Virtual meetings anyone?

[rjwooll]

As we are all locked in and unable to attend events, would anyone be interested in regular 'virtual' meetings run over Zoom or similar? I'd suggest monthly to start with, initially as a meet & greet and catch-up, but then developing into themed meetings such as technical q&a with some of the more knowledgeable people on the forum, restoration stories, and maybe also inviting guest speakers.

If you're interested please reply and let me know simply so I have the feedback I need - no commitment! I'm also posting this message on lotusexcel.net for owners there to consider participating.

Cheers, Richard

[mikeeech]

I'd be up for it. It would be fun to put faces to names!

[USAndretti42]

As I said on the other forum, I would be interested in taking part.  Have had cyber pub meetings with friends and found Zoom worked better that Skype, i.e. better picture, seemed to use less bandwidth or processing power as my laptop kept freezing the picture of some participants on Skype but not with Zoom.

[soldave]

I'd be up for that I think. Doesn't the free version of Zoom still limit meetings over 3 people to either 40 or 60 minutes? I have had good success with House Party but whatever works for people 👍

[rjwooll]

8 hours ago, soldave said:

I'd be up for that I think. Doesn't the free version of Zoom still limit meetings over 3 people to either 40 or 60 minutes? I have had good success with House Party but whatever works for people 👍

I haven't looked in depth at HouseParty but if you've had success with it then no problem🙂

Got a couple of owners interested so far on excel.net so we're approaching a quorum.

Cheers, Richard

[rjwooll]

Thanks all, I feel Zoom is the best choice so far especially if they lift the 40 minute restriction - thanks for the feedback Hodders (on lotusexcel.net).

Let's aim for one evening next week - how about Tuesday at 6pm?

Cheers, Richard

[mikeeech]

Tuesday's good for me

[USAndretti42]

How will it work?  Will you send an invite for people to join the meeting?

[mikeeech]

I guess you could post the meeting link on here?

[USAndretti42]

Had another Zoom meeting with friends this evening and it was limited to 40minutes.  It may be that your first meeting is unlimited but subsequent ones are.

[rjwooll]

I'll post details of how to join on here (and lotusexcel.net) over the weekend🙂

[rjwooll]

Hi all,

lotusexcel.net has been down this weekend - there's a server migration and upgrade underway to improve the availability of the site. At the moment only mikeeech has expressed interest in joining a call tomorrow and I haven't been able to contact owners on excel.net. If no more are interested this Tuesday then can I suggest postponing until next Tuesday? If we can get more, then we could still do tomorrow. Also, by next week, I should have my superfast broadband installed!!!

Cheers, Richard

[Painterdave]

I'm interested in this but I can't get my broadband deal until the 22nd of April and that I'm just on my phone which won't do

[mikeeech]

Zoom and whereby only allow a limited service. Whereby is an unlimited time but max of 4 people. Zoom is more but maximum of 40 mins. If people pay for ms office or haa a work account, which can be used on your home pcs, then Skype is the better bet.

I'm ok for a postponement or cancellation if there is not sufficient interest

Edited April 13, 2020 by mikeeech

[Tony D]

Richard

I originally acknowledge on Excel.net but when it came on line this morning, I tried changing my email address and now I'm locked out

I'm still interested and available if tomorrow goes ahead, or happy to postpone a week. Email address on this site is correct and live, not so in Excelnet.

Tony

[USAndretti42]

I suggest delaying by a week to give more time to contact people unless you want a trial run with Mike, Tony, me and you tomorrow.  My experience with the cyber pub meets I've been having is that a large amount of time is spent getting everyone connected and working properly, e.g. video or audio not working for some, knowing how to drive the system so you can tell new users how to do various things, etc. so a test with a few guinea pigs helpful volunteers may not be a bad idea.

[rjwooll]

I've not used Zoom before and have been struggling to get it to generate a meeting id that I can post (I use an iPhone). Maybe I need to schedule the meeting from my laptop then join using my phone?

Could I suggest we don't do tonight allowing me to spend some time getting Zoom tutorials. I suggest we make the first meeting next Wednesday (22 April) when PainterDave will have his broadband? 18.00 OK?

Further ahead, given there is a 40 minute limit, maybe we can use each meeting to cover a specific topic?

BTW it was my silly mistake not being able to access lotusexcel.net. My bookmark took me to the site directory structure. I finally discovered that I needed to click on 'Parent Directory' which took me to the new site. The address has changed as it is now https! Duh! Anyway it looks nice and feels pretty snappy.

Cheers, Richard

 

[Tony D]

Richard. 

I confess to not knowing a lot about Zoom, but in my past work life experience, virtual meetings were set up by sending an email to invited parties for the time and date required. I'm not sure you'll be able post a link directly on the forum.  It might require all interested parties to supply an email address to you. 

Tony

[pete]

Normally a notification to all members in a group on their zoom page

[Dunc]

I'm interested - ping me the details. If I'm not working late, I'd like to join.

[rjwooll]

OK folks lets give it a try at 6.00pm tomorrow. Here are the joining details:

Richard Woollaston is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Elite Eclat Excel meeting
Time: Apr 22, 2020 06:00 PM London

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/73577054702

Meeting ID: 735 7705 4702

[rjwooll]

General update - I've pm'ed everyone who expressed an interest with the meeting details. Also, if we're kicked off after 40 minutes apparently we just need to sign back in to the same meeting - so my daughter tells me!

Cheers, Richard

[pete]

is there a limit on numbers

 

[rjwooll]

37 minutes ago, pete said:

is there a limit on numbers

 

No - the 40 minute limit applies to meetings of 4 or more people (for the free version of Zoom)

Richard

[pete]

Is it happening