August 2020 Virtual Meeting Recap (Feedback)
After many months of no meetings, no Wednesday coffees at Bain Center, no Bain workshop, no nothing, it was quite nice to get together yesterday for a virtual meeting using Zoom technology.
There was a high of 56 concurrent participants, and a total of 75 different connected devices during the two hours.
The meeting highlights were the introduction of our President and Vice President candidates and their shared vision for the Guild’s next chapters, a great show-n-tell, and of course Joel’s Custom Tool Cabinet demonstration. One theme that many commented about during our more social moments was that those who have hearing issues (most of us) were able to hear everything! I can attest that that sentiment. Also, it was great to see the names with faces concurrent to their attendance. One member even wore his membership badge (I was impressed).
You can revisit the meeting agenda, Joel’s full length demonstration video hosted on our HCWG Channel on YouTube, and notes from the chat stream where members contributed details and links during Joel’s demo and the show-n-tell. In some of these ways, the virtual meeting format has advantages over a physical meeting. To view the video, or review links and details, please visit the 2020-08-01 August 2020 Monthly Meeting is Virtual (Zoom) (click here) post.
During the wrap up, Rick indicated he’d like to continue the expanded agenda for the virtual meetings, to go past September and to include business topics additional to the Nomination Committee’s conduct of the election process. I will gladly contribute the necessary support to facilitate the use of Zoom technology.
We do have some requests for you.
We would love your feedback about the August meeting. Reply to the email version of this post, or Contact Us. Use these points as suggested thoughts, and of course anything else you think useful:
- Announcements were timely.
- Announcements had enough information, too much information.
- Announcement links worked for me (you clicked to the Zoom meeting link and it worked).
- The Zoom meeting was easy enough to get into.
- The Zoom meeting window and controls were easy enough to use.
- The video quality was good (if yours wasn’t please tell us about how you connected (cellular, wifi at home, wifi elsewhere, device used, operating system, browser versus Zoom app).
- The audio quality was good (if yours wasn’t, please tell us about your device and how you get the sound from it – such as device name, speakers, headphones, corded ear buds, cordless/wireless ear buds; and whether you have speaker volume control).
- The meeting duration was perfect.
- The meeting cadence, how fast we went through the topics and the amount of time spent on each topic, was perfect.
- Overall, you liked the virtual meeting.
- You want to see more virtual meetings.
- You want virtual meeting attendance as an option for regular in-person meetings.
- Anything else relevant and useful.
Thought the format worked well and learned a lot. Would stick with virtual meetings for now but miss exchanging stuff and seeing people in person.
Jack Nesbitt
Gene,
I thought the Zoom meeting went extremely well. Below are a couple of my thoughts:
– the business part of the meeting seemed a little long, but was necessary since we have not met for a considerable period. The overall length of the meeting seemed about right. At our regular face-to-face meetings, we get a break to stretch and use facilities etc.
– I thought the use of the camera for Joel’s talk was great. It was steady and aimed at what he was talking about. Too many times, the camera (be it a phone or pad) is jumpy or moving. What ever device Joel used, we should make sure that it is used for future meetings of this type.
– I’d suggest that we have some guidelines around show and tell,e.g., length and topic. This is a good opportunity for SnT for items too large to physically bring to a meeting, but may encourage a member to show off a kitchen remodelling ad nauseum. Remote SnT opens up possibilities but we should think about how we want this to work.
It was a very good meeting and I look forward to September.
David Blois
Overall I was very pleased with the meeting – Thanks! I am a late riser and usually don’t get up in time to attend monthly meetings.
See my answers below, in red. (Editor’s Note: Steve’s responses to the survey were summarized in the pending Poll Report.)
I suspect that the high of 75 connections was partly due to some members disconnecting and re-connecting, either by mistake or to try to reset something.
Steve Hedges
Hi Gene,
I’m afraid I missed the meeting Saturday morning due to another commitment. I really enjoyed watching Joel’s presentation on YouTube, so thanks very much for that. Is there any information posted about the officer candidates? Will the voting take place during the September meeting?
Also, just as an FYI, I talked with Joel last month and agreed to take over the door prize management, if/when we ever meet in person again.
Take care,
Ken Brawn
Hi Ken, about the nominees, yes, we will be publishing a web site post with these information. The subject will be Nomination Committee Report. Look for it in the headlines area of the homepage. Voting will be held by an email ballot sent right after the Monthly Meeting, September 12th. Voting will close 24 hours later. Ballots tabulated the next day, Monday and the results announced to all members by email and web site post.
Hi Gene,
I thought the meeting went very well – it could be my expectations were low 🙂
The technical issues were minimal and overall, I could probably see and here better than I have during the in-person meetings. I did miss the socializing, and good deals from the back table, but overall it was very successful. Thanks for coordinating it.