During the course of World Childless Week, I mentioned at the bottom of each blog that we had some new initiatives to be announced at the end of the week. Unfortunately, life got in the way and that announcement didn’t happen the way it was planned.
The new revised schedule was to make the announcements at the beginning of this week. Again life, the universe and everything had different ideas. You can read about that in my blog next week.
So, this is the third attempt at announcing one our new initiatives. There is a little teaser at the end about some of the others.
Drum roll please!
Andrew and I are going to be reopening the doors of our Zoom Café next week. It’s been redecorated and re-branded to reflect our new Canbacing status.
What is The Flamingo Zoom Café?
Before I answer that, perhaps it would help if I explained the inspiration for the initiative.
I came up with the original idea in February last year. I had been reading post/comment after post/comment from people really struggling with isolation. They loved the fact they were connecting with people on Facebook who knew what they were going through. No risk of baby photos and back to school stories. Yet something was missing. They had little or no opportunity to meet face to face with someone. Their new CNBC friends lived too far away to suggest meeting up for a coffee and a “lovely”. (Buns and cakes are not called “naughties” in this house.)
Having used Zoom extensively to connect with people regarding the magazine I explored the idea of using it for virtual meet-ups. “The Childless Not By Choice Zoom Café” Facebook group was started a few days later. For several months a group of us would meet on Zoom at a pre-arranged time. It was really lovely connecting with people at the deeper level. Putting a face and a voice to the Facebook profile photos was fabulous.
Then everything petered out. I wasn’t able to schedule calls in advance and eventually the café closed its doors.
However, Andrew and I really loved the connections we were making. Having talked it through we decided the way to go was to have a fixed schedule from the start. That way everyone would know in advance when meet-ups were taking place.
Opening Days and Times
We’re going to start small initially. To begin with two dates in October as follows:
Thursday 10th October at 7pm (London)
Thursday 24th October at 7pm (London)
The pesky clocks don’t change in the UK until the 26th. However, if you are in country when the clocks change on a different date please double check the local time for you.
Future plans
Eventually we’d like to have meet ups that are convenient for people living in different parts of the world. Our ultimate aim is:
Meet Up A – evening in the UK
Meet Up B – evening on the North American East coast
Meet Up C – evening on the North American West Coast
Meet Up D – evening in Australia and New Zealand
I haven’t used Week 1 and Week 2 above because I’m not sure how the schedule will actually look at the end.
It’s going to take some time to work out the best days and times for all of this which doesn’t involve us being awake at silly o’clock three times a month.
Planning hasn’t been helped by the looming clock changes. Why can’t this happen on the same day for everyone? Bad planning on the part of someone!
Fancy joining us?
We’ve decided to close the FB group rather than attempting to breathe new life into it. Instead we’re creating a mailing list of everyone who expresses an interest in joining us. We can set up meetings a month in advance and send out one email to everyone on the list. Much easier for us to manage and much easier for other people to remain updated.
If you’d like to join us for a cuppa and a lovely, or a glass of wine if you’d rather, than we’d love to see you in the Zoom Café. You don’t need to create a Zoom account and there is no cost involved.
Firstly, you will need to join the mailing list using the form below. You will be sent an email with a registration link to the two meet-ups that are taking place in October.
In the future you will receive an email at the end of each month containing the links to all the meet-ups happening the next month. All you need to do with follow the link and register. There is NO cost to you. As we confirm the days/times of meet-ups suited to people in North America, Australia and NZ you may receive an extra email. However, we promise not to bombard you with them.
Secondly you may want to watch the video below. This talks you through using Zoom if you are not familiar with the format. This video will be included in the monthly emails in case you need to refresh your memory at any time.
The Power of Zoom
If you haven’t already realised, I LOVE Zoom. It’s a wonderful way to connect with people all around the world. Andrew and I couldn’t run Canbace Life without it. Not only does it help us with the business it also stops us from feeling so isolated. There are very few people who are CNBC in our neck of the woods.
If only Zoom had been around 10 years ago we made have started Creating A New, Beautiful And Courageous Existence years ago. However, I can’t change the past. What I can do is embrace the future and hope that you will join us in our little corner of the virtual world.
Teaser Announcements
That’s all I can currently announce with any degree of confidence. Life is changing so frequently at the moment it is very hard for us to write about the future. You can find out why in my blog next week when I will be writing about rabbit holes!
All I can say at the moment is that we are hoping to have some free resources available by the end of October. The first paid for courses will make an appearance during November and December.
As I sign off please remember:
You are strong. You are deserving. So please be kind to yourself
In Canbace friendship
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