How do I start baby-led weaning?

Though not many of my friends tried baby-led weaning, most are intrigued by the idea. As some of them had to work, they prefer to stick to spoon feeding as they feel that it will be less messy. Also, they worry about not being able to be there to respond to any emergency that may arise. Of the few who tried, they found that it is not as tedious. One benefit is that food preparation is fast and easy since it usually only involved cutting and steaming fruits or vegetables. While it can get messy, their babies appeared to be more interested in eating and having fun while at it. Anyway, what they did was to cut fruits or vegetables into pieces that are big enough for their babies to hold onto. They started off with steamed carrots, banana, soft mangos, toast finger, broccoli and peeled cucumber. And to introduce the idea, they started the first session as “snack” in between feeds. Once their babies got the idea, they started eating together with them and as a family whenever possible. Still, one mentioned that she actually did a mix of baby-led weaning and also spoon feeding. This is because their family eats out rather frequently and she wanted to be able to feed her baby while outside to minimize the mess. Her baby had no issue having a mix of both methods. An added advantage (she feels) of using both is that she could also feed purees, cereal and porridge easily to her baby. When her baby was older, she would spoon these and encourage her baby to feed himself.