Gathering Info/Building Enthusiasm

“Ask questions of the group, and generate discussion on “what should we do next?” People want to see progress, and feel like they are making a difference.” —Jody DeRidder

“Your future self (and your successors) will love you for documenting your process, e.g. Twitter chat template.”—Nicholas Homenda

“I think the coolest thing about #DLFteach chat was seeing so many people eager for ways not only to learn about resources but to share them.”—Olivia Thompson

Twitter Chats

Is your project just getting started? The DLF Digital Library Pedagogy group has found Twitter chats a successful way to engage current members in conversation, gauge interest in initiatives, and attract new members. DLF has also hosted chats on behalf of newly-forming groups on subjects like user requirements for born-digital resources. We are happy to hand over control of our @CLIRDLF Twitter account to your selected chat leaders, through Tweetdeck, for extra promotion of the event and so that questions can be tweeted out from a central account. Just get in touch for scheduling!

DLF groups often run Twitter chats twice in one day, both in the afternoon and evening, in order to reach participants across timezones and personal/professional obligations. Another common practice is to make a transcript available afterward as both a spreadsheet and a Wakelet presentation. Below are some resources on organizing, running, and documenting Twitter chats.

• Step-by-Step Guide to Twitter Chats - Hootsuite
• TUTORIAL: How to Effectively Use Tweetdeck for Twitter Chats
• HOW TO: Start and Run a Successful Twitter Chat - Mashable
• How to Run a Twitter Chat: 7 tips - Tech Republic
• Wakelet - Wakelet

Some groups have used Storify to curate and archive their Twitter chats. Since Storify will no longer be made available after May 16, 2018, DLF has migrated its own Storify account to Wakelet, and groups are welcome to use our @CLIRDLF Wakelet account! Just let us know.

“I've found Survey Monkey to be a useful tool to canvas a group -- to help narrow down areas of interest for forum sessions/working lunch topics.” —Cathy Aster

Taking the Pulse

We also suggest conducting short surveys and polls, or requesting open comment on a brief, draft document or mission statement, as a good way to get a sense of your community. You can use tools like Google Forms/Google Docs or Twitter polls for this purpose, but for more in-depth, formal surveys we are happy to help you build a survey on our SurveyMonkey account.

Please feel free to contact us for assistance or go right ahead with lighter-weight approaches! We only ask that you be sure to tag @CLIRDLF on Twitter and send messages about your work to our primary listserv, DLF-Announce, so that we can help promote it and drive traffic your way!

Table of Contents

1. About DLF and the Organizers' Toolkit
2. Working with Team DLF
3. Starting a New Initiative or Working Group
4. General Facilitation and Goal-Setting
5. Facilitating for Diversity and Inclusion
6. Communications and Consensus
7. Preventing and Managing Burnout
8. Gathering Info/Building Enthusiasm
9. Planning an In-Person Meetup
10. Setting Up Year-Round Meetings
11. Planning Virtual Meetings and Webinars
12. Talking and Writing
13. Organizing and Sharing Your Work
14. In a Nutshell