Hello!
Thanks for signing up to host SciParty! Here are instructions for the week leading up to Sciparty and how to host the actual party.
Weekend Before and week of:
Starting the weekend before your Sciparty:
-We will give you access to the SciParty account so you can start promoting your party.
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-You will need to change the Bio section on Sciparty to indicate your topic, date and twitter handle.
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-As the host, you will promote your own SciParty on twitter and other social media channels starting the weekend before your party or on that Monday. You will need to create your own promotional tweets and graphics are highly recommended. You can look at past SciParty graphics on our twitter account.
They typically include a picture of the host, the host twitter handle, the topic, the date/time of the sciparty, SciParty hashtag and logo.
-Make sure to invite twitter friends and relevant accounts (tag them in your photos or tweets about the sciparty).
-Please don't change our logo image/banner with your own image.
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-IMPORTANT NOTE: Like any party, if you don't advertise about it, no one will show up. SciParty moderators will help promote during the week by retweeting your promo tweets but we won't be able to help out besides that.
Day of:
-Send out reminder tweets about your party the morning of from the Sciparty account.
-Recommended: Send out a "Safe Space" tweet before the party starts to remind participants to be respectful and positive during the party. (This helps deter trolls)
-At 1 PM EST on the dot, introduce yourself and your sciparty topic.
Hosting Party:
-Start the party by introducing yourself, give your scientific or scicomm background and then introduce your topic.
-You can ask participants to introduce themselves and their background or interest in your sciparty topic. It can be useful if you want to taylor your content to their questions or just want to know who you are talking to.
-Hosts are in charge of their party. Some tweet out a schedule saying what they will talk about at what time, or they just tweet as they go. Party participants will ask you questions and we ask that you respond to them during the party when you can.
-If you include articles that you want to share, make sure they are accessible to everyone. Try to avoid journal articles that have a pay wall, but if you have to specify that there is a pay wall.
-While you are tweeting from the Sciparty account, make sure to retweet relevant tweets from party participants using the #Sciparty hashtag.
-You can also post questions that you yourself will answer, but it helps give the party structure.
-Most important point: one hour goes by super quick so if you have a lot of topics you want to cover, time them appropriately so you fit them all in.
After Party:
-At the end of the hour, send out a tweet that the party is over. You might still get people responding to your tweets for a few hours to a day after and you should respond to them when you have time. Not everyone can make the sciparty time due to timezones so a few people join in later.
-We also ask that you put together a twitter moments of the party tweets using the #sciparty hashtag so that others can see a condensed version. Please do this after your party that same day or during the weekend.
Final advice:
-Successful parties also involve promotion and recruitment of relevant accounts. So make sure to invite as many people who would be interested as you can!
Let us know if you have any questions!