Administrator D64 Blog

Conducting Virtual Club Meetings (The Easy Way)

If you are unfamiliar with using software for conducting an online meeting, I have a solution for you that is free and simple to use.

Jitsi Meet is Open Source software that makes it easy for people to have a video conference online. No log in or sign up is required to use this service.

HOW TO USE JITSI MEET:

For Desktop/Laptop Users:

  1. Open up your Internet Browser. Chrome, Chromium, and Opera are supported Web Browsers but it could work on others (like Firefox).
  2. Join or create a conference simply by just typing typing https://meet.jit.si/WHATEVERNAMEYOUCHOOSE
    • Example: https://meet.jit.si/ManitobaToastmastersOnline

For Mobile Phone/Tablet Users:

  1. Download the Jitsi Meet app. (Free, no registration required)
  2. Make sure you give it permission to access your mic and camera, or you won’t be able to talk or use video features.
  3. In the “Enter room name” field, type in the name of your groups room. From our example above it would be WHATEVERNAMEYOUCHOOSE

For All Users:

  1. Go to the Chat feature (looks like a thought bubble) and enter your name; this puts your name on your image.
  2. Make sure you volume is adjusted to about 50% to start and adjust as needed so your group can hear you.
  3. You can access microphone, video, chat, and more (using the … button) at the bottom (swipe up from the bottom of the screen for mobile users to view these options)

PLEASE NOTE:

  • Because anyone can join in on a meeting, and no one is dedicated as a “host”, you’ll want to make sure your conference room name is unique and won’t be typed in randomly by someone by accident. For Example: Crossroads Toasmasters would use https://meet.jit.si/crossroadstoastmasters1396
  • This is only a suitable solution for Clubs. I don’t think it will work well for Area or Division level events due to lack of control.
  • Meeting Room names are not case-sensitive. So OnlineMeetingRoom1 is the same as onlinemeetingroom1
  • There is an option to mute everyone’s mic. Take advantage of it, but also make sure that everyone knows how to unmure their mic when it is their time to speak.
  • There is a Chat feature, but it doesn’t show up on the screen on mobile phones, so it may not be very helpful for some participants.
  • The person speaking will be the main video image but you do have the option of making any person the main video image by touching/clicking on their image. Click/touch again to turn that off.

Submitted by: Matthew Maurer, District 64 Webmaster

Posted in Tips & Advice3 Comments

3 thoughts on “Conducting Virtual Club Meetings (The Easy Way)”

    1. It’s all done online, so you use your computer or phones microphone to talk through the app. If you want to call in with a phone, you could. There is a Canada phone number provided, and a code you will enter to access your group. It’s a regular phone number, so long distance calling is required.

  2. Just looked at a video of using jitsi – appears very easy to set up and use. Appears to be a good alternative to $$ APPS.

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