Chat event possibilities

Laura

Nov 14, 2011 19:21

I had an idea I wanted to run by you guys...Katey is slowly backing away from this site as she's been given different responsibilities, and I am taking over

I was wondering if there was any interest in doing some sort of chat event - picking a topic ahead of time and scheduling a time for people to be in here together

I know that this is a pretty active room, so I didn't know if people felt like it would feel forced or unnecessary

rumtscho

gasp you would want us to stay on topic?!

Laura

haha "on topic" can mean pretty much anything - that's what chat rooms are for, chatting. ;)

but yes, I was thinking something cooking-related would be nice

rumtscho

We don't only chat about pretty much anything here, we also jump from one topic to the next without warning.

Laura

For example, maybe doing one event as a Thanksgiving preparation / harvest cooking event, and then doing one event post-Thanksgiving (something along the lines of "Share your greatest culinary success or disaster - photos welcome")

@rumtscho That's why I'm wondering if there's any interest in having a scheduled time to talk about a particular topic

rfusca

several of the active chat members are non-US though

rumtscho

Nov 14, 2011 19:24

And sometimes have unrelated conversations going in parallel.

Laura

@rfusca yes. that's why I was thinking of doing maybe harvest (whatever that means locally), and also why I'm coming in here for ideas / thoughts / concerns before I just go schedule something :)

rfusca

what about 'International holiday food' as a topic

rumtscho

But seriously, it sounds like a nice change.

@Laura I don't make any special food at that time of year.

Mien

I would give it a shot :) but I wouldn't like to talk about Thanksgiving, personally

Laura

Would Christmas be a widespread enough holiday to warrant some sort of chat?

Mien

Nov 14, 2011 19:26

at worst, we go totally offtopic

rumtscho

Actually, the "harvest" type of holiday here is in early October.

Laura

or should we just do "pick your favorite holiday and tell us what you cook for it"

rfusca

i'd go with that

or at least along those lines

rumtscho

@Laura, Christmas is widespread. At least we active non-Americans are European.

Laura

I think I like the inclusiveness of saying "pick your favorite holiday"...if it naturally gravitates towards Christmas, that'd be totally okay, but I don't want anyone to feel like their stories/recipes/whatever is out of place

rumtscho

Nov 14, 2011 19:28

I am a devote atheist, but I am well acquainted with Christmas traditions. I guess this is true for the other Europeans here.

Mien

is a birthday considered a holiday? :p

@rumtscho second that

rumtscho

On the other hand, I doubt that I will be following them to make a big meal, because I live alone and this somehow deflates the festivity of a family dinner.

But I think I am the exception, and I don't mind speaking with other people about their holiday culinary planning.

So I would support the idea, I'm OK with either Christmas or general holiday.

Maybe we could talk about Christmas food traditions in chat, with everybody presenting a regional tradition, and then start the blog with a collective post where the people who chatted explain the tradition the others liked the most.

Although, I don't even know if we will be ready with the blog planning before Chrstmas, and afterwards it doesn't make as much sense.

Laura

@rumtscho It's good to have goals :)

@Mien yes, I would consider birthdays as a holiday. I know a lot of people who have culinary traditions tied to their birthday

If you guys have any other ideas for a chat event, let me know. We don't have to do a holiday-themed one. It was just the first thing that came to my head since it's getting to be a HUGE holiday season here in the US

rfusca

A bacon themed chat?

