Ways of Staying Connected2023-05-31T20:08:41+00:00

Virtual Meeting Resources/
Ways of Staying Connected

UCE ministers and staff are here to help you set up a digital event. There are many options for hosting an online meeting or gathering. Check out the different platforms you can use for free. All UCE virtual events can be added to the UCE calendar. If you are interested in having your virtual events featured on the calendar, please contact the office at 847-864-1330 or email admin@ucevanston.org.

  • Zoom.us is free and supports up to 100 users, but the free plan limits meetings of greater than three people to 40 minutes. It also requires a program to be downloaded on your computer the first time. Paid plans remove the time limit and allow savvy users to set up breakout rooms. Many virtual church functions will use Zoom. Users are also able to call into the meetings by phone. Good for: Large meetings.

  • Google Hangouts is also free but requires a Google account for all users. It supports up to 150 people for an unlimited amount of time. Good for: Large meetings. Easy to use if you already have a Google account.

If you would like to host a virtual gathering on Zoom, that is longer than 40 minutes and needs special presentation features, follow these simple steps:

  • Email the details of your meeting to admin@ucevanston.org so staff can help you set up and publicize your virtual event. Virtual UCE events can be advertised in the weekly newsletter, on the UCE calendar, on the UCE Facebook groups, and sometimes on the UCE homepage.

  • Work with staff on deciding who would be best to host the meeting. Do you or a member of your group have their own Zoom account? Is someone in your group willing and able to purchase an account? In these times of social distancing, it may be worthwhile to purchase an account for a year and use it for any personal or UCE-related events. Will a minister or staff member attend your meeting? Staff will put you in touch with that staff member to see if they can host your meeting with their Zoom account. If not, we can use another staff member’s Zoom account.

  • Once the Zoom link is created, consider whether you want to set up a registration for the virtual event. Is there a limit on how many you would like to participate? Do you want a list of participants so you can email them the link before the event?

Learn more about the recommended virtual meeting tools!

Zoom.us

Zoom is a video conferencing platform geared towards businesses. On a free account, it supports 100 users at a time and calls up to 40 minutes. The requirements are as follows:

  • The host has signed up for a Zoom account
  • The participants and host all have the Zoom application installed on their computers
  • The host shares the Meeting ID and potentially password with all participants, or invites them in some other way.

You can also dial into any Zoom meeting by phone. Call 833-302-1536 and enter the meeting ID when prompted, followed by #. Press *6 to mute and unmute on a phone.

Here are some best practices to keep your Zoom meetings secure:

  • Keep meeting links private if possible. Some events might be public events and sharing the link is a necessity; but smaller exclusive meetings need not be publicized. Send the meeting information to the participants over e-mail or text rather than posting to a public forum.
  • Use a meeting password. You can have the passwords be encrypted in the links (that’s how it is by default). This way your meeting won’t be detected by software that can be used to find unprotected meetings even when the links aren’t shared publicly, but your attendees will still be able to join seamlessly. You can also disable it and have people manually enter the password even if they have the link.
  • Have a co-host who can moderate. In order to have a quick response, having someone who is paying attention and knows how to remove, mute, disable the video of, put on hold, or exile someone to the waiting room is a good idea. You have to enable co-hosts in your account settings. Here is Zoom’s guide page on managing your meeting’s participants: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/115005759423-Managing-participants-in-a-meeting
  • Make screensharing hosts-only. You can make anyone a co-host if they need to screenshare and this prevents random users from joining and screensharing whatever they want. You change this in your account settings.
  • Set it so that people cannot unmute themselves (optional). When in a meeting, the host can determine whether or not participants can unmute themselves on the participants screen.
  • Disable Private Messages (optional). Sometimes sending private messages is convenient but it could also allow people to harass other attendees without the hosts knowing. More situational as for some applications (game nights) they can be useful.
  • Enable waiting rooms (optional). If you turn on waiting rooms you have to manually invite people into the call and banish people back to it if they misbehave. That said, that’s not practical anyway and you can put people “on hold” to achieve the same effect. That also needs to be enabled. You can also remove users without enabling anything new and they will be unable to rejoin, but I’m not sure how Zoom determines if they’re the same. Dedicated people might be able to get around it.
  • Turn off chat (optional). If you don’t need people to be able to chat, turning it off removes a layer of complexity.

Google Hangouts

Google Hangouts is Google’s video calling platform. It supports up to 150 people at a time and is free, but requires that everyone have a Google account.

To Host

Browser

  • Make sure that everyone has a Google account. Sign up is free at https://accounts.google.com/signup
  • Once you’ve created a Google account, go to https://hangouts.google.com/
  • If you’re not signed in already, click the blue sign-in button in the top right corner and follow the instructions.
  • Once you’re signed-in, in the center of the screen click “Video Call.”
  • Your browser may ask for permission to use your camera and microphone. Say yes.
  • A small window that says Invite people will pop up. Put in the Google accounts of all the participants. Their computers will ring if they have G-mail open, or you can copy a link to e-mail them by clicking COPY LINK TO SHARE and pasting it into an e-mail.

Mobile

  • Make sure that everyone has a Google account. Sign up is free at https://accounts.google.com/signup
  • Download the Google Hangouts app onto your phone.
  • Sign in using your Google account.
  • In the bottom left corner, click the green plus button.
  • Select New video call.
  • Select the people you would like to call.
  • Press the green circle with a camera in it in the top right corner.
  • Your phone may ask for permission to use your camera and microphone. Click Allow or Yes.
  • Your meeting is hosted!

To Join

Desktop

Get the link from the host or have gmail open and ready when they invite you so it will ring. Getting a link is easier and more reliable.

Mobile

Your device will ring when you are invited to meetings and a notification will pop up at the top. Click Answer to join the call.

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