Zoom for Woodworking Club Meetings

[wjt]

Anyone here belong to a Woodworkers Guild that is using Zoom meetings in place of in person events.

If so I would appreciate some feedback on how it is working. How have you set up the meeting options, etc. What has worked and what would you have done differently ?

Thanks, Bill

[Steve Altman]

Anyone here belong to a Woodworkers Guild that is using Zoom meetings in place of in person events.

If so I would appreciate some feedback on how it is working. How have you set up the meeting options, etc. What has worked and what would you have done differently ?

Thanks, Bill

Hi,

The club I'm in - Central Jersey Woodworking Association - has been using Zoom for meetings since March. It works fine. I'm not the person who handles the setup, but I've attended almost all the presentations (actually gave one) and it seemed pretty good. I'd suggest if you want more informaiton go to www.cjwa.org. Right now you'll see the announcement of our meeting on 1/13 which will be a Zoom meeting. You can contact the club through the Contact button in the top menu. I'm sure someone will get back to you. If not, reply here and I'll get someone to contact you.

Good luck,

[bhh]

We (Cincinnati Woodworking Club ) are doing our first one Saturday.  But we have elected to go with Google Meet.   It does not have a time limit and at least to me, clearer audio and video.   You can also do closed captioning for yourself if you wish.

Our Church and another club I belong to has had a few sessions using Zoom.   Some of the issues we have had:

• People don't mute themselves and you get interruptions with coughs, dogs barking, kids, talking to the spouse, etc. *
  
• Some people feel they have to comment on everything.   Sometimes, it's just "Yep" or "Uh-huh"  *
  
• People show up late and might have audio or video problems that then delay the start
  
• Time limit of 40 minutes unless you have a paid account
  
• One group had a two-part presentation.  Though you were supposed to put in a reservation for either/both parts that was capped at Zoom's limit of 100, either people from the first part never left or the link URL got passed around.   The result was the second half speaker could not log in.   People volunteered to leave the meeting, but it appeared others joined in during the gap and it took 10 minutes to get the speaker in.
  
• I have found entering questions in the "Chat" window the best way as it does not interrupt the speaker.   The moderator can then pose the questions to the speaker(s).   I think it would also help for regular points in a presentation, "Any questions on what I just talked about?"
  
• "Hybrid" meetings where some people were on Zoom and some physically present was a disaster.  You cannot tell who in the physical meeting is speaking and unless they are right next to the host device, you cannot hear well.   If more than one person at a location has audio on, there's a tremendous echo.
  

* This might be helped by an active moderator, not the speaker, who can "Mute all"

[wjt]

We (Cincinnati Woodworking Club ) are doing our first one Saturday.  But we have elected to go with Google Meet.   It does not have a time limit and at least to me, clearer audio and video.   You can also do closed captioning for yourself if you wish.

Our Church and another club I belong to has had a few sessions using Zoom.   Some of the issues we have had:

• People don't mute themselves and you get interruptions with coughs, dogs barking, kids, talking to the spouse, etc. *
  
• Some people feel they have to comment on everything.   Sometimes, it's just "Yep" or "Uh-huh"  *
  
• People show up late and might have audio or video problems that then delay the start
  
• Time limit of 40 minutes unless you have a paid account
  
• One group had a two-part presentation.  Though you were supposed to put in a reservation for either/both parts that was capped at Zoom's limit of 100, either people from the first part never left or the link URL got passed around.   The result was the second half speaker could not log in.   People volunteered to leave the meeting, but it appeared others joined in during the gap and it took 10 minutes to get the speaker in.
  
• I have found entering questions in the "Chat" window the best way as it does not interrupt the speaker.   The moderator can then pose the questions to the speaker(s).   I think it would also help for regular points in a presentation, "Any questions on what I just talked about?"
  
• "Hybrid" meetings where some people were on Zoom and some physically present was a disaster.  You cannot tell who in the physical meeting is speaking and unless they are right next to the host device, you cannot hear well.   If more than one person at a location has audio on, there's a tremendous echo.
  

* This might be helped by an active moderator, not the speaker, who can "Mute all"

bhh:

A lot of the observations you listed have to do with etiquette.

The ability for the host to mute people is a must. We have decided to use Zoom and have been running some 'test' meetings with 4 or 5 members to verify the settings. We also went with a single license.

We will have our first 'live' Zoom meeting the end of the month. It will be interesting to see how many members join.

Bill

[MarkWells]

Anyone here belong to a Woodworkers Guild that is using Zoom meetings in place of in person events.

If so I would appreciate some feedback on how it is working. How have you set up the meeting options, etc. What has worked and what would you have done differently ?

I have been running the meetings for the Fine Woodworkers of Austin since April.

Most important:  Don't publish the meeting link (Zoom or Google Meet) in a public place.  I led a meeting where the link was published on a website and we got Zoom Bombed.  A lot of people joined and as I welcomed them, they pulled down their pants.  (This was in  March of last  year.  Zoom has added tools to help with this problem.)

We have used the Zoom format to host meetings that we normally could not.  For example, we have had  presenters from California, Washington, Minnesota, and England.  It would be a good time to ask friends from internet forums to participate in your local club.

When we switched to Zoom, some members have never attended, but overall attendance is much more consistent.  

Every meeting we have Show and Tell where people show what they are working on.  There's many more Show and Tells during the pandemic.  Most folks have figured out how to share pictures from their computer.  It's always slightly painful to coach people through the screen sharing process, but totally worth it.  Using  the camera on the phone and showing the work live also works.  

Zoom fatigue is real.  The meeting should probably be shorter on Zoom than it would be in real life.

Tech tips:
* Designate one or two people to be the tech support for the meeting.  That should usually not be the speaker or moderator.
* Practice with a meeting of 3 or more.  Things to practice:
    - Letting in users (Zoom)
    - Kicking out users
    - Mute somebody (both Zoom and Google Meet  support this)
    - Unmute somebody (this is the main reason I use Zoom because as the host I can ask someone to unmute.  Too often people try to talk and they are muted.)
    - Share screen
    - Turning off someone else's screen share.
* Open the meeting early so people can join early and test the connection.
* Host a "tech support only" meeting to make people more comfortable with the platform.  This is also a good way to practice.
* Don't put a light behind you.  The light should be in front of you, behind the camera.

Don't stress out when things don't quite go right.  It's just part of the platform.

Mark

[iclark]

^^^
great advice.

To that list, you want someone designated to monitor the Chat area. Chat is where members/attendees ask questions, but the presenter and, often, the host cannot view the chat during the meeting.

The questions can then be gathered up and asked of the presenter at the appropriate time.

The tech guy is usually the person pinging the presenter to adjust their camera(s) when necessary.