A third Coffeehouse Chat - middle of the day?

[SeanRivercritic]

To shift things around a bit, I wonder if anyone would be interested in a middle-of-the-day Coffeehouse Chat. There are a good chunk of us who stop on the shoutbox during work, and for that chunk, that’s essentially the only time we can make it onto the shoutbox or the forums.

I was thinking something along the lines of Thursday at 12:00pm EST. I have a conference call at 2:00pm, so this would do a nice job of filling in the gaps.

I’d also like to consider coming in with a predetermined topic each week, after the usual check-ins and all of that. I might consider opening up an email box for shoutbox chat topics, if we want to head down this road.

I’ll open up this thread for suggestions, but since these chats are your ‘babies’, PT, I’ll leave the final decision up to you.

[Munchkin]

Personally, this works out great for me, and would do much to give me something to look forward to after two hard days of dealing with my crazy coworker. That period of time tends to be a bit hit and miss for how busy it’ll be on my end (9am pst, yeah?), but it should be late enough in the week to not be too much trouble. It also feels like a good spacer too for those who can attend all three.

[Poetigress]

I’m open to the idea, Sean, as long as you or someone else are able to commit to hosting it long-term. (Though I do think 3 official chats is going to have to be the absolute limit from here on out.)

As far as topics, the more I’ve thought about it, the more I’d like for the chats to keep the same format across the board, to minimize any possible confusion when promoting them. So, I’d like to either have all 3 of them open chats, or all 3 with a topic (possibly, then, a weekly topic for all 3?).

I’d planned on doing a poll soon to ask whether people wanted set topics… some of the recent chats have worked well without them, and some have kind of been slower/more random than I’d like, but I’d like to get more input from participants before we make a decision one way or the other.

I had started wondering if the chat was really serving a good purpose in its current open format, bearing in mind that when I started it, the shoutbox really wasn’t used all that much, and especially wasn’t used for substantive conversation. That’s changed dramatically (to the point where I wish sometimes people would start more threads rather than just discussing things in the shoutbox, to give more people a chance to participate in the discussion over time), so it’s possible the chat format needs to evolve a bit now, to be more than just an informal social thing, since there’s informal social stuff happening most of the time there anyway these days. shrugs

So that’s my two cents, and we’ll see what happens as others chime in.

[SeanRivercritic]

I’m open to the idea, Sean, as long as you or someone else are able to commit to hosting it long-term. (Though I do think 3 official chats is going to have to be the absolute limit from here on out.)

With the exception of a couple of weeks that I know in advance (back to school weeks) that I may have trouble hosting it, I’d have no problem with this. Day job is dead, which is why I’m on the forums during the day.

As far as topics, the more I’ve thought about it, the more I’d like for the chats to keep the same format across the board, to minimize any possible confusion when promoting them. So, I’d like to either have all 3 of them open chats, or all 3 with a topic (possibly, then, a weekly topic for all 3?).

I’d planned on doing a poll soon to ask whether people wanted set topics… some of the recent chats have worked well without them, and some have kind of been slower/more random than I’d like, but I’d like to get more input from participants before we make a decision one way or the other.

I had started wondering if the chat was really serving a good purpose in its current open format, bearing in mind that when I started it, the shoutbox really wasn’t used all that much, and especially wasn’t used for substantive conversation. That’s changed dramatically (to the point where I wish sometimes people would start more threads rather than just discussing things in the shoutbox, to give more people a chance to participate in the discussion over time), so it’s possible the chat format needs to evolve a bit now, to be more than just an informal social thing, since there’s informal social stuff happening most of the time there anyway these days. shrugs

Agreed, and now that the shoutbox is so active during the day (more or less on weekdays due to the people hanging out while at work), a set topic to discuss in the official timeslots would be great. And if we can utilize an email box that you, Dwale, and I could keep an eye on, then we could pull ideas from there and not have to worry about thinking of the topics. A thought, anyways.

I do agree that threads would be nice. I know there have been a handful of threads that have started because of shoutbox and Twitter conversations, and I’m hoping that could continue with these chats.

Either way, I can look to start the first Thursday chat tomorrow, if you want. Can wait on the topic part until we get some feedback.

[Poetigress]

With the exception of a couple of weeks that I know in advance (back to school weeks) that I may have trouble hosting it, I’d have no problem with this. Day job is dead, which is why I’m on the forums during the day.

Would also have to decide what to do about Thanksgiving and (for this year at least) Christmas and New Year’s Day. With that in mind, rather than starting tomorrow, it might be better to go ahead and start the first week in December, so we’re not starting it one week and then taking the next one off right away.

And if we can utilize an email box that you, Dwale, and I could keep an eye on, then we could pull ideas from there and not have to worry about thinking of the topics.

I think just a forum thread here for suggestions would be fine, without having to go to the trouble of setting up an email.

[SeanRivercritic]

With the exception of a couple of weeks that I know in advance (back to school weeks) that I may have trouble hosting it, I’d have no problem with this. Day job is dead, which is why I’m on the forums during the day.

Would also have to decide what to do about Thanksgiving and (for this year at least) Christmas and New Year’s Day. With that in mind, rather than starting tomorrow, it might be better to go ahead and start the first week in December, so we’re not starting it one week and then taking the next one off right away.

Good point, and since most of the point of the chat is that people are online at work far more than they are at home, having them on the holiday wouldn’t work so well. So lets skip those.

And if we can utilize an email box that you, Dwale, and I could keep an eye on, then we could pull ideas from there and not have to worry about thinking of the topics.

I think just a forum thread here for suggestions would be fine, without having to go to the trouble of setting up an email.

True. A stickied topic will work just as well. Though we’ll have to keep a log somewhere of what topics have been done, so that we aren’t repeating the topic forty times. After all, only a few of us can go back through the logs and see what was discussed.

[Huskyteer]

That’s 5PM for me - a nice way to wind down for the last half hour of the working day

[Poetigress]

Though we’ll have to keep a log somewhere of what topics have been done, so that we aren’t repeating the topic forty times. After all, only a few of us can go back through the logs and see what was discussed.

The previous topics can just be listed in that same thread, so people making suggestions can also see what was already done. (Assuming, again, that most people want set topics, which we’ll find out.)

[Munchkin]

Hey, for what it’s worth, if anything at all, I have holidays off while Spirit works them. Because of this I’ll probably just be twiddling my thumbs doing nothing at all. Every Thursday that’s not a holiday, I’m at a (mostly) slow job, so if need be and if Sean could give me a head’s up (even just a dm through twitter a bit ahead of time), I can be a back-up for hosting Thursday chats.

I also agree that a specific topic for the chats would be a great idea.

[Poetigress]

Just a heads-up that I’ll be making the poll later this evening about whether to have set topics or not, and possibly another aspect or two related to the chats.

[Munchkin]

I’ll definitely look for it tomorrow if it’s not up before I leave :3