It was suggested that members might be interested in finding out how one group – the Computer Group – has handled and coped with the Covid pandemic by using Zoom. We haven’t actually met in person since the beginning of the 2020 session in September. We were quick out of the blocks however even before that and we held our first Zoom meeting on the 23rd April even before the Committee had taken out a subscription to Zoom I believe. Since then, almost without a break, we’ve met virtually every fortnight.
Supporting us in our meetings we've kept Notes and added them to our website – "Thought grazing" at https://just-thoughts.com/ – which any Cardiff u3a member is welcome to view by just sending an email message to computer@cardiffu3a.org.uk.
We’ve had an attendance of between 12 and 24 at our meetings with 16 being an average number, so that means probably 50% of the group have been able to participate at any meeting, but of course it’s not always the same 16!!! We’ve adopted a new way of organising the meetings to match with the virtual world, focussing on getting members to share issues and problems, matters of interest and general chitchat about matters digital. It’s become a much more social group with everyone encouraged and requested to participate – when it’s their turn at the very minimum. This has led to reduced time for presentations and facilitator-led talks. Some might say this is a good thing … I couldn’t possibly comment!
The pluses …
- We’ve enjoyed each others company and supported each other through these difficult times.
- The technology has really helped, since we’ve found screen-sharing to be an excellent way of showing and telling what we’re discussing. [Not having to rely on the venue WiFi has also been a real boon!]
- The technology, I think, has actually made us much more inclusive as every member has a chance to make a contribution – far more so than when we met face-to-face.
... and the minuses.
- Nothing can make up for meeting people face-to-face, the chance for casual chatter, the chance to add a cup of coffee or share lunch before (or after) the meeting.
- Perhaps the number of informational presentations has dropped, but this doesn’t seem to have been a factor in attendance.
- As a technology group we would hope that our members would find using Zoom relatively straightforward. Hopefully, we can still encourage some “lapsed” members to try this way of meeting, but we do accept that some memberts are perhaps “over-Zoomed” as well.
Could we manage so-called hybrid-meetings?
The occasional one-off event with some members remote on Zoom and some face-to-face might work but it would have to be a presentation-style meeting.
We have concluded that we might try an alternate meeting style when we are able to return to face-to-face, with Zoom meetings still being scheduled.
Would we miss meeting over Zoom?
In the end, probably not, because the benefits of face-to-face would outweigh any benefit from the new form of interaction, much as we like it. However, I think we’d want to take some of what we’ve learnt from our Zoom meetings into the way we organised our in-person meetings in the future. Roll on that day when Zoom doesn’t have that view!