1d ago
Five Minutes in the Wrong Place
I would really love to see ShareWell reconsider how a five-minute grace period works between groups.
Right now, the accepted practice is to wait until five minutes have passed after the scheduled start time before beginning because people can still enter the room at their own discretion. This means that, for example, a 10:00 group doesn't really start until 10:05. Then it ends at 11:05, making everyone late for the next group, which now no longer has the option to begin at the scheduled start time, because no one is there yet, since this has made time decorative.
Why not open the room five minutes before the scheduled start instead?
If a group starts at 10:00, open the room at 9:55. People coming from another group have time to transition, everyone can get settled, wrestle with their camera or microphone, find their coffee, and wander in. Then at 10:00, we actually start at 10:00. Revolutionary, I know.
For hosts doing structured groups, those first five minutes matter. I either start on time and repeatedly interrupt myself to catch up late arrivals, or I make everyone who knows the meaning of the word punctuality wait. Neither feels particularly respectful of people's time.
I believe we should absolutely keep the five-minute transition period, however I'd just love to see it happen before the scheduled start rather than taking five minutes away from every group that follows suggesting that clocks are merely suggestions.
Pending