Zoom Meetings
What is Zoom?
Zoom Meetings is a proprietary videotelephony software program developed by Zoom Video Communications. 1
The Board of Brevard Genealogical Society decided in 2020 that we needed a way to communicate with our members during the pandemic. So they tried Google Meets, and it worked pretty well. It did have a few drawbacks. The big drawback was not enough time was allowed for a meeting, only 40 minutes.
Then we tried Zoom and that platform worked about the same as Google but also had the same time limit. After a few meetings, it was decided to use Zoom and pay for the service so as not to have a problem with the time limits.
It has been rocky at times, but we were still able to give the membership a chance to be social with others who are interested in their family's history.
The speakers who have given presentations to our society have been stellar and we hope to have many more. All covering good topics and hoping to help every member in their searches.
For a while, we scheduled the speakers and each person had to register to attend. This was the first year of the pandemic and with all the turmoil going on it was decided to open the talks to the public. Not only members, but the public could attend. The only exception was the Genealogy Detective Series with Tamaro Hallo and that was strictly limited to the membership.
This year to attend BGS meetings a person must be a member. You do not need to register, but a link is sent to you via the announce list. BGS uses the announce list to directly communicate by email to the membership.
Now the link will arrive about four days prior to the meeting. If the meeting is on Monday the link will be sent on the Thursday prior to Monday. The link will come from the Zoom Administrator and you need to save it. One easy way to keep it safe is to make a “Folder” in your email directory. Or as Gmail calls them “Labels”. Either way, title the place you put it with something easy for you to remember and every time a link arrives drop the link in that Folder or Label.
Now for how to use that link. OK here is where I sent you to YouTube. Get used to YouTube it is here to stay and once you get past all the wild and ridiculous stuff there is some very good information posted. So good that I am not going to try and make a video, because several other, more knowledgeable, and talented people have already done the work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbbYqiurgeo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brYy_0FI4wo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wo1l6Ijz_wg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5-SqZLT874
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9isp3qPeQ0E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOJkfflN8O4
Go and watch.
Some meetings this year are planned to be Hybrid Meetings. Those are where you can attend in person and if you can not attend in person, you will be able to join via Zoom just as before. Those meetings will be open to the public and registration will be required.
I would recommend when a hybrid meeting comes up be sure to save that link sent to you. If you are not sure you will be able to attend in person, your link is there for you to use.
The summer workshops are planning to be hybrid meetings, so watch for the zoom link for the June, July, and August workshops. We want to encourage the public to attend our meetings and become interested in family research. Be sure to visit our web page for dates and times and who is presenting.
Linda Thompson
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1https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoom_(software)
