One thing that I picked up from the Acumatica Summit this year was that there’s an appetite for more opportunities to have Roundtable Discussions with other Acumatica users.
I’ve got a few ideas about how to help more of these discussions to happen virtually.
But this post is just about one of those ideas.
First, some background.
In our past in-person AugOhio gatherings, we used a Roundtable format. Rather than do a “presentation”, we started each gathering with about an hour of going around the circle and giving each person 3 minutes to share a Challenge that they were having with Acumatica, Something Cool about Acumatica that they wanted to share, or basically anything that they wanted to “monologue” about for up to 3 minutes.
I was very religious about the 3 minute limit. I started a 3 minute timer on my watch for each person. When the timer went off, everyone knew that they didn’t have to panic, it just meant that it was time to finish their thought. They didn’t have to talk for a full 3 minutes, but the 3 minute limit helped those who usually talk less to talk more and those who usually talk more to talk less.
I usually started first and I used the 3 minute timer on my watch to time myself. I used my 3 minutes to give updates about the group and other logistics, then I’d slip in my Challenge or Something Cool. But I wasn’t special, I got 3 minutes, just like everyone else.
After that “timer time”, which usually lasted about an hour, we ate some food and basically hung out for 2 more hours in what I called Free Time. I loved the spontaneity of Free Time. There were lots of conversations happening at once. There was a TV on the wall in the room that we met in and multiple times someone plugged in and showed something in their Acumatica environment. It was unscripted, unpolished, uncontrolled, and I loved it.
You can read more details about our AugOhio gatherings here:
AugForums.com/AugOhio
As I understand it, the whole idea of Roundtable Discussions goes back to legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. The idea of the Round Table is that there was no “head of the table”, but all were equal participants.
Having a true “Roundtable Discussion” is a great experience, but making one happen is more difficult than it might seem (at least in my experience) because we human beings (myself included) easily become selfish and political, especially when involved with something work-related like Acumatica.
But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to make it happen. I think it’s possible!
So what’s the idea that I wanted to share in this post?
I’m looking for at least 5 Acumatica Users to participate. If you are an Acumatica user and you’re reading this, then that means you. It doesn’t matter if you’re a VAR, a Customer, etc. As long as you use Acumatica, then you qualify.
When I say at least 5, that means a minimum of 5 people. There is no maximum. The more the merrier!
How do you participate?
All you need to do is call my Google Voice number at 619-567-9763 and leave me a message.
You can talk about a Challenge that you’re having with Acumatica or Something Cool that you’re doing in Acumatica that you’d like to share. Or anything really. You could simply introduce your name, the company you work for, where you live, and how you’re currently utilizing Acumatica. You could talk about your ideas for a Roundtable Discussion. You could complain about something. You get the idea, basically anything Acumatica-related that you want to talk about in 3 minutes.
I will then take all of those Google Voice messages and publish them as a Podcast episode. I’m hoping to get as many messages as possible so I can have enough for several Podcast episodes.
But my minimum is 5. If I don’t get at least 5, then I’m not going to publish them as a Podcast episode.
So make sure to participate! You don’t want to be the reason that 4 great voice messages go unpublished 😀
The 3 minute limit that I came up with for AugOhio was based on the number of people who attended, but the 3 minute limit for a Google Voice message is something imposed by Google. Maybe there’s something to 3 minutes? Hmmm, interesting to think about…
You have until the end of the day on Saturday, April 20. If I don’t get at least 5 messages by then, then I won’t turn them into a Podcast episode.
Here’s that number one more time, I even made it a link that you can click on if you’re reading this on your phone:
I’m looking forward to hearing your message and I’m hoping to get enough messages (at least 5) to publish a “Roundtable Discussion” podcast episode.
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