2nd hour interactive meeting suggestions

For sacrament meeting I'm using the church's broadcast system, but I'm still struggling to find a good/simple solution for the 2nd hour (SS, RS, Elders, etc.)

I've read through many of the options and reviewed some of the suggestions from the letter the church sent out, but I was hoping others had some good ideas.

First of all there's been a lot of discussion regarding Google Meet, The catch is that regardless of if the meeting was created under the paid account or not anyone joining from a 'mobile' device (ex. phone, ipad) will be required to get a Google Account. Not necessarily a deal breaker, and if this is the best option then I'll recommend this to my bishopric but I was hoping to not require the participants to signup for anything (thinking pre-teens).

If the classes are under 40mins I really like the simplicity of Zoom (Unfortunately paying for the full license is not an option), my second choice seems to be 'Teams Free' if they need to go longer. It takes more setup but will cover what they need.

Does anyone else have a better idea rather than those 2? or recommended settings? THANK YOU!

We have had some of the same struggles. We are currently considering a paid pro zoom account. Here are some of the things we considered:
[*] Google Meet does not have many moderation features that we can see on the free version. We want a moderator to be able to mute any unwanted video or audio that may interfere with the lesson.
[*] We want a solution most are familiar with. Zoom is popular and most have used it.
[*] We are considering specific people, like Presidencies to have the ability to moderate. We felt it was too much for a teacher to do while teaching. A third person may even moderate questions or chat, while another moderates audio and video.
[*] We are doing combined Adult classes (RS/EQ or Gospel Doctrine) followed by combined Youth. This allows us to not consume the day with several classes, limits the number of devices a family may need. It also creates some meeting size concerns.
[*] We are still researching what the Zoom Pro License will cover (Does 100 per meeting mean the two meetings with near 100 each can occur simultaneously).
[*] We are still working out how to encourage participation and following the Teaching in the Saviors Way guidelines while reducing the possible noise. This is where coordination in advance with class, good moderating, and proper controls will be helpful.
[*] We considered that it is possible in this format to receive more questions than can be answered when chat is used. This creates an opportunity for teachers to continue a discussion, especially with youth, after the class. This may need to be handled by a group of teachers, should still follow the 2-deep principle, or may be shared with the larger group depending on the question.

I have been using the free Google Meet G Suite account provided by the church since July 12th. It allows me to turn off participant microphones, and prevent them from sharing their screens. In theory, a Google Meet event created by a G Suite account can be joined by anyone, regardless of whether they have a Google account.

However, I did have one member complain that he could not join until he created a Google account. The funny thing is, he was able to join our first Google Meet event without a Google account, but could not join an event on a later date. So I don't really know what his problem was.

All ward presidencies can obtain free G Suite accounts from the church. Just ask your stake clerk or STS for instructions.

joelsturman wrote:[*] We considered that it is possible in this format to receive more questions than can be answered when chat is used. This creates an opportunity for teachers to continue a discussion, especially with youth, after the class. This may need to be handled by a group of teachers, should still follow the 2-deep principle, or may be shared with the larger group depending on the question.

I think Zoom chat gets cleared after the meeting ends – is that correct? At least, I haven't found a way to bring it up again.

drepouille wrote:However, I did have one member complain that he could not join until he created a Google account. The funny thing is, he was able to join our first Google Meet event without a Google account, but could not join an event on a later date. So I don't really know what his problem was.

Do you know if the member was on a mobile device the second time?

sbradshaw wrote:

drepouille wrote:However, I did have one member complain that he could not join until he created a Google account. The funny thing is, he was able to join our first Google Meet event without a Google account, but could not join an event on a later date. So I don't really know what his problem was.

Do you know if the member was on a mobile device the second time?

I know he has an iPhone, but I thought he was using a Windows PC to view the Google Meeting.

sbradshaw wrote:I think Zoom chat gets cleared after the meeting ends – is that correct? At least, I haven't found a way to bring it up again.

That is correct. A moderator would need to save the chat before closing the meeting.

drepouille wrote:I know he has an iPhone, but I thought he was using a Windows PC to view the Google Meeting.

