Evolution of First Thursday August 30, 2010
Catalyst
Asif Dyer asked to interview me. It was to be a written interview or a Skype voice chat. He was also experimenting with webinars. I had experimented with webinars too–thanks to London University's Institute of Education, and so the interview invitation became a webinar invitation instead - and then a number of webinars. I wasn't particularly interested in doing “normal” webinars (where someone does a presentation and then there are questions). I was more interested in the potential of the webinar environment and what it offered as a virtual meeting space.
Meanwhile, I was also active in Minciu Sodas (Andrius Kulikauskas' online community) and was a user of his worknets chat room.
I wanted to see how we could use the webinar space to bring together some of the Minciu Sodas people, some of my other contacts, and maybe new people as well. I soon discovered there were problems - some technical, some human.
An inclusion problem
A major problem was one of including our friends in Africa who could access the chat room but not the webinars. We experimented with running webinars and chat room sessions in parallel. This was so the ideas and discussions of the webinar could, to a certain degree, be mirrored in the chat room. The responses in the chat room could also be fed back into the webinar.
I was trying to create a kind of online club. For various reasons the webinar side of the experiment did not continue for long, but the seeds of regular online meetings had been sown. With the encouragement of Andrius Kulikauskas I developed the habit of being “at home” on the Internet in the worknets chat room for a First Thursday meeting each month.
How it went
Sometimes I had a set topic in mind and mentioned it before hand through one or more of the Minciu Sodas yahoo groups. Sometimes there was no topic. The groups were not large, but they covered a wide geographic area. Usually I'd be joined by core members of Minciu Sodas from Eastern Europe and East Africa. Often there would be others from the UK and Italy. If First Thursday lasted several hours then additional Minciu Sodas members from North America might also arrive. The starting time was rather early for them as it had been chosen to suit our friends in East Africa. As time went by more of my friends and contacts from West Africa also got familiar with the chat room and First Thursdays.
Sometimes no one would turn up and so I'd leave the chat room for a while. I'd check if any of my contacts were around elsewhere online, such as on Yahoo or Skype, greet them there and then invite them back to the chat room. If I knew I was gong to be travelling, and therefore unable to be "at home" on the Internet, I would get someone else to take my place so that people knew there would always be someone around to meet at First Thursday.
Development
With the passing of time various things have happened which have relevance to the development of First Thursdays. These relate to:
Dadamac weekly UK–Nigeria online meetings.
Dadamac Days (an annual on-line celebration of Teachers Talking and more).
Change of direction in Minciu Sodas.
Closure of the worknets chat room.
The outcome is that the emphasis has shifted from Minciu Sodas to Dadamac and we are currently holding first Thursdays on Skype.
Latest inclusion issues
I only know how to include people who are already my Skype contacts (I guess from now on I had better accept anyone who asks to connect with me on Skype, in case they want to come to First Thursday. My Skype ID is Pamelamclean.) When I do set up a public meeting on Skype the invitation appears by my name – like a mood message.
I know that Skype is not an option for some of my contacts and I apologise for that. If you are one of the people who can't use Skype please e-mail me so we can think how to include you in some way.
Dynamics of the meeting
I'm still experimenting with best strategies for running a First Thursday meeting. It can't be too structured, because different people turn up at different times, and they have varying ideas of what to expect. If only a few people turn up at any one time then an unstructured conversation can be quite productive, especially if the people already have some knowledge of where their overlapping interests lie. However, if there are too many people and no structure the conversation gets “too noisy” and less productive. Having a chairman is one option (and it is a strategy that we use very effectively in the UK Nigerian meetings) however it can seem over formal in other situations.
My present strategy for First Thursdays is to have the following roles:
Host (the human kind) – This is the person who has set up the session (i.e. me for First Thursdays). I have an overall responsibility for how things go. I try to be there before the First Thursday session starts and I stay around for at least the full hour. If other people want to stay longer I make it clear when we are changing from the First Thursday session into informal follow-up and general networking (and at that point I can leave with a clear conscience).
Guest of honour – When I designate someone to be “guest of honour” then it means their interests will be the focus for the discussion. Everyone shares the responsibility for making the guest of honour feel welcome and able to learn more from others in the group. Having a guest of honour is less formal than having a chairman and an agenda, but it is more structured than having everyone pulling the conversation in various directions. Guest of honour is a role that one person can hold throughout the session, or it can be passed from one to another. It depends on how the session is going.
Usher – The usher's job is to notice when any newcomers join the group, welcome them (on behalf of everyone) and help them to join in easily with minimum disruption to those already in discussion.
Developing the roles and dynamics
Given the way that first Thursdays happen, I can't easily give everyone directions beforehand, or coach them in particular roles. It is more a matter of evolution, emerging behaviour, role modelling and the gradual development of group norms and expectations. I've tried various different dynamics for First Thursday's and “guest of honour” is currently my preferred one. However, it is an ongoing learning experience and new roles and dynamics may well emerge over the coming months.
Pamela McLean
UK-Africa Connections
Dadamac Limited
Email pamela.mclean@dadamac.net
Twitter @Pamela_McLean and #dadamac
Website http://www.dadamac.net/company
Dadamac's Posterous http://dadamac.posterous.com/
Dadamac - "We introduce people to each other (mostly UK-Nigeria) and help them do useful stuff. We also share our secrets on working well at a distance"