Fireside Chat Planning Checklist#
Before the Event#
Create a planning issue on GitHub using the issue template - Fireside Chat Checklist
A Turing Way team member (Community Manager or Research Project Manager) will create a Zoom link with a waiting room and live transcription enabled. They will also open the call on the day of the event, and give ‘co-host rights’ to all facilitators to allow them to manage Zoom participants and chats
Identify an overarching theme that we share with a different community – Fireside Chats are intended to promote cross-community collaboration
Reach out to a community/project/organisation representative who can co-facilitate the event with a core team member in The Turing Way
Set up an internal shared document for discussions and notes (use this Google doc template)
Discuss what the co-hosts might want to highlight at this Fireside Chat (note: these discussions don’t necessarily need to identify a solution - but should recognise shared themes, challenges, and spaces for research communities)
Identify speakers from the community and invite them
Create a private Slack Channel with all speakers and hosts and discuss some overarching topics they are interested in sharing
Ask for the bio and image of speakers, and their permission to record the session
Schedule the first check-in 4-5 weeks in advance to surface some common themes, helping plan the title and questions
Decide on a common date and send a placeholder calendar invitation blocking their calendar for the event (15 mins pre-event tech-check/Green room, 60 minutes live and 15-30 minutes unrecorded discussion with the audience)
Create an Eventbrite page in The Turing Way account - refer to this page for an example (you can copy and edit)
Set up the Etherpad using the template provided here: https://hackmd.io/@turingway/fireside-chats (browse this example)
Create a paragraph to add to the Eventbrite page along with the speakers’ and hosts’ bios
Create a flyer to share on social media using this template
Coordinate on Slack with the speakers to check if they are happy with the announcements and if their info is correct
Announce at least 3-4 weeks in advance on Slack, Newsletter, X (formerly Twitter) and in different talks
Add information to the Intro HackMD: https://hackmd.io/@turingway/demo-intro
Hosts will define an agenda and questions for the session - hosts will also allocate some questions for each other to speak on
Set another check-in at least 2 weeks in advance to touch base and discuss the plans and questions with the speakers - assign 1-2 questions for each speaker to begin
Plan with your cohost who will ask which question, how you will time keep, what channel you will use to ask questions to each other privately, who will monitor the chat (maybe ask someone outside this group to help with note taking and chat monitoring)
Update the calendar invitation with Zoom, Etherpad and Eventbrite – encouraging them to share the Eventbrite page in their network
Identify someone from the community who can do the introduction of The Turing Way, Code of Conduct (CoC) reminder and pass it to the speakers
During the session#
Open the Zoom call 15 minutes in advance (keep the waiting room of Zoom enabled)
Test if speakers’ microphones, cameras and internet work alright - help troubleshoot any tech challenges
Let participants in right on time
Welcome them and share the Etherpad
Remind them that the call will be recorded and that participants can use chat (but may not have the chance to speak during the 60 minutes live)
Start recording (on Zoom Cloud) and enable transcription
At 5 minutes past, as people join, the person designated to welcome them will introduce The Turing Way, CoC, and Etherpad information and Present the topic
Hosts then introduce themselves and pose an opening question allowing all speakers including the co-host to share their positions on the topic in ~2 minutes
As planned in the agenda, hosts ask the question to the specific speaker, a follow up response from the other speaker is invited
Speakers will make sure that everyone on the panel has had an equal chance to discuss and share their opinions
Any question from the chat is copied over to the Etherpad, in the last 10 minutes publicly posed questions can be asked
The recorded session finishes with a short closing arguments from each speaker and host
After the recorded part of the discussion (60-75 minutes), all participants are reminded of the next stage of unrecorded discussion informally with the speakers
Hosts close the call after 90 minutes of the session (with 15-30 minutes unrecorded discussion)
After the session#
Send a thank you email to the speakers (within 1 day)
Archive session notes by copying them from Etherpad to the internal planning document
Download the video from Zoom and edit the live transcription (proofread for accuracy) – invite volunteer support as needed
Upload the video on The Turing Way YouTube - label and annotate well, and add the flyer as the video’s front page
Share the published videos with the speakers
Summarise the session to add to The Turing Way – invite someone from the community who could help with that
Promote the video via Slack, Newsletter, X
Send a thank you email to the Eventbrite participants sharing the video and inviting any ideas and suggestions for improvement via a standard feedback form
Update the book chapter and templates if needed
Add speakers to the contributors table on GitHub repo using
all-contributions bot
for presentationClose the planning issue as complete!