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Pro tip: skip the first 20 minutes of book club debates if you want to get anything done
Had a book club meeting last Tuesday that was supposed to be a debate about 'Project Hail Mary.' Everyone showed up late, spent the first 20 minutes talking about their kids and jobs, then we only had 30 minutes left for the actual discussion. I started timing it and realized we waste a good 15-20 mins on small talk every single time. Now I tell people to aim for a 7:15 start if we say 7, or I just bring a timer and set it for 20 mins of chit-chat. Has anyone else tried setting a hard cutoff for the social time in your group?
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angela_morgan5d ago
Bring a buzzer next time and cut them off when it goes off, that's what my group does and it works great.
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emery105d ago
Oh man, @angela_morgan I love the buzzer idea, we actually started using a kitchen timer that makes this loud DING noise. I set it for exactly 20 minutes when the first person walks in and when it goes off everyone knows to wrap up their kid stories and get to the book. It felt kinda rude at first but honestly now people thank me for it because nobody wants to be the one dragging out the small talk.
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