Virtual forum meets

Which style of meet would you be interested in attending?

  • Traditional Meet

    Votes: 18 43.9%

  • Coffee Morning

    Votes: 32 78.0%

  • Webinar

    Votes: 13 31.7%
  • Total voters
    41
Merab's Slave said:
We may end up varying the times if the idea works well.
That way we can accommodate the time zones around the world.
It would also be possible to do something like 8:00pm to 10:00pm so even if you couldn’t join at the start @Hannah_xx you could pop in for the last part.
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That’s a good idea! I struggle to get out of bed so joining in on the last part would be better :xd:
 
Gem789 said:
I'm afraid I'll be giving this a miss. I struggle with zoom anyway and don't want my face on show lol. I always need a drink to calm my nerves at the proper meets lol. It's a really lovely idea though. Hopefully we can have a meet in person in the latter half of the year. I do miss them.
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I wouldn't have a clue how to use Zoom so you won't be alone! I hope everyone who takes part has a good time.
 
Lorcan said:
See, because I don't make eye contact I've a habit of not looking at the screen during a videocall, which makes it much easier to put my mug out there to see on one. Can't see you, can't see me! ...or something, anyway.
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I find it hard,because of being partly deaf ,lm trying to lipread ,but because of a delay in sound,have to look away from the screen. Making it hard if more than one person is talking to be in a conversation. 👄
 
teddymouse said:
I find it hard,because of being partly deaf ,lm trying to lipread ,but because of a delay in sound,have to look away from the screen. Making it hard if more than one person is talking to be in a conversation. 👄
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It is very difficult for those who are deaf @teddymouse but have never found a way to overc that.
 
Free Ranger said:
Perhaps the organisers can have a re-think about the need for cameras all the time? I know we've all got to 'appear' and look over 18 etc but how about tilting the camera after that to exclude faces of the shy? I mean - we'd have to avoid a gallery of boobs, but necks or chins maybe? Or sunglasses and a hat!
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I am sorry, I really do understand but as owner I do have to have safeguarding at the top of the list on things we pay attention to when doing meets. This forum is one of the safest places i believe on the internet, the staff here work tirelessly to ensure that it is a safe space for all.

At a physical meet we can see faces, a virtual meet needs to be the same... we have to ensure that people are who they say they are, we do not want any underage users (which there should not be anyway) at this meet. Likewise people who aren't invited don't turn up with a shared link and can attend...

You are all kind, wonderful people and i understand concerns but safeguarding is a priority in all we do here. And we do this for you.
 
i toyed with the idea of camera on for a bit then off.... BUT and over the time here the staff have seen lots of stuff you'd never imagine.... a underage user may persuade an adult to pop on for the beginning and switch over. We have members that lie about their age all the time, when we find out we have to remove accounts because of our niche we have lots of people who lie about their age to post here

We are not enforcing it to be 'Dicks' for want of a better term... beat that swear filter.... BUT because we care about each and everyone of you. I understand anxiety, and i know this will sadly put some of you wonderful, kind members off from attending :( but it has to go down like this.... i do hope you understand and if you feel you cant attend the text based forum is always here and going nowhere.

Thanks for being part of the forum family

Lee
x
 
When I have meetings at work I tend to switch my camera on at the start to show it's me, then switch off the camera after ten minutes or to help people who don't have great Wi-Fi. Maybe this should be the case. Enter the meeting with camera on then switch off after a certain time if they want to?
I think this is also what we allow for students also.
 
teddymouse said:
I find it hard,because of being partly deaf ,lm trying to lipread ,but because of a delay in sound,have to look away from the screen. Making it hard if more than one person is talking to be in a conversation. 👄
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Hopefully their will only be one person chatting at one time? unlike in a real life setting- it's easy to concentrate on one persons conversation, giving undivided attention to those in the conversation, whilst the other end of the table can chat about something else.

I should imagine on the screen there will only be the opportunity for one at a time to speak, so the rest of the group should be listening, as in a 'one to one' & not interrupting anyway? or is that not how it works :hmm: ? x
 
I think it needs to be looked at as a face to face meet, but behind screens. Which it is, but some people might find the mindset a bit different. Every time I've gone to a meet I've been nervous, even after the first time when I knew most of the lovely people who were going. But once I'm there, sat down, talking starts - that's time to relax it.

this, to me, is the same idea, it's only that the "venue" has changed. I'm probably still gonna be a little anxious before I speak to people, it's perfectly normal. But the expectations for who turns up and so on, that shouldn't shift because it's a Zoom call. The responsibility doesn't lessen because it's not in a public place - heck, the level of responsibility is actually higher as a result. I wonder if smaller groups or something wouldn't alleviate some of those fears, rather than having everyone turning up at once - which would be great, but also overwhelming for some people - myself probably included.

