Time for virtual meet ups

We have to look at positive things that will come out of the global crisis. This week I have been doing daily video calls with groups of friends and work colleagues. There are many platforms to do this on. I have tried Zoom and Microsoft Teams. Last night my women’s group did a virtual film night, tonight I am checking in with my school friends and tomorrow night University friends. I am also organising a virtual dance class and many friends have set up virtual yoga and pilates. Here is how to do it.

I am only going to talk about Zoom and Microsoft Teams in this blog but there are other platforms. I must stress that I am not an expert – I knew nothing about either of these until Monday this week!! I have used Skype before but I find it too clunky and everyone needs a Skype account. There is also a video conferencing facility on Whatsapp but I have not used it for multiple users. You can probably use all of these platforms on your phone, table or computer, but I find the computer easier. Please feel free to share information about other platforms that you have used.

I want to stress that only the host needs an account to use MS Teams and Zoom. Anyone joining in will be sent an email containing a link to the meeting which they access from their email. For Zoom – the default is to ask those joining the call to download Zoom but you can by pass it. But if you anyone is going to use Zoom more than once, it might be worth downloading it. But I want to stress that only the host needs an account.

Zoom – very easy and free for 40 minute chats. Simply make an account, click set up a meeting, set the time, emails of those you want to invite, etc and away you go.  I always remove the password to make it easier for people to join. Everyone invited will get an email and at the time of the meeting, they click on the link. There is even a tutorial if you get stuck. If you want to use it more often, it costs £10-12 per month, depending whether you pay monthly or annually. I have moved to Zoom now as the huge advantage is that you can have lots of people on at one go and see all their videos. With Teams you can only see 4 people at a time.

Microsoft Teams works in exactly the same way and I have been using this more as I want to make calls for longer than 40 mins. If you use Microsoft Office, you will have access to Teams and can be the host. I am not totally sure about hosting a Teams meeting if you do not use Office, but I know the Microsoft Teams have a link with Skype. Many UK schools are using Teams so our kids will know more about it than us. If you use Microsoft Outlook – it is really easy to set up a meeting. Click on your diary icon , then click on meeting, put in the emails of the friends or colleagues you want to invite to the meeting (if you have a group of friends you want to email or speak to more than once, it is worth setting up an email list first in contacts – click on the icon of two people next to your diary , click new contact list, name the list something, then add everyones email and save – now you just use that contact list every time you want to contact the group), write in the time and date for the meeting and a subject and then click the Teams meeting logo and this makes it a virtual meeting. Click send and everyone on the email list will get an email. I must stress that if they are using Outlook, when they accept the meeting the email disappears and the invite will appear in their Outlook diary. If you are the host in Teams it is also a good idea to change the settings so you bypass the ‘lobby’. If you do not deactivate the lobby, some people need to be manually let into the meeting. To deactivate, in your diary for the meeting – go to and click on meeting options and say ‘who can bypass the lobby’ and click everyone.

When you are in the meetings using Zoom or MS Teams – people need to turn on their video cameras and mics. If they do not turn on their videos, they will appear as a blank screen with their initials. To get up the video and mic icons, they have to hoover over the screen and click on the icons.

You need some ground rules so people do not talk over each other. I suggest that everyone turns off their mics unless they want to talk. In Teams you can see who is on the call by going to the two people icon (participants) and it will list who is on. Another good feature is to go to the speech bubble icon which allows people to type comments rather than interrupt the person speaking. The host needs to remind people to turn their mics back on when they want to talk.

Please keep in contact with your friends and family. It is so wonderful to see their faces. Last week we did daily ‘coffee’ meetings with my senior education team – we have never talked so much but it was great to check in. Going to do the same next week. I am also going to use Teams for teaching. I checked in with my students yesterday – they were all around the world. After Easter we will be using Teams for tutorials and lectures as there is also an option to record the meetings – but please get everyones permission first.

I am the only adult in my house so I am arranging Teams meeting most evenings to keep in touch and reduce loneliness.

At this important time please ask everyone – how are you? Do you need anything?

Please share your experience with other platforms, other ideas you have to communicate and any comments about this post.