Remote Networking Tips #24: Set up your own Virtual Book Club

Joining a book club can be a great way of getting to know people and bonding over a common interest. It can be a great way to network with colleagues internally and others externally and build and develop relationships.

If you don’t already have a book club that you can join – why not set up your own?

01. Decide on the Book (and any theme)

Start by deciding what the book club is going to be about and whether it will have a theme or focus.

Then decide on the first book. Once you have decided on the book – invite others to join in.

02. Set a specific time and day of the week (and stick to it)

Decide on a time, place, day and frequency for your book club. There is never a time that will suit everyone – so just set the schedule and go from there. If people can make it great if they can’t carry on anyway.

A 30-45 minute slot on a fortnightly or monthly basis should work well for getting you started.

03. Send out an invite

Send out the calendar invite for an online meet-up (with a description telling people what it is all about). As too many people will make any club too big and meetings too long, you should cap the number of people that can join the club (but do bear in mind that you will probably have a couple of dropouts).

04. Set up the reading schedule

In the meeting invitations that you send, you should include the dates of the meetings and the chapters that people are expect to read. A couple of chapters a week should be a suitable pace (but it may depend on the book). You just need to make sure that you have enough to talk about, but it isn’t too much for people to keep up with.

05. Create an Icebreaker to get the conversation going.

Whoever is leading the conversation should have prepared an icebreaker for the book club meeting. Alternatively, you might ask people to come prepared to talk about something in particular, answer a particular question or to share their favourite quote/passage etc.

Mix it up and find out what works for your group.

06. Moderation

Someone should be responsible for leading the session each time (breaking the ice, keeping people talking and on time and making sure the session runs smoothly). It might be that the same person leads the group, alternatively, it might be that you change the leader each time – but the important thing is for everyone to know who is running the session.

Then the conversation can just flow around the group (in a hopefully orderly fashion).

Further Reading:

• Join a Book Club
• Set up your own Book Club
• Remote Networking Tips #23: Join a Virtual Book Club