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I think it's hard to have meaningful interactions over video chat among groups with more than, say, four people. Inevitably one or two parties do all the talkin

I think it's hard to have meaningful interactions over video chat among groups with more than, say, four people. Inevitably one or two parties do all the talking at a given moment, and everyone else just listens Something we've started doing at my company is monday-morning "random coffee". Everyone gets paired off to video chat with a random person for 20 minutes at the start of the day. It's been a great way to have some non-work conversation with the people I do interact with, and have any exchange at all with those I never interact with

aicarlson 6y ago
The meaningful interaction cap is at around 4 – even for in person gatherings! https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1090513818301491 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S10905... Shameless plug, I've been working on solving exactly this problem with Mixaba! Everyone automatically breaks into small groups of 2-4 every few minutes.
- Buttons840 6y ago
  Tell me more about Mixaba. I've had the same idea. Rather than brain storming in a large group, break into smaller groups and then mix up the groups periodically. My guess is this would lead to faster group consensus and result in fewer people feeling left out or that they hadn't been heard.
  - aicarlson 6y ago
    Sure thing! You can see it here: https://mixaba.com/ https://mixaba.com/ I did a Show HN last year but a lot has evolved since then :) By breaking people out into small groups you increase opportunities for vulnerability and trust-building, and you decrease the likelihood that a single person will dominate the conversation. It was borne from negative experiences at a couple all-virtual happy hours at the start of the stay at home orders in the US last year. With Mixaba, everyone joins a single event and regardless of whether you have 8 people or 800 in the event, it automatically breaks people out into new small groups, shuffling up conversations and making new connections between folks as the event goes on.
josephorjoe 6y ago
> Everyone gets paired off to video chat with a random person for 20 minutes at the start of the day. i would quit this job sooooooo fast random, enforced, early morning socializing is so very much not my scene
- brundolf 6y ago
  I may have exaggerated when I said "start of the day"; we do it at 10am, which is the start of the day for some but not all. Certainly not early-morning for most people I'm also sure it would be optional if anyone had an aversion to it. It's a small company so we're flexible on that sort of thing
  - abcdjdjd 6y ago
    I think your missing the point. If people wanted to talk to each other, they would do that on their own time. I think maybe ask yourself, why do you need to force this to happen if people really wanted to do this?
    - brundolf 6y ago
      Structure is useful; there's a social burden to going out of your way to arrange a one-on-one hangout. I wouldn't bother to do that with someone I'm not already close to, but I'm loving this structured arrangement where I don't have to feel awkward about reaching out myself. Different stuff works for different people
      - abcdjdjd 6y ago
        Ok, but again, there is nothing stopping people from doing this as a group. There is no "magical" structure that comes from a work meeting. A group of people at work can decide to organize something on there own. You are talking about one-on-one stuff, which is different.
        mrexroad 6y ago
airtonix 6y ago
lol nope. not even once.

aicarlson 6y ago

The meaningful interaction cap is at around 4 – even for in person gatherings! https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1090513818301491 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S10905... Shameless plug, I've been working on solving exactly this problem with Mixaba! Everyone automatically breaks into small groups of 2-4 every few minutes.

Buttons840 6y ago
Tell me more about Mixaba. I've had the same idea. Rather than brain storming in a large group, break into smaller groups and then mix up the groups periodically. My guess is this would lead to faster group consensus and result in fewer people feeling left out or that they hadn't been heard.
- aicarlson 6y ago
  Sure thing! You can see it here: https://mixaba.com/ https://mixaba.com/ I did a Show HN last year but a lot has evolved since then :) By breaking people out into small groups you increase opportunities for vulnerability and trust-building, and you decrease the likelihood that a single person will dominate the conversation. It was borne from negative experiences at a couple all-virtual happy hours at the start of the stay at home orders in the US last year. With Mixaba, everyone joins a single event and regardless of whether you have 8 people or 800 in the event, it automatically breaks people out into new small groups, shuffling up conversations and making new connections between folks as the event goes on.

josephorjoe 6y ago

> Everyone gets paired off to video chat with a random person for 20 minutes at the start of the day. i would quit this job sooooooo fast random, enforced, early morning socializing is so very much not my scene

brundolf 6y ago
I may have exaggerated when I said "start of the day"; we do it at 10am, which is the start of the day for some but not all. Certainly not early-morning for most people I'm also sure it would be optional if anyone had an aversion to it. It's a small company so we're flexible on that sort of thing
- abcdjdjd 6y ago
  I think your missing the point. If people wanted to talk to each other, they would do that on their own time. I think maybe ask yourself, why do you need to force this to happen if people really wanted to do this?
  - brundolf 6y ago
    Structure is useful; there's a social burden to going out of your way to arrange a one-on-one hangout. I wouldn't bother to do that with someone I'm not already close to, but I'm loving this structured arrangement where I don't have to feel awkward about reaching out myself. Different stuff works for different people
    - abcdjdjd 6y ago
      Ok, but again, there is nothing stopping people from doing this as a group. There is no "magical" structure that comes from a work meeting. A group of people at work can decide to organize something on there own. You are talking about one-on-one stuff, which is different.
      - mrexroad 6y ago

airtonix 6y ago

lol nope. not even once.