Resource:How to organize a pop-up class

What is a Pop-Up Class?

A pop-up class is a hands-on workshop that provides an enriching 1-2 hour acitivty for its participants. The class can be about anything: electronics, soldering, coding, management... the possbilities are endless. Pop-up classes expose the participants to something new and exciting, expanding their horizons on various topics; it can be to teach how to sing like an opera singer or dance ballet, figure out how to survive a deserted island using a choice few materials, or how to perform CPR and other life-saving skills. You decide how to engage these students best!

Pop-up classes are not just for students. Anybody can attend- professors, staff, faculty, various other community members, students, and even the occasional pet... after all, who doesn't like a good ol' black lab?

How to Organize a Pop-Up Class

Organizing a pop-up class consists of six steps:

1) Identify a Topic

• Rack your brain for a topic that will stimulate a group of creative and eager-to-learn college students for quite a while. If the activity can be finished in ten minutes, expand it (or try a new one!). 
• Oftentimes, when the topic/activity is good, people will stay long after the official event is over. Figure out a topic to engage the students and unleash their full potential.
• Bring out the meaning in your topic by constantly asking "Why?" You want the crowd to leave having learned something new, but the significance must be felt. If you can't answer the "why" of why you're teaching it, explore the topic more.

2) Establish When/Where/Who

• What is your target audience with this pop-up class? Are you trying to reel in engineers? Creative writers? Any college student? 
• Work out a time that works for your targeted crowd. Hosting an event at 3 PM on a Wednesday may not be the best time, but 3 PM on a Sunday could just work.
• If you know what activity you want to do, the right space is needed. Some pop-up classes will use a traditional classroom with a projector, but others may need a soccer field, a lab, a gym, or even a sandbox.

3) Materials List and Visuals

• Once you have figured out the basic activity, make a list of the materials you need or the way you will relay the information to the group. Will charts or a powerpoint work best? How will the room be decorated? What will the students need for the activity (building materials, computers)? You need to figure this all out ahead of time and plan accordingly.
• Don't forget that you need money to pay for these materials. Make sure you have a way to pay for them, whether from the school or an organization (or yourself, if you're really nice).

4) Tell everyone about the pop-up!

• Your Pop-up is no fun if nobody comes! Spread the word throughout campus. Have your friends tell their friends about it. Post in the various school Facebook groups. Make flyers and leave them on the cafeteria tables. There's a million ways to publicize your event.
• Make sure your ads are informative enough so students know what they're getting into, but it wouldn't hurt to be a bit secretive about the activity too - nothing draws a crowd like curiousity. 

5) Arrive early to set-up

• If the event is called for six o'clock, don't show up at 5:55 to set up. Be there well before the time you called for to make sure everything is set-up properly. 
• This includes double checking the space has been reserved, the materials have been gathered, and the ads have been set up. A non-prepared event is always apparent to the students, and they appreciate well-set-up events.

6) Record Attendance and Feedback

• Make sure that during and after the event you are keeping a tally of the attendance. You need to know what you are doing right and doing wrong! If you see the cinema pop-up class got half the numbers of the computer science pop-up class, the hard data is necessary to figure that out.
• To further accurately get a picture of how your event did, set up a way to get anonymous feedback. You may think the event went splendidly, but if 75% of attendees were unhappy, it's best to see why. It may be stinging criticism (especially after all that work!) but if you want to learn from your mistakes- or your victories- this is how you do it.
• Take pictures so you can show off your event to others later, and spread the word visually of the awesome event.

Remember to Have Fun

The most important thing to remember is that this activity is not about you or how well you can structure a lesson- it's all about the participants and their experience, which should be enjoyable and positive. Whenever coming up with an activity, make sure it is contributing in a good way to the overall event and think about how it will help the attendees. It can help to run a model pop-up class by a few friends, and have them constructively point out what works and what doesn't, so when the big day comes you have it covered. 

If ever in doubt, just try to have the most fun possible. Sometimes a ball-pit with legos can accomplish more than a ten-part seminar on mechanical engineering.

Now Go Out and Make Your Own!

You can schedule as many as you want, on as many different topics as you please. It's all up to you to enrich other student's lives in this fun and awesome way!

You can find some examples of Pop-Up events like those at Tennessee Tech, shared by Ashlin Wildun, here: https://www.tntech.edu/innovation/popups

Contributed to by Judah Berger, Nathan LaWarre, Erika storvick, Jesse Lundervold