Even if the format of each week’s meeting is to be a dinner get-together at first, I still think it would help to give some of the weekly meetups a theme, as discussed in Cosmos’s case study. The themes could be very simple and easy at first; maybe you could announce a non-high-minded conversation topic or icebreaker that will help people get to know each other.
I am a little concerned that weekly meetups which are utterly without topic might drop below many people’s ‘urgency’ threshold and cause them to simply stop coming at all—there’s no particular need to come this week; I can always come next week, etc.
Thanks for stepping up!
Even if the format of each week’s meeting is to be a dinner get-together at first, I still think it would help to give some of the weekly meetups a theme, as discussed in Cosmos’s case study. The themes could be very simple and easy at first; maybe you could announce a non-high-minded conversation topic or icebreaker that will help people get to know each other.
I am a little concerned that weekly meetups which are utterly without topic might drop below many people’s ‘urgency’ threshold and cause them to simply stop coming at all—there’s no particular need to come this week; I can always come next week, etc.
The first icebreaker/discussion topic that comes to mind is:
Tell your rationalist success story
Suggestion: a ‘LW meetup resources’ page in the Wiki, which would list rationalist games to play, rationalist discussion topics, etc.
Would you please create such a page?
There. I started it.
Thank you.