The End of PauseTalk?

You may have noticed that last month I didn’t post my usual list of PauseTalk participants for that edition, and the reason for that was because I wanted to bring up some other things regarding the future of PauseTalk.

Let me start by saying that I’m still planning on holding this month’s edition, which is scheduled for this coming Monday, January 7.

Now the thing I’d like to bring up is that I’m wondering if PauseTalk as is should continue, or if things need to be changed (or even put to an end). The reason I’m bringing this up is because of the December edition. It’s become quite normal to start things late, to wait for most of the participants to get there, but last month it was past 20:00 and we were only 5 or 6. By the end, which was around 21:15-30, we ended up being at least double that, but the number grew throughout the entire evening, which made it hard to coordinate discussions, etc.

So, after that, my first thought was, well, maybe the salon-like format that I always wanted to have for PauseTalk is just not viable, or not really what people are looking for. Participants tend to stay long after the “official” end anyway, to drink and chat, and I’m wondering if maybe the way to do things is to just hold informal gatherings, where people can come and chat and meet others, but that I won’t MC things as I usual do, nor try to get people to do presentations.

Also, maybe 19:30 is too early? Is a 20:00 start time better?

Any thoughts? (I’ve sent this to members of the PauseTalk mailing list as well.)