… provided work doesn't get in the way.

She's definitely not got capacity issues.

It'll be a nice resource for new team members in the future.

Agreeing that time zones are a problem for some of us. While the bulk of users are in the US, there's a plentiful supply of Europeans as well, and I'm one of the users down under, so no one time will be good for everyone.

My IRL job got super busy over the summer and it's not due to calm down for another month or so, so maybe the seminars will be happening around the wintertime when people should have some time off for the holidays? At any rate, the first seminar will be relatively small attendee count-wise.

(Soulless approved)

I'm not sure how good of a session I can put on without needing a bunch of extra time into making sure the software works alright for all the attendees and myself (is lag time ever an issue? volume?).

Not usually. You'd probably need 5 minutes to make sure your mic is working. Beyond that, everyone mostly needs to listen.

TeamSpeak is kind of a gaming niche at this point. I'd be happy to volunteer the Technical Team's discord for the seminar.

There's a reason professors, activists, business-leaders

I am none of these things, though. :P I don't want this workshop to seem super formal, so I prefer channels that are already familiar (and won't require extra explaining to attendees how to access the workshop).

I'll likely borrow a mic for Discord, but either way I'm not used to giving webinars. I'm not sure how good of a session I can put on without needing a bunch of extra time into making sure the software works alright for all the attendees and myself (is lag time ever an issue? volume?).

That said, for those who are already familiar with the software mentioned, I'd love to sit in on a demo session hosted by you to see how the setting is! I wish I had more time to play around with the software, but… I really don't. Lol.

I also think it'll be good to first gauge how many people are willing to download the software for the workshop(s). If there's not a lot of response here, I can just make a thread on the mainsite to see how people feel about the various options.

If you do this via a string of irc messages

Having a backscroll actually helps me a lot in case I miss anything and allows me to reread questions and think more before responding. I can also Ctrl+F for certain portions of earlier conversation and double-check names to confirm who said what. If there's a way to do this via webinar software, please let me know.

Also, all the feedback on the mainsite is text-based, and I'd like to be able to present a real-time forum crit as I type it. Discord will be good for that I think.

Is that correct or is this open to critters both in and out of the team who want to improve?

Signups will prioritize Forum Crit staff, but will be open to all community members. I also plan on making an essay page or two organizing my thoughts, which will be made available before a session.

My initial thought was that I'd start off with a walkthrough of a speedcrit, and then open up the floor for Q&A. Keep things straightforward and simple.

I absolutely agree with Zyn's proposal.

- general mindset things (e.g., don't overwhelm yourself, accept that you will not address every little teeny tiny detail, try to find yourself a "treat" read, etc.)
- framing a review for an author (it's always important to address any weaknesses the reviewer may have, including being on a time budget!)
- how to give an author specific, but simple directions to follow
- how to skim read for content/main ideas
- critting shaky vs. solid works quickly
- when to stop reading a draft

Are all things that I sometimes have trouble doing when going through drafts. Watching a ZynCrit(royalties incoming) would also be helpful in that regard.

I also agree with Erasmus about speech being the more viable vector for this sort of thing (although shyer members such as myself might be more audience than participant). On the subject of software, I'd personally recommend TeamSpeak3 simply out of experience. It's free to download but getting a server costs money unless you know how to set it up with a free Amazon aws I'm told. It offers some nifty features that I think could work in conjunction with webinar software.

• TS3 allows for users to easily adjust the volume of individual users (boost the volume of a whisperer and lower the volume of someone with a grand, booming voice).
• TS3 also allows you to easily adjust your own capture profile so that your computer's mic becomes more/less sensitive to your voice and background noise, independently.
• TS3 has a file share system for drafts, memes, etc.
• Users can easily mute their own recording devices if they just want to listen without introducing background noise, or when they step away from the keyboard.
• The administrator powers are more or less identical to Discord's as far as password setting and so on iirc.

I have only one question. I interpreted the above posts as implying that this is going to be a workshop for the Forum Criticism Team exclusively. Is that correct or is this open to critters both in and out of the team who want to improve?

As for vocal communication, it's just far more effective at engaging an audience in the learning process. There's a reason professors, activists, business-leaders etc all do vocal presentations regularly instead of just relying on powerpoints with no accompanyment. And that is exactly how most people's brains process text only presentations: like a boring powerpoint scrolling through bullet points.

The most important and most difficult part of running a workshop for anything is getting and keeping your audience's attention. Even groups of people interested and committed to learning from a workshop, motivated employees, activists, etc, won't learn well if the environment doesn't support their learning needs. Speech provides a constant source of attention that text can't match. There's a reason vocals and powerpoint are the industry standard (with in person meetings often eschewing the latter entirely). People learn better when they're talked to and when they get a chance to talk in turn, and text communication doesn't replace that in the slightest. All the problems with text only social communication are actually dialed up to 11 because you're trying to do what is essentially a performance art to an audience that is both deaf and blind.

If you do this via a string of irc messages, whoever attends the workshop will be significantly more prone to zoning out and less likely to remember the material than if you presented the same thing vocally. That's not an exaggeration, it's just how this sort of thing works. I'd go as far to say that it would be less productive than just putting together and posting 3 or 4 quick tips and leaving it at that.

In text it would be far worse, as there is the issue of people talking past each other due to typing response times.

I think some general guidelines would help with this, as well as limiting the sessions to a certain number of people for each session. I can put up some signup lists.

If the problem is on discord's end, check out webinar software.

I'll try to take a look at these, but I'm admittedly unsure about downloading new software and asking others to do the same to attend. I want the locations to be familiar and not need any additonal explanation for setup.

text only communication doesn't work. It just isn't conducive to the process

How is voice communication better? What should I keep in mind when hosting a voice workshop?

If the problem is on discord's end, check out webinar software. It's generally what you would use for remote workshops like this, and I've had a lot of success with Webex, Zoom, and GotoMeeting in the past. Several software providers offer free trials you could make use of for just this occasion, like GoToMeeting here. Re:logs, pretty much all webinar software has an option to record the proceedings to a video file you can then distribute.

Trust me as someone who's ran many dozens of skill-training workshops over the years, text only communication doesn't work. It just isn't conducive to the process.

I was thinking of using a combination Q&A and walkthrough format for the workshops.

I'm open to trying to do a voice chat, but probably just one session.

In light of the summer deluge beginning, probably the best new wave of Forum Crit/Butterfly Squad JS we've ever had, and my new work schedule possibly allowing for Fridays off, I think that I can host a couple workshops this month.

I plan to cover in each workshop:
- general mindset things (e.g., don't overwhelm yourself, accept that you will not address every little teeny tiny detail, try to find yourself a "treat" read, etc.)
- framing a review for an author (it's always important to address any weaknesses the reviewer may have, including being on a time budget!)
- how to give an author specific, but simple directions to follow
- how to skim read for content/main ideas
- critting shaky vs. solid works quickly
- when to stop reading a draft

If there's enough interest, I plan to host multiple workshops, both on IRC and Discord. I'm hoping this will help make giving critique seem less time-consuming and scary, and also encourage more reviewers to try giving quality feedback in the draft forums.

Also, if anyone wants to see a 10-Minute-Or-Less ZynCrit (tm), I'm considering asking people to volunteer a draft or two for me to do a live crit on at the end of the workshop. That way I can describe my own thought process during a review, and open up the floor for people to ask questions about each step of the live crit.

Thoughts?