Friday 30 April 2021

Life in Lockdown - Z is for Zoom Meetings - A-Z Challenge 2021

#AtoZChallenge 2021 April Blogging from A to Z Challenge letter Z 

Click here for the A-Z blog to find out more about this challenge.

You'd think by now we'd all be experts at Zoom meetings if we're working from home but judging by the comic stories that keep popping up we're clearly not. Of course it's quite amusing to watch children creeping into view, or someone appearing with a Cat filter on, completely unaware and having no idea how to turn it off.  And as for working out how to use the mute button.  Definitely good to be the controller of a meeting and able to "Mute All" at times.

It also pays to scrutinise your backdrop before going live - your books on your bookcase can tell their own story.  A plain wall or a computer generated background can save a lot of embarrassment.

And just to show I'm not biased I've also used Google Duo, Whatapp video chats, Facetime etc to contact people.  I think the main one I haven't used is Microsoft Teams but then I'm not actually working from home so there hasn't been the need.  Oh and I did dabble with House Party briefly.

It's hard learning all these new apps but they have proved so useful during the pandemic.  Coping with too many people on a video call can be challenging though.  Even with just 4 of us on my cousin chats it's hard to get a word in edgeways sometimes and when we get together with Hubby's siblings there are sometimes 8 screens to follow and it's extremely hard to follow everyone.  It's probably worse when there's actually no agenda and no one in charge.  I've glimpsed my daughter running a meeting and she's orchestrated when people speak and it's much easier to follow the conversation.

I'm sure this way of working will continue but I expect that some people will be glad to get back to face to face meetings too.  I'm just happy to carry on watching the antics of the grandchildren.

If you'd like to read about more Zoom disasters you can click here or just go to google like I did.  (Although beware, some are funny, some are just daft and some can be explicit!)

Zoom Filter Stickers | Redbubble



6 comments:

  1. I Thought Zoom was wonderful in the beginning when we were so cut off. Now I can’t wait to get back to an 'in person world!'

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes it was a great help but enough is enough!

      Delete
  2. I am SO tired of zoom meetings and - thankfully - my church group is going to start meeting in person this month. I am so happy. I have used Duo and Houseparty too but will be happy to be done with them! Congratulations on finishing this years A-Z Wendy! Great job!! xo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Terri. We'll be making plans after a couple of weeks now I've had my jab to see other family members in person

      Delete
  3. I will be happy never to have to use them ever again. They proved a very useful tool but as you mentioned when it was a group meeting conversations became more difficult to follow. Longing for face to face family meetings. Not much longer to wait. Congratulations on completing your A to Z again. I think this one was a very unique one that you will back on in years to come.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Marie - yes it will be interesting to look back in a few years and see how far we've got.

      Delete

I love receiving comments and will do my best to acknowledge them, either by replying here or dropping in on your blog.

Thanks for stopping by.