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Zoom Virtual Meeting Information
As a leadership team, after the summer holidays we wanted to give children the chance to get back to their School routines and during this timeframe, for the benefit of the youth members and ourselves we felt we wanted to strive for planning to meet up face to face with the sections rather than online, as meeting outside with restrictions became an option.
Having worked really hard to get all the risk assessments and arrangements approved and ready to do this, the localised increased restrictions came in literally days before our first small group face to face was due on 3rd October. We had several Saturday sessions following that throughout October planned in the Leaders diaries and the information was literally due to be circulated to you all.
Having yet again had everything change, and once we had dealt with the disappointment and regrouped, we have changed the emphasis of our efforts and although we wish it was actually meeting, we need to go for the best alternative and are now ready to start the sections back on Tuesday nights via ZOOM.
We know from lots of other groups and sections who have used this format for their sections that it can be lots of fun and really beneficial to the youth members.
Our first Zoom session (20th Oct) is very much a chance for us to all catch up and have a go on zoom Invite details will be sent to parent/carer email addresses.
After the October half term, we will hold weekly Tuesday Zoom meetings.
Beavers 6.30pm – 7.00pm
Cubs 7.15pm – 7.45pm
Scouts 8pm – 8.30pm
The Zoom FAQ provides most of the common questions and guidance on setting up your laptop/computer to join the Zoom meetings.
Zoom FAQ
If you require any help, please contact Chil (Richard) via email [email protected] and he will be happy to answer any questions you have about getting setup ready for Zoom meetings.
The Scout Association promote several options however Zoom has by far been found to be the most adaptable and useful for section meeting and the group has access to Zoom Pro with added safeguarding and meeting benefits.
Meeting invitation emails will be sent out before each section meeting, there will be one email per section each week.
Within these emails will be the Zoom Meeting ID and the passcode required to join the meeting,
See the Zoom Help Center with more detailed instructions -> Joining a Zoom Meeting or the video below gives an overview.
Best way we have found are the simple two steps below once you have the Zoom Client installed.
Open the Zoom Client and select “Join”
Enter the Meeting ID provided in the email invite normally in the format XXX XXXX XXXX and your youth members name so the leaders can identify them in the waiting room.
This must be performed by the parent/guardian/carer for the youth member.
The Zoom App is available for most smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktops (Details of them all here)
It is said that the better virtual experiences are from from being able to join us via a computer or tablet device if possible. Visit zoom.us using the device you want to utilise and the required downloads or mobile phone app links will be provided via the “Sign Up for Free” link at the top of the page.
Webcam or smart device with a camera is required with no admittance to meetings allowed without video.
Microphone to join the audio is required (headset is best, but most laptops include a webcam and microphone).
Speakers to listen to the audio part of the meeting.
When you use Zoom for the first time it is likely that you will have to grant permission for it to access your microphone, camera and possibly speakers. You will need to allow this.
When it comes to the security settings and components, as meeting facilitators we override the personal settings to enforce the strongest available encryption and settings to keep everyone safe while in the meeting.
If you share the computer with other members, you may need to change the display name before joining the meeting, see “Changing Zoom Attendees Name” information.
There are several settings and the meeting host can often alter these. Sometimes everyone will be on the screen (the app supports seeing up to 49 people but it depends on the device you connect with also, as to what it can support) Sometimes the screen will show whoever is talking.
- Click View in the top-right corner, and then select Speaker or Gallery
Note: If you’re displaying 49 participants per screen, you may need to change to full screen or adjust the size of your window to accommodate all 49 thumbnails.
We will always walk through during the meetings with the members on how to perform tasks and they can put their hand up to attract our attention.
See more details on how to perform this is available at the Zoom Help Center – > Testing computer or device audio
See more details on how to perform this is available at the Zoom Help Center – > Testing your video
The attendee controls appear at the bottom of your screen.
Attendees have access to these features:
Mute / Unmute: Mute and unmute your microphone.
Audio Controls (click the ^ arrow next to Mute / Unmute): Allows you to change the microphone and speaker that Zoom is currently using on your computer, leave computer audio, and access the full audio settings.
The attendee controls appear at the bottom of your screen.
Participants: See who’s currently in the meeting You can also access to these options
Non-verbal feedback icons (if enabled by the host): Places an icon beside your name to quickly notify the host.
Zoom Help Center provides more details for different operating systems Here
Zoom provide a test room to check your computer is setup ready for joining beforehand via http://zoom.us/test
Click Here for full instructions
Zoom regularly provides new version of the desktop and mobile clients to provide new features and fix security bugs.
We ask to keep our meetings secure and yourselves secure and safe, you keep regular checks and upgrade the Zoom client.
Safeguarding
Our standard scouting safeguarding applies however, online Scouting is an area that has been greatly considered and some key points are below
- Beavers and Cubs need an adult in the same room and close by during their virtual meeting
- Leaders (at least 2) will always be present before we “open” the meeting to youth members and at least 2 again, will remain until all youth members have left at the end
- The main Zoom account is setup with the latest version of Zoom with a two factor authentication. All meetings are scheduled with new meeting I.Ds and passwords and following the guidance provided by The Scout Association
- Please make sure you are using the latest version of Zoom and install updates when prompted.
Code of Conduct for meetings
- Please keep your camera on for the security of all the attendees.
- Use the biggest screen available to you for the best experience, ideally via a laptop/pc.
- Please be aware and mindful of what is seen and heard in the background of your video feed.
- You will need to mute your microphone and unmute it so that the background noise does not interfere.
- Please be respectful to others in the zoom meeting, as you would in our normal meetings.
- If a youth member have a question, please raise their hand to attract the attention of the leaders.
- Let a leader know by raising your hand if going away from the screen or meeting.
- No utilisation of other devices, including phones (other than ones used to access the meeting) during the meeting.
- No recording of sessions are allowed for the safety of all youth members and leaders who are attending, this including taking photos or video from other devices.
- To ensure that youth members are able to take part safely, an adult should be in the vicinity of the device being used.
- If a youth member is disrupting the meeting for others and not following leader’s instructions, one verbal warning will be given, and if it continues they will be removed from the meeting. Parents/carers of that individual will be contacted, but possibly after all of the section meetings for that night are completed if the Leaders have following meetings to attend.
Risk Assessment
You can view the risk assessment carried out that is reviewed regularly here