;)

Laura

@rfusca Yes, but I would not attend :P

rumtscho

Nov 14, 2011 19:42

@Laura If we don't have the blog now, we can hold the event only now, then repeat it for Easter, and then make the post.

rfusca

ya, me neither lol

rumtscho

@rfusca We had that

A whole chat room about bacon and bacon only

rfusca

Ya, there was a whole room for bacon

Mien

@rumtscho I must've missed that

ah that

I didn't enter

Laura

@rumtscho If someone steps up and says "I will absolutely 100% write a blog post summarizing this chat event", that would probably be enough to get a blog set up

Mien

Nov 14, 2011 19:42

I don't know what to say about bacon

rumtscho

It wasn't made by any of the people who are in this chat normally

Laura

@rumtscho then once that first post is up, there's plenty of other stuff that people could blog about

the first one's always toughest

rumtscho

And it somehow spent itself after a week or two, because saying "bacon is great" became a bit repetetive

@Laura I'm not sure about that

Making one blog post is the work of an idle Sunday

Committing to making blog posts with some regularity is a chore

Laura

@rumtscho that is true, which is why it would be great to get a handful of people who are interested

even if there are only 4 people, that's only 1 post per person per month and you'd still have a regularly updated blog

And you could make that easier by keeping a meta thread (or google doc, or some other shareable solution of your choice) of evergreen ideas / writing prompts

rumtscho

yes, but the last time we talked about that there wasn't that much enthusiasm

Everybody wanted that somebody else should be responsible for the blog, and somehow they all wanted me to be the one - I don't know why, except that maybe I don't mind writing long texts.

Laura

Nov 14, 2011 19:47

Fair enough. It definitely has to spring from a desire from the community...although it's also possible that people aren't enthusiastic because they don't know what they'd write about.

rumtscho

@Laura the world is wonderful. Food is wonderful too. There is always stuff to write about. I just don't know what people would like to read.

Laura

@rumtscho It definitely shouldn't fall to just one person, though it's always good to have a sort of gatekeeper/primary owner who can schedule "assignments" (to make sure there's regularly new posts) and poke people who might be behind

rumtscho

@Laura Yes, they didn't want me to be the sole writer.

Laura

@rumtscho try it and find out! Personally, I like reading things that the author is personally invested in / enthusiastic about. You can make just about anything interesting if you communicate your passion well enough

rumtscho

I don't know about poking. Today my first master student turned in his thesis. He wasn't entirely happy with the working process and when I asked him for some honest criticism, he said I should have poked him more and generally restricted him when he either rambled on some tangential problem or became engrossed in details - both cost him time so he finished in a terribly exhausting spurt.

@Laura Well, if this event happens and delivers enough material, I can promise you the write-up if you want it.

Laura

Nov 14, 2011 19:54

@rumtscho It's not about what I want; if there has been interest in a community blog, and it just needs a little kickstart, I think this could be a good opportunity. But I'm not going to say you should do it if you don't think it will be a sustained effort

I'd like to try a chat event regardless of whether a blog post happens or not :) I think it could be fun

rumtscho

In fact, if you want to start the blog this way, I can promise you a blog post in any case - a write-up of the event if it is good enough, or else a post solely on Bulgarian Christmas food traditions

@Laura Yes, I am for a chat event.

rfusca

+1 for chat event

dassouki

Is it pussible to make glutten free vegan cakes that taste somewhat like a cake?

Laura

Cool. We'll try to do a chat event, then. Can you guys think of a good time of day and/or day of the week to do it? (i.e., is there some time where the chat is usually more active than other times?)

dassouki

possible

rumtscho

Nov 14, 2011 19:58

@Laura do we try to make it with existing active chat users, or are we trying to interest other users in chat?

Laura

Both.

I think it would help if there were guaranteed to be a few regular chat users in here for the event, but we want to attract new chat people, too

rumtscho

Because we current existing users are spread between GMT -7 and GMT +1

@dassouki How do you define "taste like"? Do you mean that fine spongy texture?

And do you consider honey vegan?

Actually, strike that. Sugar is vegan :)

rfusca

@Laura we seem to have the most user's around now'ish

rumtscho

@dassouki you could definitely approximate the taste. As in, it will be sweet and it will have the proper aroma.

Laura

@rfusca m'kay.

Mien

Nov 14, 2011 20:01

yes indeed, now-ish

rfusca

definitely not the weekend, this place is a ghost town then

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