🚧 WIP — schedule is settled; email copy assembles closer to send.

Two sends: the poll goes out early, and all the prereq content lands in a single prep email once the repo is locked. A short day-before note is optional.

The schedule

When What Gate
Early — as soon as it's ready React-skill poll none — send it
~Sep 1 The prep email — everything deps locked, repo public, verify green
Sep 4–5 (optional) Short logistics note only if something didn't fit the prep email

The poll (early send, 3 questions, ~30 seconds)

Framed as "help us tune the workshop," not a gate. It's also the "it's coming" touchpoint, which matters since the prep email doesn't land until a week out:

  1. How often do you write React these days? — daily · sometimes · rarely/never (but I've seen it)
  2. Have you used React Three Fiber before? — shipped something · played with it · never touched it
  3. What laptop + browser are you bringing? — macOS / Windows / Linux, and which browser

Q1 tunes how hard the email pushes the React quick-start. Q2 tunes L1 pacing. Q3 flushes out WebGPU problems weeks early instead of at the setup gate.

The prep email (~Sep 1) — outline

Draws its text from 01 · Prerequisites plus the repo block. Order matters — the copy-pasteable part goes first:

  1. The one block that matters — clone, pnpm install, pnpm verify, pnpm dev → you see the scene. Copy-pasteable, at the top. "If verify is green, you're done — 15 minutes."
  2. Do this at home. Conference wifi is for git, not node_modules. (The line that must survive editing.)
  3. Your machine — Node 22 via a version manager, corepack for pnpm, and the WebGPU browser check (current Chrome/Edge safe, check link). If verify fails, this section is why.
  4. The React part — we assume passing familiarity; if you're rusty, the React quick start the weekend before is enough, and it makes your Monday visibly better.
  5. What you're building — one line + the site link. Let the site do the selling.
  6. Logistics — address, doors at 8:45, laptop + charger, help channel link, "setup still broken? come at 8:30."
  7. Day 2 teaser — three tracks, you'll pick Monday afternoon.

Timing trade-off, accepted: one week is enough for the React quick-start and for fixing whatever verify catches — and the poll covers the early-warning job a separate earlier email would have done.