The Human Hour Is Back
A brief history of our community gatherings, and a link for paid subscribers to register for our November 17th Zoom call.
Do you remember Google Hangouts?
I do because it was where I hosted our first community call, more than ten years ago, back when my blog was still called “UnTangled.” I announced it at the bottom of a blog post, logged on at the appointed hour, and I was joined by a single brave soul. (You know who you are!)
The gathering gradually grew as we continued to meet monthly on Sunday afternoons. In March 2014, we started calling those video calls Courtyard Conversations, in part because I had just started writing a little book called Loveable and there was a castle metaphor at the heart of the manuscript. We met like that for several years. However, the technology was glitchy, and we spent almost as much time talking about the WiFi as we did discussing the topic. So, we took a break for a while.
Then along came Facebook Live. By January 2019, it was a reliable streaming platform, and we used it to resume almost weekly live community gatherings. We called them the Human Hour, and they continued all the way through Covid, until I became disenchanted with the fact that I was the only one on video, as compared to Zoom, which was becoming increasingly popular.
So, at the end of 2021, I completed a training for facilitating group gatherings on Zoom and in March 2022, we resumed video calls for the first time since 2016. Because it felt more like the old Google Hangouts, I reverted to the Courtyard Conversation moniker. Now, in the spirit of the recent reimagining of this Substack as Humaning, our community gatherings will once again be called the Human Hour, and our next Zoom call will be on Friday, November 17, at 1pm CT.
There are a couple more changes coming, too. In the past, the conversations have almost always been tethered to a recent writing of mine. Now, we’re going to untether them and, instead, crowdsource the topics for our calls. I’m doing this for one reason: I want our calls to be as helpful and as relevant to you as possible.
Each month, a couple weeks ahead of the Human Hour, I’ll start a Substack Chat thread asking for topic suggestions. For example, how can I listen better for the voice of grace within me? Or, what do I do with a spouse who isn’t interested in growing along with me? Or, what if I’ve realized my passion and my job aren’t a good match? Of course, you can always suggest we unpack something I’ve recently written. I’ll then pick a handful of those topics, put them up for a vote at the beginning of the Zoom call, and whichever one gets upvoted the most will be our focus for the hour!
Going forward, the Substack Chat is also where I’ll be sharing the link to register for the Human Hour, so make sure you’re tuned into the chat. Paid subscribers get exclusive access to these chat threads, and I’ve enabled a feature that allows paid subscribers to start your own threads, so it’ll be a great place to interact with and support each other, as well. Click the button below, and bookmark the page while you’re there!
Reminder: access to the Human Hour is included in your paid Substack subscription. So, registration for each meeting is free and if you can’t make it to a meeting you’ve registered for, no problem, but we’ll miss you! If you do attend a meeting, we ask that you keep your camera on as much as possible. No need to speak up unless you want to, but being able to see a face increases the sense of safety for everyone who is talking. The meetings are not recorded (also to increase the sense of safety), so you’ve got to be there to benefit from them. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments!
Now, don’t forget to click the registration link below, and go get connected to our Substack Chat, as I’ll be starting a topic request thread in a couple of days. Can’t wait to resume the Human Hour with you!