Meet and greet chat night

[Ophelia]

Yes, I could do that.

[Chris OConnor]

Thursday the 27th sounds good to me too. It will always be difficult to schedule a chat session during the week that is acceptable to members on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

9:00 pm eastern has proven to be the best time for members residing in the United States. The reason is that there is a 3-hour time difference between the west and east coast of the continental United States. So a chat session at 9:00 pm for people in the Eastern Time zone is a little late in the evening, but it allows them time to finish their day's activities before logging in for some fun chatting. And 9:00 pm Eastern time = 6:00 Pacific time. This is also a decent time for people out in California or the east coast to finish their work day and then come home and log in for a chat.

The real question is....

What time zone are you all in? If we don't have anyone in the western United States then we don't have to worry about accommodating their schedules. Things instantly get easier to work out when we just have the eastern USA and the UK.

What we did with the Richard Dawkins chat session is schedule the chat during the weekend. And we might want to consider doing this again. Since several members are obviously in Europe we might want to do a Saturday the 29th chat at around 11:00 am Eastern, which equates to about 4:00 or 5:00 in the UK. We did the Richard Dawkins chat around 10:00 or 11:00 am eastern I believe.

Then again it is very difficult to accommodate such huge time differences and we might be biting off more than we can chew. We could always do two different chat sessions.

Thursday, December 27, 2007 at 4:00 pm Eastern (9:00 pm UK)
Thursday, December 27, 2007 at 9:00 pm Eastern (2:00 am UK)

From years of experience trying to coordinate such chats this is what I am suggesting. Schedule a chat session for...

Thursday, December 27, 2007 at 9:00 pm Eastern (2:00 am UK)

...and...

Saturday, December 29, 2007 at 1, 2, 3 or 4:00 Eastern (6, 7, 8 or 9:00 pm UK)

Please let me know what you decide so I can do the following...

1. Post the chat sessions on the Calendar
2. Move the calendar back up to the top so it gets some attention
3. Send out an email to the entire community announcing both chats
4. Send out reminder emails as we approach the chat dates
5. Announce the chat sessions in our Announcement area

Chris

[Ophelia]

Chris,

Weekends are a good idea for me.

Would there be enough people to share into two two groups, or enough people willing to take part in both chats?

[George Ricker]

Chris,

We've tentatively agreed to hold a chat session on Thursday night, December 27th. Rosemary started the ball rolling on this, and she has asked me to shepherd it along since she will be unable to take part, because of personal matters.

She thought it was important to go ahead with it on Dec. 27th because several of the new members, as well as a few old hands, had expressed interest, and the general consensus seemd to be that the time should be either 7, 8 or 9 p.m. on that evening.

I picked the middle time, 8 p.m. EST, but would not mind moving it up or back an hour, if that's more convenient for those who plan to participate.

Scheduling another chat seems premature right now. However, if this works out, maybe next month we could try one on a Saturday or Sunday and have it at a time when folks on both sides of the Atlantic would be likely to be up and about.

But right now, I think we'll stay with the Dec. 27th date and start the session at 8 p.m., unless those who plan to participate want some other arrangement.

George

[MadArchitect]

Would there be enough people to share into two two groups, or enough people willing to take part in both chats?

Rose mentioned to me that she didn't particularly want to divide off the chat. She certainly doesn't seem opposed to having more than one chat, but her aim, I think, was to get as many of the new and old people together in one chat, so we could all meet and greet one another.

Of course, I say that, and then have to turn right around and admit that I probably won't be able to make it to any nighttime chats this coming week. I've taken off a lot of work time prior to Christmas, and I'm making up for it by working straight through New Years'. I'll definitely try to make the next one, though.

[Loricat]

Western Canada here -- I would like to try to make it, as I've just re-surfaced and would like to chat.

[Chris OConnor]

Ok, then 8:00 pm Eastern it is. I'll do my best to spread the word.

[George Ricker]

Ok, then 8:00 pm Eastern it is. I'll do my best to spread the word.

Thanks, Chris, that will be great.

One question. We start the chat at 8 p.m. Is there any limit on how late it can go? Or is it just a matter of keeping it going until interest wanes. I've only been involved in a couple of these things, so I was just wondering.

George

[Chris OConnor]

We can stay and chat al night long if people are in the mood. No rules need to be set. Our past casual chat sessions usually started at 9:00 pm and lasted for several hours. People came and went over the course of the chat, but most were there for the entire time period. It used to be the highlight of BookTalk, in my opinion. If we could get back to doing a casual chat every Thursday evening I'd be really happy.

[JulianTheApostate]

Maybe I'll participate for once. Normally, I work late, and I'm in California, but I'm taking the week off.