It's finally the day!

This will probably be the busiest day yet. Arrive early to begin setting up.

• Set up the registration and information areas.
• Set up any stations you will need, such as a virus checking station (for floppy disks people bring in) and a photo scanning station.
• Set up the food areas (or make sure they're ready for the caterers).
• Get materials ready to hand out to web fair participants.
• Put up signs that direct people where to go (to the bathroom, to the stairs, etc.)
• Mark the entrance of the building with signs, balloons, or whatever is necessary to distinguish it.

The stations you need will be determined by what your attendees already know and what you want to accomplish at your event. At the 1997 web fair, the largest one conducted by the St. Louis CIN, there were several stations. These are suggestions, and your event may not require all (if any) of these stations.

• Registering station: At this station, participants picked up their account information, including their password and instructions on how to FTP content to their web sites after the web fair.
• Typing station: Several people who attended the 1997 web fair could not type. They took their content to this station to have it typed for them.
• Picture scanning station: If people wanted pictures on their page, they took them to this station to be scanned. Each picture that was scanned was listed on the "pictures" form so that the neighbors new what they had and what the title of the picture was.
• Virus scanning station: Most people brought their content already on a disk. Before they could use their disks in any of the computers at the site, the disks had to be scanned for viruses. After a disk had passed, the volunteers at the station put an orange sticker on it to show that it was virus-free.
• FTP station: a volunteer at this station with a general network password uploaded the neighborhood web pages when they were complete.

You will need to provide a brief orientation (15 minutes) for your volunteers before the web fair participants begin arriving. The volunteers need clear roles and need to understand what they will be expected to do.

During the day

• Make sure things are going as planned
• You will also need a "troubleshooter," someone who walks around and is able to deal with crises. This should be a staff person or a volunteer who is familiar with the process of the web fair and with the materials being covered in the training sessions.
• As a midday event (over lunch), consider recognizing community efforts that led to the creation of the web page. This would require identifying groups ahead of time.
• At the end of the day, have something to give the participants as they leave. These could be donated goods from your sponsors (step 2). You may want to give them away as people turn in their evaluations--that way you can be sure people will fill them out. At all of its web fairs, the St. Louis CIN has given away mousepads with its URL printed on them.

After it's over

• Thank the volunteers
• Clean up

Web Fair Materials

Note: The following documents are in Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, or JPEG format.