(Archived) HELP: Looking for Ideas to Use Evernote in a Group

[GrumpyMonkey 4,320]

Hi everyone. I am going to be in charge of a dissertation writing group at my university. I expect somewhere between 10 and 25 members from all sorts of academic disciplines to attend. What do we do? We just sit in silence and write. Yeah, I know it's not going to be popular like a Lady Gaga concert or anything, but the university is generously funding food and drinks, so I am sure people will come:)

I was wondering if there was a way I could incorporate Evernote into this, because it would be nice to have a bit more of a sharing element in it. We obviously don't collaborate in the extent that someone in a business environment would, because we are working on our own original research, but we do talk over progress and discuss ideas. Usually, this is just informally in groups of three or four at most.

1) I need to have a sign-up system. We have used Doodle to do sign-ups in the past, and it works OK, but there is no waiting list (for when people end up being unable to attend) and no "check-in" (I'd like them to check-in two days before to confirm they will come, and if they don't, that will free up space for others). I am thinking Evernote's shared notebook won't work well for this (this is open to thousands of graduate students, and I won't know who is interested until they actually sign up), but I am not sure. So, if not Evernote or Doodle, any ideas?

2) I am thinking that it would be interesting to have a shared notebook where I can post writing tips, ideas for productivity, sites useful to writers (all sorts of distraction-killing apps), and that kind of stuff. I would collect it from participants and post it, so I wouldn't necessarily need anyone to have editing privileges, and this could be globally shared. I am kind of tempted to collect emails and do a closed one sharing more specific stuff: writing goals and so forth. Sharing this stuff is a powerful motivator.

Any thoughts? Any other ideas?

[gazumped 11,713]

Hi GM - You're probably more clued in than most about what Evernote can and cannot do, so I'd imagine that you have the bases covered as far as shared notebooks are concerned. You have a few incentives to be the facilitator here: you're in charge of the group - you want to encourage attendance - and you want to make sure it gets done right. So you as central editor of a shared book makes sense and avoids all the pitfalls - although there is lots of evidence that being able to feed comments back in real time helps to encourage membership.

So. I'd suggest you stick with a central shared notebook to add hints and tips, but use Twitter (hashtag a relevant word) to let people stay in touch with their short (always preferred) comments.

There are quite a few online meeting apps out there that let you put out an invitation that people can respond to, and I've just started using something that integrates with Google Mail to schedule 'group meetings' that can be real world events. Boomerang.cal (via Lifehacker originally I think - sorry) seems to do what you need.

Hope that helps.

I know you probably don't need any other commitments, but if you're going to test out a couple of options and make a choice I hope you'll document the process and the outcome and publish it here - or at least give us the link. It's a process that lots of Evernote users may have to go through at some stage whether they're staging a regular group meeting or a one-off press conference, and the tools that you eventually choose could be useful to all of us!

Good luck with your research - we'll expect updates...

[GrumpyMonkey 4,320]

Hi GM - You're probably more clued in than most about what Evernote can and cannot do, so I'd imagine that you have the bases covered as far as shared notebooks are concerned. You have a few incentives to be the facilitator here: you're in charge of the group - you want to encourage attendance - and you want to make sure it gets done right. So you as central editor of a shared book makes sense and avoids all the pitfalls - although there is lots of evidence that being able to feed comments back in real time helps to encourage membership.

So. I'd suggest you stick with a central shared notebook to add hints and tips, but use Twitter (hashtag a relevant word) to let people stay in touch with their short (always preferred) comments.

There are quite a few online meeting apps out there that let you put out an invitation that people can respond to, and I've just started using something that integrates with Google Mail to schedule 'group meetings' that can be real world events. Boomerang.cal (via Lifehacker originally I think - sorry) seems to do what you need.

Hope that helps.

I know you probably don't need any other commitments, but if you're going to test out a couple of options and make a choice I hope you'll document the process and the outcome and publish it here - or at least give us the link. It's a process that lots of Evernote users may have to go through at some stage whether they're staging a regular group meeting or a one-off press conference, and the tools that you eventually choose could be useful to all of us!

Good luck with your research - we'll expect updates...

Thanks Gaz for the useful comments. The easy way here would be to just do as usual: Doodle to schedule (spots fill up, but people don't delete commitments if their plans change, so people miss out on it), email reminders the night before (this is pretty much a form email), and an attendance sheet to keep track of who actually comes (people who don't show up are ineligible for future meetings). It works. But, I think there is more that could be done, especially in terms of sharing resources, sharing ideas, and sharing progress.

I like your Twitter idea. I hadn't even thought of that! I'll look into Boomerang. As for the write-up, that's a good idea. If I am asking you guys to give me some ideas for how to do something here with Evernote, I have an obligation to write back about it. And, this will be another (healthy) distraction from my project

[GrumpyMonkey 4,320]

Thanks for the suggestions. I ended up going for a simple, straightforward shared notebook this time. I only have five notes in it at the moment. Three have resources from different university departments. One has inspirational sayings and another has useful links. I've encouraged everyone to send me resources, links, sayings, and anything else they'd like to share with people. It may grow in size over time, but we''ll have to see.

https://www.evernote.com/shard/s74/sh/4307a6ba-79f7-48cd-afed-624105c90acf/21b31554a5507dad40df37595502eccf