2026-11-05 TBD

[alexpaleo]

Checklist for hosting a PDWG Happy Hour

Is this happy hour related to any topic idea issues? If so, please link to issue(s) here:

A month or more in advance

• Determine topic (i.e. title of this issue)
• Update topic name on our website here
• Create a Google Doc for shared notes:
  • Use the Meeting Notes Template to create a new doc by going to File > Make a copy, then renaming the new document using the naming convention of YYYYMMDD_paleo-happy-hour_notes, e.g. “20240701_paleo-happy-hour_notes”
  • Make sure that Sharing is set to “Anyone on the internet with the link can edit”
  • Organize the new doc in the appropriate folder of the PDWG Google Drive, e.g. 2024 Paleo Happy Hour Notes Recordings
• Update the topic on our website here by adding a link to the shared notes doc

A couple weeks in advance

• Prepare for the topic by creating presentation or activity materials, if necessary, and/or by coordinating with guest speakers

The week of

• Send out a reminder email to paleo-data@googlegroups.com including details about (at least) the Happy Hour date, time, topic, and Zoom link
  • Example email subject: "Thursday 5/17 at noon Eastern - Paleo Data ‘Happy Hour’”
  • Example email text: “Please join us for the next biweekly Paleo Data Happy Hour on Thursday, May 17th at 12pm Eastern (UTC-5). The Zoom link for this meeting will be: [insert link]. Our theme for informal discussion this week is a working session for identifiers. In December 2020, Holly Little led a Happy Hour overview of where and why we might want to be using unique identifiers in our collections data. If you have time, reviewing the recording, notes, and/or slides [include links] from that may be useful preparation for this Happy Hour, in which we will be focusing on specific identifiers (e.g. Wikidata QIDs, WoRMS AphiaIDs, Macrostrat IDs, etc.) that work best for specific types of data (e.g. people, taxa, stratigraphic units, etc.)."
• Post a version of the reminder email to the #general channel on our Paleo Data Slack

The day of the scheduled Happy Hour

• Launch Zoom at least 5 minutes prior to the scheduled meeting time so that you can confirm Zoom is working as expected
• At the scheduled start time, welcome everyone and let them know the meeting will be recorded and the recording will be made available for one year
• Begin recording
• Lead or otherwise facilitate the progress of the Happy Hour, including introducing speakers (if appropriate), sharing the link to the notes document, moderating conversation, and closing the meeting on time (typically at the :55 minute mark so that people have time to transition)
• Cross check Happy Hour attendance between the shared notes self-reported attendance and Zoom; update the shared notes as needed
  • If necessary, after the meeting ends you can find the attendance report in your Zoom account online, go to Reports > Usage then select the date of the Zoom meeting and look for a column called Participants

After the scheduled Happy Hour

• Make the recording available by downloading an MP4 file from Zoom and uploading it to the appropriate folder of the PDWG Google Drive, e.g. 2024 Paleo Happy Hour Notes Recordings, using the naming convention of YYYYMMDD_paleo-happy-hour_recording, e.g. “20240111_paleo-happy-hour_recording”
• Update the topic on our website here by adding a link to the recording
• On the shared notes Google Doc, change the Sharing setting to “Anyone on the internet with the link can view” to better protect the document from unintentional editing in the future
• Update attendance record in the PDWG Happy Hour Participant Tracking sheet
• Coordinate any followup from the Happy Hour as necessary, e.g. making progress on group action items, or thanking guest speakers
• Close this issue