CodeChef Campus Chapter

Running the Chapter

After you have signed up, it's time to start running your Chapter! Here are some steps you can take to make your Chapter run smoothly:

1. Pick a Time and Place for Monthly Meetings

• Talk to your members and figure out a good time and a convenient place to meet.
• Holding your meeting at the same time and place every month encourages consistency and participation.
• If you need help securing a place, ask your Faculty Advisor.

 

2. Plan the Agenda for Your First Meeting

• You've got the people, you've go the place, but what are you going to talk about?
• For your first meeting we suggest you spend some time picking one problem, reviewing the algorithm used, and trying to figure out ways to improve it. You can submit solutions to that problem online to see if your improvements have reduced the execution time. You can also try coding the same algorithm in another programming language.
• You can also plan your own college's contest for a few months down the line. CodeChef offers free contest hosting for Campus Chapters, and we encourage you to use this resource. Email campus@codechef.com for info on how to do this.

 

3. Plan Agendas for Future Meetings

Here are some other suggestions for different types of meetings:

• Algorithm Review - review the algorithm used for a contest problem and try to improve on it.
• Open Programming Session - Pick a problem on the site and work together on it as a group. Discuss the approach you are going to take and try implementations in various programming languages.
• Open Discussion - Invite a member, faculty adviser or guest to lead a discussion on a topic of their choice related to computing, this could include: Programming Paradigms, Manual vs. Automated Testing or any other topic.
• Awards Ceremony - After each competition, reward individuals who scored the best from your chapter. We will provide some goodies to distribute.
• Your College's Contest - Use CodeChef to host an official contest for your college. Email campus@codechef.com for info on how to do this.

4. Publicize Your Achievements

Find ways to publicize the achievements of your members including:

• Posting fliers - Make fliers for your contests and post them around campus with the contact information for your campus representative.
• Using campus media - Ask your college website and newspaper to publicize top scorers from your chapter, as well as upcoming events.

5. Grow Your Membership

Your chapter is awesome, you know it, your members know it, but unfortunately no one else does. The next step is to get some more people to join. Try:

• Approaching other student groups - Other students on your campus might share similar interests, especially those from science-oriented clubs. You can ask them if they would want to be a part of the chapter.
• Holding a contest on campus - CodeChef allows you to hold custom intra and inter campus competitions on our platform. For more information on setting up a contest, send an email to campus@codechef.coml.

That's it! You're ready to go. Fill in the sign up link form and we'll add you to our list of registered chapters. If you have other questions, please let us know at campus@codechef.com.

Interested? Fill in the sign up form and we'll get in touch with you.