PRACTICAL TIPS FOR RUNNING LIVE CHATS

In order to help you make the most of your live chats on enCompass here are some handy tips.

• The theme is highly focussed, directed to a specific target audience and/or tied in to the launch of an event or project
• The chat is promoted well in advance
• The guest who is invited to 'chat' is reasonably web savvy and/or the guest is capable of firing off quick responses. If not have one or even two people to type for the quest to speed things up
• The target audience is comfortable with chat technology – if not take a look at Guidance for Chat Participants.
• Some questions are fielded in advance so that the guest has an idea of type of questions to be asked – this also allows for people, who cannot attend the live chat in person, to ask a question
• Lengthy answers can be prepared and then copied and pasted into the chat
• Questions/answers are directed to specific individuals – actually naming the person helps avoid confusion
• Length of chat is around one hour, maximum two hours, which allows plenty of time for a chat to develop without it being too drawn out
• A transcript of the chat is automatically posted to the site (to allow people who could not attend to access the proceedings 'on demand')

Please contact our Online Reader in Residence if you would like to arrange a chat on enCompass.