Small Web September: Retrospective & Feedback

[enchantedsleeper]

Now that Small Web September is all wrapped up for another year, I wanted to give everyone the opportunity to share some thoughts on the event - how you found it, and whether you have anything you'd like to change or add.

If you don't have any particular feedback, no problem! But I'm always keen to hear suggestions if there are any. Last year was the first time I'd run the event, and based on everyone's feedback I kept the format pretty consistent, just changing up the check-in themes slightly. (If it ain't broke...) However, I'd be curious to know how first-time participants found the event, and also whether any repeat participants would like to see something new.

Freeform thoughts are extremely welcome, but here are some points to respond to if you're stuck:

• Have you taken part in this event before, or was it your first time participating?
• What did you think of the event format? (Regular 'check-in' posts with engagement/replies in the comments)
• What did you think of the check-in frequency? (Weekly posts/check-ins for a total of five during the event, including the kick-off post). Too many/too few/about right?
• What did you think of the check-in themes (links, communities, troubleshooting, etc.)? Were they too specific, or too general? Do you prefer to have a theme, or would you rather stick to general progress updates for the check-ins?
• Do you have any thoughts on the bonus discussion prompts? Are there any other topics that you think would make for an interesting discussion?
• Is there anything else you'd like the event to feature in future?

Thank you very much in advance for sharing any feedback that you have!

Comments

[thatjustwontbreak]

I fell off a bit with this challenge, but September was harder than I thought it would be.

1. First time for me!
2. I liked the format.
3. No complaints re: check-in frequency.
4. The themes were incredibly helpful for me. I'm such a newbie, it was really wonderful to see what resources were out there.

Thank you for your work! I have a little website in progress now, which is so much more than I would have without this community.

[tarlanx]

1. I took part last year and this year
2. The check-ins were useful to remind me of my goal
3. Frequency was perfect for me.
4. I like learning about what else is out there in case it can help me with my websites... or just to see what others have accomplished.
5. no thoughts on bonus prompts
6. cannot think of anything

I really like Small Web September as it makes me set a deadline to accomplish something... even if it's small... that I have kept putting off.

[axolotls]

I wasn't quite able to participate as planned, but I checked in on the discussion at times. I found some of the prompts to not really be something I was interested in (communities, for instance), or they came at the wrong time (troubleshooting, when I hadn't had to do any that week). I'm not sure what could be done about that, though.

[grayestofghosts]

It looked really interesting but I wasn't really able to participate, in part because the High Holidays are always a little crazy for me. It was especially bad this year, but I'm wondering if there any chance of there being another small web month at another time of year?

[enchantedsleeper]

That's so great! \o/ I'm really glad you got the site up and running that you wanted to during the challenge :D Now you can have fun adding to it! Thank you for sharing your feedback, and I'm especially glad to hear that the themes were a good way of introducing the resources that are out there ^^

[enchantedsleeper]

I really like Small Web September as it makes me set a deadline to accomplish something... even if it's small... that I have kept putting off.

It's helpful to have that sort of time-based incentive, right? I benefit a lot from that, too, which is why I thought it would be good to start an event of this kind ^^

Thank you for sharing your feedback, and I'm glad the format and themes worked for you again this year! Also, your butterfly icon is lovely :D

[tarlanx]

Thank you :)

Having a deadline seems to work better for me as it makes me stop prevaricating or putting it off for 'another day' that never comes around!

[enchantedsleeper]

I'm glad that you found ways to be involved, even if the full event was a bit too much this time around! <3 It's nice to hear that the chat provides an additional venue for interaction.

Yeah, I think the thing about a theme like troubleshooting is that it won't always be applicable to everyone - I still think it's pretty good as a prompt to get people to share issues and helpful resources, but I'm also happy to take any suggestions for alternative themes, since I'm looking to vary them a bit for next year's event! So do let me know if there's any particular ones you think would be interesting.

[enchantedsleeper]

Ahhh, that makes total sense, and thank you for feeding back on that aspect of the timing! Last year, I included a question about the event timing in the retrospective post, but since I'd already run it twice in the same slot, I figured that it didn't make sense to open a discussion about moving the event this time. However, last year there was also enthusiasm from multiple people at the idea of running additional small web event(s) at other times of year.

The only thing that makes me hesitate about running them myself is that I don't want to set myself up as the de facto 'events person' when I'm just a regular comm member who decided to get something going in the form of Small Web September xD It would be great if other people wanted to set up events at other times of year, but I don't know how likely it is, admittedly. And I do like running events! So I'm open to the idea if life isn't too crazy - possibly sometime between March-May. It would probably be a shorter event rather than a full month to make it more manageable to run.

[axolotls]

Hmmmm. Perhaps if it was framed in a way that made it clear discussion of past stuff was welcome, not just what was being done currently? At least, that's the impression I got, so I felt like I didn't have much to say because I wasn't engaging in e.g. community-building or troubleshooting currently, whereas I have in the past and would have perhaps talked about it more if I'd been prompted to consider past experiences too? Maybe this is just a me problem though, haha.