ZOOM

My daughter and her husband ( living in the UK) often use Zoom to video chat with family in Australia.

I don't think there's a GN Zoom group Rufus2 I have used it quite a bit but you need a tech savvy individual to set it up and send the link out. I couldn't do it!!

The short answer Rufus is that there isn’t.
However there would be nothing to stop you pm’ing a group of members, ensuring they have installed Zoom, and setting up a meeting yourself. My three daughters and I regularly have “family zoom chats” as opposed to individual FaceTiming, I am also following two online courses using Zoom and my book group meet this way.
Good luck with setting one up, I imagine the time difference might be a problem though if you are going into the Northern Hemisphere, but you are a bit of a night owl I think, so maybe not a big problem.

We’ve been doing zoom quizzes with the family and we are having a chat tonight.
DD in Sydney doesn’t get a look in, she’ll be in bed. We find we know the answer to many more questions with a glass of wine so mornings aren’t good for us!

It was my turn to do the questions last week, and we ran out of time. Lewi said he’d book another session.
I didn’t know you could do it immediately and presumed we’d finish the next eve, or whenever. So off I went to cut up some rhubarb! They had to ring me and tell me to get back on??

I have lots of Zoom Meetings, including music sessions, where one person leads the tune and the rest of us mute ourselves and play along at home. Means my duff notes don't get heard!

We also do WhatsApp video chats with friends and relatives at home and abroad.

Thank you all for you comments! Obviously there are a few hurdles to jump; as for time zones, it's now early Wednesday and my brain (I think that's what it's called!) is still racing; plenty to sleep on!
GNHQ was canvassing for new ideas recently; I'll ask later today whether GN is interesting in setting up a Zoom group; they must be tech. savvy for sure!
Good Health

We do Zoom but find it off putting watching myself on screen, if I am honest. My son is in the military and he can't use it because it is Chinese, so not secure for him.

The best laid schemes o' mice and men/Gang aft agley, etc

However there would be nothing to stop you pm’ing a group of members, ensuring they have installed Zoom, and setting up a meeting yourself
Maw You and GNHQ think alike!
Their answer was as yours except for a caveat to remember that members are here for its anonymity, which rather hamstrings the whole idea. As I understand it, the "host" requires "clients" to supply email addresses in order to notify of a meeting. This would be no problem for a close-knit group such as family, book-clubs, church groups etc but no-go for an open forum such as ours.
Would anonymous email addresses, such as Gmail get round that? Bit of a pain!
Could be useful for GN "meet-ups" though! I'd love to be invited to one of those, I think!
I'd wear my rubber bank-robber face mask to preserve my anonymity and before anyone says it, yes, it would improve my outlook on life!
Good Health
Cheers

LullyDully, two of our quizzers are in the forces. They seem to think it’s OK. I’ll ask them.
Can’t think the Chinese would gain much insight from our quiz nights.
In fact, think it may lull them into a false sense of security!

two of our quizzers are in the forces
Pam What's this then? Can I join? You can have my email address with pleasure!
No hang-ups over anonymity here!
OoRoo

Good morning Rufus, it’s a family thing and we do it at about 5pm. Bit early or late for you. I’ll ask a friend or two if they are interested in doing one at about 10am our time. I haven’t organised one though, I’m terrified of the B*** thing. I’m always muting when I’m not supposed to.

pamela wouldn't have thought there would be quiz security problems. I enjoy a quiz but questions can be subjective. No idea about celebs or sport sadly.

What is the top number in a zoom meeting? We would soon fill the screen with us lot.

Lully, I’m rubbish at most subjects. Why would I want to clutter up my brain with who was in what, where and when.
I find it difficult enough to remember how to get up in the mornings!

I’m usually last. Especially when it’s mixed ages. The young speak a different language?.

Seven of us who used to work together meet up for lunch regularly. Obviously we are unable to at the moment so have decided to have zoom meetings. My daughter helped me to set it up today. I had my I pad and was on video messenger with her on my mobile. I ended up rather confused and I suspect she is now lying in a darkened room. We did have a ‘trial zoom’ which started badly because she couldn’t hear me.

This is a timely thread for me. I am supposed to join in a zoom thing on Friday, but have never used it before. I was sent a link to the meeting, and have set up the app on my computer.

