Church Zoom accounts

[NeuroTypical]

On Dec 11th, all the US/Canada folks got a letter stating wards can request a zoom license if any free options aren't meeting the local unit needs.  I just got my ward's info from our stake tech, and will start broadcasting next week. 

Anyone else?  Anyone else fighting the good fight to get our less-technology-savvy members on board?  Anyone having weekly conversations with a few people to explain how to check their email, so they can click a link?

I'm finding many people just haven't wanted much to do with computers and internet.  Now they're coming up to me, asking how to use the

Edited December 27, 2020 by NeuroTypical

[NeedleinA]

We just upgraded all our buildings with newer chapel cameras, new TVs with better capabilities, etc.
Our stake 'actually' has budget money left to do upgrades with since as Wards we didn't 'eat'* our budgets down to zero.

*most Wards in our Stake historically burn their budgets by feeding themselves, Christmas parties, linger longers, Ward parties, etc.
Fewer activities = money left for technology now. Surprise plus.
 

[Grunt]

We've been broadcasting on ZOOM since the spring.   We just provide a link in our newsletter for people to click to get to the stream.  No technology knowledge needed.   Streaming to Facebook is also easier for many of the technology challenged since many are familiar with it.

[NeuroTypical]

2 hours ago, Grunt said:

We just provide a link in our newsletter for people to click to get to the stream.  No technology knowledge needed.   Streaming to Facebook is also easier for many of the technology challenged since many are familiar with it.

So, everyone knows how to sit at a computer, "read" an "electronic newsletter", "click" on a "link", have a computer with "audio", and nobody is afraid of words like "stream"?  That's relatively quite a tech-savvy ward.  Your technology specialist is fortunate!

 

[Grunt]

13 hours ago, NeuroTypical said:

So, everyone knows how to sit at a computer, "read" an "electronic newsletter", "click" on a "link", have a computer with "audio", and nobody is afraid of words like "stream"?  That's relatively quite a tech-savvy ward.  Your technology specialist is fortunate!

 

I don't know of any people in my ward that don't know what email is.   Every link I create says "CLICK HERE"  We also don't have many people that don't have a computer or smart phone.  Ministering brothers and sisters are responsible for assisting members who have issues, but it really is very simple and no major issues have popped up.  We've been doing this since spring.   I'm the one that fields most of the issues.

Edited December 28, 2020 by Grunt

[NeuroTypical]

Buncha older folks in my ward who remember the the church's 1990's dire warnings about the evils of technology and growing prevalence of downloadable p0rn, and stopped paying attention after that.  Now they're being told to go online and sign themselves up for virtual tithing settlement, and it's just really hard.

Edited December 28, 2020 by NeuroTypical

[Midwest LDS]

20 hours ago, NeuroTypical said:

So, everyone knows how to sit at a computer, "read" an "electronic newsletter", "click" on a "link", have a computer with "audio", and nobody is afraid of words like "stream"?  That's relatively quite a tech-savvy ward.  Your technology specialist is fortunate!

 

The biggest tech issue we have in our ward is people, especially the older members, forgetting to turn off their mic's. It doesn't seem to matter how much we tell them to double check, there are a few who just seem to never remember to do that and then they accidentally broadcast their complaints, personal discussions, eating habits to everyone. 

Edited December 28, 2020 by Midwest LDS

[Grunt]

10 minutes ago, Midwest LDS said:

The biggest tech issue we have in our ward is people, especially the older members, forgetting to turn off their mic's. It doesn't seem to matter how much we tell them to double check, there are a few who just seem to never remember to do that and then they accidentally broadcast their complaints, personal discussions, eating habits to everyone. 

Why doesn't the meeting moderator mute everyone's mic?

[NeuroTypical]

1 hour ago, Grunt said:

Why doesn't the meeting moderator mute everyone's mic?

I have my zoom meeting to no video and auto mute, but some folks still figure it's necessary to try to unmute and share video.  It's the biggest buttons on the zoom toolbar, and some folks just figure it's something they have to click to 'make it work'.  

I've personally heard poor sister whatsername screaming at her kids.  And the Stake has kept everyone uptight about it since around April, when apparently one of the seasoned couples in our stake were off mute, and broadcast some sort of intimate moment to their entire sunday school class. 

[Grunt]

9 minutes ago, NeuroTypical said:

I have my zoom meeting to no video and auto mute, but some folks still figure it's necessary to try to unmute and share video.  It's the biggest buttons on the zoom toolbar, and some folks just figure it's something they have to click to 'make it work'.  

I've personally heard poor sister whatsername screaming at her kids.  And the Stake has kept everyone uptight about it since around April, when apparently one of the seasoned couples in our stake were off mute, and broadcast some sort of intimate moment to their entire sunday school class. 

I want to be in your ward.

[NeedleinA]

3 hours ago, Grunt said:

I want to be in your ward.

Since it is a zoom link, you really could watch any ward if provided their link.
I heard @NeuroTypical will give out the link for $5 without drama OR $15 a session with sister whatsername screaming at the seasoned couple for sharing their intimate moment.

 

[Midwest LDS]

5 hours ago, Grunt said:

Why doesn't the meeting moderator mute everyone's mic?

