[PLUG] Feedback wanted: Virtual PLUG Events

[Michael Barnes]

On Wed, Mar 25, 2020 at 9:45 PM John Jason Jordan <johnxj at gmx.com> wrote:

> On Wed, 25 Mar 2020 20:30:43 -0700
> Michael Barnes <barnmichael at gmail.com> dijo:
>
> >I just did two video conference calls today.  Works fine. At the bottom
> >left of the screen should be three icons, microphone, telephone
> >handset, and video camera. The mic symbol mutes your mic, the handset
> >turns audio on and off, and the camera turns your video camera on and
> >off. I think there is a limitation of 5 video users at once, I haven't
> >used it with more than three. Normally, we use it with everybody on
> >audio only and the presenter shares his desktop. The one glitch I have
> >found right now is in trying to show a video. The picture comes
> >through, but the attendees cannot hear the audio.
>
> If you are a presenter at a PLUG virtual talk with FCC, will you see
> the faces of all who are connected and have their cameras turned on, or
> just five of them?
>
> >If anyone is interested in testing FreeConferenceCall, they can
> >contact me and I'll set up a session you can log into and check it out.
>
> Perhaps setting up a date/time for this would be useful.
>

There are basically two types of video conference. Video interactive and
presentation. With video interactive, each participant has a camera turned
on and all attendees can see each other. With FCC's free account, an
interactive video conference may have up to five participants and may last
up to 12 hours. With a paid subscription, you may have up to 100
participants for an unlimited time. Of course the more you have the more
unwieldy it gets and the more bandwidth is needed. With a presentation, the
host shares his desktop applications or video camera. It is a one to many
type of thing. All participants have two way audio, but the video is only
one way. The host does have the option of designating another attendee as
presenter who can share his desktop to everyone.
A video interactive session is good for individualized training, a
committee meeting, or other small group where seeing each other is
beneficial. The presentation is good for large lecture classes amd club or
organization meetings.

FCC has a recording function to record and archive the meeting. It also has
document sharing and a chat ability. You can chat individually between
attendees or with the group.

I suppose I could set up a demo conference. What would be a good day and
time? I could probably set up several of them. For some reason, I seem to
have a lot of free time at home these days. I can do either a small group
video conference or a presentation demo.

Michael