Table of Contents
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Hybrid Meetings
Information pertaining to the LCTG's desire to move from a totally on-line (via Zoom) weekly meeting to provide for a hybrid meeting, which would allow people to attend either in-person (at Lexington Community Center, for example) and on-line (Zoom for example).
This is a work in progress and is not complete as of its last change: 2021.12.22 11:31.
The committee formed on 7/14/2021 consists of (in order I added them to my list), thank you for volunteering:
- Steve Isenberg
- Rich Moffitt
- Bob Eckert
- Peter Albin
- Harry Forsdick
- Bob Primak
Concepts
- Presentation is in-person
- Presenter uses their computer to present
- Presenter's computer is connected to Zoom
- Presenter's computer is displayed on room's screen
- This will show presentation, presenter video(maybe), and video of online attendees talking
- Presentation is available to online attendees via presenter's zoom connection
- Presentation is online
- Show zoom meeting on room's screen
- Attendees are online
- Attendees are in-person
- Attendee audio & video (when comment or ask question)
Challenges and Mitigations
| Challenge | Mitigation |
|---|---|
| Software bugs / usability issues preventing screen sharing | Appoint a moderator to present material as a backup option |
| Mute / unmute issues | Appoint a moderator to mute / unmute participants as appropriate. Assign roles to participants (e.g. presenters vs. attendees) |
| Keeping on schedule with long meetings | Moderators can present an agenda slide when speakers are not presenting. Make use of a meeting timer (e.g. BlueSky or share a window with a countdown timer) |
| Using social communication channels | Channels that are not well integrated with the meeting tend to do underutilized during the meeting, but meeting chats are easily lost. |
- Software bugs where screen sharing would just fail to work for some users
- Mute / unmute issues (very well mitigated via the moderators)
- Attendees coming in/out of the long meeting session in the middle of a break didn't see anything, should have had an agenda slide / countdown timer shared during breaks
- Speakers running over their allotted time didn't always see the 5 minute warning card displayed on camera by a moderator and had to be interrupted
- A social channel (MatterMost) was underutilized because it was not integrated with Teams, so people kind of forgot it was there. Breakout sessions where everyone was unmuted saw more interaction. It is *really* difficult to facilitate a social hour environment virtually among people who have never met, especially for a group of technical introverts.
Capabilities
| Capability | Solution | Example Equipment | Example cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Present in-room content and connect to online meeting | Laptop (2014 model or later if possible) | ||
| Camera view of in-room presenter | webcam (on laptop or USB) | ?? | |
| Capture audio of in-room presenter | lavalier microphone / dynamic USB microphone | wireless lavalier USB mic (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074C125TN) | $45 |
| Camera view of in-room audience for online attendees | cheap: wide angle webcam (more expensive auto zoom conference cameras exist) | wide angle webcam (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TDQ8NL3) | $50 |
| Capture audio of whole room for online attendees | omnidirectional condenser microphone / room with built-in microphone array | USB microphone (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075HTKBNP) | $25 |
| Capture audio of individual audience speaker | Low / fair quality: omnidirectional condenser microphone. High quality: wireless microphone (to hand to participant when speaking) | Wireless microphone (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SHDRNCQ) | $40 |
| Display online attendee view for in-room audience | in-room screen or portable LCD TV | ?? | |
| Amplify audio of online attendees for in-room audience | powered speaker | lots of choices, portable Bluetooth / aux in speaker (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0837DX77S) | $40 |
| Switch between in-room presenter and audience video/audio | Switch sources in conferencing app during presentation or use 3rd party software (Manycam / OBS Studio). Can set “scene” buttons for easy switching or mix sources into a single feed | free | |
| Equipment stand | |||
| Portability / storage |
System Requirements
- Laptop should have multiple USB ports or use a USB hub
- Laptop CPU should support Intel AVX2 instruction set (any machine after 2014 has this) for smoother video processing
Equipment possibilities
- USB Conference Microphone. $24. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075HTKBNP
- Manycam software. Switch between multiple cameras. Free to try. http://manycam.com
Setup Possibilities and Comments
From Steve Isenberg I've used a computer connected to a zoom meeting with two webcams and Manycam software. I would turn the cameras as needed during the presentation (to point towards person speaking) and switch cameras live (from presenter to speaking person) using the Manycam software. This provided a solution, but was manually intensive.
From Harry Forsdick I agree with the use of Zoom as a platform for both presentation of material as well as for group interactions. Not sure if we have a strongly moderated meeting where leader recognized speakers wishing to talk we can't use Zoom's normal speaker is spotlighted mechanism to replace manycam which as you say requires a lot of work to manage.