ETA: Years ago I used to do Skype group calls, they'd be left constantly running with a group of maybe 30 people, but only ~10 would be online at any one time and not everyone would be talking while online, say if they were working or something. But even 8 people, talking on voice-only chat at once, it gets confusing and can be hard to follow. That's not going to be any easier with video running as well.
 
Remember this is not replacing the forum and is no different from a forum meet that may take place in a pub in Oxford but this time it is on a screen.

hopefully next year we won’t need to consider this.. zoom will be hard as it is difficult to hold the smaller conversations everyone does at events, so it hard to say how successful or how this will feel...
 
As the ‘Coffee Morning’ seems to be the most popular option we may need to try a couple, keeping numbers low so that we can get a feel for how it would work.
Let’s accept that not everyone will want to join a virtual meet any more than everyone wanted to join a real life meet.

As @sport_billy has said the online forum will still be here.
He is also spot on with saying that safeguarding is the top priority.
The reason this is one of the safest online forums is because of the strict adherence to online safeguards.
 
sport_billy said:
Remember this is not replacing the forum and is no different from a forum meet that may take place in a pub in Oxford but this time it is on a screen.

hopefully next year we won’t need to consider this.. zoom will be hard as it is difficult to hold the smaller conversations everyone does at events, so it hard to say how successful or how this will feel...
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It would be nice to think we might be able to meet in person towards the end of the year. :)
 
GPTV said:
Hopefully their will only be one person chatting at one time? unlike in a real life setting- it's easy to concentrate on one persons conversation, giving undivided attention to those in the conversation, whilst the other end of the table can chat about something else.

I should imagine on the screen there will only be the opportunity for one at a time to speak, so the rest of the group should be listening, as in a 'one to one' & not interrupting anyway? or is that not how it works? x
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For meet and greet coffee mornings we can keep the introductions to just one person speaking in turn, so @teddymouse, anybody with a bad connection and anybody struggling with a new accent may have a chance at hearing what is said and could get to know forum members - which is the main point of the exercise.

The zoom meetings are in no way going to replace the forum; they are replacing our informal real forum meets in a usually lively innercity pub. The same would also go for any webinar type meetings (so there is enough interest to get a small group together for a particular subject) where we can more easily keep it to mostly just one person speaking. It will be more difficult with chatting situations once they get lively but everybody can leave a meeting at any time on zoom.

But zoom is for meeting members in person and is not intended as a spoken instead of typed forum chat with an added option of showing your face. We don't want to create a forum in a different medium, just make a currently impossible bonus (real life forum meets) accessible to both the regulars missing them and to a wider range of members who are physically not able to attend them but would love to.
There are unfortunately limits to what concessions we can make - but we have those limits will real life meetings, too.
 
Kellykels said:
When I have meetings at work I tend to switch my camera on at the start to show it's me, then switch off the camera after ten minutes or to help people who don't have great Wi-Fi. Maybe this should be the case. Enter the meeting with camera on then switch off after a certain time if they want to?
I think this is also what we allow for students also.
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This has already been mentioned earlier in the thread. It’s cameras on throughout or else we will have to remove people. This is for safeguarding and there will be no exception to this rule.
 
YvonneBlue said:
It would be nice to think we might be able to meet in person towards the end of the year. :)
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I am soooo looking forward to actually seeing people in the flesh rather than on screen , in a setting that isn’t my lounge, with drinks and food prepared by somebody else. Bring it on!
 
VickiA said:
I am soooo looking forward to actually seeing people in the flesh rather than on screen , in a setting that isn’t my lounge, with drinks and food prepared by somebody else. Bring it on!
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Same here; I also miss my cake and biscuit/cookies selling rescue fundraising events, even though baking week or fortnight in the run up is always hectic and very tiring.
 
I too will be giving this a miss as I really can’t get on with zoom (my hub has been having regular quiz nights over zoom with his family during lockdown) and I sit on the sidelines not really joining in. I just hate my face being seen by others but it’s a lovely idea though and I hope you all have lots of fun. If I was going to take part, I like the idea of a coffee morning and webinar
 
Wiebke said:
I am naturally shy as well and still overcompensate if that helps you.
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Haha it will. Don’t pay me any mind if I appear quiet. I need to learn to fake it till I make it, but easier said than done. If you asked my family they’d say I’m an observer. They’re all involved in (heated) discussions and I just sit and watch them. Never say a word 😁🤷🏾‍♀️
 
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