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Published on Tuesday, 30 June 2020 22:55

Gateway Focus Week

Looking to build a sustainability plan for your science gateway? Planning to write your next funding proposal? 

Join us at the next Focus Week to create your starter sustainability toolkit!

Gateway Focus Week is an intensive week-long workshop designed for innovative research teams to work together on producing a strong sustainability plan. You’ll leave Focus Week with a clearer definition of your project's value, its audience, and its positioning in the competitive landscape along with tools you can use to continue as your project continues to mature. Take the time to step away from your desk and invest in your future!

Thanks to the generous support of NSF, we are able to offer this workshop with no registration fees for attendees. Attendees will only need to cover their own travel, lodging, and meal costs.

Focus Week 2024 will take place:

When: April 8-12, 2024
Where: Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC), 10100 Burnet Rd, Austin, TX 78758

Apply via the Focus Week Workshop Application

 

Focus Week Agenda

Day 1 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM
1:00 PM	Introductions Goals of Program
1:45 PM	Napkin Drawing
3:00 PM	Break (Break Coffee, Tea, & Snacks Provided)
3:15 PM	Value Proposition
4:00 PM	End of Day One

 

Day 2 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM
9:00 AM	Day Two Warm Up
9:15 AM	Market Landscape
10:45 AM	Break (Break Coffee, Tea, & Snacks Provided)
11:00 AM	Competitive Assessment
12:30 PM	Lunch (Lunch Provided)
1:30 PM	Audience & Stakeholders
2:00 PM	Audience Segmentation Exercise & Discussion
3:30 PM	Wrap Up
4:00 PM	End of Day Two

 

Day 3 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM
9:00 AM	Day Three Warm Up
9:15 AM	Sustainability/Revenue Overview
10:45 AM	Break (Break Coffee, Tea, & Snacks Provided)
11:00 AM	Target Setting & Measurement
12:30 PM	Lunch (Lunch Provided)
1:30 PM	Usability & User-Centered Design
3:30 PM	Wrapping Up
4:00 PM	End of Day Three

 

Day 4 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM
9:00 AM	Day Four Warm Up
9:15 AM	Assessing Audience Information Needs
10:45 AM	Break (Break Coffee, Tea, & Snacks Provided)
11:00 AM	Methods for Gathering Info on Your Audience(s)
12:00 PM	Lunch (Lunch Provided)
1:00 PM	Interview training
2:30 PM	Break (Break Coffee, Tea, & Snacks Provided)
3:00 PM	Next Steps: Finding Interviewees; Analyzing Findings
4:00 PM	End of Day Four

 

Day 5 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM
9:00 AM	Welcome to the Last Day
9:15 AM	Metrics Case Study: nanoHUB
10:15 AM	Break (Break Coffee, Tea, & Snacks Provided)
10:30 AM	Pitches
12:00 PM	Wrap-up Survey/Discussion & Lunch (Lunch Provided)
1:00 PM	End of Day Five

Plan your travel to TACC

TACC Address: 
Texas Advanced Computing Center
Advanced Computing Building (ACB)
J.J. Pickle Research Campus, Building 205
10100 Burnet Rd (R8700)
Austin, TX 78758

Hotel: Information coming soon!

Airport: Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) -- 17 miles away from SDSC

Transportation: 

• Ride share services are recommended if you chose not to drive. 
  • Lyft or Uber enter “Texas Advanced Computing Center” as destination

General Logistics:

• Food:  Light refreshments will be served through out the week with lunches provided Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

What will you learn?

Focus Week is a five-day program that walks teams through a sustainability toolkit and wraps up with a "Pitch Day" focused on each participating team delivering a presentation encompassing their sustainability planning done so far. 

You and your team will work through the following activities during Focus Week:

• Napkin Drawing
  • Learn how to effectively communicate your project.
• Understanding Your Audiences & Key Stakeholders
  • Identify who cares about your project, and potential new user groups.
• Environment: Mapping the Landscape
  • Whether you started in 1995 or 2015, it doesn't take long for new competitors to emerge. Spend time researching and mapping out your known and new competition.
• Marketing Tactics & Tools
  • Learn how to communicate your project's value to your audiences with selective marketing through tools like social media, newsletters, outreach at booths, and conference presentations.
• Goal Setting
  • Think about the big picture ideas. Learn how you can set the right goals for the right reasons, and learn how you can measure your success.
• Value Proposition
  • Why should someone be interested in your project? Build a concise value statement that will inform your audience and retain their interest vs. hitting the back button.
• Budgeting
  • You have goals to expand your gateway or bring on new team members. Discover how you can forecast a budget that will get you the right resources without breaking the bank.
• Market Development
  • Explore the possible customer groups and subgroups that will find value out of your project other than the original audience your project is intended to serve.

 

Hear about the Focus Workshop from past attendees

 

Instructors

Sustainability trainings are taught by our lead instructors, Juliana Casavan and Nancy Maron.