Video conference get-togethers?

[FollowingHim]

Since we're all entering into lockdowns around the world, and churches are cancelling services, I am wondering whether there is any appetite for Biblical Families to organise talks / fellowship / worship / whatever by video conference. I have already discussed this with @nathan, but need to know if people would be actually interested before discussing this seriously.

Do people want us to organise anything along these lines, would you find it beneficial?

If so, what would you like us to organise?

Obviously timing is always a problem given we're all over the world, however this can be overcome, because basically:
Evenings in the USA are mid-day in NZ / Australia, and mornings in the Philippines.
Mid-day in the USA is evening in Europe and morning in NZ.
Early morning in the USA is late evening in the Philippines and mid-day in Europe.
It's not impossible to find times that most of us can make work, if we're motivated enough to attend.

If this is not something that you would find valuable, please tell us that honestly, far better to know nobody's interested before organising it!

 

[PeteR]

Easy to set up and run...

Zoom.us
Skype
Google hangouts (least preferred)

other options..

 

[Jeff Ray]

Our church did this this weekend using something called Facebook Live. I don't know how difficult it was to set up, but I can ask if anyone is interested. It wasn't interactive; I routed it to the TV and we watched from the couch, so some other tool would have to provide interactivity. Since our church is pretty well connected via messaging and such, we didn't see a need for an interactive service. That may change when we start looking at what to replace bible studies and home fellowships with.

 

[FollowingHim]

Easy to set up and run...

Zoom.us
Skype
Google hangouts (least preferred)

other options..

I was thinking Zoom. It just works, on every device (even Linux), and you don't need an account to use it.

 

[PeteR]

How secure for those who prefer to have location or IP masked?

Not a major concern for me, just think there may be some with that concern but rather not post...

 

[Patricia C]

Easy to set up and run...

Zoom.us
Skype
Google hangouts (least preferred)

other options..

Facebook messenger also allows for group video chats.

 

[Pacman]

Zoom is likely the best choice. Facebook is likely the least private and therefore the worst choice imo...

 

[Patricia C]

Your probably right. I just know I have had group chats with my daughters and it was nice. Privacy could defiantly be an issue with fb

 

[FollowingHim]

I would not touch Facebook with a 10 foot pole for this sort of thing. Google Hangouts I use for one-to-one stuff simply because it tends to just work and everybody already has a Google account, but again it's not a good choice for this. Skype is generally crap, people only use it because it's been around so long everyone knows the name so use it automatically - but it's outdated and not compatible with many computers.

Zoom is built for professional business communications, and seems to be the top choice at the moment. It is easy to use and reliable (compared to other options). Anyone who is particularly concerned about security can go to zoom.us and read their security information to see if they're happy to use it or not.

There are other options for hyper-security-wary folks, but they tend to be harder to use also so that puts greater barriers to participation. If someone knows a good option to suggest please do.

 

[Man@Home]

I currently do all my sessions from home by using Zoom (sometimes 8 hours a day) and that works very well: good quality of sound and vision. And way better than Skype.
And personally I try to avoid Facebook and Google as much as possible, so that would definitely not be my preferred choice.

 

[FollowingHim]

So the idea of an informal, scheduled get-to-know-each-other chat has a lot of support, and takes little planning, so I should set something up just to test out the idea. What timing works best for people?

I suggest one, or both, of the following times, this coming Saturday (Sunday for some).

1. Netherlands 8pm Saturday, US East (Georgia) 3pm Saturday, US West (California) 12 noon Saturday, NZ 8am Sunday
   (Philippines 3am Sunday)
2. US East 8pm Saturday, US West 5pm Saturday, Philippines 8am Sunday, NZ 1pm Sunday.
   (Netherlands 1am Sunday)

Here's a time-chart with some key locations I used to find those options:
https://www.timeanddate.com/worldcl...iso=20200329&p1=264&p2=137&p3=25&p4=16&p5=145

Would people attend times 1, 2, or both?

I'd share info on how to join the meeting by private message, so comment briefly if you want to be on the list for that message. Probably best not to share that directly on the thread because we don't want absolutely anyone turning up.

Consider this an informal test of the software, everyone's internet connections, whether we can actually coordinate it, and whether we find it useful. It may or may not be repeated depending on how it goes.

 

[FollowingHim]

The reason I suggest Saturday in the USA is mainly because it means it's still the weekend for the entire world. Sunday in the USA is pushing into Monday for Oceania and Asia, so limits global participation.
Also, any online fellowship organised by churches in the USA is most likely on Sunday. So Saturday shouldn't clash with people's participation in more local events.

 

[Pacman]

Option 1 is good for me. And yes please include me on the Private message

 

[PeteR]

Interested in both, though what our Fellowship does on Saturday may override, add me to any private message.

 

[steve]

Interested in either
Pencil me in

 

[Jim an Apostle]

Interested as well

 

[aerockk]

Interested

 

[Slumberfreeze]

Either one is good for me

 

[frederick]

2 for me. I'm stuck in NZ.

 

[AmbassadorforChrist]

I'll show up if I get the chance, so go ahead and add me too.