Online Buddies Bash
Dateline: 8/17/00
By Ann Zeise
Many homeschool parents and kids, isolated from other homeschool
families or not, enjoy the fellowship on online support found
through chats, message
boards and email lists.
Though the prevailing wisdom says to be careful about meeting
folks offline that you meet online, often trust is built through
months of exchanged help and confidences, and you want to meet
each other. Through the over-10 years I've been online, I have
often arranged "online bashes" or parties large and
meetings small so that friends from an online forum can have
the chance to meet each other in a safe situation.
This coming weekend, August 18-20, 2000, I'll be attending
the Home=Education Conference in Sacramento. I've arranged to
have a room. (#300, I believe... the one with the big table in
it, just to the right off the courtyard.) We'll meet during the
lunch break. If you live in the Sacramento area, please do drop
by. Bring your own lunch and sodas. (Information will be posted
near the registration area for exact room and time.) Here's some
photos of the Online Buddies Lunch in 1999.
People who participate in the A to Z community were there, as
well as those from AOL, HSC, Homefires and the NHEN and a couple
of the usenet forums. We had a great time.
Here are some tips for arranging such gatherings for homeschool
buddies in your region.
First, drum up the necessary enthusiasm for at least some
of the members to meet. If there is no desire, forget about it
for now. But if even a handful want to meet, figure out when
and where would be a good time and place in general. For homeschoolers,
it makes sense to meet during a big conference or convention
that many would like to attend anyway. I held my first "bash"
for homeschoolers about 4-5 years ago. About 6 people showed
up. Last year we packed an even bigger room and still had to
send someone out for more chairs. 45-50 people came and went
during the hour and a half session. Year 1 people were asking
me what a modem was. Last year they all had websites. I love
to tease Barbara David who said to me that "Homeschoolers
aren't interested in online. There's no market for a conference
session about online."
Arrange with the conference coordinator for a room large enough
to hold your group, and for publicity in the conference program
and pre-publicity. May I suggest you coordinate with several
online homeschooling communities and hold a general "Online
Buddies" bash, and not just one for your community, unless
it is very large. I do insist that it be just for homeschool
communities, and not every possible online forum out there. You
can have "breakouts" for people in the same groups,
or arrange for them sit at the same tables.
Remind everyone time and time again that the meeting will
be taking place, when and where. Remind them to bring photographs
of their families, their home, and the room where they compute.
Second thought, forget the messy room where *I* compute! It's
up to you whether or not to allow people to bring things to sell.
I'd rather that it be kept low-key, and uncommercial.
Make name tags and distribute them at the beginning of the
conference. This will allow friends to find friends even before
your party. I've created a name tag template for you. It will
undoubtably need to be modified for your printer, page layout
program, fonts, and the information you want to have on it about
your event. If you use tear-apart name tag stationary, it will
also need to be modified to fit the brand you choose. Please
feel free to change it. Add color if you have a color printer.
This will print on one page if you modify you page settings to
80%.
Bring a poster to the conference and place it near registration
for the conference (not the hotel). Make sure you have permission
to do this, so no one will take it down. Make it bright and bold
and alluring. Attach a bag with the name tags to it, so people
can grab them or get an extra. Also have a sign-in sheet attached
with categories for name, "handle" and which hotel
room they are in so friends can find friends. Bring your own
thumb tacks, scotch and masking tape, and do not depend on others
to have these things for you. Check back to your posters often
to make sure no one has "borrowed" your thumb tacks
to post another announcement on top of yours! (Helps to have
unusual tacks.)
Arrange with the coordinator to have the "bash"
announced several times during the conference, at appropriate
times when people are about to leave for new sessions. Have 3
x 5 cards ready to give to them, so all they'll need to do is
read from the card. "We wish to remind you that there will
be a casual meeting for those who participate in homeschool chats,
message boards, and email lists at [time] in room number [whatever]."
I hold the Online Buddies Sacramento bash during the lunch
hour and encourage people to bring their homemade or hotel bought
meal to the gathering. I suppose you could cater a lunch, but
this keeps the costs down, and you don't have to worry about
special dietary needs. I have the theory that those who eat together,
bond together. Seems to work.
Have a little "mixer" planned to help get people
talking. You'll be surprised how often the most loquacious person
in your forum, is often the shyest person in a live group. Often
those who love to flame it out online, when they meet in person,
talk a bit, find they have a common ground, making online life
a lot smoother after the party. Start with a round of introductions.
Have people tell what their online "handle" or "alias"
or "screen name" is, their real name (if they like)
and what forums they participate actively in. If they are an
author, have a product or a website, I usually encourage them
to briefly tell what they are. Someone will be tempted to go
off on a tangent, so say right at first that no one gets more
than 15 seconds. Everyone will get the chance to move around
and meet people with similar interests after introductions. Hold
your watch up like you are really timing everyone.
Have a sign-in sheet, and have people write down their real
names, online names, websites and email addresses. You'll want
to email them afterwards and thank them for coming. Have them
put a check next to their listing if they'd like to be informed
from time to time about what's happening within your common online
communities, and to be invited to any yet unplanned online bashes
for online homeschoolers. Get permission to put the list up on
your website, if you have one. Anyone NOT wanting to have their
email on a website or distributed to the whole group later should
have the option to be excluded. Often people make new friends
from other communities, and rather than spend a great deal of
time trying to exchange email addresses, posting the sign-in
list somewhere online lets everyone find anyone they want.
Do send out an email afterwards and thank everyone for coming.
Ask for feedback and try to incorporate the suggestions in the
next bash you throw.
Have fun!
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