JCCC3: Speed Meeting Discussion Topic

edited July 2012 in JoCo Cruise
As advised by the forum powers that be, Speed Meeting how has it's very own discussion topic!  Therefore, I shall use my own Beige Bear authority to decree the following: Discuss!
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  • edited July 2012
    Previous post from Excitement thread!

    For those who don't watch Facebook like a hawk, Crickett Hutchinson posted an idea about Speed Meeting.

    So I just read something about Speed Meeting, which I thought might work with the whole Extrovert/Introvert thing. It's kind of like Speed Dating, but just to meet a bunch of people. I envision it happening during or quite soon after the initial cocktail party. Both Extroverts and Introverts would sign up, Introverts would be seated, and Extroverts would be moving from table to table. That way, the Introverts wouldn't even have to approach anyone. At 5-10 minute intervals, the Extroverts all change to the next table/Introvert.

    The idea got a great response, and we put together a small planning group in the hopes of making something like this a reality.  If you want to know more or want to be involved, look us up on Facebook!  Or feel free to ask here if you're not on Facebook.  We can also create our own thread if the demand is high enough (Good news! Demand was high enough!).  There's still a lot of time to hammer out the details, but once we have some concrete information, we'll be sure to update the wiki as well :)
  • edited August 2012
    Previous post from Excitement thread!

    ARRRRR! The Speed Meeting planning group needs your help! We are gathering some data that will help us make Speed Meeting a reality on JCCC3. We have put together a survey asking about some specific aspects of the event.  This is a great opportunity for you to let us know what you want to see in the Speed Meeting event.  Whether you're attending JCCC3 or not, even if you don't think you're interested in Speed Meeting, please take a few minutes to fill this out and give us some feedback.  We can't wait to hear from you!

    http://tinyurl.com/cs5658h

    Edit: The previously posted link is no longer functional.  This new link will take you to Google Docs, where the survey has been remade.
  • edited July 2012
    Previous post from Excitement thread!

    Big huge ginormous thank you for the survey response we've gotten so far!  As of writing, we have received 84 responses, roughly 15% of last years Sea Monkey population.  That is a fantastic chunk of data we have to work with.  It's never too late to respond though (well, after January 2013 would probably be too late...beyond the point!).  We're constantly looking for more feedback and suggestions, so if you're just joining us, don't hesitate to help us out!

    Since we got such a great quantity of responses, we wanted to address some common points that came up in the survey.  While we're still a long ways away from JCCC3, but we can still provide some insight into the direction we're heading.


    Will Sea Monkeys be in any way obligated to participate?

    Not at all! Like all things JCCC, Speed Meeting is entirely voluntary. While we have every intention of maintaining the basic structure of the event, a number of aspects will be optional, including participation in multiple events, participation as a couple, use of ice breakers, etc.

    Will groups be split based on interests, region, gender, relationship status, favorite type of monkey, etc?

    Short answer, no. Our goal is simply to provide all Sea Monkeys with a means of meeting each other in a comfortable and structured environment, and the ideal outcome for us is that a number of new friendships are created. It's great to see interest in these specific groups on the cruise, but they're simply not aligned with the goals of this particular event.

    Not even dating?

    Not even dating! In the interest of making things comfortable for everyone, we do ask that any romantic interests or inquiries be kept outside of the Speed Meeting event.

    What happens if we have nothing to talk about?

    We were discussing the possibility of providing ice breakers before the survey went out, and the responses we got only confirmed the demand for them. We will definitely be providing some form of ice breakers for participants. We haven't decided exactly what they will be yet, but they will definitely be appropriate for the Sea Monkey community.

    I'm not sure if I'm an Introvert or an Extrovert!

    While we're using Intro and Extro as a guideline, the main factor is basically which side of the table you feel more comfortable on. If you would rather people come to you, then feel free to stick to the Intro side. If you're cool with going from person to person and helping maintain the conversation, then go for Extro. If you're comfortable on either side, then we will most likely ask you to take part in whichever side has less people.

    When will Speed Meeting happen?

    This is far from set in stone, and may not be set in stone until we have an official schedule to work around. However, as of right now, we would like to have one major event towards the beginning of JCCC3, an undetermined number of smaller events throughout the week, and probably a beta test at the Radisson and/or Cocoa Beach.

