We tend to FaceTime the kids or Mom one at a time but today we had a Zoom call with all the extended family to wish Mom a happy birthday. Her actual birthday isn’t until Tuesday but we wanted the grandkids and great-grandkids to be able to participate.
You can create a free account and set up meetings for free. They say free meetings with more than 3 participants are limited to 40 minutes but I’d read they were not cutting them off and that’s what we found today – we went about an hour.
Even though I’ve been in contact via phone or text with many in the family, it’s not the same as being able to see everyone. I highly recommend you give it a try. We use the iPad or iPhone but you can use the computer too! Click the link below and check it out.
Zoom for work(retired in August)and friends and family. In fact this technology made lockdown bearable and meant work could continue. Some friends and I also had wine and nibbles via zoom when we were in lockdown way back in April May. I have attended conferences and many presentations. Technology is great for keeping in touch. Many of my friends also use Microsoft teams too.
I also havefound the free zoom subscription good and have warnings time is up but then they have given an extra 30 mns free so happy subscriber here
The online teaching agency I work for has used Zoom for our staff meetings for many years. It does work great. My other part time job uses Teams for video chats. Neither of my girls likes to do video chats much but we used Google Duo with one family occasionally, and FaceTime with the other. When the kids are involved however we spend more time looking up nostrils or seeing their feet. They get pretty goofy.
One group of friends did a Zoom this summer. Of the 5 of us 2 just couldn’t figure out how to get on, even with help.
Do I zoom?! Every single week since the pandemic began!! 1 – 3 calls per week. Today, I even participated in a Zoom Retreat!!
I Zoom!!! I have several groups that meet periodically via Zoom – my quilt guild, gardening group, church groups, and my quilt bee. It has been nice to see familiar faces and sometimes their pets, too, ha ha! ! I also meet with a friend from time to time via FaceTime. We have “craft and chat” time so we get to be productive and catch up on things. Zoom is a wonderful way to still feel connected to friends.
I think if you Zoom on a laptop, you can see more people at once.
“Unmute yourself!”
(I predict that will be the defining phrase of 2020.)
The first zoom on a free account gets extra time. After that it’s usually the 40 minutes but sometimes you get extra. On Thanksgiving day I believe they didn’t cut people off.
My guilds zoom, I zoom with friends who used to come sew at my house, my brother and I zoom with out 93 year old mom sometimes.
We have had a couple of Zoom business meetings and I am not a fan. I have a laptop and so we used that, but we have also used it on our iPhones for HOA meetings. It works since that is the only way to get these things done these days but I will be happy when things get back to normal….if that ever happens. If this continues I may be using Zoom more often and learn to love it??
Have not been to church since April. Can do ZOOM and find it works pretty good. Several times we have had audio problems and have gotten that worked out and at first so many people/churches were using them we got dropped. New equipment and time has worked it out.
Mary: our Paso del Norte Quilt Guild in West El Paso meets the second Saturday via Zoom for 2 to 3 hours with 18 to 22 members and we have fun… we have a meeting, do show and tell, have a class, show each other our pets and our infants and laugh and just have fun. Next Saturday we are having our Christmas meeting and each is having a Tea. One of our members drove around and delivered the invitation along with a pre packaged peppermint tea bag and 2 quilt bingo cards. We will be having a usual meeting plus playing bingo… we each have 2 cards. Winners win a gift bag of goodies. It will be fun. I am from Canada and grew up with Tea and biscuits and scones. So I put together some of my recipes of mine and Mum’s and sent them out to the Guild. Each member will make her own Tea and snacks. I am looking forward to it. I encourage other members to attend as it really boosts our morale and makes you smile to see each other.
The best thing about Covid for me is going to guild Zoom meetings. I’ve belonged to it for many years but I live about 2 hours away and I seldom can attend except retreats, I love seeing my friends I haven’t seen in months or years. It’s a huge guild but not as many people show up and it rotates as to who shows up. They are going to start doing projects together soon. I’ve also got 2 groups of friends I meet with through Zoom regularly. Some are neighbor friends who used to get together and the other are quilting friends who used to have our own retreats. I think people will continue to use Zoom to meet with friends. It’s really been nice to be able to see and talk to our friends. Our kids aren’t as good about Zooming but we still talk or use FaceTime. I love the ideas folks have shared here.