The remote lecturing idea via Zoom really seems to have hit the mark - I’ve had 25 bookings so far. In these difficult days of social distancing it really does give clubs a solution to be able to keep their programme running - and it’s so easy to use. The benefits in the short term are obvious but I think there are potential longer term benefits too. For example one club are thinking of running a regular Photoshop / Lightroom teach-in session where I cover techniques on my PC & they can tune in to watch & ask questions. There really are lots of possibilities.
If you’re the slightest bit interested, not necessarily in me offering anything, but just to see the possibilities for your club please get in touch - I can demonstrate it for you in less than 10 minutes.
Here’s a bit more info on Zoom;
A bit more info from me here
Zoom is free to install but the free version limits the number of people and time of a meeting to 45 minutes. However, it’s perfectly sufficient to evaluate the technology - one club member could download it & invite several others into a test meeting. I have a Zoom business licence, which means 100 people can join a presentation for an unlimited time.
You can use Zoom from a PC, Mac, phone, iPad, laptop - all you need is speakers. If you want to ask questions you’d need a microphone. You can get good headsets with a microphone built in relatively cheap these days - they just plug into your computer & self-install. Here’s an example. An alternative is to join the meeting using your phone so you can ask questions that way, but I’ve no experience of that so couldn’t comment on how it works.
Pinner Camera Club have produced a guide to using Zoom - http://www.pinnercameraclub.co.uk/zoom/
Smethwick Photographic Society have done similar - https://smethwickps.co.uk/sps-online/
Both Clubs have kindly given me permission to copy the link here. Take a look, they answer all the questions you might have.
You can also test your internet connection prior to a meeting here:
https://ukri.zoom.us/test
