I’ve been a long time practitioner of having “random meetings” where I meet with whomever wants to get together with me.  Some amazing things have come out of this over the years, including my first meeting with David Cohen which turned into TechStars.

I’ve decided to try something different for the next few months.  Rather than having random days in my office, I’m going to have “community hours” in the Bunker (the TechStars office) once a month.  The TechStars space is big enough for people to hang out and mingle (unlike my office) so it’s easier for groups to hang out and meet each other, in addition to spending time with me.  I’ve always loved the idea of “professors office hours” – this is the closest I could come to simulating it in my little section of the universe.

We’ve set up a self-service wiki for my Community Hours.  The rules for signing up are simple – just set up an account and then pick a date and time slot.  Put your name, email address, and a brief description of the meeting.  Given my ever changing schedule, there’s always a chance that we’ll have to move one of the dates around so having a valid email address is critical for us.  More extensive instructions are on the wiki.

My partners Seth Levine and Jason Mendelson are also giving this a try, as is David Cohen.  If it works, we’ll do more.  Feedback and suggestions are welcome.