Workshop Instructor Playbook — The Fifth Elephant and Rootconf workshops
This is your checklist for taking a workshop from “page is set up” to “participants walk in ready to go.” These things need to happen, roughly in this order. Each has a deadline — hitting them on time is what lets us start promoting your workshop and get people to register.
Quick checklist
1. Finalize your workshop page content
We will set up a draft page for you based on the outline you send us. Before we publish it and start promotions, you need to fill in:
| Section | What we need |
|---|---|
| Overview | 2–3 sentences: what the workshop covers and why it matters right now. Mention that it’s hands-on and state the format (e.g. “4-hour hands-on session — you’ll be doing the work, not watching slides”) |
| What this workshop is about | A short numbered or bulleted list of what you’ll explore together in the session |
| Audience | Who this is for — list the roles or profiles that should attend (e.g. “data engineers connecting agents into pipelines”) |
| What you’ll leave with | Concrete, numbered takeaways — skills, checklists, scripts, or outputs participants walk away with. Avoid vague outcomes like “practical insights” |
| Background knowledge requirements | What participants should already know or be comfortable with before joining — be specific (e.g. “comfortable writing basic Python scripts”) |
| What to bring | Everything participants must install, configure, or bring — hardware, paid accounts, software, optional tools for advanced users, and any data/files they should bring of their own |
| About the instructor(s) | A bio for each instructor. Length is flexible — most run 3–6 sentences: professional background plus one or two personal or distinctive details. Maximum of 3 instructors per workshop |
| Difficulty level | Beginner / Intermediate / Advanced — pick honestly, this is how attendees self-select |
| Duration | Add this once your slot is confirmed — it’ll show alongside difficulty level on the page |
Deadline: Complete this within 48 hours of receiving the draft page. Promotions can’t start until the page is published, so a delay here delays your registrations.
Access: All instructors get edit access to the page.
2. Structure your workshop duration
Use this as a template and scale proportionally for shorter or longer sessions. For a standard 4-hour workshop:
| Time | Block |
|---|---|
| 0:00 – 0:30 | Introduction, context setting, theory |
| 0:30 – 1:30 | Hands-on activity |
| 1:30 – 1:50 | Break (tea, stretch) |
| 1:50 – 3:20 | Mix of hands-on activity and theory |
| 3:20 – 3:40 | Real-world use cases and participant Q&A |
| 3:40 – 4:00 (max) | Wrap / buffer |
The pattern to keep: open with a short theory block, break the middle into hands-on-heavy chunks with one rest break, and close with applied discussion rather than new content.
3. Draft and publish your workshop announcement
Once your workshop page is up, you draft an announcement post and social copy summarizing what you’ll teach. This announcement goes out in your original voice and tone, and consists of the following:
- Why this workshop topic? Why now?
- Who is this workshop relevant for?
- What will prospective attendees learn
Deadline: 3 days after publishing the workshop page. The announcement goes out to prospective attendees, hence it is necessary that it’s in your authentic voice and tone, and resonates with their needs.
4. Do a content run-through with the curator/editors
7–10 days before the workshop, you’ll walk through your content online with the workshop curator/editors. This session is scheduled by your coordinator — share your availability with them early so it can be booked in time.
If this is your first time teaching for us: budget for two rounds of review, not one. Flag this as early as possible so both sessions fit comfortably before the 7–10 day mark, rather than being compressed right up against the workshop date.
5. Promote your workshop on your own channels
Beyond the announcement post, you’re expected to promote the workshop directly on channels you’re part of — LinkedIn, WhatsApp groups, Discord communities, or anywhere else relevant.
This runs alongside promotion from reviewers, the venue host, and Fifthel’s own channels, so your coordinator will share a combined promotion schedule closer to the date. As a rough template (based on timing that’s worked before):
| Promoter & channel | Suggested timing |
|---|---|
| Instructor — hasgeek.com workshop page | ~10 days before |
| Instructor — LinkedIn | ~8 days before |
| Instructor — WhatsApp / Discord groups | ~9 to 2 days before (spread across the window) |
| Reviewers — LinkedIn | ~8 and ~2 days before |
| Venue host | ~2 days before |
| Fifthel — X | ~4 days before |
| Fifthel — LinkedIn | ~3 days before |
| Fifthel — WhatsApp | ~9 days before |
Your coordinator will confirm exact dates for your workshop — this table is a starting point, not a fixed schedule.
6. Post the pre-workshop setup update
This is a separate post from your main workshop page, published on your workshop’s Updates tab. It tells registered participants exactly what to install and configure before they arrive, so no session time is lost to setup.
What to include:
- Software to install, with version numbers
- Accounts to create (if any)
- Repos to clone or notebooks to download, with links
- Any data files participants need to have ready locally
Publishing settings: Set the audience to “Only account members” — not Public. This update is for registered participants only.
Deadline: Post this 1 week before the workshop date. If your setup is minimal, you can post closer to the date, but don’t leave it later than a few days out — participants need time to actually do the install.
Reference: Two past examples are linked below for format:
7. Tell us your logistics needs
If your workshop needs a whiteboard, flip chart, projector, extra power outlets, or anything else in the room, let the operations/logistics contact know.
Deadline: 1 week before the workshop date. Physical materials need lead time to arrange — requests made the day before often can’t be fulfilled.
We’ll also need a headshot from each instructor (if we don’t already have one) to make a joint poster for the workshop — this is done on our side once your page details are finalized.
Timeline summary
| When | What | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| On receiving draft page | Fill in title, bios, repo links, software setup, level | Instructor |
| Within 48 hrs of draft page | Page content finalized and published | Instructor |
| 3 days after page published | Draft and publish workshop announcement (why this topic, who it’s for, what attendees will learn) | Instructor |
| 7–10 days before workshop (14–17 days if first-time instructor) | Content run-through with curator/editors | Instructor, facilitated by Coordinator |
| ~9 to 2 days before workshop | Promote on own channels (LinkedIn, WhatsApp, Discord, etc.) | Instructor |
| 1 week before workshop | Setup/installation update posted (Updates tab, members-only) | Instructor |
| 1 week before workshop | Whiteboard/flip chart/AV needs communicated | Instructor |
| Ongoing | Track that each step above is done on time; chase instructors who are behind | Coordinator (Garima) |
Note for the coordinator
Use the table above as your tracking sheet — each row is a thing to confirm is done, not just requested. Four things are worth chasing proactively rather than waiting for instructors to raise them:
- Page content — blocks promotions entirely until it’s finalized.
- The announcement — now drafted by the instructor in their own voice, so there’s no Hasgeek draft forcing the issue. Easy to slip without a nudge.
- The content run-through — check early whether the instructor is first-time (needs two rounds, not one) so you can book both sessions with enough runway before the 7–10 day mark.
- The setup update — feels less urgent than the page itself, but directly affects how the workshop runs on the day.
You’re also the one holding the master promotion schedule across instructor, reviewers, venue host, and Fifthel’s own channels — the table in Section 5 is the starting point for that.