Philofaxy Roundtable

So I held court on Skype yesterday for the first time. As I said in my announcement about this idea, I wasn't sure how it would work out or how many people would call in.

Well I was fully prepared for a huge crowd of people, drinks laid on, Filofax at the ready, family warned, netbook for the Skype connection, iMac with various websites open ready for reference etc.

The big crowd didn't turn up, but it wasn't a failure. I enjoyed a few chats with our readers and 'admirers' from other websites, who had heard about the round-table and wanted to join in. Laurie also popped up too, so we caught up with things since last week.

My time wasn't wasted, far from it, through talking to people, I added some more valuable content and links to the site.

Topics covered included: Prices of things on Ebay, the differences between Filofax and other planner formats, my own method of creating templates (a post will be coming soon on this one), Dodo Pad (I got to speak to Lord Dodo! touches forelock M'lord), Old versus New Filofax organisers and inserts. That's just the major headlines, but there was a lot more than that. Rather capture everything I just wanted to enjoy chatting with our readers etc. 

Not everyone is set up for voice via Skype, or find it a mode they prefer to use. Skype works well if you use a headset rather than just the built in mic and speakers. But you can log in and then just listen if you wish.

However, we did discover that you can do a form of instant messaging using Skype that I hadn't realised existed before. Thank you Sharon for helping me prove that mode works ok.  Although I have to admit that chatting to several people whilst typing to others at the same time might be a bit too much for me... remember I'm a guy... and we don't multi-task that well, or so I'm told!

So will we do it again... yes I think we should, but may be only once a month. At the time of typing I will not declare the date of the next event, but watch the blog and we will announce it with a bit more notice this time. I will also add it as an event on our Facebook page. I think I need to spread the timing of the sessions a little bit wider to cater for people in the US better.

You might see Philofaxy on Skype from time to time, it could be anyone of the three of us. But I will suggest altering the 'mood message' to say who it is on line.

So if you have any thoughts or comments on how we could improve on this idea, please add your comments. And again thank you to all of you who logged in and took part.


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