Do I just have to click on the link at the pre-arranged time, and talk, or will something happen first? Does anyone have any tips? It's a work thing, and I don't want to make a fool of myself if I can help it.

Doodledog - if you've been sent a link, click on that shortly before the meeting is due to start. Zoom will open a window, and there'll then be a little box asking if you want to open Zoom. Click on Yes (or Open, I can't remember what the wording is).

Then, you're likely to have a response that you're waiting to enter the meeting. During this time, you can check that your microphone and speakers are working - there's another little box that offers you this test, but don't worry if you'd sooner not bother with a test.

When the meeting is officially opened, your picture appears on your screen, with the option to join the meeting with Video - click Yes to this and there you go! You can make the image full screen by clicking on the Full Screen icon which is top right on a laptop. Check that you can be heard by the other participants - if not, you need to unmute yourself. The mute/unmute icon is bottom left on a laptop.

Hope this works! If you want a practice run, by all means PM me and I can set up a dummy meeting between the two of us so that you can explore.

Thank you, notnecessarilywiser! That is really helpful.

I’ll have a proper look tomorrow (I’m in bed now), and see if I can find my way around.

Yesterday I took part in a church leader's meeting courtesy of Zoom in one room whilst my husband was also holding a Zoom team briefing in another. It's a good platform for business meetings because participants can be muted by the host so that people are not talking over or interrupting one another and individuals can join or leave without too much disruption. We also use it for whole family get-togethers and my husband and sons regularly play a game of Perudo via Zoom.

I have discovered (during research for my mother-in-law who hates seeing herself on screen) how to use lighting and camera angles to improve presentation and can't believe what lies a camera tells! I'd heard tell of actresses using only certain camera angles, but am genuinely quite shocked at how images, even those taken at home, can be so easily manipulated.

If you want a practice run, by all means PM me and I can set up a dummy meeting between the two of us so that you can explore
notneccessarily Thank you for your very useful message! All things are easy "when you know how"!
What exactly do you do to set up the dummy meeting? Is it limited to one-on-one, or several? I'm still on struggle street although we did manage to attain a group of three to-day! I got bogged down when it was suggested Google Chrome was a preferred browser instead of Firefox, but overcame that eventually!
GNHQ said go ahead and set up a group, which would be a bit ironic with me here in OZ hosting a mainly UK based group, but then pointed out every one desires anonymity, so web addresses would be out.
What I would like, purely for the sake of technical "research," would be an "invite", but meanwhile we are working towards creating a system for us "oldies" to meet on line as school is out! [
Weather is now straight from Antarctica, freezing 12C with several more days of the same to come! Ideal for lockdowns!.
Thank you and Good Health!
OoRoo

Rufus2 - I think that anonymity can be preserved by telling participants (by PM) the Meeting Code and Password, along with the time of the meeting. Obviously you'd have to specify whether you're talking Antipodean or UK time.

When I referred to a dummy meeting, I actually meant a real meeting but setting it up purely for the purpose of Doodledog seeing for herself where the various controls are on screen and to be a bit familiar with the setup prior to her work meeting tomorrow.

Let me know if you want any further help. I'm no tech wizard, but do participate in several Zoom groups.

Just another thought . You don’t need to download the App to enter a meeting, just if you want to host one. The free version allows I think 6 participants. More than that requires the paid for version. People do voice Chinese involvement security concerns but I noticed Parliament is using it for PMQ.

just if you want to host one
Purpledaffodil.; Thank you! We think the App. is now downloaded as the free version, which gives 2 of us unlimited time, but 40mins. when a third person joined.
I'm not looking to host anything! . not having a clue about Brexit or UK politics, beyond Boris, but not afraid to disclose one of my email addresses if that's all it takes!
Time-zones wouldn't be a problem.; your mid-day is 9.00pm here. Noted that it's now 12.45 am May Day and I"m still awake , (just)
Continue later today!
Good Health

I did it!

The meeting was brought forward to this afternoon, and I was appalled at first, but there was no time to think about it, so in I went . After the first few minutes it was ok.

Thanks for the offer, notnecessarilywiser. I would have taken you up on it, but it all happened so quickly that I didn't get the chance. grannyactivist, any tips on how to look less like something out of the Walking Dead would be gratefully received, as I'll be doing them more often now.