AnnouncementChurch Guidelines for Virtual Meeting Technologies

Please find attached a summary of some of the principles to be considered when broadcasting sacrament meetings or other virtual church meetings.

Thank you for posting this! I forwarded this along to Bishops in my stake in case they have not read it. It's a great summary and should be helpful as they make further decisions this week. Very helpful for a STS like myself.

The second page still has a DRAFT heading.

This would provide access to broadcast systems in meetinghouses that are equipped with such systems.

That's a confusing statement. Recording assistants is useful for wards that will be using the church webcast system. If they're using something else, it's probably best to minimize the "cooks in the kitchen".

These details will be most consistently managed if there is at least one trained assistant technology specialist assigned to each unit.

Which immediately raises questions about what training is provided. It would be better to call individuals who are already skilled in that area and only need to be provided direction.

I think a better word would be "skilled"

So the recommendation is basically - don't spend any money, use members equipment to get us through.

Non-interactive - Sacrament Meetings should be Streamed from a Mobile Phone, not a 'video conference' - to either facebook/youtubelive/LDSWebcast Solution?

Not a single app recommended however, Does anyone have a list? Larix on Android is the only one I know but since I know that I'll have to deal with crazy iPhone users, does anyone have a decent list. The only other streaming app I have will put a volleyball score on the broadcast so that's not going to work.

Do I have that about right?

johnshaw wrote:Non-interactive - Sacrament Meetings should be Streamed from a Mobile Phone, not a 'video conference' - to either facebook/youtubelive/LDSWebcast Solution?

I think that's the suggestion to avoid disruption. It can be done interactively, but it would take some knowledge about the tools and how to configure them. It may also require a "moderator" to monitor the situation distracting them from enjoying the meeting. On the other hand, I do think there's some value in being able to "look around the room" to see the other faces in the ward participating.

It can be done from a laptop. My ward used a webcam connected to a laptop on a YouTube page. I haven't heard any feedback since I wasn't part of the process, but it probably worked as well as anything else. But as long as you have an external webcam, that's probably even simpler than the cell phone. It has the advantage of being able to use the wired network. (All of our chapels have a network jack by the pulpit.)

johnshaw wrote:Not a single app recommended however, Does anyone have a list? Larix on Android is the only one I know but since I know that I'll have to deal with crazy iPhone users, does anyone have a decent list.

Larix will run on iPhone as well, but the setup screens are a bit different. iOS does have one drawback that doing ANYTHING outside of the app will pause the stream - such as checking your battery level.

I have been using Google Meet (G Suite) to broadcast Sacrament meetings since July 12th. At first, everyone was quiet in the chat. But lately, I have encouraged them to provide feedback using the chat. It helps them to remind each other to turn off their cameras and microphones.

Yesterday, I forgot to unmute the broadcast after the Sacrament was passed. And then I ignored the chat window for five minutes. They were all yelling at me to unmute myself while the high councilor was speaking. So I really do appreciate the interactive chat capability, which a webcast would not provide.

The two primary options seem to me to be Zoom or Google Meet on a laptop at the pulpit and Larix Broadcaster on a smart phone at or near the pulpit.

Zoom self distributes if you have fewer than 100 connections, or you can distribute it through the Church webcast system or YouTube Live, etc. Zoom meetings can be locked down to participants are not able to interfere (sacrament meeting) or opened up for other classes. Google Meet would work similarly.

Larix Broadcaster would require a distribution system, Church webcast, YouTube Live, etc.

Since our wards and branches already have experience with Zoom on laptops at pulpits, I think that is the way most of our bishops and branch presidents will proceed.

To us Youtube seems the best option for sacrament meetings. We are using other methods for interactive meetings. We also recommend a laptop with a separate webcam.

bretbassett wrote:Please find attached a summary of some of the principles to be considered when broadcasting sacrament meetings or other virtual church meetings.

Thank you for posting this information. What is the source of this document, and is it appropriate for distribution to stake presidencies and other Church leaders?

shh24 wrote:

bretbassett wrote:Please find attached a summary of some of the principles to be considered when broadcasting sacrament meetings or other virtual church meetings.

Thank you for posting this information. What is the source of this document, and is it appropriate for distribution to stake presidencies and other Church leaders?

Bret Bassett is a Church employee. The document is expected to be emailed soon to all Technology Specialists. You may share it widely.

This article, and all the articles I have posted in the "Non-Interactive Webcast", and the "Interactive Virtual Meeting" sections have come from members of the Meetinghouse Technologies Team in ICS at church headquarters. These articles have not official documents of the church (they have not been run through Correlation) but they are designed to get information out quickly, and then let STS support each other with questions and answers. Yes this document is free to share with others. But note, that a letter is coming from the Presiding Bishopric which will cover most of this same information, and your Stake President will get it from them.

I wonder how you are using YouTube in the church building. I was under the assumption that FaceBook and YouTube use was blocked in the Wi-Fi. I have configured for this weekend for our Sunday Worship Service to use the Zoom Pro ($14.98/moth with the $40/month Webinar add-on. That way it is able to be set to one-way broadcast from the chapel with no possible way for the viewers to turn on their cameras or audio. They also do not pop up on the screen at all so only the service is seen remotely.

garyoranzabriskie wrote:I wonder how you are using YouTube in the church building. I was under the assumption that FaceBook and YouTube use was blocked in the Wi-Fi.

It might depend on the filter level that (under the direction of your stake president) your firewall has been set to, but under the most relaxed setting, YouTube has been available at meetinghouses since before this Covid thing got loose. It's a free and very stable platform that I've used many times for stake conferences and other non-church events.

You can find the official letter on the letters site of the Church. It requires logging in with your Church account.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/letters

where can we find the instructions for a new bishop to get access to GSuITe=The link- at meet.churchofjesoschrist.org shows "Forbidden"

imuh438 wrote: Fri Feb 10, 2023 11:06 pm where can we find the instructions for a new bishop to get access to GSuITe=The link- at meet.churchofjesoschrist.org shows "Forbidden"

Two things. First - how long has it been since the calling has been recorded? It can take a couple of days after the calling is recorded in LCR before permissions propagate to and through all systems.
Second - the URL you provided has a miss-key. It should be meet.churchofjesuschrist.org. (There is an 'o' where there should be a 'u'.)
You can find instructions and information in the Virtual Meetings section of the MH-Virtual Meeting Wiki Page for additional self-support on broadcasting your conference/Sacrament Meeting: https://tech.churchofjesuschrist.org/wiki/Virtual_Meetings.