Specialty Meeting: The Book Club
Books and coffee
Today we look at how to run a book Club. I’ve been part of many book clubs and love them.
The purpose: to connect to others in the group and to the material in the book
How to run it: as a round table with everyone getting equal time to share their thoughts.
Timing: I recommend that the size of a book club should allow each person to talk for about 10 minutes. If you have a one hour book club this means that you can have up to 6 members. If you have a larger book club consider using breakout rooms to keep the groups small and allow each person to share their thoughts for 10 minutes each. Keep on mind anything over an hour is hard on everyone for virtual meetings.
In person vs online: when book clubs happen in person there is usually a lot of food involved and the actual discussion still is about 1 hour.
Things that can go wrong:
Someone talks to much. Fix: Use a timer! I know its really not as much fun as you’d like, but honestly it allows the quiet folks have a chance to talk.
2. Everyone is quiet. Fix: Have questions ready to go. Send them out in advance. Remember that you are aiming to have everyone to talk for 10 minutes, which means that you should limit the questions. A rule of thumb: 2 minutes per question per person.
3. No one read the book. Fix: Select books that aren’t too long, or share the book list many months in advance. This way people who are interested will prioritize the books they want to read.
I love book clubs and hope that everyone is part of at least one. I hope this entry is useful. If you have other book club running ideas, please share!
