Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Hybrid Zoom Meetings - Need Help

[Linda Hobbet (coho]

Hi,

Here at Village Hearth we would like to start doing our plenary meetings 
in person. There are usually members who are traveling or not here for 
some reason. Plus we have immune-compromised members who are never 
comfortable being in a large group, so hybrid meetings would have to be 
the norm. We want to purchase an owl and I am glad to see the positive 
reviews. How difficult is it to set up a meeting using the owl. Would it 
be possible to put me in touch with a community member who is 
responsible for setting it up?

As one of the community facilitators, I find the idea of facilitating 
hybrid meetings daunting. Zoom only or in person only are challenging 
enough. Any tips?

Did you know that in zoom you can enable and save both closed captions 
and a transcript? They aren't a good substitute for minutes but our 
minute takers find them very useful in taking notes.

Linda



On 11/12/2023 8:52 PM, Jessie Kome via Cohousing-L wrote:
> Hi-
>
> At Eastern Village, we’ve decided to support hybrid meetings going forward and 
> purchased an Owl Labs meeting camera, which changes the experience a lot for those in the 
> room and those attending virtually. (Some of our members had used an Owl at work and 
> enthusiastically recommended the tech.) The Owl camera and mic swivel toward the in-room 
> speaker while the split display shows almost everyone most of the time in slowly shifting 
> panoramas.  I don’t have extensive experience with it yet, but I am already a fan.
>
> The Owl seems to reduce that odd Zoom feeling that everyone is staring at you 
> all the time - and I hope it will make folks more comfortable with cameras on 
> for most of the meeting. The virtual attendees loved it and reported it made 
> them feel more a part of the meeting.
>
> It works with Zoom and Teams. I don’t know about other platforms. I used a 27” 
> iMac to run both the Owl app and the meeting app. Our tech folks assure me that the better 
> way is to run the Owl app from an in-room laptop, and use a large TV or display for the 
> interface between virtual and in-person.
>
> In community problem-solving,
> Jessie Handforth Kome
> Eastern Village Cohousing
> Silver Spring, Maryland
>
> “Where we just celebrated 19 years together.”
>
> > .
> >
> > We have higher attendance with Zoom meetings than in-person meetings and people who are away 
> > do often tune into meetings, as well as prospective buyers. I don’t like rules that 
> > say people have to do this or that to prove this or that because it usually doesn’t. 
> > If people are required to sit in front of the computer and be visible as a talking head will 
> > they pass up the meeting? I would rather have a headshot than no person.
> >
> > Sharon
> > ----
> > Sharon Villines
> > Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
> > http://www.takomavillage.org
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VillageHearthCohousing.com
706-202-7178
coho [at] lindahobbet.com