)First : it is easy and fun and really great to connect face to face in real time with others in the community. I am happy to have done it and appreciate those who were there. Doing it again, I’d do a few things differently. Primarily, I’d post something asking about interest a little further ahead of when the Meet-Up occurred to give more people a chance to reply. Carrie has already done this, by suggesting a fermentation Meet Up and not scheduling it. I was a bit hasty.
Attendance at the Qigong Meet-Up was limited by when it was held, I think. More people expressed interest than attended. I rather arbitrarily chose a Saturday morning. Julie had a good idea about asking those who have expressed interest what times would work for them. I had asked potential participants about what times would work, but in a vague way that got no response. Being more specific would be better, either suggesting specific times, offering several, and seeing which time is best for the most people, or asking more generally, ie weekend morning ? Weekend afternoon? weekday morning? Etc to get a sense of will work work best.
Fortunately I realized before Saturday morning that though I was envisioning myself under trees in the back yard for the Meet-Up and everyone outside, which is the ideal way to do Qigong, that wasn’t going to work! I needed to be near the computer for the video conference to work. If a group of people are gathering and all chatting about a topic of shared interest everyone can be close to a computer or iPad or even smart phone. There is no issue with set up. But if you are doing any kind of demonstration, as may be part of Carrie’s Fermentation Meet Up, then getting the logistics figured out ahead of time is important. I was lucky that when I realized that I did not know how far back I had to stand to have my whole body visible, and also didn’t know if the computer mic would pick me up at that distance, slacker was on site and after a quick PM asking for her assistance, we met and she helped me figure all that out. thanks again, slacker! I put masking tape on the floor where i would stand, and also to mark correct angle for my computer’s position.
someone tried twice to join our Meet Up and could not get in. I felt bad about that, but didn’t know how to remedy it. . Hopefully that will not happen with Zoom. In my experience, Zoom is easy. (So is appear.in, usually). With Zoom, once the “host” sets up the meeting, then there is a meeting code which each participant receives, usually via email. It can also be posted on the Meet Up invitation thread. Beware: The links do not always work from the email. Good idea for every participant to already have Zoom downloaded on computer or whatever device will be used, and then manually enter the meeting code. I’ve been using Zoom for more than 18 months and almost never can get into a meeting via the link. Always can join by entering the code where it says “Join a Meeting”
Those are my Meet Up pioneer tips.
Now my requests. How about a thread of Meet Ups we’d like to go to even if we don’t want to set them up ourselves?
I’d be interested in a fasting Meet Up.