    What happens if we end up meeting someone more than once via Speed Meeting?

    Good question! We actually don't have a solid answer for this scenario yet. Suggestions welcome!

    I have a different idea for an event or social activity!

    That's great! Remember that Speed Meeting is just one Sea Monkey-driven event on JCCC3, and isn't mutually exclusive with anything else. We encourage you to pursue your idea and make it happen. However, there was an overwhelming amount of positive feedback from the survey, so we would like to maintain the Speed Meeting format for the purposes of our event.

    Who is Beige Bear?

    We're using the name Beige Bear to collectively refer to the Speed Meeting planning group. If Scarface can do it, we can too!

    I'd like to get in touch with you guys!


    And we'd love to hear from you! The more discussion there is about Speed Meeting, the better! We are certainly keeping a close eye on all of our networking channels, but because we're such amazingly tech savvy people, we have also set up our very own email address! You can reach us directly at [email protected] with questions, comments, suggestions, anything at all related to the event!


    Thanks again everyone!  Feel free to continue discussions here, on threads on the various social networks, or at our email listed above!

    -Beige Bear
  • Good thread! :)
  • As a confirmed omnivert, I will be interested in seeing how this shapes up.
  • I'm really interested in this as well, as I noted in the Facebook thread. If there's anything I can do to help, please let me know!
  • Is it just me, or is that survey link broken?

    Also, fantastic idea! I'm looking forward to seeing how this turns out. :)
  • Kwik Survey has posted a notice that their servers have been brought down on account of malicious means.  We unfortunately have gotten what we paid for.  We do not have an alternative for the time being, but we do have a backup copy of the now 100+ responses we've received, and you can always reach us at [email protected].  Unless Google goes down.  FSM help us if Google goes down...
  • Google failure is surely an apocalyptic omen of the end times.

  • Perhaps less user-friendly, but you can create surveys at Google that populate a spreadsheet in Google Docs. May be an option for getting your survey back up.
  • Alas, folks like workers at my company, which blocks Google spyware, couldn't participate if the survey relied on Google scripts.
  • edited July 2012
    They don't have Internet at home?

    Even if they don't, "some people blocked" is probably a better alternative than "everybody everywhere blocked."
  • So it sounds like Kiwk Survey is more or less gone for good.  When I find some time*, I'll look in to remaking the survey via Google Docs (sorry Brett) so we can get more feedback.  Sorry about all this :(

    *Time finding capabilities may be directly related to the duration of the Steam Summer Sale.
  • So, I don't understand why people start sentences with so, but I didn't realize that Google Docs has survey functionality. Does it? If not, maybe use SurveyMonkey?
  • BryBry
    edited July 2012
    @arenson9 Have you asked Seamus Heaney? (Search for "Conventional" in that link to find the relevant paragraphs.)

    And Google Docs does have survey functionality -- you can create what they call a "Form" and add questions, and it'll populate a spreadsheet with submitted answers. As I recall, the interface for creating the questions was kinda unpleasant, but it's possible they've improved it in the last couple years.
  • edited July 2012
    And once you're done, Google has not only access to the results of your survey but tracking cookies on the machines of all participants! How wonderful. :-S
  • edited July 2012
    Survey Monkey was the first place I investigated when I originally put this thing together, but they are an aggressive "pay for premium" type service, which included features like seeing your results in a convenient format.  As novel as the name would be for this community, I decided it was best to look elsewhere.

    So much hindsight...
  • So, if you aren't worried about having a 3rd party to ensure anonymity, you can run something like Lime Survey (http://www.limesurvey.org/) it is open source, easy to use, and isn't as invasive as Google or Survey Monkey.
  • Or I can activate the "Webform" module on one of my Drupal installs and someone can give me the questions to ask and I can host everything privately, and give someone(s) a login(s) to access the results (or enough admin privilege to create the survey themselves if they have experience with it). Should be quick and easy.
  • Often, these days, when I see a post that starts with 'so', my impression is that the writer is claiming a level of importance or authority that isn't there's to claim. Am I alone in this?
  • Ugh -- it's just occurred to me how far off from the point of this thread my post about 'so' is. If there's someone willing and able to make it a new thread instead, please do. I don't see a way to delete or move it myself.
  • So, @arenson9, I have the authority to delete your post but not to move it, and my personal policy is that I don't like deleting other people's posts. If you want to start a new thread, you can then edit your post in this thread to divert to the other thread instead.

