Prep Instructions: Leadership Team

The Prep Leadership Team consists of the following positions:
Executive Leaders
Tech Support
Writing Coaches

Executive Leaders have the following responsibilities:
Ensure timely completion of all volunteer tasks
Re-delegate or personally complete incomplete tasks
Support and coach all other volunteers

Tech Support has the following responsibilities:
Add new Preppers to the Group (procedure below)
Address technical issues and make manual Log corrections
Answer questions about the Prep logistics

Writing Coaches have the following responsibilities:
Explain assignments
Encourage conversation in the forum
Assist participants with their personal projects as needed

Daily Close-out includes the following responsibilities:
Log interesting threads on the Prep Log's "Close-out" tab
Send daily update emails including current standings and forum highlights (procedure below)
--- generally assigned to someone whose time zone/sleep schedule allows publishing between 10pm-5am WDC

NOTE: The Leaders are responsible for answering questions and assisting Preppers through struggles. Sometimes assistance requires reading through the Prepper's work and helping them brainstorm, which can be time consuming. Do your best to help the individual, and remember that we are a TEAM. If you feel need help assisting a struggling Prepper, tag the other writing coaches for further suggestions and we'll keep the conversation going. Also, if an individual seems to need more encouragement than writing coaching, we can delegate the job to the Cheerleaders.

SCHEDULE:
Leaders will be assigned a daily shift during which they are expected to check the forum and perform the responsibilities above. You don't necessarily have to be available during the whole shift. Just find any time during that shift to sift through questions and conversations in the forum since your predecessor responded.

NOTE: Some days the forum conversations move quickly and you have to scroll back several pages to find the last Leader's replies. The "SEARCH" feature is a great tool for finding your predecessor's last reply.

IMPORTANT:
IF YOU HAVE TO MISS A SHIFT, please email the person after you so they know they'll have to dig back earlier in the forum to catch up. Advance notice of your absence is greatly appreciated.

Any questions you can't answer with confidence, tag me so I can answer during my daily morning shift.

Sending the daily update emails:
1. Open the "Close-out" tab in the "October Prep" spreadsheet
2. Enter the date of the desired close-out (the previous day)
3. Copy/paste the Subject Template contents into the subject of the email
4. Copy/paste the Email Template contents into the body of the email
5. Add any relevant announcements to the body under the Announcements heading
5. Copy/paste the lists below "Winner!" / "Runner-Up!" / "In Running" / "Eliminated" into the email under the applicable headings
6. Add your salutation and send the email

Note: The template is provided for convenience only. You are welcome to make any changes or draft the email from scratch if you prefer. If you find you need more Motivation or Forum Picks fields, let Brandiwyn🎶 know, as this can be easily expanded.

Adding a new member to the Group:
1. Open "October Novel Prep Challenge Group"  [E]
2. Click Group Tools -> Manage Members.
3. Scroll down to the bottom and copy contents of Exportable Group Username List
4. Open October Prep spreadsheet -> Group tab, and paste under "GROUP MEMBERS"
5. Look for "#N/A" under "IN GROUP?"
6. Back on the WDC group page, scroll down to the Page 1 of 20 box, use the dropdown to change 1 to 20, and click "Go".
7. Add new participant usernames to any open fields in the "Group Member" column.
8. Change the "Level" to 9.
9. Scroll down and click "Update Members".
10. Copy Exportable Group Username List and paste under GROUP MEMBERS (on the Prep Log spreadsheet) again to double check that all new users have been added. *
11. Please report any bugs to Brandiwyn🎶 ASAP!

NOTE: Preppers are not required to use their WDC username to participate in OctoPrep. Therefore, some users may permanently show "NOT IN GROUP". However, these users may miss out on daily group close-out emails and will not be able to participate in Contest Rounds.

As always, THANK YOU for volunteering. Your time is valuable. As enormous as this event has become, we could not pull it off without you, and I don't take your contributions for granted.