Even before the Pandemic year of 2020, people were starting to wonder how they could fit a book club into their packed schedules.
At trBCQ we prefer real, in-person book club meetings, just as we prefer real books with real pages...BUT we also recognize that an online book club is a great alternative to meeting in-person if schedules don't allow, or, say, there is a global pandemic.
To that end, we have spent some time researching, and creating trial book groups to figure out how to best form an online book club.
If this is your first EVER book club, you want to pick a title that will spark a rousing conversation. It keeps the members coming back! (That's not say that a terrible book can't fuel a fantastic discussion -- terrible books sometimes make the best discussions!) Here are a few tried-and-true book club favorites for you to consider.
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Background: Queenie D wanted to trial run a virtual book club where members met once a month at a designated time via a face chat. The platforms tried include: Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and FaceTime. Zoom and Google Meet are ABSOLUTELY the most user-friendly!
For a face-on-screen platform to work, all members MUST agree on the app you will use. We suggest Zoom or Google Meet as they are very user-friendly.
(1) Someone in the group will be the HOST of the the meeting. This means they will send out the information with the link to join.
(2) All members will adhere to a basic set of behavior guidelines so that everyone feels their voice is heard. It is VERY easy to get off track, talk over each other, not give the quieter people a chance to chime in, etc. In an online setting it is even easier for these things to happen. We suggest something like this:
(3) The first 10 minutes(ish) are for social chit-chat. Let everyone say hello, catch up on anything they'd like to share, etc. It may seem trivial, but it's during this time members get to know each other which will make you a stronger book group over time.
(4) Once the discussion is ready to begin, the person who chose the book will pose a question. The group can decide to either go around each giving an answer one at a time, letting the discussion evolve from there, or the question can be posed and anyone who wants to answer can jump in. We suggest the first way when you are a new group starting out. This way everyone has a chance to participate and discover their individual book club persona.
The questions can & should go on as long as the group is enjoying discussing. Here are general book club questions for discussion if you need a jumping off point.
(5) As discussion wraps up, it's time to share the next book choice, and pick the next meeting date. Two ways to decide who chooses the next book are first, to create a randomly ordered list of the members and stick to it, or, second, at the end of each meeting, decide who will choose the next book. We suggest the first option as it's just easier to get into a rhythm if people know when their turn is coming up. We've had members (in past in-person book clubs) count forward to their month and figure out what books would be released around that time so they could pick something brand new!
If you need help with learning how to install & use the above apps, you can contact us anytime. The focus of this section has been to explain how to prepare for and run a club of this kind.
PLUS, Queenie D will personally join in and help your group get up-and-running. This is a no-charge opportunity for you! Click on the link below to get in touch!