Quick overview:
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Each of the days closes with a 30 min social event - you can join via the link for that day’s Stream 1
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You may want to prepare a cocktail or grab a hat or household pet in advance
Idea: Drinks receptions or conference dinners are often used to mark the end of a long day of conferencing, and to provide a venue for a more informal exchange of ideas. At a dinner, you may be seated next to a few people you don’t know, and at a drinks reception, everyone wanders around, getting stuck into this or that grouping and picking up whatever conversational threads might be happening. Or initiating new conversations, if you’re the chatty type!
The #WeMissiPRES Conversion: Online events are more prescribed than in-person events. You have to click the Zoom link at the right time, and there is no sticking around in a ‘room’ to have the after-talk, because the almighty moderator has to close that room in order to open up the next online link. In order to meet this reality and try to provide the social freedom and spontaneity that comes with wandering around a conference venue and bumping into other delegates, the #WeMissiPres social event will be about making brief, random, and wonderfully fleeting connections.
Structure: Anyone who wants to join the social session can simply stay in Stream 1, and for a short time as everyone gathers. The hosts of the session will welcome everyone, and remind you to get your cocktail or mocktail or snack of choice (the freedom! No more generic conference wine!) and then at a designated moment, you will be, like magic, put into a smaller room with a number of other delegates! These will be assigned randomly by Zoom - there is no way of knowing in advance how many people will be there or if you’ll know anyone, but the idea is to create smaller groups. Once in this room, you can talk to anyone you want! Or you can listen. You can also leave at any time for any reason.
Rooms will remain open for 7 minutes, then all remaining people will be automatically reshuffled to different rooms! We anticipate there will be time for 2 room adventures in a day’s social session.
At the end everyone will be shuffled back to a single large room, and the Zoom channel will remain open for some time.
Suggestions to prepare for this event (although you can also just show up!):
Drink: It’s always easier to talk to someone you don’t know when you have a drink in one hand. It gives you something to do with that hand, and also allows you to take little talking pauses as you sip away. Bring whatever you like, or prepare one of these Digital Preservation Special Cocktails
Hat: The ‘Hats of Digital Preservation’ is a thing. We’re not exactly sure why hats and DP go together, but if you wear a hat, you have an instant conversation piece, and provide a way for others to introduce themselves (Nice fascinator! Is that a Sheng Xi Fu?? Where did you get that 10-gallon hat? Why do you say gallon and not litre? Or liter?) See - it’s a great conversation starter!
Pets: No zoom call is complete without a mildly invasive pet who wants screen time.
Summary:
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To join the social session, go to Stream 1 (you may already be in it).
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That’s all you have to do - the organisers will explain the rest.
Once you’re in the smaller room, chat, or leave as you wish. People may find it easier to talk to you if your camera is on, but this is not mandatory.