    Um, back on topic: So who's up for some Speed Meeting?
  • So, a night's rest suggests to me that I don't actually care that much about sentences that start with so.

    but thank you, Bry.
  • One of the major aspects of speed meeting is providing "icebreakers" to promote easier conversation and avoid uncomfortable silences and awkwardness.  To that end, we are attempting to compile an assortment of conversation prompts that we can handout.  

    We don't want any old boring "So what do *you* do?" prompts.  We'd prefer something a bit more appropriate to sea monkeys.  More along the lines of "So what made you decide to attend a crazy JoCo Cruise?" , "Batman or Iron Man?"  or "Have you gotten your pencil sharpened by David Rees yet? :wink:"  (just kidding on the last one.)  

    As you can tell, we are DESPERATE for ideas.  Help!  Please share your ideas and favorite conversational prompts.  I hope to field test them at a couple of events coming up in the next few months.

    Thanks so much for your help!  
  • there's something to be said for boring questions. I start many conversations with a variation of "what do you do all day long?" because people know how to answer that question (probably because it's so common), and the answer usually leads to other topics of conversation.

    I think the best questions are the ones that lead to other questions (or comments, hence: conversation).

    on the last cruise I often asked people which performer they were most excited about, or which show they had most unexpectedly enjoyed. I also asked a lot of questions about where people were from and what it was like there, but I guess that is a "boring" question. :(
  • BryBry
    edited August 2012
    @melagee Agreed, totally -- I can't tell you my preference between Batman and Iron Man because I *gasp* haven't read or seen anything with Iron Man in it. On the other hand, I can actually tell you what I do all day, or at least most days I can.

    (The real reason I'm disinclined to go on any cruises is that I'm kinda a snork at heart. But that's a different thread.)

  • Paul or Storm? Wil or Anne? Tom Baker or... which other Doctor?
  • Probably the most common opener in Geneva is 'where are you from?' and the answer usually takes several minutes. Someone I met says she finds it more interesting to ask which food they'd rather eat off a lover. I like 'which languages do you speak?' because I'm a bit of a language geek and I like to feed the inferiority complex right off the bat. But for the cruise, I will copy and paste what I said on Facebook:

    Well there's the speed round from Len's Geek A Week interviews (from memory, with Legends of Video Games ones in parentheses, and I've since had doubts about which of these were actually in the speed round): How would you kill a zombie? Marvel or DC? (Console or PC?) If you could have two superpowers, what would they be, and why? (You're on your primordial character creation screen. Which two attributes would you move all the way to the right?) Would you use those powers for good or for evil? Who would be your nemesis? It's the end of the world. Which one item (platform and single game) would you bring with you as you explore the Mad-Max-like terrain?

    Or, you could just have a fez full of very well-known characters/things/cruise performers and another full of possible domains to compete in (e.g. cake baking, making Wil Wheaton squee, fighting zombies), pick two cards from the first hat and one from the second, and discuss which of the characters would win in a [domain] fight.

    Various questions have been suggested relating to the Famous People, which ones we discovered first and how, which we don't know yet, and our favourite ones.

    I find T-shirts to be good conversation starters by themselves.
  • Sincerest apologies for the delay in this, but I've finally managed to remake the survey for anyone who hasn't taken it yet.  Big thank you to everyone who offered hosting assistance, but as my primary concern is stability after the previous incident, I decided to stick with Google to be absolutely sure in that regard.

    http://tinyurl.com/cs5658h

    You do not need to retake the survey if you took it before.  We have all the data from the previous host stored elsewhere.

