Thread on Zooming and zoomers:

Having listened to many online events, including virtual book launches, I am compelled to share a few thoughts.

1. Please, please limit the programme to an hour, if possible. Anything beyond an hour tends to drag. Let's say 40 minutes is optimal.

2. Limit guests to three, including the moderator, plus the main speaker (book author, thinker of new thoughts, creator of ideas). A total of four is plenty.

3. Try to have discussants with opposing views, not two ambassadors of the same country essentially saying the same things. When the first has already made all the points, the second feels compelled to go on to fill time and justify their presence.

4. Short, crisp introductions – important people don’t need their entire resumes read out. We assume you wouldn’t inflict them on us if they weren’t the coolest of the cool, the smartest of the smart set. Let them prove it in the talk they are about to give.

5. Do not, repeat do not keep introducing – first a short introduction and then a rambling one before the speaker takes his/her turn. (This happened during a recent event causing me to pull my hair while on my pandemic-inspired walk)

6. Give the main speaker more time than others. (During a recent event, a co-host went on to relate a long anecdote from years ago, which had little relevance to the discussion except for him to massage his ego. He ate up nearly 20 minutes!)

7. Leave time for audience questions. (A recent event, which went on for 2 hours left 12 minutes for questions. My jaw fell and had to be scraped off the sidewalk)

8. Prepare, prepare, prepare your remarks – rambling happens when people think they don’t need to prepare because they have done it all their lives. Indian guests, moderators are more prone to this ailment.

9. Guests from India need to assess the best spot in their well-appointed homes for internet connection which may not be near the best backdrop of shelves sagging under the weight of their considerable book collections.

10. It may be near the jungle of wires but at least their voices won’t trail off exactly when they are making a good point. (end)