What is a Philofaxy Round-Table?

What is a Philofaxy Round-Table? It is not something like this picture to the right! Although there is nothing wrong with that table, I mean it is a very nice table. 

Enough of the Monty Python and the Holy Grail speech...

We started doing the round tables over 10 years ago. I haven't delved in to the archives to see when the first one happened. [8 August 2010]

Like most of the things we do it was a bit of an experiment to bring together different people in the community and let them share their thoughts and ideas. 

Some of these ideas have worked very well, beyond our expectations, some don't work quite as well, so we park them for a while and re-visit them at a later time. 

With travelling being off the agenda both last year and for the a few more months yet this year. The round-tables have become a 'virtual meet up' using Skype group calls to chat and share thoughts for anything up to about 2-3 hours. 

All you need is a free Skype account, a microphone and a pair of headphones/ear buds (optional but it helps reduce echo). A web-cam is optional, but a lot of us join the calls with our cameras turned on. You can blur the background if you wish so all we see is you. 

We try to give everyone equal chance to talk, hence round table, the topics can be quite varied. There's no fixed agenda or advanced agenda set. But if you have any thoughts on what you would like some opinions or answers on, by all means ask them up front. We will do our best to answer the questions. 

The total number of people on each call can vary, from 2 or 3 to anything up to 15 or more people! 

You can listen in on the call, and just mute your mic if you have others around you in your home. You don't have to stay on the call for the whole time from start to finish, so if you just have a few minutes to spare and may be you want to ask a quick question, feel free to join in on the call. 

There is a post announcing when the next chat will be, posted at least 5 days before it happening. The 'round table chats' are generally the first Sunday of the month, but it can move or not happen depending on availability and when the clocks change etc. The post includes details of how to join the chat and timing etc. 

I look forward to chatting with more of you in the future.