Guide: How to MC Lab Meetings


Being an MC of a Bicycle Lab Meeting is a great opportunity to contribute and play an active role in the lab, but also to learn how to host similar meetings in your future career.

Whether you hold the MC position for an extended period or temporarily through a raffle or as a replacement, this guide will hopefully help you in this task. Worst case, talk to your past MC, ask for help.

It's advised, as it's easiest, to just run through the whole list in one go on the day of the lab meeting, while it's still fresh.

As always, you are encouraged to contribute to this guide as the function and its responsibilities develop over time.

Lab Meeting

1. Host the Zoom call

  • send an email with a reminder, a link to the Zoom call (create a personal link if first time hosting)
  • start the Zoom call a bit early
  • welcome participants
  • assign co-host to presenter
  • introduce new lab members (remind Jason to add them to the mailing list, and Rado to invite them to the element/matrix server)
  • ask new member for a short intro, (optional) ask current members to introduce themselves in return
  • full screen the agenda
  • start off the AOIs
  • decide on the moment to start
  • monitor the time
  • run the agenda
  • run whosnext.py (instructions) (you could delegate this until you get set up, ask for help setting up afterwards)
  • announce the keynote speaker
  • jot down links from presentation slides or the chat section, paste into the agenda notes
  • help the speaker keep to the time
  • thank the keynote speaker
  • prepare a question to ask, either to get the question ball rolling or to avoid a silence
  • ask audience for questions, otherwise shoot first
  • thank the speaker again
  • announce social activity
  • store any links from the Zoom's chat for inclusion in the upcoming email

2. Prepare agenda for the next meeting

  • on Google Drive, sign in, find the last agenda file

    • (if needed, acquire privileges from last MC)
    • (if needed, give privileges to the next MC)
  • 'File/Make a Copy',

  • rename to the appropriate date,

  • folder: 'lab meetings'

  • tick 'Share it with the same people'

  • in the new file, change the date

  • update the agenda based on what's been discussed

  • 'Share/Get Link' (ensure: Anyone with a link / Anyone on the Internet with this link can edit)

  • Copy Link (for the email message in the next step)

4. Update the whosnext.py

  • check and update the list of lab members
  • update the list of past presentations
  • add the future presentation slot already
  • submit a pull request (browser-only instructions)

5. Update the MechMotum website over at our github,

  • go to / content / pages / guide.rst
  • edit (pencil icon) (log in if necessary)
  • make changes

6. Message the last speaker asking for the slides

  • inform the past speaker the slides will be shared publicly on the MechMotum website

  • there's a shared folder where we deposit the slides (SurfDrive or g-tudelft Google Drive), ask your last MC

    • (once received, update repeat step 5 to include a public link to the slides)

7. Check in with the next host with preparing a presentation, ideas on what to present

  • point them to past presentations for inspiration
  • point them to the Google Doc with presentation ideas

Social activity

On the Friday of the week in between the biweekly-twice-monthlies we hope to meet in a more casual setting. Until we have a designated committee for this said task will fall under MC duties as well, but feel free to ask for and enlist help.

8. Prepare social activity

  • (optional) come up with a new name for the next VrijMiBo edition
  • decide on location
  • announce it at least a week in advance (best done multiple times, including during the preceding biweekly-twice-monthly meeting)
  • send a calendar invite to mechmotum@googlegroups.com (group members can respond individually)
  • remind people on the day