    Thanks again for all your feedback!
  • @melagee @Bry - I agree. I'm 5-10 years behind on movies, and don't play board games. I'm a computer geek who works all the time. I'd be afraid I couldn't answer a lot of very pointed geek questions. I think general but interesting questions are better.
  • edited August 2012
    I've also pretty much given up on keeping up with all the TV, movies, and books some geeks regard as essential (it's a mind-bogglingly big world after all), though I've probably heard enough songs about them that I could fake some kind of understanding (and I watched Firefly last year so I'd understand the songs better.) That's why I suggested 'cruise performers' as people for the fighting fez, since we'd all have at least a passing familiarity with all or most of them.

    ETA: I guess I should add computer games to the list of things I only know from songs, since, as I mentioned, I've listened to the soundtracks of all the Humble Bundle games without playing them, and played Portal mainly because of JoCo. Apparently I'm some kind of music lover.
  • edited August 2012
    When I was an undergrad at Case Tech -- a geeky engineering school -- we had a yearly film festival which helped us catch up and keep up with the latest in geek culture (though it was not called that at the time). 3 full days of cult classics plus the latest viral stuff. You came out of it with a real education -- sufficient to help you get most of the jokes and references that were being made around you. I and my girlfriend at the time (not the woman I ultimately married, but a smart and attractive astronomy major who's very much a geek to this day), brought sleeping bags and camped out on the floor of the auditorium. Maybe there should be a similar "crash course" for the rest of us -- in meatspace, on the Internet, or both.
  • Where's your favorite place that you've traveled or where would you most like to travel? Why?

    Got any pets?

    What's something about your home town or where you live that most people don't know?

    What's the most unusual thing you've ever worn? Why did you wear it?

    Do you have a spouse/partner? How did you meet him or her?


  • I love this idea! (Which I said on Facebook), so I'd be totally in on doing whatever you guys need done (which it seems like we need some ice breakers?). They obviously have to be able to reach to non-nerds too, because not everyone is as nerdy as everyone else!

    I'm huge into food, so a good question would be five favorite foods (and omg, there is a ton of food on the cruise!).

    They can also talk about any excursions they would like to go on (this is a good one for a pairing with someone who went on excursions last year because recommendations can be made, even though we aren't with the same company).

    I'll try to think of more. :]
  • @arenson9 excellent suggestions for questions that most people can come up with answers to regardless of their degree of pop cultural immersion.
  • I love this idea! Where do I sign up?
  • We've put in venue requests for Speed Meeting, and it sounds like we're shooting for a few sessions over the first two days, in addition to some runs at the JoCotels.  While we certainly want to accommodate everyone, we may have to turn people away based on how much space we're given.  There will not be sign ups, although we may do an RSVP thing at some point to gauge how many people we can expect.  Hopefully we won't have to turn anyone away, but if we do, It will most likely be first come first serve with a recommended Wheaton's Law for repeat participants.
  • edited December 2012
    There are several ways to do the physical arrangements for "speed dating" or "speed meeting." Do you plan to divide the group into halves which are "stationary" and "roaming," and obtain half as many small tables as there are participants? Or do a more exotic rotation scheme so that everyone can meet everyone?
  • @BrettGlass: Read the second post in this thread. :)
  • edited December 2012
    Just re-read that message. It doesn't explain how the "introverts" and "extroverts" meet others from their own cohorts.

    Heterosexual "speed dating" assumes that people are -- at least for the purposes of the event -- interested only in meeting people from the other group. We obviously can't assume that here, so we need to use a format that allows everyone to meet everyone else.
  • Small tables is the answer, although the specifics beyond that aren't set in stone yet :)
  • edited December 2012
    Small tables won't introduce the "introverts" to other "introverts" or "extroverts" to other "extroverts."

    Some formats use larger tables, so people can meet three or four at a time and everyone can meet everyone more quickly. To avoid duplicate meetings, they use multiple rotations whose lengths are relatively prime. Getting this right is a neat mathematical (and combinatorial) problem.
  • And then there's adding significant others into the mix - my wife is far more interesting than I and people get bored with just me. So I'd want to have her at the same table.

    Yay complexity!  :)
  • @Kvort_the_duck: Even if you did your best to imitate a statue, I doubt people would get bored with you in the few minutes they have with you. I, for one, would be amused by the statue impression.

