Spring football chat with SPT's Greg Auman

[Brad]

SouthFloridaBulls.com will be hosting a member chat this week with Greg Auman of the St. Petersburg Times.  Greg has participated in a couple chats at SFB and they have been very informative and fun.  

Stay tuned for exact date and time.  The chat facility will be opened in advance of the chat for members to enter questions.  The format of the chat will be described later on this thread.  It will be a semi-open chat as we had before.  There were some questions on the chat process, tools, etc.   I will do my best to have all posted here at least a day in advance.  

The focus of the chat will be Spring Football, with time at the end for other topics.

[bulls96go]

great!

[Brad]

The chat is officially scheduled:

When:  Thursday, April 12, 2007, 8:00 p.m. eastern

Who:  Greg Auman of the St. Petersburg Times

Where:  BULLHeaded's Chat Room at SouthFloridaBulls.com

Cost:  Complimentary

Capacity:  50

Attire:  South Florida Casual

[Matt]

ill be working    >

[Jake_Ryan]

My wife will understand if I skip her birthday dinner to attend the chat.  Right?

[E.T.]

I'll be there !

[Bull Dozer]

ill be working    >

[Brad]

ill be working    >

Two reasons not to be so down on having to work like the rest of us stiffs:

1)  There will be a transcript publishes

2)  You can ask your questions now, and Greg may answer them in the chat for you.

[Brad]

What you need to know:

The chat format is called "Open Moderation".  Greg has done this type of chat before, as have some members.  If you recall, there will be two text entry fields (see below illustration of the chat room - it has changed as of today):

The "Ask" text box is to ask the Speaker (Greg) a question he can answer for the whole group.  Questions entered in this box flow through the Moderator (Bulliever) to delete duplicates, group topics together, etc.  

The "Send" text box is for open discussion in the chat room among the users.  Questions or comments there are for the users to bat around.  After answering a question submitted throught the "Ask" button, the Speaker may address follow-ups in the general discussion via the "Send" button, but it is important to remember that the Speaker will be prioritizing the questions "Ask"ed via the "Ask" button.  This is to try and keep us on topic, and avoid too much duplication and meandering.

The chat room is now ready for people to pose questions - just login and pop a question.  Questions posed from now until Wednesday will be forwarded in advance to Greg so he can be ready.  Up to and throughout the chat, questions you want answered, should be submitted using the "Ask" text area.  If Greg's answer is unclear or creates a secondary question it can be entered using the "Send" but may not be seen by Greg.  If not, re-enter using "Ask".

Greg mastered these controls in his 2005 and 2006 chats.  It seems complicated, but it is about the best way there is to have a chat.  It allows the Speaker to control the flow with the help of a moderator.  

As a user PLEASE arrive to the chat room ontime - that would be at least 5 minutes prior to the start so that you can get used to the controls.  Please get as many questions as possible submitted before the day of the chat via the "Ask" text area.  If you arrive late, do not ask the chat room if a certian question has been asked.  Simply submit it using the "Ask" text field.  If it has been asked already, the moderator will delete it.  If not, the Speaker will answer in due time if he chooses to.  If your question was not asked because it was a duplicate don't fear, the answers will be in the transcript.

A full, but edited, transcript will be available within a few days of the chat, but you are strongly encouraged to attend so that we can gauge the interest in keeping the room at 50 users or downgrading to 25.  If you want to see what Greg has to say before the Spring Game, you should be in attendance.

These chats have been both informative and fun in the past, I look forward to chatting with many of you on Thursday.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

[windbane]

Wow, nice format.