Things
There are so many intersections to explore, think about
which one might resonate with your target audience
⋆ Technology and visual art
⋆ Technology and social good
⋆ Technology and music
⋆ Technology and science
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Good News - There’s a lot of
Exciting Hardware to Program
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https://tpinecone.gitbooks.io/diy-sex-robot/content/

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Why Arduino?
⋆ Programming hardware is neato
⋆ Arduino is:
⋆ Cheap(ish)
⋆ Open source
⋆ Has community and resources
⋆ Lots of options
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Need Inspiration?
adafruit.com
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Make a Connection
Get people interested by looping in
something that interests them.
Microcontrollers provide lots of avenues.
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3.
Doing More with Less

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Let’s Talk about Organizing
Django Girls
⋆ Coordinating 40 attendees, 15 coaches
⋆ Planning meals, childcare, swag, loaner computers,
conference tickets etc. etc.
⋆ Finding a large enough venue for 2 days
⋆ Fundraising $3000+
⋆ High organizer investment (Did you know some
people organize events as their only job??)
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What About the Django Girls
Workshop?
⋆ Two days (12 hours total)
⋆ Many tedious details
⋆ Hours to see real results
⋆ Most attendees don’t finish the tutorial
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What is the Cost?
⋆ Organizer exhaustion and burnout
⋆ Barrier to organizing is very high, difficult to onboard
new organizers
⋆ Discouraged attendees
⋆ Running out of resources (and attendees) for
subsequent workshops
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Project Object
Workshop
⋆ 15 attendees, 2 coaches
⋆ Just one afternoon
⋆ Pairing with Project Object
(local artist community) =
new resources
⋆ Organizer investment - just
the fun stuff
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Results?
Big success!
⋆ Attendees finished workshop, felt accomplished
⋆ Organizers were still alive
⋆ Energy felt much more universally positive
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Revisiting our Goals For These
Workshops
⋆ Create a positive experience for attendees, help
them leave encouraged and motivated
⋆ Help them see results early and often
⋆ Make sure things aren’t too long and grueling
⋆ Make sure things aren’t overwhelming
⋆ Create a fun and safe environment
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Think Smaller
Focus less on planning logistics, more on
the workshop. It will be a more positive
experience for you and attendees
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Ready to get Started?

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Have an Idea?
Think about what you want to build and ask yourself a
few questions:
1. Cost (will you seek sponsorship? charge
admission?)
2. Time (how long will this take? can I abstract parts
away to make it shorter?)
3. Audience (who is my audience? skill level?)
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Ready to Write?
1. Buy your hardware and mess around!
2. Write a step by step tutorial
a. Create an outline with clear stages/successes
b. Include relevant and important info, but be
careful not to overdo it
c. Always keep your audience in mind
3. Find some proofreaders
4. Do a trial run (or several)
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Put it On!
When/where will you give your workshop?
1. Conferences
2. With other tech community orgs
3. With another group in your community
4. All by yourself!
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You Can Do It!
Learn from what those before you have done,
make it your own, and improve on it
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Thank You!!
ANY QUESTIONS?
@HAIL_9000 | haileekenney.com | hailee.kenney@gmail.com

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Special Thanks!
1. Django Girls PDX community
2. Project Object (projectobject.co)
3. SeaGL Organizers
4. Lilah for supporting me and all my projects!
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Resources
1. pineconedoesthings.com/workshops.html
(workshops by Terian)
2. adafruit.com (cool hardware! arduino and more)
3. coach.djangogirls.org/tips (tips for being a good
mentor)
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