    @BrettGlass: Maybe we should wait and see how many people and how much time we have before thinking about that problem; I suspect there won't be time for everyone to meet everyone else anyway, so just havng everyone meet half the others would be sufficient.
  • Half a group is way better than just a very very few of a group, which is what happened a lot last cruise. I'll take what I can get! :)
  • edited December 2012
    It's really not much harder to set things up so that everyone meets everyone. It just requires a few minutes' forethought and knowing the number of participants.

    BTW, I recently watched a Chamber of Commerce "speed meeting" event go terribly wrong because they had exactly the WRONG numbers of tables and participants. People were paired with the same people several times and never got to meet most of the others. When I tried to explain the notion of relatively prime numbers to the person who was running the event, her eyes glazed over and she said, "This is the Chamber of Commerce, not math class." Sigh. By adding a table and adjusting the numbers in each group they could have solved the problem in under a minute.

    Ironically, this event was part of a "leadership" program, but they were annoyed with me for showing some leadership by gently offering to solve the problem.

    I'm no longer a member of that Chamber of Commerce.
  • edited December 2012
    Hey guys!  Just wanted to let you know that we're not ignoring the points here by any means, we just don't have solid answers for everything yet and still have some things to discuss and hammer out.  And with the holidays imminent, we will most likely hit the ground running with such things after New Years.  That being said, here are a few pieces of insight.

    -While it will be dependent on the total number of participants, we are currently looking at 6-8 people per "table" with 5 minute meetings.  Also note that a "table" may not actually involve a physical table.
    -We may be abandoning the intro/extro part of the whole thing.  There's a lot of good points for both sides of that argument, and Beige Bear will be discussing them extensively in the near future before coming to a conclusion.
    -As much as we liked the couples option when we came up with the idea, it may not be logistically viable.  There is a strong possibility that we will have to limit meetings to 1 on 1 only for the purposes of this event.

    Hope that clears up some things.  Please keep up with the discussions.  They help us out tremendously!  Can't wait to see everyone there :)
  • edited December 2012
    I'm not sure I understand the idea of "table"s. I had assumed we'd be meeting one-on-one, and @Thalandor46's third point seems to confirm that, but in that case, what difference does "table" size make? Are we meeting one-on-one, or meeting 5-7 people at a time? If it's the latter, I fear shier people won't get to say much, and it'll be no better than other monkey gatherings.

    For context, in case the "table" thing is obvious to people who have done some other kind of speed-meeting: the only speed-meeting thing I ever did, we were in two long rows facing each other and one row moved along every few minutes. The row was not separated into "table"s and I don't see what would be different if it were. This seems similar to the speed-dating I vaguely remember reading about or seeing on TV.

    I did go to a musical chairs dinner once, and there we were in tables of six and swapped around for each course, but that was not one-on-one and not particularly speedy. So I'm struggling to see how the "table" concept and "one-on-one" fit together.

    I guess the ambiguity is in the last sentence: At 5-10 minute intervals, the Extroverts all change to the next table/Introvert

    Until now, I was reading it as 'the next Introvert' and ignoring the 'next table' part as being simply a reference to the fact that there are physical tables the introverts are sitting at. But now you're talking about numbers per table and wrong numbers of tables and relatively prime numbers and I'm worried that it isn't one-on-one.
  • Fair point!  I suppose the definition of tables has been altered since the idea originated, so let me explain what it currently means.

    (This is a rough scenario, may not be indicative of actual speed meeting on JCCC3, yada yada yada)

    Let's say you're one of 8 people at a table.

    In the intro/extro scenario, you'll have 4 intros and 4 extros.  Every 5 minutes, each extro at the table will move to a new intro at the table.  In total, you meet 4 people 1 on 1.

    Without the intro/extro scenario, every 5 minutes, you'll move to a person at your table you haven't met yet.  In total, you'll meet 7 people 1 on 1.

    The way I originally envisioned it was that each individual table out be a 1 on 1.  But now it's more of an organizational concept to make it easier to manage 6-8 people at a time instead of 100 people at a time.  Sorry for the confusion!
  • edited December 2012
    Is there any interest at all in extrapolating a portion of the Speed Meeting as a Speed Dating/Sinlges thing?  I, for one, would enjoy meeting the love of my life (must be a JoCo fan after all) :-)
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