Using Zoom with In Person Meetings

[VL4D]

Hello everyone! Wanted to start this off by saying MAN it’s been a long time since I joined JWTalk. I first joined after I was baptized I think at age 15, now I’m 22 and a ministerial servant. I haven’t been on much (high school, college, meetings, service.. it’s a lot even without scrolling through forums lol).

 

I was recently appointed as the Sound Servant in my congregation on top of my other privileges (post pandemic has been crazy for us) and was looking for some help.

 

Our current setup for sound and video during meetings is as follows: We have two computers setup right next to each other. One computer (which we’ll call PC1) is connected to two tvs setup at the front of the congregation for videos. The other computer (PC2)is connected to a third tv that hangs down from the ceiling, facing the brother on the stage. This one runs zoom— the screen is shared with the brother so he can see and call on those at home joining in over zoom who want to comment. PC2 also connects to a camera at the back of the Kingdom Hall, that zooms in on the brother on the stage.

 

One brother runs PC1 and the other brother runs PC2. Here are the responsibilities for each brother: The brother on PC1 starts the zoom meeting as host. He plays videos for the congregation (to the two tv screens up front) as well as shares that video to zoom. This brother is also in control of sound— so he manages the microphone audio for all the mics as well as video audio and zoom audio (which all run through a separate sound system box in front of him under the computer). The brother on PC2…. permits people to enter the meeting on zoom.

 

See the issue? I feel like the brother on PC1 has a LOT of things on his plate— so much so it’s difficult to pay attention to, or even enjoy, the meeting. Not only that, but we have a shortage of capable brothers. Many in our congregation are up in age, and are unable to do the necessary work for running a meeting. I feel like clearing out that secondary PC will give us an extra brother to schedule for other assignments and lighten the load on all of our brothers since it’ll be one less assignment in rotation.

 

If not that, then at least give the brother on PC2 a little more to do to help out the brother on PC1.

 

With all of that being said: how does your congregation handle the sound of you’re also using Zoom? Do you have just one brother, or two? What software do you use? Hardware? Any advice on this matter is very much appreciated!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[howudodat]

Ask your Cobe (or whoever is assigned to oversee the sound) to share the S-261.  it lays out the responsibilities nicely.

[Pabo]

4 hours ago, VL4D said:

See the issue? I feel like the brother on PC1 has a LOT of things on his plate— so much so it’s difficult to pay attention to, or even enjoy, the meeting. Not only that, but we have a shortage of capable brothers. Many in our congregation are up in age, and are unable to do the necessary work for running a meeting. I feel like clearing out that secondary PC will give us an extra brother to schedule for other assignments and lighten the load on all of our brothers since it’ll be one less assignment in rotation.

Whilst S-261 describes the basic arrangement of what needs to be done, but every congregation or KH is not the same as each other. So there maybe some deviations and variations on what suits the needs or equipment of the congregation.

 

I don't think there is much you can alleviate for the PC1 brother, as some of the aspects is too integrated between the PC and sound system. But you could have it that the brother who needs to use PC1 concentrates on the sharing of the visual side at the KH and Zoom, but the brother on PC2 does the sound and the Zoom attending, which may alleviate some of the work for PC1 brother. But they will depend in how the equipment is placed on your sound desk.

 

In our KH, we only have the one computer that does everything (both PC1 and PC2 as you have described also with a monitor from the ceiling for Zoom), as does the one brother controlling it all. Also, we have only the one seat available on our sound desk, as it is only about 1.5m (5ft) wide. We too have a shortage of brothers, but you have to work with what you have available. So I know exactly where you are coming from. It is a lot of work for the brother to do all that. We have streamlined somethings in what we do, but also expanded on others as well.

 

But comes down to how your equipment has been setup and how capable are the brothers, knowing how many connections you may need to deal with on Zoom, and what are the procedures that you have implemented with those on Zoom, such as muting and unmuting. We have between 9-16 connections on Zoom depending on the meeting, but our Zoom participants unmute and mute themselves, alleviating some of the work for the A/V brother, as he just needs to make sure that they are muted or put their hand down if need be.

 

As for how our KH is setup, below is the link of how we have setup our system. The only changes from that post are as follows:

 

1/ we now have preset the "Second Screen" of Zoom on the stage monitors, and we no longer move it between Monitor 1 and Monitor 2 (stage).

 

2/ when playing a shared video or song on Zoom, we move the JWL app screen from Monitor 1 to Monitor 4 so that the video is then also broadcasted to Monitor 3 for the chairman/conductor to view without having to turn and look at the stage monitors.

 

3/ when a Zoom participate has their hand up, we pin these to the "First Screen" so the picture enlarges for the conductor (which most are elderly with vision issues) to see more easily who has their hand up.

