Those of you who worry that your public chat will break under the weight of participants, worry no more. (Or worry less, for a more gradual approach.) It used to be that public chats had a 100-person limit. Chat walls have now been rubberized and can now accommodate 150.

So, as long as you have a recent version of Skype that supports public chats -- Skype for Windows and Skype for Mac -- you're in good shape. No need to twiddle with settings or download an upgrade. You'll find a link to an unofficial public-chat directory in our forums.

What are public chats good for? Read what they are and how they work. Here are a couple of ideas to get your creative juices flowing:

* create a mini press conference
* use them at events, or around events even when people aren’t in the same geographic location. Rave, sing, moan and whine about Eurovision, the Estonian football squad, etc.
* use them for your sports club or team to promote fixtures and organise transport to and from games
* set up a product user group