diff --git a/handlers/event.go b/handlers/event.go
index f2ac846..5b9b742 100644
--- a/handlers/event.go
+++ b/handlers/event.go
@@ -50,8 +50,15 @@ var actionMap = map[string]func(*context.AppContext){
 }
 
 func RegisterEventHandlers(ctx *context.AppContext) {
+
+	// Keyboard events
 	eventHandler(ctx)
+
+	// RTM incoming events
 	messageHandler(ctx)
+
+	// User presence
+	go actionSetPresenceAll(ctx)
 }
 
 // eventHandler will handle events created by the user
@@ -444,6 +451,24 @@ func actionSetPresence(ctx *context.AppContext, channelID string, presence strin
 	termui.Render(ctx.View.Channels)
 }
 
+// actionPresenceAll will set the presence of the user list. Because the
+// requests to the endpoint are rate limited we implement a timeout here.
+func actionSetPresenceAll(ctx *context.AppContext) {
+	for _, chn := range ctx.Service.Conversations {
+		if chn.IsIM {
+
+			presence, err := ctx.Service.GetUserPresence(chn.User)
+			if err != nil {
+				presence = "away"
+			}
+			ctx.View.Channels.SetPresence(chn.ID, presence)
+
+			termui.Render(ctx.View.Channels)
+			time.Sleep(1200 * time.Millisecond)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 func actionScrollUpChat(ctx *context.AppContext) {
 	ctx.View.Chat.ScrollUp()
 	termui.Render(ctx.View.Chat)
diff --git a/service/slack.go b/service/slack.go
index ca2c606..22e4dee 100644
--- a/service/slack.go
+++ b/service/slack.go
@@ -173,6 +173,8 @@ func (s *SlackService) GetChannels() ([]components.ChannelItem, error) {
 			}
 		}
 
+		// NOTE: user presence is set in the event handler by the function
+		// `actionSetPresenceAll`, that is why we set the presence to away
 		if chn.IsIM {
 			// Check if user is deleted, we do this by checking the user id,
 			// and see if we have the user in the UserCache
@@ -183,24 +185,12 @@ func (s *SlackService) GetChannels() ([]components.ChannelItem, error) {
 
 			chanItem.Name = name
 			chanItem.Type = components.ChannelTypeIM
+			chanItem.Presence = "away"
 
 			buckets[3][chn.User] = &tempChan{
 				channelItem:  chanItem,
 				slackChannel: chn,
 			}
-
-			wg.Add(1)
-			go func(user string, buckets map[int]map[string]*tempChan) {
-				defer wg.Done()
-
-				presence, err := s.GetUserPresence(user)
-				if err != nil {
-					buckets[3][user].channelItem.Presence = "away"
-					return
-				}
-
-				buckets[3][user].channelItem.Presence = presence
-			}(chn.User, buckets)
 		}
 	}