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Social Chat Culture: Thoughts on joining #lrnchat

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The social chatting culture has been quite rampant and people seem to love an online discussion with 'tweeple' as they are known. Or is that term old already? Today, I chanced up on lrnchat on Twitter in a time that I could attend and quite enjoyed the conversations. The dexterous manner in which planned questions for a topic were put forth and people responding with quick thoughts itself was really enjoyable and overwhelming. I think some of the key things to note in an online conversation is the spontaneity of the answers and often every one has a valid point. The answer often comes without much thought or speculation and is very instantaneous and I believe it is this quality that makes it interesting.

We have similar social chats on Fridays in our organization and they're quite fun too. Such sessions give employees an outlet to express how things can be improved, what they think is important, and overall build a conversation that has a capacity to bring out what people have in mind in an informal manner. The outcomes can be interesting as people are uninhibited as they might be in formal meetings; they joke chat and contribute whatever comes to their mind, and you automatically have some excellent points made in the end. Overall, every one enjoys a brainstorming session on a topic with some guiding questions to carry the discussion forward to a possible outcome. In addition, they have an ability to help you network with like-minded people or people who share your interest areas.

Some tips for planning a social chat:
  • Choose a topic that appeals to a larger audience using voting or polls.
  • Choose an organizer who can plan how this topic can be discussed or guided.
  • Assign moderators to help the main organizer and act as guides during the session.
  • Schedule a time and date for the discussion to take place. An hour of discussion is the ideal amount of time. It can be less or more depending on the volume of participants expected, and capacity of conversation that the topic can initiate.
  • Have the organizer prepare a short excerpt of the goal of the discussion, why it is important, and what will the key points in question.
  • The organizer may share this information with the moderators and use some of their feedback.
  • Find ways to pass on this information to the larger audience by tweeting to groups, setting up an event, writing on your website or blog.
It may be a good idea for the organizer and moderator to be an expert in the topic but also be open to new ideas and feedback.

Tips to Organize the session:
  • Have the organizer write a welcome note and ask all participants to introduce themselves.
  • Initiate the conversation in any fashion deemed suitable. A question a picture or video to look etc.
  • Once the conversation is on, the organizer should keep an eye on the time and initiate the next question or point for discussion.
  • In the end, thank people for participation, ask them to share links, feedback, or suggest more topics.
  • Finally, publish a transcript of the discussion for the benefit of the others who wished to attend but could not.
I would recommend anyone to attend social chats simple to experience the value that they can bring if done right.
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Comments

  1. We're having a BabyFriday, October 01, 2010

    Great post Sreya, which nicely sums up my experience of Social Chat. As someone who works from home all of the time, I find these Friday Social Chats an invaluable way of interacting with people and making good connections with colleagues, who I might otherwise not have contact with.

    ReplyDelete

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