Last summer in L.A. the Sundance Institute presented their first-ever ShortsLab, a day-long workshop for short filmmakers. The success of the event has led the Institute to expand ShortsLab to three cities this year with the first being Chicago on May 7 (NYC will happen on July 9 and L.A. Aug. 6).

The Chicago workshop will include seminars, screenings and panels that focus on story, production and distribution. There will also be a panel dedicated to short film programmers, as they’ll talk candidly about what films they’re looking for and give tips on how to get your short noticed.

Some of the names scheduled to attend: Napoleon Dynamite director Jared Hess, Get Low director Aaron Schneider, director and Chicago native Kyle Henry, Kickstarter co-founder Yancey Strickler, Shorts International co-head of global acquisitions Linda Olszewski and Sundance shorts programmer Todd Luoto.

Tickets are $150 and available here.