Recipe for a Restart Party

a Restart Party in action

Serves 30 – 40 people

Prep Time: 

  • Organizing a venue (including location scouting) – 3 hours
  • Recruiting and publicizing – 2 hours

Fixing Time: 3 Hours (no new fixes during the last hour)

Method

  1. Set up the space to maximize flow of people, and interaction between volunteers and participants.

  2. Hosts greet people, ask questions about a device to determine what is wrong, and check in repairs on a public waiting list.

  3. Hosts match repairs with volunteers with the right skills, and volunteers set up and begin repairing. Where possible, cluster repairs, for example, all mobiles in one area.

  4. While waiting, people snack, chat, or learn more from printed materials. It helps to provide a waiting space.

Ingredients

  • A good venue (see below)
  • Basic tools
  • Extension leads
  • Masking tape for extension leads
  • A waiting list (poster / whiteboard)
  • Wayfinding signs
  • 3-4 Restarter volunteers
  • 2 Party hosts
  • Name tags or name badges
  • Tea, coffee, drinks and snacks

Venue

  • 5 large tables and chairs
  • Adequate power outlets
  • Decent lighting
  • WiFi or mobile internet access
  • Accessibility
  • Access to toilet

Tools & Supplies

Restarters in London have compiled a list of suggested tools and supplies on the Restart Wiki.  You do not need to have everything on the list to conduct a successful Restart Party, but every bit helps.  This is very much a work in progress: if you have additional suggestions, please get in touch.

Next: Publicity and recruiting volunteers

Previous: Why host a Restart Party? 

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