Have you ever thought about the value of time?
We talk a lot in the Clubhouse rooms about giving “value”! Yet, do we think about valuing the time of those in the room?
Here are a few tips to help you value the listener’s time as well as your own.
- Keep Respecting Others Front of Mind
- Have a Moderator Meeting Before the Room
- Set Clear Time Limits
- Allow Space for New People to the Stage to Speak
Keep Respecting Others Front of Mind
Clear room titles and descriptions, if on the calendar, are a simple way to respect those who may be looking to come into the room. You may need to “reset” the room from time to time if you drift from the topic of the room. Resetting a room is what makes a room one that respects others and considers their time as valuable.
Once you start the room – be sure to set the ground rules, let the speakers know if you will be moving them back to the audience “listening space” after the question is asked. If you are moving folks back to the audience be sure and let them know why. Are you wanting to allow more people to get a chance to get their questions answered too? Do you want to keep the stage small enough to watch for cues to let people speak? Etc.
When you are not able to fully answer the questions have a plan that honours the voices in the room. One way to do this is to connect in the backchannel, via IG or Twitter. You are offering to continue to the conversation outside the room which is a great way to serve, respect and honour those who have given value. It is also a wonderful way to continue the conversations!
If your room is such that the topics may require longer answers – set the expectations of how much will be answered live and how much may be a continued conversation. Respecting everyone in the space is ensuring all voices brought to the stage are heard!
Have a Moderator Meeting Before the Room
Having a moderator meeting or communicating clearly the expectations you have for your room is essential.
- Define who is doing what.
- Set clear time parameters for moderator responses.
- Decide how many mods will respond after each question.
Consider the room flow, including conversation time frames! Announce the set up of the room at the beginning to give your listeners a better idea of how the room will work. Include a shorter version of this in the room resets. Allowing listeners to decide if the room will fit in their time frame or schedule.
Set Clear Time Limits
Set a time limit for the speakers to share their question or give comments as it brings value. Allow all speakers to share their voices. When you know upfront how much time you want to spend in the room you are able to announce that on the calendar or in the room title. Clearly state the ending time and process for hand raise opportunities to honour the audience member who may want to speak.
The kinds of time limits you set may be directly related to speakers and moderators availability and play a part in the length of the room. Especially if it is a short room you will want to put the time in the title. One Example: is a 15 minute room that happens every week day on Clubhouse in the Crazy Courageous Confidence Club.
Create an outline and work through it is a great way to value not only the listeners time but also your own!! When topics run longer you may want to choose to do a second room with the same title.
Allow Space for New People to the Stage to Speak
When someone new is brought to the stage be sure to acknowledge them right away even if they are going to wait for their turn to speak.
Assign the welcoming of new people to the stage to a specific moderator. When assigning think about if you want only one moderator bringing people up or if you want all mods to be able to bring people up? If all mods are allowed to bring people up to the stage, deciding ahead of time how the announcement and welcome to the stage will be done is both respectful and honouring.
Allowing moderators to speak is fine as long as you give space for others voices too. The etiquette of Clubhouse is that you will have a voice in the conversation or be able to ask your question when invited to speak.
At the end of the room, announce when you will be turning hand raising off. Before closing the room, ask each person to share. Give a time limit for the sharing, especially when you have a large number of people on the stage.
If you have any questions can check out Contact Page and connect with the Social Audio Pro Mechanic. The other place to connect is on Clubhouse! in the Social Audio & Podcasting Club