ML NaNo Prep event

The ML NaNo Prep event will take place on Friday, September 22 at 3PM Pacific. (This post should convert the time to your time zone for you.) You can register on Zoom if you'd like to join us live, and I'll also share a recording afterwards if you can't make it in real time! Microphones and cameras are optional—you're welcome to just participate via chat. You can drop in for a bit or stay for the whole two hours.

ML kits for those who missed the pre-order

If you missed the pre-order for ML kits back in August, we now have a limited quantity of kits available for order! If you placed a pre-order, please do not order another kit. Your kit should be on its way to you now or will be soon!

Remember, it is not mandatory to host in-person events and you do not have to distribute stickers if you will not be seeing participants in person. (You can still order an ML pin without ordering an ML kit.)

Please ask any questions about ML kits in this thread.

• If you are the only ML in your region and did not pre-order an ML kit, you can order a kit now.
   
• If you will not see the other ML(s) in your region in person at any point and did not pre-order an ML kit, you can order a kit now.
   
• If you will see the other ML(s) in your region in person, please check if they pre-ordered a kit before you order a kit. 

If you aren't sure how many people to expect to see in person, here's a good way to estimate how many stickers you should order:

• Go to the "Admin" tab on your regional landing page
• Choose the "Writing" tab
• Select "NaNoWriMo 2022" from the drop down menu
• Select "Show only homed members" under the filters

It is extremely rare to see more than half of the active members of your region at in-person events. 50% of your NaNoWriMo 2022 homed members should be the maximum number of stickers you order for your region. 

Google Maps error on the site

Google changed the way their Maps API works, and that's thrown an error message for how Google Maps is integrated on our site. This is showing up in two places: entering in-person event addresses, and on the region search page.

We'll be temporarily disabling the address autofill feature on the Events page so you can still submit your events. Jezra is just testing that workaround out and should hopefully have it up on the site soon. 

We do not have a workaround for the regions page and we aren't sure yet what we'll need to do to get the new API integrated with our site, so we don't have a timeline for fixing the regions page or the address autofill. I'll keep you posted as we get more information. Sorry about this! It is unfortunate timing.

ML web badge! (And other digital flair)

In happier news, we've got this year's digital flair and LOOK AT THE ML BADGE! Is the dragon an ML? Is the dragon a NaNoWriMo participant and MLs are the dragon masters? I don't know but I love it SO MUCH.

Marya has also made us Canva templates so you can customize an ML badge or a regional header on the site with your region name or nickname! I made some examples for my new Busytown region so you can see what I mean.

If you aren't familiar with Canva but would like one or both of these for your region, pop into this thread and post with what you'd like your versions to say where mine say "Busytown" and "Busytownowrimo." If you are familiar with Canva and can help out with making versions for MLs, your assistance in that thread would be much appreciated!

You can find non-customized banners in various sizes for use in your regional spaces on the ML support hub. You can also point your participants to this year's participant badge! (It features TOE BEANS, almost as good as the dragon.)

There are so many moving parts and so much information all the time, sometimes it can be helpful to just do a quick check-in with what you should have done by now and what you should be getting ready for:

Immediate to-dos:

• Ordering an ML kit if you haven't already (see above)
   
• Confirming locations for any in-person events you're hosting 
  • You can read more about organizing events in this section of the ML training Google Classroom
     
• New MLs: finishing up the ML training in the Google Classroom

Ongoing to-dos:

• Adding your events to your events page as they're confirmed (once the workaround mentioned above has been implemented for in-person events)
   
• Approving participant-submitted events in your region (once the workaround has been implemented)
   
• Coordinating with your co-MLs to send regular regional messages about upcoming events, how they can submit their own events, and where they can find conversation and community in your region
  • You can read more about how to send regional messages in this section of the ML training Google Classroom

Task to complete by next May:

• Complete one of the ML workshops (which one depends on whether you are a new or returning ML, though you are of course welcome to participate in all of them if you want!)

Frequently used ML links

ML Support Hub
ML Forums
Join the ML Discord
ML Facebook group
New ML Training Google Classroom
ML workshop information