Page 11 - 2020 Summer CMTA Report

HOW TO ZOOM

hile many people hadn’t heard of Zoom before the COVID-19
W quarantine forced social distancing, it’s now being used for everything
from dance parties to exercise classes to CMTA branch meetings and
webinars. In short, it’s become a pandemic lifeline.
Zoom is a web-based video conferencing tool that allows users to meet
online, with or without video. Users can record sessions, collaborate on
projects and share or annotate on one another’s screens.
Zoom is not difficult to use. The first step is to set up an account at
www.zoom.com. There are different membership levels. The lowest level is
free and allows the subscriber to host unlimited one-on-one meetings with no time limit—great for talking
with friends and relatives. Free subscribers can also host unlimited 40-minute meetings for up to 100
participants. For $14.99/month, paid subscribers can host meetings of up to 100 people that last up to
24 hours. The paid version also allows the host to record meetings and schedule repeat meetings.
Additional business levels allow more participants and other features like cloud storage for recordings,
a customer success manager and discounts on webinars and Zoom Rooms.
When meeting “hosts” schedule meetings, Zoom sends out “invitations” to the chosen participants, who
must also have accounts. Invitees simply click on the link in the email from Zoom, then join the meeting and
click the link to enable audio. There’s a choice of speaker view, which focuses on the current speaker, and
gallery view, which allows attendees to see multiple participants at once, “Brady Bunch” style. Since only
the head and shoulders of a participant is in view, many people go business on top, casual on the bottom.
There are multiple bells and whistles—everything from screen-sharing to a variety of backgrounds that
make users look as if they’re calling in from places like a tropical beach or the moon. All in all, the Zoom
setup is user-friendly and semi-intuitive.
Zoom is available on all major desktop and mobile operating systems, including Windows, macOS,
Android and iOS.

Taking the Toronto Branch Online

ike most people, the co-lead- ings and we were able to quickly June a physiotherapist specializing
ers and members of the communicate everything to our in mindfulness training.
Toronto Branch were thrown members. I have to admit that it hasn’t
for a loop by COVID-19. I’m happy to say that there been completely smooth sailing
L Lockdown began March 14 was no need to worry. Our first with all the meetings. There have
in Toronto and our next in-person meeting went off without a hitch. been a few Internet and connectiv-
branch meeting was scheduled for We had a small but engaged group ity problems, as well as some
March 21. Yikes! My co-leader, who all appreciated the opportu- members dropping out early to
Linda Scott Barber, and I quickly nity to connect and share with deal with family needs at home.
pivoted and moved our meeting each other. It was wonderful, espe- I’m sure this sounds familiar to
online. cially during those anxious and anyone who has Zoomed lately.
We were tentative at first. uncertain first weeks of lockdown. All in all, though, it’s been
We’d never hosted a digital meet- Since that first tentative meet- great to be able to still meet
ing with our whole group and we ing we’ve upped our game and together, connect with each other,
were worried about whether any- managed to host two more! While learn from our guest speakers and
one would show up. Equally the first small engagement didn’t share the good and the bad in our
nerve-wracking was the potential have a guest speaker, our subse- collective situations.
for technical difficulties with some quent meetings have featured
of our less tech-savvy members. guest speakers and bigger —Mike Dreidger,
Luckily, the CMTA provided turnouts. In April we had a nutri- Toronto Branch
online accounts to host the meet- tionist and at the beginning of Co-Leader

SUMMER 2020 THE CMTA REPORT 11