Hi Margot, I have been investigating this for our AM. We have a good set-up in Saffron Walden but that is with a wide-angle data projector as we have plain white walls in our large meeting room, and not everyone has that benefit or someone adept at setting up equipment. There are two stand-out bits of equipment that make things work and, and depending on the size of the room you might be able to get away with just the first. - *The camera* This is a really great camera that people joining by Zoom at area meeting said was a massive improvement on the standard ones. It describes itself as a 180 degree camera but in reality it is about 170 degrees (it does this by having three cameras pointing in different directions and stitches the picture together). That means you can pick up the whole room from a screen sat where a member of the meeting would be. Though it gives this panorama you can also choose sections of the panorama to zoom in on, for instance zooming in on the clerk's table. You should encourage viewers to set their Zoom display to Speaker rather than display as it is all too small otherwise. It is not cheap (about £250), but is a quality device and allows you to do the job properly. Innex Conference Cam C830 - FunTech Innovation <https://funtechinnovation.com/innex/webcam-c830/> It has a decent but not brilliant microphone, so OK for small meetings but if you have a larger room you should go for a separate microphone, such as. - *The microphone* Optional, if the microphone on the camera isn't good enough then get a Blu Yeti Microphone and a cable long enough to put it in the middle of the room. Unless you are a sound engineer don't even think about anything else. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blue-Recording-Streaming-Condenser-Adjustable/dp/B0... My father has stopped going to his local meeting because they insist on ministry being delivered by going and standing in front of a microphone in a fixed position. As someone with mobility issues he feels excluded and so has excluded himself. The Blu Yeti is good enough to pick up speech from anywhere in the room. In fact it is too good at picking up sound. We have ours stood on two different types of foam pad as otherwise it will pick up structure-borne sound as people walk in or shuffle! - *Visual display* You have choices, but almost certainly the easiest will be a TV of an appropriate size for the room. The Camera can then sit on it (it is designed with a built-in hinge stand for exactly this) and the speakers of the TV give you the sound for the people in the room. We got a 32" TV for just under £100 that is fine for both picture and sound. Your other choice is for data projection and a set of external speakers. If you do go for this option (you almost certainly shouldn't because of the technical skills as well as the room needs) then go for a wide-angle projector, as normal ones need to be put into the middle of the room and trail cables. With a wide-angle one projecting from 2 feet would give you about a 5ft screen, also make sure it has decent power (lumens) as we tend to need to use them in daylight rather than in cinema conditions. - *Laptop* Use a laptop that capable of Zoom and is either Windows or Apple as the software for the Funtech C830 won't run on ChromeOS or Linux. Any laptop should be capable of picking up wifi (either normal or hotspot). If you don't have such a device, ask around in your meeting if anyone has an old one. If you still can't find one can I suggest you support Home - Community Computers <https://www.communitycomputers.co.uk/> as it is a great project. I have had three laptops from their ebay shop, which have all been exactly as described and very attractively priced, see Items for sale by community-computers | eBay <https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?ssPageName=&_ssn=community-computers> I hope this is helpful to some Friends. In Friendship, Karl Saffron Walden p.s. Brighton, please change your microphone. You might find a few Friends return! On Fri, Dec 13, 2024 at 9:33 AM FM Lunnon via wardenship < wardenship@lists.quaker.eu.org> wrote:
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: FM Lunnon <margotquaker@googlemail.com> To: Quaker Wardenship Support <wardenship@lists.quaker.eu.org> Cc: Bcc: Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2024 08:23:51 +0000 Subject: [wardenship] Good mobile zoom kit for AMs
- our AM moves round between LMs. Two of the LMs don't even have WiFi, and the best resourced LM needs to be able to move Zoom kit between rooms. Our second best resourced LM offered Zoom this last meeting but I was able to see rather less than half the room and I couldn't hear people giving ministry unless they took special care to speak toward the microphone. - can anyone recommend some Zoom kit which is easy to move between rooms and between sites and includes really good microphones and camera(s)? It shd also lend itself to tethering. Thank you! Bestest, Margot, soon to cease being clerk of TCAM trustees
-- Margot Lunnon, Darlington Meeting, Teesdale Quakers 07766 758 405
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: FM Lunnon via wardenship <wardenship@lists.quaker.eu.org> To: Quaker Wardenship Support <wardenship@lists.quaker.eu.org> Cc: FM Lunnon <margotquaker@googlemail.com> Bcc: Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2024 08:23:51 +0000 Subject: [wardenship] Good mobile zoom kit for AMs _______________________________________________ wardenship mailing list -- wardenship@lists.quaker.eu.org To unsubscribe send an email to wardenship-leave@lists.quaker.eu.org