On several occasions, we've questioned the opening circle of our Awakin Calls. Most recently, Anne shared after yesterday's call: "This call would have been improved by a longer Q & A as the opportunities for a deeper dialogue was present and it would have been interesting to allow the guest more time and space with Steve. This is one of those areas where it can be good and also challenging to change the format ... as it works well."

Right now, we open the call with 5 minutes (mostly logistics) by host and 20 minute circle with listeners. That is followed by 35 minutes of moderated interview with guest, and then 30 minutes of open-mic Q&A.

What do you people think about 5 minutes welcome by host (and informal couple minute hand-off to moderator), and then going straight into the interview for 45 minutes, and opening up the circle/theme in the later part of the circle?

The original thinking was that opening circle creates more of a community and less of a speaker-listener duality, but in practice, particularly over a telephone line, it's unclear if we succeed in our intention.

Would love to hear your thoughts.