It's worth asking. Mobile device users have to have an account, but desktop/laptop users don't (as long as it was a G-Suite account that created the meeting). If he switched to using the phone, that would explain things.

joelsturman wrote:We have had some of the same struggles. We are currently considering a paid pro zoom account. Here are some of the things we considered:
[*] Google Meet does not have many moderation features that we can see on the free version. We want a moderator to be able to mute any unwanted video or audio that may interfere with the lesson.
[*] We want a solution most are familiar with. Zoom is popular and most have used it.
[*] We are considering specific people, like Presidencies to have the ability to moderate. We felt it was too much for a teacher to do while teaching. A third person may even moderate questions or chat, while another moderates audio and video.
[*] We are doing combined Adult classes (RS/EQ or Gospel Doctrine) followed by combined Youth. This allows us to not consume the day with several classes, limits the number of devices a family may need. It also creates some meeting size concerns.
[*] We are still researching what the Zoom Pro License will cover (Does 100 per meeting mean the two meetings with near 100 each can occur simultaneously).
[*] We are still working out how to encourage participation and following the Teaching in the Saviors Way guidelines while reducing the possible noise. This is where coordination in advance with class, good moderating, and proper controls will be helpful.
[*] We considered that it is possible in this format to receive more questions than can be answered when chat is used. This creates an opportunity for teachers to continue a discussion, especially with youth, after the class. This may need to be handled by a group of teachers, should still follow the 2-deep principle, or may be shared with the larger group depending on the question.

Those are some good ideas, thank you for sharing. I'm going to pass them along to the ward council.

As for your question about concurrent meetings (2 at the same time) it doesn't look like it's possible with the PRO account, you would have to move the a higher license. From Zoom's support site:

Licensed users on Enterprise, Business, and Education accounts can host up to 2 meetings at the same time. Both meetings need to be started by the original meeting host and cannot be started by an alternative host. The host can leave the meeting and pass host privileges to another user if needed.

If you need to host more than 2 meetings at a time, contact Sales to purchase a Concurrent Meetings add-on.

rystrong wrote:As for your question about concurrent meetings (2 at the same time) it doesn't look like it's possible with the PRO account, you would have to move the a higher license.

A Zoom solution I have seen is to use breakout groups. Members all enter the main meeting, then the host sends them to their various meetings. RS to Breakout Room 1, EQ to Breakout Room 2, YW and YM to their respective breakout rooms, etc. Yes, it is a pain at the start for the host, but it works.

I am working through the same issues as are mentioned here. My current thinking is the following:

* Use the free Zoom account for a single adult class and a single youth class. If I run into participation limits, I'll re-think this approach. My current thought is that I won't.
* Due to multiple households having members in both youth and adult classes, I will be running the meetings at separate times. The youth meeting will happen first, as close to after sacrament meeting as I can schedule it. The adult class will start 15 minutes after the youth meeting ends. Our Ward Council brought up those households that may still have young kids at home and ensuring that there is someone available (either a parent or sibling) that could watch them. Holding both classes at the same time would prevent some people from attending.

Our stake has not authorized staggered meeting times for the virtual second hour to avoid encroaching too much on family time. Check with local leaders before scheduling.

shoutz wrote:Our stake has not authorized staggered meeting times for the virtual second hour to avoid encroaching too much on family time. Check with local leaders before scheduling.

That's fine if stake members have enough computers and bandwidth that everyone in the household can attend their meetings at the same time. Talking with the stake is wise, but in the absence of guidance I would be careful about assumptions.

Reading the letters from the First Presidency, I'm not seeing any directive to resume Priesthood and Relief Society meetings. Sacrament and youth meetings are spelled out, but not PH/RS or SS.

I hope everyone was able to find out a solution that works. With the church's recent announcement that each ward, branch, etc. will receive a zoom account that allows 2 concurrent meetings at a time this solves the issues we were having. You have the ability to use breakout rooms if you need more, and with the webinar option it can be used for 'non-interactive' meetings as well. I wish you all the best of luck moving forward.