2019-2021: During the Covid-19 pandemic the BCS has acquired a number of licences for the GoToWebinar meeting toolset, allowing us to present meetings as an interactive webinar. Whilst they acknowledge that there are other tools such as Zoom, GoToWebinar has been selected as the preferred application.
In parallel with this, HQ now registers Conferences, Branch and Specialist Group meetings etc. on Eventbrite to enable publicity and simplify the event registration.
So now, when Branch offers a meeting, we tell you about it and provide the Eventbrite booking link. You register, so we and HQ know you want to take part, and the day before the meeting you get an email with a link to invite you to check that you can use GoToWebinar/download the client etc., and that you can join the meeting.
On the day, you get a reminder and a further copy of the link to the meeting, along with the reference number of the meeting for if you access it on a different device.
(You will need a fairly modern device, for instance the client does not run on Windows XP machines, so a Windows 10 (or equivalent) laptop is ideal.)
If you try to connect to the meeting before it is happening, you will get a client box and a nice audio message to tell you that the meeting has not yet started… and it will keep telling you that… until the meeting does start!
Organisers/speakers get a slightly different option, they can all chat and make sure they are all ready, before the meeting is broadcast.
If you try to connect after the meeting, you get a dialog to say the meeting has finished.
2022 – The BCS now have more Zoom licences (…but only about 3 staff to open zoom meetings, so they have to multiplex(!!)), so now you still register with Eventbrite, get sent the link to the zoom meeting and you can join the meeting on any device that supports zoom (such as a tablet, phone, laptop, MacBook or PC). Zoom has a slightly hazier idea of when a meeting has run or has ended, but it seems more popular. The teams licences the BCS (and Branches) have are intended for committee meetings and do not support large number of attendees.
Where the meeting has been recorded, HQ will upload the recording to youtube then pass Branch a link to the recording, for distribution. Plan is to put the link onto our website for those who couldn’t make it at the time.