For Alliance Program and Catalyst Program members, it's nice to have a helping hand once in awhile. Each week, we make space available for you to bring your laptop in and work on your project. If you need help, we're around for questions, and so are the other lab hours participants!

Lab hours are each Wednesday afternoon from 4:00PM - 6:00PM and Friday morning from 10:00AM - 12:00PM in our Minneapolis office.

Attendance at up to 4 sessions per month is free for Alliance Program members and Catalyst Program members!

If you're not in the Twin Cities, or if you need extra help throughout the week, you can sign up for our lab hours email discussion list, where you can ask questions or start new discussions.

Lab hours format

Generally, the two-hour session works out like this:

1. During a quick round of introductions, each attendee identifies a goal or a task he or she would like to accomplish during the session.  Usually it's something like configuring a module, completing a theming task, or setting up a new feature on the site.
2. Everyone works independently - or in small groups to complete what they've set out to do.  Several members of the Advantage Labs staff make the rounds to help answer questions or explain concepts.
3. 10 minutes before the end of the session, we break and go around the room again.  Each attendee describes what they've done or learned.

Tips for getting the most of lab hours

• Arrive on time: It's easier to pair up to tackle problems when you are part of the introduction round.
• Come with a goal: Prepare a task you would like to accomplish or a question you'd like to have us answer.  Make sure it's something you can attain during the course of the session so that you can feel free
• Take care of your support requests: If you are having trouble accessing the server, need something set up, or think something may be wrong; make sure to file a support request with us well in advance of lab hours.  That way, you can stay focused on your progress, not on your roadblocks.
• Try to stay on task: Sometimes it gets downright silly at lab hours, and that's part of the fun as you build friendships and share ideas.  But please remember we're all trying to get a lot done, and most of us have a lot to attend to after lab hours.  It helps everyone if we can keep our summaries short and get out on time.