They do but people unmute themselves like in Neurotypicals example.

[Vort]

4 hours ago, NeuroTypical said:

And the Stake has kept everyone uptight about it since around April, when apparently one of the seasoned couples in our stake were off mute, and broadcast some sort of intimate moment to their entire sunday school class.

"Baby, nothing revs my motor like a good gospel doctrine class." *wink*

[dprh]

I'm not sure how it's set up, but our ward uses Zoom to broadcast to Youtube. That way participants can't talk and interrupt the meeting.  Every week, the ward clerk sends an email with the link and the meeting information.  It's worked very well for us.

[Grunt]

4 hours ago, dprh said:

I'm not sure how it's set up, but our ward uses Zoom to broadcast to Youtube. That way participants can't talk and interrupt the meeting.  Every week, the ward clerk sends an email with the link and the meeting information.  It's worked very well for us.

That's the smart way, in my opinion, or Facebook.  I've proposed that several times.

 

[Just_A_Guy]

Hmm.  Our ward sacrament meeting broadcasts to Zoom and I don’t think mute/unmute issues have ever been a problem.  But then, we live in Lehi and our ward is mostly a bunch of “silicon slopes” guys.
 

 I’m pretty sure that if you have a paid Zoom account, it’s possible to mute someone and make it so they can’t unmute themselves.  I know you can prevent screen sharing—I run the Zoom meetings for Gospel Doctrine and youth Sunday School.  (I keep trying to convince our bishop that since my Zoom account has no meeting time limit, we can go back to 40 or 50 minute SS meetings; but for now he is sticking with half an hour for all non-sacrament meetings.)

[Grunt]

1 hour ago, Just_A_Guy said:

Hmm.  Our ward sacrament meeting broadcasts to Zoom and I don’t think mute/unmute issues have ever been a problem.  But then, we live in Lehi and our ward is mostly a bunch of “silicon slopes” guys.
 

 I’m pretty sure that if you have a paid Zoom account, it’s possible to mute someone and make it so they can’t unmute themselves.  I know you can prevent screen sharing—I run the Zoom meetings for Gospel Doctrine and youth Sunday School.  (I keep trying to convince our bishop that since my Zoom account has no meeting time limit, we can go back to 40 or 50 minute SS meetings; but for now he is sticking with half an hour for all non-sacrament meetings.)

Correct.  We mute all.  I see some odd things from time to time, but they're silent.

[NeedleinA]

We have seen several people eating breakfast during Church Zoom before they realize it is time to 'turn off video'. The best is Fast Sunday Breakfast eating adults - hah.

[seashmore]

My dad is in this camp.  He gets easily frustrated by technology and the terminology confuses him.  Hence his having outdated desktop equipment, and he only got a smart phone last year.  Bonus: its a tracfone, which means I helped him set it up to connect to his wifi, but he is still convinced that it's using his data/minutes.  He doesn't have video/mic capabilities on his desktop, so his participation is limited.  He was also told (or given the impression) that he needed to log in using a video so that people in his ward could see him.  I tried, to no avail, to tell him that it is possible and permissible to watch/listen to meetings without having a video. 

[classylady]

Technology or anything mechanical does not come naturally to me. I’m continually having to ask my husband, kids, or grandchild how to do something on the computer, or how to get something to work. I’ve just been called to be a Sunday School teacher and I am panicking because I will be teaching using Zoom. Before COVID-19, when I taught SS I never brought a TV into the classroom because I can never get it to work for me. The more I think about this calling, the more anxious I am getting—all due to technology.

Last Sunday when trying to listen to Relief Society on Zoom, I missed half of it because I couldn’t figure out how to get the audio to come on, yet the week before I didn’t have that issue with the Sunday School lesson. And, how to reply to a question on Zoom is beyond me. I have no idea how others were able to make comments which I could read. Plus, during the whole lesson I was terrified I wasn’t muted. There were comments that people weren’t muted. So, I kept as quiet as a mouse just in case my audio was on. I’m finding Zoom to be terribly anxiety causing. 

[NeuroTypical]

I'm sorry to hear that, @classylady.  Practice and tinkering might help - let me know if you'd like to run a practice session or two - I'm sure my wife and I would be willing to log on and report on what's happening on the screen.

[beefche]

@classylady Something our RS does which you may find helpful is the teacher doesn't monitor the chat. The RS secretary is the one who does all the techy stuff, the teacher simply teaches and asks questions, but the secretary is the one who unmutes someone or reads comments/questions from the chat. 

[askandanswer]

In our Priesthood and Sunday School zoom classes there is some variation in the use of the mute function. Some people never use the mute function and are permanently unmuted while others only unmute themselves when they have something to say. For me, I stay unmuted for the whole of the lesson because I never know when I'll have something I want to say. In the lessons I've seen and taught - and we've been doing Zoom lessons almost every week since last April - I've rarely seen the chat function used, and when it is used, the comments made in chat are almost never referred to. I think everyone just makes their own decision as to whether or not to read them. If people want to make a contribution to the lesson that will be referred to and discussed, they will almost always say it rather than type it. 

Edited January 2, 2021 by askandanswer