 

 

Edited July 13, 2022 by Pabo

[carlos]

15 hours ago, VL4D said:

Hello everyone! Wanted to start this off by saying MAN it’s been a long time since I joined JWTalk. I first joined after I was baptized I think at age 15, now I’m 22 and a ministerial servant. I haven’t been on much (high school, college, meetings, service.. it’s a lot even without scrolling through forums lol).

 

Hi Nigel! Glad to see you here!

I can't help with this subject, I just wanted to say I do remember you. When you joined there was some discussion among the mods about allowing a minor in here. I'm glad to see you have progressed well.

[Pabo]

This is how our sound desk is setup

 

 

This is what our stage and the hall looks like from the sound desk.

 

 

[howudodat]

swap the two monitors and keyboards and mice

[PaulvH]

Hi everyone,

 

In general, I think it's a good idea to separate out the two hosts tasks. In our congregation, I'm serving has the sound coordinator. We decided to separate out the zoom hosting responsibilities (e.g. admitting participants, controlling mics and videocams, etc.) from the media and sound responsibilities. The reason is that we don't want to burden the media host who needs to download, play, share in zoom, etc., also with the task to admit participants and control the hands and mics. This simply becomes too much for the media host to handle, who is already quite busy managing the media and sound controls. So what happens in our hall is that the media host arrives 30 minutes (often earlier) before the meeting starts to prepare all media. The host responsible for zoom hosting arrives, opens the meeting and admits the participants. The media host will connect to the meeting and will be assigned the co-host role in order to share video. The media host video will show the stage, as the hall's security cam is connected to the media laptop. The media host will keep the mic muted until the meeting starts so that the zoom participants are able to talk without hearing the music and noise from the hall. As soon as the chairman walks over to the stage, the zoom participants are muted and the media host mic is opened. But in short, yes, we believe two hosts are the recommended approach. Hope this helps!

[Pabo]

23 hours ago, howudodat said:

swap the two monitors and keyboards and mice

What do you mean exactly?

 

If you mean swapping the monitors around, it will block your view of the stage and audience if the larger monitor was in front of you. Also the smaller monitor is mounted with a hinged bracket so that it can fold down where it sits just above the amplifier/mixer, so we can close the top of the sound box.

 

 

If you are swapping the keyboard and the mouse, that is okay if you are left handed. But the mouse on the left side would be a hindrance because you would need your left hand to control the volume input, as we cannot have the microphones all on, as well get massive amounts of feedback, so we have to balance the mic level inputs when 2 mics are used. Our KH is not very good with acoustics, as the walls are solid concrete blocks for the most part.

[howudodat]

I'm confused

PC1 is on the left and PC2 is on the right?
The audio is under PC2?

 

(if you're short on brothers, use sisters...we do and they do an amazing job)

[Pabo]

4 hours ago, howudodat said:

I'm confused

PC1 is on the left and PC2 is on the right?
The audio is under PC2?

Ah, you are referring to VL4D's PC's setup.

 

His PC1 brother (left) looks after the following:

1/ Zoom Host

2/ Plays Videos and Zoom Sharing

3/ KH Audio

4/ Zoom Audio

 

PC2 brother (right) looks after the following:

1/ Zoom Bouncer (aka Zoom Attendant letting people in)

2/ Zoom stage video control and ceiling monitor (which by the looks is duplicated on his PC monitor)

 

What I was suggesting (if possible)

PC1 brother (left) looks after the following:

1/ Zoom Host

2/ Plays Videos and Zoom Screen Sharing

 

PC2 brother (right) looks after the following:

1/ Zoom bouncer

2/ KH Audio

3/ Zoom Audio

 

Basically what I was suggesting if possible that PC2 brother takes roles 3 and 4 (red text) from PC1 and he then does these.

 

4 hours ago, howudodat said:

(if you're short on brothers, use sisters...we do and they do an amazing job)

 

If they have the sisters available, then they can use them. 👍

 

In our congregation, we basically have no capable sisters to who are tech savvy enough (mostly retirees). ☹️

Edited July 15, 2022 by Pabo

[howudodat]

ok, the pictures are pabo's setup and not vl4d.  that had me confused.  vl4d can you post pictures of your setup?  (pabo your recommendation is very close to the S-261)

[quincy]

We opted for a Presonus amp so our mixer is on the computer. we run a single 27" monitor. We have a single brother operating zoom and our sound and media. We also have an ipad that a secondary brother for admitting and zoom monitoring. Sounds like a lot but because it's all on a single screen it's pretty simple. Also having all the audio already running through the computer allows us to just change the audio source for zoom to the mixer so they get full audio. i'll add a pic of what our screen look like when everything is up and running.